Ethan James Wilcoxson
9/18/2012
8:25 a.m.
7lbs 4oz
37 weeks and 6 days
Ethan's arrival was about as different from Caleb's as it possibly could have been. They both were so hard in there own ways, and I have such an appreciation for how each of them came into this world.
I woke up around 4:00 am on Tuesday morning with pretty intense contractions. I figured they were false labor because Ethan still had two weeks until his due date but sine I couldn't go back to sleep I decided to just take a warm bath until they went away. After about 30 minutes I noticed them getting harder and closer together. I decided to start timing them (with my new contraction app that I downloaded the night before), they were about 2 1/2 minutes apart. After about an hour of them being consistently 2 minutes apart I decided to wake up Nathan and see if maybe we should go to the hospital.
I woke up Nathan and said, "I think I might be in labor." Nathan was somewhat in a panic and immediately insisted I get ready and we head to the hospital. I told him to call Tia first and find out what she thought. Nathan called Tia and left her a message, after all it was 5:30 in the morning. I was really hesitant to go to the hospital because I really wanted to labor at home and I didn't want to get to the hospital and have them send me home because I wasn't really in labor. After a few minutes Tia called back and told Nathan we should probably head to the hospital but to "take our time" because it would probably be awhile before the baby was ready to come.
We then got our stuff packed up, both of us not really in a hurry and called a friend to see if they would take Caleb. We dropped Caleb off and then headed towards the hospital. We arrived around 6:30-6:45ish. We checked in and headed up to the delivery room. They started to check us in which is actually quite the process when I insisted they just check and see if I was even dilated. I didn't want to go through all this just to be sent home. The nurse agreed (I had the worlds greatest delivery nurse) and checked me. After checking she insisted on getting a second opinion because she wanted to make sure she was accurate. A second nurse came in checked and then confirmed what the first nurse thought, I was 100% effaced and dilated to an 8. This baby was ready to come! After that everything speeded up. I asked if I could walk around while my body dilated that last two centimeters but they said no because being a VBAC I was considered high risk. The truth is I never would have had time anyways.
After talking to a few nurses I decided to go ahead and get an epidural just in case those last two centimeters took awhile. The anesthesiologist came in and quickly put in the epidural. He then said he would put in a small test dose and then be back in a few minutes to put in the larger dose that would numb me. He told me it would be about 30-45 minutes at the least before I started even feeling the effects of the epidural. Well needless to say he never made it back for the second dose. So there was never any pain relief.
Two contractions after getting the epidural I was at a 10 and Baby Ethan was ready to be pushed out. Up until this point I really felt like the pain was bearable. Then I started the pushing process and that is a pain that is indescribable. It is amazing what the body can put up with and for the next 20 minutes while I pushed I really thought I was going to die. There were several times I think I told Nathan I hated him and we would be having no more children. Luckily I had the greatest doctor and team of nurses to help me through. At 8:25 a.m. little Ethan was born.
There was such a flood of emotion. There was a feeling of accomplishment, relief, satisfaction, and gratitude. It was a moment in some ways I felt I missed with Caleb's birth but yet longed for. It was an absolutely unbelievable feeling.
Looking back both Nathan and I can hardly believe how fast everything happened and how well everything fell into place. We are so in love with his new little boy. He has such a calm sweet spirit and is exactly the addition we needed to our home.
