 Welcome to the World Ethan Bradfield Lamb!
Ethan Bradfield Lamb's Debut:
Monday-Wednesday December 31-January 2nd: I enjoyed my first few days of maternity leave by sleeping in, eating homecooked meals, cleaning house, catching up on recorded programs, and reading. As an attempt to jumpstart labor, I ate lots of pineapple and went on many walks. The pineapple didn't do a thing, but I felt crampy during and after every single walk. By the end of each day, my lower back was in extreme pain.
Thursday, January 3rd: The morning was bitter cold but my sister and I decided to bundle up and go on a walk anyway. We barely got around the block when I started feeling extra crampy and my face go numb from the extremely cold temperatures. After we got back home, I spent the rest of the morning working on addressing the birth announcement envelopes. As I worked on them, I kept feeling the cramps return at 20 minute intervals. I wondered if they were real contractions, but didnt think much about it since they didn't feel very painful.
Around noon, the cramps got more regular and closer together. By 1pm, they were slightly more powerful and ranging 3-5 minutes apart. We called my doctor and asked if we could come in early for our 40 week appointment, since we thought I was in early labor. My CNM examined me and said that I was dilated 3cm and 70% effaced. She said that I was awfully close to delivering. She felt that I should consider induction so that we could speed things up. I was hesitent because I figured that if I was already pretty close to the real deal, then I should just let my body continue to do the work on its own. She then said ok and talked to my ob/gyn.
He said that he was ok with whatever we wanted, but just wanted to make sure that we understood that there were pros and cons to both sides of the issue (induction vs waiting it out). He ran a biophysical profile and non-stress test and said that it appeared that both baby and me were fine. He asked me if I wanted to wait it out or wanted to hear more about various methods of induction. I didnt want to do anything chemical, but was willing to have my membranes swept.
After that procedure was completed, the contractions became even more organized, stronger, and closer together. We left the appointment and headed to Arby's since I missed out on lunch. That was the longest wait for a food order ever! I probably had 3-4 contractions while waiting for my food to arrive! We got my food to go and headed home. I scarfed down my food in between contractions and left for the hospital soon after.
We checked into the hospital at 4:45pm. Once we got to my labor & delivery room, I got comfy in a hospital gown and listened to my relaxation cds. After a while, I decided to have my water broken to speed things up a little more. That really helped. I went from 3cm to 7cm in about 2 hours. Soon after my 7cm measurement, I requested to have an epidural as the pain got way too difficult for me to handle.
The epidural was wonderful! I was so relaxed and sleepy. Unfortunately, as a result, my contractions slowed down dramatically. I was put on pitocin to speed things up, since my water was broken. After the pitocin kicked in, I felt every single contraction and lots of very painful pressure in my back and cervix. Pushing became very painful and expended all of my energy. The labor nurses recommended that I take a break to gather some strength back. I agreed, so they upped my epidural. It didnt help the pain at all - the contractions remained insanely painful. But the worst of it was that I was told not to push during these contractions since I was supposed to be "resting". They wanted me to "rest" for an hour, but I demanded that I start pushing earlier. We compromised and I started pushing again 45 minutes later.
However, that "resting" period did me wonders. The baby dropped really low and his head was starting to become visible during my pushes. This was a relief to me because the nurses were worried that the ob-gyn would have to use forceps or a vacuum to help deliver his head.
After 2.5 hours of pushing, our son was born!! Ethan Bradfield Lamb arrived Friday, January 4, 2008 at 1:34am. He weighed in at 9 pounds, 2 ounces and measured 20.5 inches long. He has a full head of blonde hair, big blue eyes, and healthy pink skin (he has a better tan than his Mommy!). In addition, he got 9 out of 10 points for both his Apgar scores.
Holding him for the first time felt like a dream! I couldnt believe he was mine!! Allen looked so unbelievably happy and proud when he saw his son for the first time. He couldnt take his eyes off of him.
During Ethan's evaluation, my ob/gyn sewed up my tear. Thankfully, the epidural was still somewhat effective and it didn't hurt too badly. Once he was finished, I had my first meal - saltine crackers, cranberry juice, mashed potatoes, mac & cheese, and roasted carrots. YUMMY! After two hours of waiting, we were transfered to the post-partum room. We didn't get any sleep that morning, as we were so excited about our little boy finally being born. The entire day was spent in that room eating hospital food and hanging out with our boy, visitors, and numerous hospital personnel. We got about 5 hours of sleep that night and felt a ton better the next day. The rest of our stay was much like the first day, filled with more visitors and tons of hospital food.
We left Northside hospital on Sunday afternoon. We were so excited to finally go home! My sister made us a Welcome Home dinner of fried chicken, pan fried potatoes, black eyed peas, and corn. Oh my gosh, that was the best meal EVER!! I couldnt get over how good everything tasted!!
Anyway, it was nice to be in the comfort of our home. The best part was sleeping in my bed next to my husband. For the first time in months, my bed felt comfortable - like sleeping on a cloud!! Of course, we havent slept that much due to taking care of little Ethan. It hasn't always been easy, but I wouldnt have it any other way!!
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