Ethan's Arrival

Boy, I've really dropped the ball on this blog -- for that I apologize!  Well, lots has been happening since my last post.  I'll cut to the chase & fill you in on the biggest news of all....

Ethan David Logan was born on 5/30/08 at 3:47 pm.  Yes, his due date was actually 6/26/08 so he came a month early!

It was a rather surprising occurrence, but we knew she had been dilated 1 cm for about a week.  Her water slowly broke at about 2:45 am on Friday, May 30th.  We took off for the hospital after speaking with the doctor on call & she said, given the info Mel gave her, that we should go.  After Mel got her shower & packed her bag, we headed to Community South.  The contractions were fairly far apart, about 7 minutes.

We were checked in & by the time the paperwork was finished, her initial check was complete, she was still at 1 cm.  Her contractions still weren't bad, but they were increasing in strength.

Before we knew it, she was dilated to 4 cm.  As the contractions grew the nurse checked her an hour later & saw she was dilated to 8 cm!  At this time, the contractions were strong enough & we called for the epidural - it was only 7:30 am.  The block was administered without a hitch & it took effect slowly.

The nurse told us there would be a pretty good break while the block set itself.  This was good because her parents & sister had just arrived & with all the commotion, we needed a quick nap.

Shortly after our nap, they checked her again & she had dilated fully to 10+ cm & 100% effaced. Her family left the room & we knew things were about to get good.  The time?  12:30.

Our nurse readied the room for pushing & called the doctor.  She told us that the doctor was about 20 minutes away & instructed the 3 of us to begin pushing.  While I was surprised by this news, I thought, "Here we go!  Our time to shine!"

We began pushing & after a few good pushes, the doctor arrived at 1 pm & told us we were doing great job but to give Mel a break.  (I thought that was weird, considering how quick everything happened to this point.)  We broke for about 30 minutes before we started back up.

At 1:30 pm, we hit the main stretch -- & boy what a stretch it was.  From 1:30 pm to 3:47 pm was hard, frustrating work but the end result was so incredibly worth it.

At that time, we welcomed our first son into the world.  We were so excited.... an incredible miracle that God delivered us a healthy baby boy.

While they were cleaning up & taking care of Ethan -- I headed to the waiting room.  We knew there were people out there who were concerned because the first half of the day went by so quick, but the second half seemed to stand still forever.  As I opened the door, I saw that 15 people were waiting patiently.  Controlling my excitement, I filled them in, "He's HERE!"

The excitement was unbelievable.  Everyone erupted with joy & gathered around to see the few pictures I had taken.  Handshakes & hugs, congrats & questions, the entire gamut was covered.  After the all clear was given, family fled to Mel's room to congratulate her & to the viewing area to see Ethan getting his bath/tests done.

The experience was exhausting but exciting.  We couldn't have wished for a better staff or better situation.  Everyone was so great & informative.  They never made us feel stupid & always welcomed our questions.  They stayed patient with us with the swarms of visitors we had Friday night & all day Saturday.  Sunday was a relaxing day for us & after they finished the tests, we were discharged late Sunday night.

Welcome home, Ethan.  We love you.