April 29, 2011- Ethan's birth

You're finally here!  Ethan, you will be 3 weeks old tomorrow.  I should have written this blog weeks ago.  I was just feeding you and saw a commercial about a Dad who writes to his daughter on the Web and it made me cry.  We love you so much Ethan.
Well, Dr. Campbell scheduled to have Kris and I go to Brookwood Medical Center and spend the night on Thursday, April 28th, and on Friday, April 29th the nurses started inducing labor.  We were so excited on Thursday.  We were taken to our hospital room, and met a few of the nurses.  Kris will remember their names, but I was saving my thoughts and energy for labor.  We went to sleep around 11pm, and at about 5am the nurse came in.  They started the Petocin.  She increased it until my contractions were so strong and close together that i was literally screaming with pain.  Yes, it hurt!  Kris, my mom, and the nurse were in the room and they tried to help the pain by telling me to breathe, and putting pressure on my back, but I thought I was dying.  It was horrible.  I dilated to 1.5 cm and they gave me the epideral.  They want to wait until 4 cm dilated, but I think I would have passed out before then.
After that, I could not feel my legs or pelvis.  Kris and my mom moved my legs for me to help me get comfortable.  It was weird.  My legs felt so heavy.  From then on, I didn't even know when I was having a contraction.  A few times I asked the nurse, "Was that a contraction?"
Dr. Campbell decided when I had only dilated to  6 cm, and Ethan couldn't get his head down far enough, that I needed to have a C-section.  I was fine with that, but it did make me cry.  I was scared.  I felt like I'd done something wrong and I was afraid I could die in surgery.  I know that is absurd.  It obviously was not my fault.  My mom had 3 C-sections.  It is also about a 1 in a trillion chance that I would die, but I really thought, ok.. this is it for me, and I prayed.
This was my first surgery.  I am lucky.  There was a lot of tugging and pulling, which was weird.  When they were getting Ethan out, the doctors said "here he is", "it's a boy", and "he's peeing."  That was funny.  I was so happy and relieved.  Kris cried.  I just laughed and couldn't believe what was happening.  I love taking myself back to that moment.  It was truly amazing.
Ethan weighed 7 lbs 15 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches long.  They brought him to me after cleaning him off and weighing him.  Kris was able to see him, and he looked at the surgery.  He is perfect.  I didn't sleep at all that night, and not much at all during the rest of our stay at the hospital.  We came home Monday afternoon.  I was exhausted the whole time.  I was also in pain.  It was hard to move when the medicine was wearing off.  I breastfed in the hospital.  Ethan was treated for juandis for a day.  Ethan looked so tiny under the light.  We talked to the lactation consultant and the pediatrician.  I'm glad we are home.  I will never forget that whole weekend experience!