Erika Bonham dot com

December 10, 2004

I have been a mommy for a little over a week now. It’s hard for me to believe a week has already gone by. It has been a good week… a week of adjustment. I would have written sooner, but all my time has been consumed by starring at the little guy and doing all I can to keep from eating his little lips and ears and various other tiny little body parts. He is so precious and has the sweetest little disposition. I am hoping he will stay this way.

Ethan Emil was born on December 1st at 11:58 AM. He weighed 8 lbs, 5 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long.

I was up all night before going to the hospital. Just when I would start to think that, yea, this is it and we should go, my contractions would become shorter or irregular again. It was a frustrating and somewhat painful night. At about 6 AM on December 1st, I convinced myself that we should go to the hospital halfway expecting they would send us home when we got there. I was having lots of back labor and it was getting pretty intense. So, we headed to the hospital. We got there at 6:30 and had to wait in the waiting room till about 8, as there were no rooms available. So, I sat in the waiting room, contracting, with instructions to stay put unless my water broke. Around 8:30, they took me back and it just so happened my doctor was there. She checked me and I was 5 cm and 100% effaced. I was shocked. She broke my water at that point and all the pain I was having multiplied by 10. I decided an epidural was exactly what I wanted. It took FOREVER to get one, but the anesthesiologist finally came and it was the best thing ever. I was so comfortable. I could feel enough to push when the time came, but the pain was gone and it was great. Right as the epidural started to take effect, the nurse decided it was time to check me and I was dilated to 10 cm and ready to push. I couldn’t believe it. It made me wonder where I was prior to the epidural and if I could have made it without it, but I can’t complain. The epidural, like I said, was the best thing ever. So, epidural around 10:30, pushing started at 11:00, and baby Ethan born at 11:58. Couldn’t have been better. We stayed in the hospital for two days and I got a private room (usually post partum rooms are shared with another mom and baby, so I lucked out.)

Everything has been great and the little guy is so good. The only hiccup is that he has jaundice, badly enough that he needs to be under these ultraviolet lights as much as possible and we have to take him to get his blood drawn almost everyday. We saw his pediatrician yesterday and he thinks that he will be back to normal by Sunday and we will be able to ditch the blankets. For the time being, he lays so sweetly in his Moses basket with his UV lights on and looks like a glow worm. We couldn’t be happier and we are actually getting some sleep. What more can we ask for?

♥