Team Green --> Team Blue! Ethan is here - birth story and PIP :)

OK, so it's sort of old news now since he's 6 days old, but I haven't had a chance to post anything yet. So I'm AWing just a bit

And belated congrats to all the other moms who gave birth in the meantime!

Ethan Robert was born at 12:35 am on Friday February 25th, at 41w6d, 13 days past my due date (yes, everyone jokes that he takes after me because he was so late, but I say he's stubborn like his daddy!)  He was 7 lbs 15 oz, much smaller than we thought he would be, and 22 inches long.

I was induced beginning on the Tuesday, with Cervidil inserted, monitored for 2 hours and sent home til the next day. Wednesday we returned to the hospital to have it removed, and had another put in, since I wasn't dilated enough for my doc to want to begin the oxytocin. Thursday I was really hoping she would say that I was dilated enough, and finally I was, 3 cm and 100% effaced!  She broke my water around 1 pm, started the oxytocin around 3 pm, I had an epidural around 6 pm (best decision ever!), and by 9 pm I was 10 cm and they got me ready to push. After 2 hours of pushing, my doc determined that baby was sunny side up, and wasn't progressing through the birth canal as quickly as she had hoped. She paged the OB on call (since my doc isn't one, she is a GP who is part of a 10 woman team that practices low risk maternity care). The OB reached her hand into my ute, and with a flick of her (tiny) hand, turned him so that he was now facing the right way, and said, "There, that should make it easier for you to push. I'll be back in an hour to check on you". An hour later, he still hadn't made his way out, so the decision was made to try forceps, and if they didn't work, a C-section would be done since I had pushed for 3 hours and wasn't progressing. I was so exhausted at this point, I didn't care how they got him out!  We were told also that because there was so much meconium in the AF, that once he was out, they would quickly suction his nose and mouth before he could cry, to minimize the chances of him inhaling the meconium into his lungs. They called in the NICU team for this reason. So, with 11 medical personnel in the room and 6 final exhausting pushes, Ethan was born via forceps. He was whisked over to the exam table to be suctioned and cleaned, and DH and I held our breath while we waited for his cry, which came about 2 minutes later. DH then got to see him, and announce to me, "It's a boy!"  I cried and was so happy, and I had had a feeling the whole pregnancy that he was a boy.

Ethan was placed on my chest for a few minutes, but was grunting and having difficulty breathing, so he was taken to the NICU for monitoring. They figured some meconium had gotten into his lungs. He was fine about 4 hours later, and was released from the NICU. We stayed an extra day at the hospital, for both him and I to be monitored, since I had torn so badly from the forceps. I have a 3rd degree tear, a small internal first degree tear, and an episiotomy was done at the last second to get his shoulders out. Still in pain, BTW, and still swollen. Totally worth it in the end though, just like every other mom on here has said!

Here is my sweet little guy, all stained from the meconium:

Thanks for reading!