Ethan's Birth Story

I have had a lot of people ask me about my birth story...so here we go!

I went to bed on Saturday May 12th with a crampy stomach ache. I decided that I should just go to bed and that it will disappear in the morning. Well it was still there at 2:30am when I woke up to use the bathroom. It kept me up, along with the contractions that I was beginning to have about every 7-10 minutes or so. I tried to sleep but it was not going to happen. I woke Jim up about an hour later when they were 5 minutes apart and really beginning to hurt. We were going to try and wait until 5am to go to the hospital, but after beginning to bleed and not being able to rest anymore because of the pain of the contractions, off to the hospital we went at about 4:30am. When we arrived, I was already 3 cm dilated and 100% effaced and my contractions were now every 3 minutes. To try and help relieve them, I sat in the bathtub for about 45 minutes and that really help ease the pain, but it was still there. At about 7am, the resident on call (who delivered Ethan because my OB was out of town) checked me and I was 4-5 cm dilated. At about 9:30am when the pain was too much for me to handle, I received an interthecal (which is like and epidural but only numbs the pain, not the pressure or feeling that you have and it only lasts 6-8 hours). I rested and watched Plant Earth for the next couple of hours while I continued to dilate. At about 12:00pm, I was fully dilated and ready to push!! This part of my birthing story was the hardest and toughest thing I have ever done, but also the most beautiful thing that I have ever done. After changing multiple positions and pushing hard for three and a half hours, on May 13, 2007 (Mothers Day!!!) @ 3:31 pm Ethan James Jastifer was brought into the world. With a blubbering mother and a proud and happy father, we were able to meet our little guy. After secretly telling myself he looks like an Ethan (and his father!) and Jim saying the same thing, there was no question as to what his name will be. He weighed 8 pounds 2 ounces and was 21 inches long. He was perfect and we are so excited to have him in our life!!