Happy Birthday Little Buddy

I remember it like yesterday.  Nine years ago I was pacing the floors at our house.  I had worked a full day, even making home visits, all while going through early labor pains.  I remember sitting in a meeting and every once in a while I would have to stop talking and take a deep breath.  My supervisor kept asking me if I was ok.  If I remember correctly I went home a little early that day.  Of course Ethan wasn't due for two more weeks so I thought it was Braxton Hicks contractions. 

I fed Darren & Miranda dinner and got Miranda to bed.  I remember not being able to sit down all evening.  I was just pacing back and forth breathing.  I decided this was the real deal, I was actually in labor. After Miranda & Darren went to bed I spent the next few hours going from shower, to bath, to my exercise ball.  Finally around 3:30a.m. I woke up Darren and said it was time to go to the hospital.  I called the midwife and she said "make sure you don't wait too long".  I called my parents to come sit with Miranda.  Around 4:00a.m. we were finally off to the hospital.  The drive there was interesting.  I was very uncomfortable sitting down and I kept thinking can't you go any faster.  I knew we were running out of time. 

We got to the hospital and they insisted that I sit in a wheelchair.  I remembering yelling at them that I did NOT want to sit down.  We got upstairs and they started doing the paperwork and checked me out.  The midwife came in and immediately asked if they had checked to see how far I was.  The nurse said they had just checked me.  The midwife could tell by the look on my face and said you might want to check her again.  Yep I was ready!!  We didn't even get all the paperwork filled out. 

Ethan started having a hard time and his blood pressure dropped.  I remember going to the bathroom and hearing the nurse talking to Darren.  They put oxygen on me and said we need to get him out.  It only took a couple of pushes and a very blue little boy came flying out at 5:09a.m. weighing 5lbs 5oz and 19 inches long.  I was later told that they were only giving me a few more minutes before they had to do an emergency C-section. Again, after the fact, my mom said as soon as I saw him I walked out of the room and called your dad and told him to start praying.  Ethan had the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck and he had a bowl movement.  His temperature was really low and so was his blood sugar. They took him to the nursery for observation for a couple of hours before I could have him back.  Amazingly he did great and we went home after only 24 hours. 

Car Dancing

I have had several people say they would love to see what it's like every day in our house.  Well, here is an example of a typical car ride with us.  I did not even notice until I went back to watch the video that Gabriel was asleep in the back seat during all this noise.