The Arrival of Baby Swan!

While the story is still fresh in my mind and baby swan is currently sleeping next to me, I thought I'd take the time to document the story of baby swan's arrival into the world.  This is mostly for me, so I remember the details of the labor and delivery of baby swan.  I'll try not to include too many graphic details, but consider yourself warned.

It all started Saturday, October 9th.  Kevin and I spent the day doing some yard work and trying to pass time while we still waited for baby swan.  We also had plans with my sister, Katie and her boyfriend that evening.  Kevin and I finally had plans after sitting around waiting for baby swan!  We went to my parents for cards and the Twins game with Katie and Chris.  We'd only been at the house for about 30 or 45 minutes.  Chris was talking to me about waiting and how I was handling it.  I made some off the shoulder comment about how people who's water breaks have it easy, they know that the baby is coming soon.  I'd been having some contractions on and off all day, but nothing really out of the ordinary.  In hind sight, I must have known something was different because I had this weird nagging feeling in the back of my head.  At one point I told Kevin to feel how rock hard my stomach was, and confided quietly that I'd been having contractions on and off all afternoon and evening.  It was then I decided I needed to use the restroom.  While walking across the kitchen at my parents house I felt a trickle, I started silently questioning myself if I had just peed my pants or if it was my water breaking.  It was confirmed shortly it was my water breaking, 8pm Saturday evening.  I discretely tried to tell Kevin we needed to head home, but realized I was never going to be able to leave without telling my family, so everyone there got to find out...baby swan would be arriving shortly (just not as short as we all originally thought!).

I called the midwife on-call on the way home and she told me to come in at 8:00am Sunday morning if I didn't get uncomfortable before then, but she thought she would see me in a few hours.  Kevin and I got home and started reading through the material for the hospital brushing up on what we needed to know.  I continued to have contractions, but not regularly and they weren't making me uncomfortable.  Around midnight I decided we need to head to bed and attempt to get some sleep.  Of course, who was I kidding...we were both too anxious and excited to really get quality sleep.  7am rolled around and I decided it was time to wake up and get ready to head into the hospital...only problem was, I didn't feel any contractions.  I felt like an idiot checking into the hospital without any contractions, and I started doubting that it was truly my water that broke the night before (even though I knew it was and Kevin kept reassuring me it was what I thought it was).  I got put into a triage room and the midwife came to check me.  My water did in fact break and I was 3cm dialted and 80% effaced.  Not much progress since my appointment, but a little.  They started IV fluids and told me that I'd be starting pitocin soon to get the labor moving.

Once into our delivery room and the Pitocin was started Kevin and I started making bets about when baby swan would make his arrival.  This was at 11am Sunday, October 10I can't remember what either of us guessed, but it was definitely that he would be born on 10-10-10.  We also called Bubba to wish her a Happy Birthday and let her know we'd be missing out on her birthday celebration, but that we'd likely have a gift for her later...little did we know.  So the Pitocin was running and Kevin and I were hanging out watching football all Sunday afternoon.  My contractions started getting stronger, but nothing I couldn't handle.  At 5:30pm my contractions were starting to make me pretty uncomfortable and I was waiting for the midwife to deliver another baby before I would be checked, so I decided to take a bath and try and relax.  The nurse turned off the lights and put a flashlight in the room, Kevin put the Ipod and speaker and I hung out by myself in the tub, singing along to the music whenever I had a contraction.  It was while I was in the tub, I decided I may need pain medication, but didn't want to make the decision until I knew how far along I had progressed.  The midwife came in and checked me and took the wind out of my sails...I was only 5 cm dialted and 100% effaced.  I had been laboring for 7.5 hours and hadn't progressed much at all.  I decided the epidural was needed and it couldn't come soon enough.

The epidural was a life saver.  I was able to sleep a little and just be more comfortable in general.  Kevin and I quickly realized that baby swan was likely not going to arrive 10-10-10.  When the midwife said goodbye to me at 7pm and told me she'd be back at 7am and she hoped I had a baby by then I thought she was kidding. I never thought it would take another 12 hours for me to have a baby, but she was just about right.  There were several times over the next few hours that I cried to Kevin that I wouldn't be able to do it.  I couldn't take anymore.  Kevin was awesome and kept telling me I had more strength than I knew and I could keep going.  It was what I needed to keep moving forward.At some point during the night they realized that baby swan had pooped in the womb and we would need more staff at his birthday party.  This made me nervous, but I was just focusing on having a healthy baby.  At 3:30am the midwife came to check me and told me that I was 10cm dialted and 100% effaced, but the baby was still a little high...she also told me I could start pushing.  The only problem was, I couldn't feel my contractions, just one painful spot on my pelvis.  We then decided that we'd wait a half hour and see if he'd dropped down any farther.  It was at 4am on Monday, October 11 that I truly started pushing.  I pushed for a half hour and felt like I made no progress, no one was telling me anything.  I started crying to Kevin telling him I couldn't do it, I didn't have anything left in me.  He kept telling me what he'd been telling me all night, that I could in fact do it and he would help in any way he could.  So at 4:30am I put my mind to it and started pushing like crazy.  I don't remember at what time, but suddenly the midwife said, you've done awesome we're going to have a baby.  This seemed surreal and the actual birth of baby swan seemed too easy.  So after 2 hours and 11 minutes of pushing...Ethan Daniel Trauscht was born at 6:11am weighing in at 8lbs 15oz and 22 inches long!  He also had a huge 15 inch head!  Due to the meconinium, I wasn't allowed to hold Ethan right away.  He was quickly wisked away after delivery to be checked and make sure everything was okay.  I wasn't able to hold him in my arms until he was almost 45 minutes old.  

So, the labor and delivery were about as far from what I thought would happen or could plan for, but in the end Kevin and I ended up with the most perfect little boy and we couldn't be happier.  The hospital stay was nothing like I envisioned either.  We ended up having to follow Ethan's blood sugar, feed him formula, deal with massive spitting up and trying to learn to how to breastfeed.  It was a whirlwind of things going on and we ended up home Tuesday night at 9pm.  Kevin and I were both exhausted and couldn't believe he was home.  Now just a few short days later...I'm feeling less sleep deprived, more confident in my ability as a mother and lucky as ever to have the most awesome husband in the world.  Truly this experience has brought Kevin and I so much closer together.  Kevin dealt with and did more than I ever thought he would and was my rock throughout the whole experience.  True to Kevin's form...he helped ease my anxiety, reassure my abilities and knowledge of what is right.  I'm so much more in love with him now than I was just a few short days ago.  Seeing Kevin as a dad is everything I thought he'd be.  It's obvious how much he adores Ethan and wants to be the best dad and husband in the world and he is.  I'm so lucky!!

If you've made it through this monster post, congratulations!  As soon as I find my camera charger and cord, I'll post pictures of Ethan.  I already have more pictures of this little man than I know what to do with, but I can't help document all of his cute little quirks!  So that's the update from the Swan family, we finally have a baby and are so head over heels in love with him!