Announcing Ethan Madden Mathews

Ethan Madden Mathews was born on August 18, 2007 at 8:56 am. He weighed 8 pounds 8 ounces and was 20.5 inches long. I started having labor pains Thursday night and went to my doctor's appointment Friday morning to see if I was close to having the baby. My doctor, Dr. Fagnant, said that I was in early labor and that the contractions would either get stronger throughout the day or they might go away and it could still be a week before the baby was born. When I got home from the doctor's office the contractions slowly subsided and I was so bummed out because I was really anxious to have the baby. So I decided to go to the mall and walk around for a couple hours to see if I could get things going again. The walking helped and by that night I was having more and more contractions that were closer and closer together. By 4 am they were pretty bad so we decided to go to the hospital. When I got there they checked me in and said I was dialated to a 5 and I was 80% effaced. Then they moved me to the delivery room and while they were getting me hooked up and putting in the IV (which took the nurse THREE tries!) my water broke. Can I just say that is the weirdest thing I have ever experienced! So then the nurse called the anestesiologist to come do the epidural. By this time the contractions were very painful and I was shaking all over. When the anestesiologist came in he was half asleep and according to Kade he kept dropping things as he was preparing to give me the epidural! But once I got that, the pain was gone and the next hour and a half were actually quite peaceful. The epidural made me pretty groggy so I don't remember much until the delivery. Once the nurse came in and checked me for the last time I was fully dialated and ready to go. Dr. Fagnant arrived and after pushing for maybe 15 minutes Ethan was born. I think I only had to push through 3 or 4 contractions. Ethan was born posterior with his face pointing up and according to Kade is was really weird to see him come out face up. The delivery went very smoothly and I know I am very lucky to have such smooth deliveries.
Our neighbors who were watching Kellin for us were the first to visit. Kellin was excited to meet his new baby brother but was also pretty distracted because our neighbors have three boys and they were all more interested in exploring the hospital room and hallway than in the sleeping baby. But after they left, Kellin climbed up on the bed next to me to meet his baby brother and give him a kiss on the forehead. I was amazed when I had Ethan at how much he looked like Kellin when he was born. I thought I had forgotten a lot of the details of Kellin's birth but when I saw Ethan I was flooded with memories of when Kellin was born. Although they are not identical, they do have some very similar features, especially their lips and nose. I think it was difficult for Kellin to wake up on Saturday morning and not have his mom and dad at home. Although this threw him for a loop and as a result he was very clingy with me and Kade, I think he is doing very well adjusting to the new baby. He loves Ethan very much and is always giving him kisses and trying to tickle his little feet.
Kade was absolutely wonderful through the whole delivery, always very supportive and helpful. It was a different experience this time around because we didn't have any family at the hospital during the delivery, so it was just me and Kade throughout the whole delivery. It felt weird at first to not have anyone else there but I really enjoyed sharing the experience with just my husband. It was very calm and peaceful. Later after the delivery, Kade took Kellin to the store to pick out a present for the baby and a present for me which turned out to be a present for the baby and a present for Kellin (a hot wheels toy) which was great because it kept Kellin occupied in the boring hospital room. I am grateful that I have such a supportive and loving husband and that my boys have such a caring and devoted daddy.