When it came time for mom to tell dad that she was expecting, she wrapped a book for him that she had bought and saved. Mom must love to read because she brought along some Dr Seuss books for Ethan’s Newborn Session.
Mom had quite a bit of fun when she and dad decided to tell the family that they were expecting. Mom, a lover of cupcakes, created individual diaper cupcakes and took them to a family event, leaving them on the counter for all to see. Dad’s mother and sister were the first to find out and they were beyond thrilled, as Ethan is the first grand-baby and great-grand-baby on dad’s side.
While mom loves her cupcakes, dad loves his Star Wars. Almost since the beginning of mom and dad’s marriage, dad had been telling mom he wanted their firstborn son to be named Luke. However, mom is a teacher and had taught a Luke nearly every school year. Dad is Hawaiian and mom cherished the idea of bringing some of his heritage into baby’s name, but both parents felt as if none of the names fit their little guy. Then they settled on the name Malachi. After some time though, both confessed that neither really wanted that name for their baby boy. One day, mom just threw out the name Ethan. It grew on dad and by the end of the pregnancy both mom and dad loved the name for their little guy.
Mom’s birth story is quite the tale! At 2:00 in the morning on Wednesday, February 4th, mom woke up to use the restroom. She soon realized that it wasn’t just her bladder waking her up. Her contractions were quickly spaced 5-6 minutes apart. Mom stayed in bed; however, and got a bit more sleep. By 4:00, mom had been having steady contractions 5 minutes apart for over an hour, which is when the doctor had told her to head to the hospital. She got out of bed and took care of a few things before waking dad up – she brushed her teeth, fixed her hair, ate breakfast, and made sure everything was packed for the hospital. At 4:45, she woke up dad and let him know that it was time to head to the hospital. He loaded up the truck and escorted mom out.
Upon arriving at the hospital around 5, mom was informed that she was not dilated enough and would have to walk around for a while in order to move things along. She was rechecked and sent home. They arrived home just after 7 and spent the next six hours there. Meanwhile, dad “was amazing at helping me through the contractions – he pretty much remembered everything we had learned in our prenatal class!,” mom said.
By 2:30 p.m. mom and dad were back at the hospital. Progress was slow enough that they were give the option to be admitted or go home. After choosing to be admitted, Mom labored in the tub for about and hour-and-a-half, eventually deciding to get an epidural.
By 8:30 mom was only dilated 4 cm. At 9:45 the doctor broke her water and told her to get some sleep. The next few hours were beyond frightening for dad. Mom; however, has no memory of them. Around 12:30 a.m. Ethan’s heart rate had dropped dangerously low, causing alarms to ring. Nurses came running in and the anesthesiologist was called to give medicine to mom which would hopefully raise Ethan’s heart rate. Unfortunately, it did not. An operating room was prepped and while it was, the doctor periodically decreased mom’s medicine while rotating her position in bed. Thankfully, Ethan’s heart rate responded to this positively, until it was back to a safe rate. By this point; however, mom’s epidural was completely turned off. Mom was eventually woken to an intense pressure, which turned into painful contractions. She was going to deliver naturally!
The next few hours were rough for mom but dad was, “An amazing coach.” As the labor became more difficult dad’s coaching intensified as he kept reminding mom to breathe. Mom said, “It was helpful to be able to focus more on his forceful “In!” “Out!,” and less on the pain of each contraction.” Some time later, the doctor had a nurse bring in a mirror so that mom could see her progress. “It was incredibly motivating to be able to see the head and actually watch Ethan being born, and it’s an image I never want to forget,” mom said.
Ethan was born at 4:38 a.m. on Thursday, February 5th. After the delivery, one of the baby specialists was concerned about his color. Fortunately, Ethan was fine and he and mom spent the next hour skin-to-skin, with Daddy close by.
The love mom and dad have for Ethan is evident in the last two photos from his newborn session. He is one lucky little guy!
Jeri Hoag Photography specializes in newborn, baby, maternity, birth, children and family photography in South Bend, Indiana and surrounding areas including but not limited to Granger and Elkhart.