Ethan’s Story –
Ethan James came into the world at 6:32am on 6/27/12. He was a healthy 8 lbs 10 oz and was 20 inches long. Ethan’s story is quite different than Noah’s, however, while Noah could be considered our “surprise”, Ethan was not so much.
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Last night as a Family of Three!
(Pardon our appearance. This was right before bed) |
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| About to head to the hospital. This is my only official belly pic! |
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| Daddy about to head to the hospital. |
When Noah was around 16 months old, we decided that we were ready for number 2. Well, as it turned out. God had different plans for us. When I was younger, I was told that it may complicated for me to have children. However, after Noah, we were naive to think that the 2nd time around would just happen. We were wrong.
After almost 17 months (of which 13 consisted of fertility treatments) of what consisted of a lot of ultrasounds, medicine, and (not-so-fun) shots, we found out last Halloween morning that Noah was going to have a baby brother or sister. We were so excited!!!! We actually had plans with some friends that night, but canceled because I was worried I would slip and say something. I will be honest. When you go a long period of time without the results you are hoping for, you tend to get a little discouraged and more cautious.
Although times were challenging, we knew that God was in charge, and that there was a special plan for us which turned out to be Ethan. I’ll admit. Although I would like to say that I was strong enough to be positive throughout the process, unfortunately, that was not always the song I was singing. Looking back, there were a lot of ups and downs, and most of the time I was just “confused”. Most times, when things do not go the way you “hope” them to, you tend to lose focus on the many blessings currently surrounding you. One of my many blessings was already having an amazing little boy (Noah), which certainly helped more than can be imagined. Plus, I don’t say this enough, but Ben was comforting and positive throughout the entire process. It seems so simple and is certainly easier said than done, but maintaining a positive perspective is key. Ben was the strong one and always reminded me that there truly was a plan. I couldn’t have done it without him. (He will probably read this and think to himself “man I don’t remember her thinking that” and “oh, I must have missed that part” J. Poor guy. I normally took out my frustration on him. Sorry Ben!).
I am not going to write out everything we experienced because there are many struggles out there whether it be infertility, bed rest, struggling to carry the baby, or something completely unrelated to having children that many people face and all are hard. That being said, if anyone wants to talk, I am more than happy to help and can be “all ears”. I think being able to compare stories helps as well. All that said, we are very thankful for our Specialist as well. I would be more than happy to recommend him (I have had 2 friends go to him and both are pregnant now). It is a hard thing to go through emotionally (and I continue to pray for those currently struggling), but you have to hold on to hope and understand that these moments are truly a small part of a bigger story that will be told some day.
Back to Ethan. Pregnancy was different this time around. The good news about going through a fertility specialist is that we got to see our little guy every week for 12 weeks, at which time I switched back to my normal OBGYN. We ultimately decided to wait until after this period to reveal the good news to our family and friends. It was difficult to hold back our excitement after getting to see him and not being able to tell anyone during this time. Plus, since I believe we were still in shock when we told our family that Noah was on the way, we wanted it to be an even bigger surprise this time around for Ethan.
My parents live in Virginia and we were there for Christmas this year. On Christmas Eve, we had my immediate family, grandparents, and cousins over to the house. For the big revelation, we had Noah open an early present from Santa Clause. The present was a “Big Brother Book” and, from there, the secret was out. Here is a short video of them finding out.
For Ben’s family, we made photo albums of Noah with pictures from age 2 to 3 and had the last picture be the one with Noah in a “Big Brother” shirt. It was so fun!
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| Waiting to head back to the operating room. |
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| Daddy and Ethan |
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| HERE HE IS!! |
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| Mommy and Ethan in recovery. |
Because I had a C Section with Noah, we made the decision with my doctor to have a C Section with Ethan as well. Let’s just say that the morning of June 27th was an early kickoff. By 4 am, we were showered, dressed, and headed to the hospital anxiously awaiting to meet our precious boy. This time we were a little more prepared (thankfully) as we had a bag for the hospital. My parents came in town the previous day to watch Noah, and (surprise) we even had a name. Around 4:45am, I got my IV, had some tests run, listened to the heartbeat for awhile, and around 6:15am they told us everyone was ready. I headed back to get my epidural and get situated. I realize that you can’t feel anything, but feeling the pressure makes me very nervous. It does not help having this big blue sheet up, so that you can’t see anything. I was so glad when they finally let Ben come back, he was not allowed to enter the operating room until after the Doctors had started. It’s kind of ironic really. Our challenge seemed to take an eternity, however, the Doctors had Ethan out in no time.
At 6:32am, our little baby boy was born. He has the longest little fingers and toes and has blond patches on his head where the hair is completely white. He also had the cutest double chin imaginable.
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| Precious little baby. |
Luckily, this little boy had a name. Don’t get me wrong, it took a long time to decide and I thought we were going to be in the same boat as before. However, about a week before he was due we finally made the decision. We were down to a couple of other names, but Ethan had always been on my mind. I mentioned it to Ben again, and he agreed. His middle name (James) was also perfect. My dad’s name is James which is also a special thing. It was one of those moments when you knew it was right. We still didn’t tell anyone (i) because we liked the surprise and (ii) I didn’t want to see him and realize he didn’t look like an Ethan but we had already told everyone that was his name.
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| Ben decided to play hangman with my parents to tell them the name. |
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Just chilling!
It is funny because this is exactly how Noah slept too! |
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| Daddy and Noah hanging out in Mommy's bed. |
Ethan's story can be summed up in this verse - “We prayed for this child and the Lord has granted us what we asked of Him.” - I Samuel 1:27
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| Sleeping Baby. |
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| Mommy Kisses! |
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Headed home.
Please excuse my outfit. They let us go home a day earlier, so I had to wear the clothes I came in because I didn't have an outfit to go home in. |
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| First car seat ride. |
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| First night at home with Noah. My sweet boys. We are so blessed. |
Just like Noah, this was one of the happiest days of our lives. We were blessed with another beautiful healthy boy! We can't wait to watch these two grow!
“Every good and perfect gift is from above.” – James 1:17 So true!
