Ethan Aridae Israel Burke has arrived!

For pictures, go here: (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2562714&id=7024408&l=3044335518)

Well, Saharh was sure it would never happen, even though it was inevitable. Ethan Aridae Israel, arrived at 9:40 AM on January 13th, 2011. He was seven pounds, eight ounces and twenty and two-thirds inches long at birth. The entire labor was around fifteen hours long, starting with some fairly strong contractions at 6pm on the 12th. As I started grabbing hospital bags, I asked the Lord if that was the night and He said 'Yes, son...here he comes.' Peace and determination came over us as we prepared the bags and headed toward the hospital.


We arrived at the hospital around 7pm and the contractions were already bordering on the unbearable side for Saharh. The on-call doctor arrived and much to our elation, shared with us that we were looking at 6-8 hours of labor, combined with a couple of hours of pushing. The only thing that registered in my head was 'oh boy' and that peace started to get hit with fatigue.

Ok, so the hospital considers 'active labor' at 4cm dialation. However, try telling Saharh that she wasn't in active labor at 2am on the 13th, even though she was only 3cm at that time. The contractions, in combination with the back labor (a term I'm using to describe the severe backpain she had after each contraction) were painful for me and I wasn't even the one going through them! Saharh's labor coach arrived early during the labor and we took turns massaging different spots on the back, helping her move around and occassionally breathing in her face (that last one wasn't a good thing for all you future dads out there).

Around 2:30 am, we asked the nurse how far she had progressed as the pain was getting more severe every half hour. Keep in mind that Saharh was attempting to go completely unmedicated through this, so she had no pain medication at the time. The nurse said that she hadn't progressed in the last four hours and Saharh said,"Oh come on!" The difficulty breathing, combined with some dehydration started to raise her anxiety over the baby's saftey, but the doctors re-assured us that all of his vitals looked great. This helped a little, but ultimately Saharh decided to accept some demoral so she could calm down, get hydrated and slow her breathing.

Although the medication helped her rest a little, she basically woke up for every contraction and this continued until 5am. The meds started to wear off and that's when things really started to get interesting. The nurses came and said that she had just hit 5cm so now she was in 'active labor'. Saharh's parents were in the family waiting room so I went to tell them an update on Saharh's progress. By the time I got back, she was 7cm and her water had already broken! I had promised her parents an update by 8am, thinking things would continue to progress slowly, but I didn't have another opportunity to update anyone.

Saharh reached the full 10cm around 7:30 am and the nurse gave her the go ahead to start pushing. By 9:00am she was ready to deliver and the doctor arrived to complete the task. Now, I was determined to play centerfield during this whole event and not catcher. I knew that I may or may not be prepared for everything so I stayed next to Saharh's head the whole time. However, when I observed the doctor putting on galoshes, gloves that went to her neck and a blast shield over face...I became somewhat alarmed.

Shortly after the doctor was in position, we were able to see Ethan's head. A couple of pushes later, out came a lizard. :) All Bill Cosby jokes aside, Ethan looked great and almost immediately after he'd been born, Saharh scooped him up into her arms. Saharh would later look at the nurses and say,"Since I took Demoral, does that mean that I didn't go all natural?" The nurses replied that as far as they were concerned, she certainly did. She managed to go without an epidural after all, though they may not have had time to apply one anyway.

That lizard...ahem...boy...was Ethan Aridae Israel Burke and he looked great! He cried for a couple of minutes but calmed down shortly after being so close to his mother. Eventually they cleaned him up and several minutes later, we were headed upstairs to their room. The doctors and nurses were both very impressed with Saharh's controlled nature. She only broke one of their arms and the window can easily be replac... :) But seriously, Dr. Duke commented on more than one occassion on how controlled Saharh seemed to be. Saharh would later say she didn't feel that way, but I was impressed with the way she handled it all.

We also wouldn't have done very well without her birth coach, Shannon Rossi. At one point in time, I had to get some rest and wouldn't have managed the two hour nap without Shannon being there to help while I was out.

Even with the peace that God gave us for the experience, it wouldn't have been the successful delivery that it was, without His being there with us. When things got severe, Saharh would say to herself,"Your grace is sufficient" and continue enduring. When I began to panic in my mind, His voice would say, "I have her son, it's going to be ok." I had a difficult time listening and believing, but His assurance remained and soon after, we had Ethan in our arms.

For pictures, go here: (http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2562714&id=7024408&l=3044335518)