Welcome baby Ethan!

Ethan Thomas Hipple was born at 7:30am July 5 and what an entrance he made! I had woken up around 2:30am July 4th with regular contractions that were getting closer together. "This is it!" I thought. I got out of bed, cleaned the house (I didn't want my mother-in-law to come find a dirty house while I was in the hospital!), packed a few final items in the hospital bag, ate a little breakfast, and was about to take a shower when the contractions started getting further apart and less painful. By that time it was 6:30am and I was exhausted. Quite disappointed I laid down and fell asleep.

Then around 2:30am on July 5th I again woke up with regular contractions that were getting closer together, except this time the contractions were even more painful. I wanted to believe I was actually in labor, but what if I wasn't... Anyway, I got up, cleaned the house again, packed a few more things in the hospital bag, and ate some breakfast. By this time it was 4:30am, the contractions were practically making me double over in pain, so I realized it was probably time to wake Mark up. We finally got out of the house at 5:30am, dropped Cala off with a friend, and sped off (literally) to the hospital.

We got to the hospital at 6:00am. When the nurse checked me around 6:30am I was dialated to 3cm. I couldn't believe that was it! Then the contractions got even more painful and close together as the nurse calmly sat by my bed asking me about allergies, how I learn best, and what my demeanor typically is. I told her I was usually calm and thought to myself that I was going to kill her if she didn't get me an epidural SOON! When I asked about the epidural she told me that there was someone else ahead of me and she really couldn't predict how long it would take for me to get one.

Around 7:15am, I thought I was going to die I was in so much pain from the contractions (obviously no epidural yet). I was sitting on the side of the bed during the next contraction and all of the sudden my body started pushing. There was no nurse in sight as Mark frantically pounded the nurse call button. A few minutes later a nurse walked in and asked what we needed. I told her that I felt like I needed to push during the contractions. She checked me and I was fully dialated. Surprised she called for back up and two more nurses hurried in. They got me back on the bed and told me to slow down while they got their gloves on! I pushed about 3 more times screaming my head off the whole time (I have never heard sounds like that come out of my mouth before), and Ethan was born at 7:30am (with no epidural!) still in the amniotic sac. A nurse later told me that other cultures consider that a sign of greatness and good luck. Then about 15 minutes later, the midwife hurried in...

He's a tiny guy, even smaller than Cala was, weighing in at 6lbs. 8oz. and 20 1/2 in. long.

Cala was VERY happy to come to the hospital to see us...

...and admire her new baby brother.

I can't believe we have 2 kids! (and don't you just love that sexy hospital gown with the poofy sleeves?!)

Proud Grandma!

Tired Daddy.

The view from my hospital room.

Going home.

Ethan is such a calm little guy. He just loves to nurse (maybe a little too much since he wants to practically every hour!). We love him so much and are so happy to have him as a part of our family.