Ethan Timothy Robbe (6lbs, 13 ounces // 19 inches)

Many of you have been asking questions about me, Ethan, the delivery...etc.  Rather than respond individually (100x), I decided to write everything out in a blog post for everyone to read :)  I have some downtime as Matt is sleeping on the cot next to me and baby Ethan is "burrito-wrapped" and cooing next to me.  Ethan keeps smiling in his sleep and I thought, "Wow, what a happy baby..." but realize he's probably just passing some gas...HAHAH!!

Anyways, here's the beautiful, miracle story (the quick version).  On Tuesday (8/14/12) around 5:00am, I started to feel some contractions.  We headed to the hospital around 7:30am and found out that I was indeed going into labor.  The contractions were bad, but tolerable.  Many of you know how worried I was about all the pain.  Well, here's the kicker.  I received my epidural around 10:00am and felt great.  In total, I was in labor for 12 hours (not too shabby).  I was awake, talking politics and having a great time up until it was time to push.  But then the story gets even BETTER!!  The nurse came in and said, "You are 10 centimeters, plus 2 dilated...you ready?"  I said "Let's do it."  She goes, "The doctor is down the hall but let's go ahead and try a practice push."  I pushed and everyone's eyes bulged!!  The nurse immediately said, "Get the doctor, she's crowning."  Apparently just one push and Ethan's head was exposed.  But wait...it gets even better!!  My wonderful doctor got there and after 2 pushes, Ethan was here.  I didn't feel any pain.  My doctor exclaimed, that in all her years of practice, that may have been the easiest, quickest and most Olympic 1st birth that she had ever seen.

Wow!!  Typically I am not one to brag, but I was pretty darn happy that things turned out this way.  Many of you know that I have been terrified about the pain.  When you are pregnant, everyone offers their most horrendous and nauseating stories of how their pregnancy went...or their moms...or their friends....or their friend's friend's mom's second cousin, LOL.  I have heard it all.  I have always embraced the stories and just taken them as good info...but many of them put a deep fear in me.  Luckily, I am one of the few that was blessed enough to experience an (almost) pain/stress-free delivery!!  PRAISE GOD!!!

When Ethan came out and I heard his cry and saw his face, an overwhelming emotion came over me.  I broke down into tears and couldn't believe that I had actually been carrying this sweet and most precious life inside of me.  He is perfect.  His skin is so soft and smells so good.  When he looks up at me, I melt.  I am just truly speechless...I feel so blessed to have this beautiful healthy boy.

Matt has been the sweetest and most supportive husband throughout this entire process.  Talk about falling in love all over again.  He has been there every step of the way and I couldn't have done it without him!!

Oh a few more things.  I had a few quizzes on my blog and here were the results:

- Ethan has BLUE eyes (only one person guessed this)
- Ethan came 8 days before my due date (nobody guessed he would come early)

...and the last thing.  Ethan has my nose but also has dad's dimple in the chin!!  So precious: