"Little Peanut" has ARRIVED!!!

We are VERY proud to announce the arrival of our little guy, Ethan Thomas Sears!! Yes,"little peanut" is a BOY!!! He was born EARLY on Thursday, July 8th, at 5:27am. He weighs a whopping 9lbs. and is 21 inches long. He has very soft dark hair right now, although we are anxious to see if he will be another strawberry blonde child like his sissy. He's got the longest toes that curl up like little fingers and big hands- daddy definitely might have his basketball stud already! :)He is doing well now and is definitely a cuddle bug! Payton is still trying to get used to the idea of him, but is intrigued. We couldn't possibly think to have a more perfect little boy and think our family is so fun now being 4!!!!

Here is his story of how he came to meet us all:

I had been having contractions for over a week, but nothing that was screaming "hospital time." My due date was actually today, July 10th, and I was determined to not go over! :)I woke up Thursday morning at around 1am with some stomach pains- later determining were contractions. After second-guessing myself over and over and getting up and laying back down a few times, we called the Dr. around 3am and headed to the hospital to get checked out. Like I was with Payton, I was nervous, with my stomach feeling like it was in my throat. I was filled with so many emotions- joy and excitement that it could finally "be time", but fear of what was to come and if they would just send me home. I was thinking- do I remember how to do this whole "having a baby thing?" We arrived at the hospital around 3:15am. It didn't take long before three- YES THREE- nurses were checking me, all determining that something wasn't quite right. They didn't think that little peanut was head down. I, being so positive at the time, didn't think much of it and thought that he would have time to turn around, but Kyle put things together quickly and asked what that meant. Yes indeed, if he was not head down, it would mean C-Section. Those words brought instant tears to my eyes, which I fought back HARD. Instead fear set in. A C-Section was always something I said I hoped I would NEVER have to go through. To confirm, my doctor arrived and they did an ultrasound. Yes siree....his head was up on my left side, and both feet were down. Breech baby. So, I got the word that my baby was deciding to come into the world a different route than what was planned. Again, I fought back tears with those words. I had no idea that I was actually progressing VERY fast, so they needed to prep and perform the surgery as soon as possible. I went from a girl showing up at the hospital fearing I would be sent home to wait longer, to a terrified girl about to go into surgery. My hands were shaking, my stomach was in knots (not to mention the hard contractions throughout), and tears were just waiting to unleash. Our families were quickly called and Kyle was given his VERY attractive green scrubs, which were capris on him. He was too cute! :) My parents arrived and one look at my mom and dad, and I lost it! The flood gates opened and there was no stopping the tears. They were being very strong for me, assuring me it was best and that I would be just fine, but I know it was hard on them too. No one had planned this "meeting" quite this way.

Next thing I knew, I was being wheeled down the hall to the OR. Kyle was told to wait outside until I was completely prepped and they took me in. The room was FREEZING!! My shaky hands continued! They gave me a new form of an ultrasound where it was just a single shot and nothing continually hooked up to my back. Quickly I was moved to the table, lost feeling it most of my body, was behind a curtain. Kyle joined me at this point, grabbing my shaky hands and trying to assure my fear AND tear-filled eyes that it would be ok. I was SO scared, not knowing how I was going to do knowing 'what' was about to happen behind that curtain. And to be honest, I was also so scared that I would all of the sudden FEEL it too. Little did I know that this medicine wouldn't allow any of that. I quickly told Kyle- "Why didn't I have this medicine when Payton was born?? This stuff is great!" It seemed like just a few minutes and we heard the words "There are his legs!" At this point Kyle was told he could watch them pull him out if he wanted, so he stood up in time to see our child express his first bit of a stubborn side. As the doctors pulled his legs out, he proceeded to pull them right back in- 3 TIMES!!! They actually struggled to get him out, which we later found out was because he was SO BIG! Then came the words we were anxiously awaiting- "IT'S A BOY!" Let me just tell you, the look on Kyle's face as he heard the news of his baby boy was PRICELESS! His smile couldn't have been any cuter and we knew we were shortly going to meet our precious Ethan Thomas! Right about then, Kyle's expression changed and so did his position. He quickly went from standing and watching to sitting and laying his head on the table next to mine. His face went white and he got light headed- he says too much pulling the legs out and watching Ethan pull them back in- it just did him in. :) Poor guy- I give him props for even looking in the first place! After a few short minutes and a cold towel for his head, he was back to daddy duties, taking pictures and holding his son for the first time! It was priceless- a moment I will NEVER forget!!!

After getting "Humpty Humpty" put back together (ME!) I was given my baby boy to hold as well. My hands were still shaky but it felt amazing to finally be holding my baby boy! I absolutely loved finally seeing his little face, fingers, and toes- all things I wondered about for the last 9 months. It is amazing, when you are holding your precious child, how quickly you forget any pain, discomfort, or problems that came with pregnancy. It is ALL worth it, and something I would do over and over for the miracle at the end!! (NO, I am not saying I am going to do this over and over and over....we will just have to wait and see about that! ha!) After a while in recovery, we were wheeled back to our room, where Ethan met Grammie and Papa (my parents), Grandma and Grandpa (Kyle's parents), and Aunt Sheri (my sister) for the first time. They were all THRILLED to hear the news about a boy and to FINALLY hear his name. Kyle loves keeping everyone in suspense. They took their turns holding him and I think they all enjoyed it! :)

The rest of the day had it's ups and downs. As my medicine wore off, I got pretty sore. I was hooked up to a MILLION things and felt like I had cords coming out of every place on my body, so that got annoying. Also, a side effect from the medicine caused me to have terrible itchiness, which just about made me loose my mind! Ha! But that was minor compared to my baby boy. His blood sugar dipped too low and they had to hook him up to an IV. Let me just say, watching your child have an IV in his head just about rips your heart out. Because of this, Kyle and I were the only ones that were able to hold him, so visitors the rest of the day had to just look and not hold, which I know was hard on everyone. So, before each feeding, his little feet got pricked to check his levels, which he was not a big fan of. (Mommy either) :( With each feed though, his numbers got better, so before bedtime, they were able to unhook his IV, leaving the port in his head in case they had to reconnect him later. VERY THANKFUL!! So, at least that was one less cord that wasn't getting tangled. (It was so hard feeding him when both he and I had IV's....)

Thursday night wasn't the best as the nurses had to check me over and over- but we slept a little. Friday morning we were hoping for Ethan to get the port removed from his head because he numbers all night were good. But, his numbers dropped back down a little so we had to get him to feed to get his numbers back up. This was VERY stressful, especially on mommy, as he struggled with that next feeding, and I felt that "pressure" to get him all better and that food in him. When he finally ate, his numbers did come up, so they were able to take the port out. OH MY WORD, did he SCREAM when they took it off because the tape was SO STICKY- it ripped off part of his hair and I even cried along with him as they did it. :( (I am so emotional....) It just made me so sad for him. He continued with his feedings the rest of the day and Friday night, both he and I had good nights. He slept well and so did I- much needed rest.

That brings us to today. Day 3 of the hospital and I am going crazy to get out of here. We were told that we really COULD go home tonight, but the events of the day made us decide to stay the extra night. Today Ethan really struggled with eating. He just would get SO sleepy and we just couldn't get him to wake up enough and latch to eat. Two different times we struggled for over an hour to get him to eat, both times ending with me in tears and my nerves just SHOT. The second time, this afternoon, was the worst. We had our families coming up to visit and Payton on her way to see her bubba when he just screamed and wouldn't latch. My mom ended up being my LIFE SAVOR, keeping me calm and helping me give him some formula finally just to get something in him. I was SO worried that the IV would have to come back and just felt HELPLESS!! But, that helped him and he was able to have his visitors. He then was taken to get circumcised, which was ANOTHER thing both him AND MOMMY wasn't excited to go through. He took it like a champ though and is doing well with that. When he came back he DID EAT, thank you JESUS! He has since eaten again, so hopefully this continues.

We are planning on heading home tomorrow when they release us. We are anxious to get home to "normal life" although it won't be normal for quite some time. Unfortunately, with my C-Section- everything is going to be SLOW for a while. I can only lift the weight of Ethan, leaving me unable to lift Payton for possibly a few weeks. That is going to be really hard as she is not fully understanding why and leaving Kyle to have a LOT of responsibility around the house. I just pray for his strength as we head home, and am SO thankful for such an amazing husband who is up for the challenge. Rest, rest, rest is going to be the key!

Thanks to all the visitors that were able to come up to see Ethan:
Big Sister- Payton, Grammie, Papa, Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Allison, Uncle Sean and Aunt Jenni, Aunt Sheri, Dylan, Melena, Janae, Great Grandma and Grandpa Sears, Great Grandpa Nantz, Aunt Amy, Uncle Mark, Shelby, Connor, Uncle EJ and Aunt Tiff, Tori and Nick Minder. We love you all and so does Ethan!! :)