Beautiful Buckeye Brothers!

These two brothers are certainly picture perfect!!! They're both ready for football Saturdays!!

Peaceful E!

It's been two weeks since Ethan arrived! How does the time go so fast?! Our little bundle of joy is settling in quite nicely!

Despite the chaos of the household, he is so calm and oh, so cuddly! Our days have settled into a wonderful routine and I'm enjoying bonding with him while big brother continues to go to daycare in the mornings and early afternoons. This means that mommy and Ethan SLEEP IN! There's a lot of relaxing going on these days :-)

Ethan is doing so well... he nurses like a champ, which would explain why he surpassed his birth weight at his one week visit, takes long naps and enjoys looking at his new world throughout the day. He makes the most beautiful newborn baby noises (need to get those on video somehow, although, I liken his chatter to that of a baby goat, which I don't think translates that well via blogging!).


Ethan is very expressive. Whether it's the crinkle of his little forehead, his gaping, hungry mouth or his satisfied expression, there's always something to watch in his face. He's also super smiley, which I know is involuntary at this age, but he gives big grins throughout the day, especially after nursing!

These newborn moments are going so fast, I only hope that I can accurately capture what wonder and joy Ethan brings to this family!

What's in a Name?

Some of you avid Camden Nguyen blog readers might remember an early post called "What's in a Name?" in which I detailed our reasoning for his name. The question, "How did you come up with the name?" is a common question and I thought I would address it again for Ethan's name. You can review the post for definitions of our criteria, but here's a brief summary. Note that our selection didn't need to pass all of our criteria, but most:

1. "Don't make me spell it!"
   
2. "Multiple Pronunciations"
   
3. "You talkin' to me?"
   
4. "Sound Check"
   
5. "Good Initials"

"Don't make me spell it!" Try it. E-T-H-A-N. I suppose there's a chance that someone might spell it E-T-H-E-N, but I don't think that's a common spelling. Check.

"Multiple Pronunciations" Does Ethan match with the numerous mispronunciations of our last name? Ethan Noo-jen...Ethan Nah-guy-en...Ethan En-guy-en...Ethan Nah-gee-en...and ultimately Ethan Win. We think it flows nicely. Check.

"You talkin' to me?" The name Ethan was actually in the running for our first son, too. At the time, we felt it was a little too popular. In 2006, it was the #4 ranked boy name. In 2007, it actually moved up a notch to #3. We liked the name enough that we didn't really care how popular it is. And as popular as it is, neither of us know an Ethan personally. There isn't even an Ethan at our daycare.

"Sound Check" We didn't actually go to a park and test out the name Ethan this time, but it seemed to pass the "mulitple pronunciations" test so we were okay with that.

"Good Initials" So if you put together Ethan's first and middle initials and combine with his full last name you get "E.Z. Nguyen" (or E.Z. "Win"). To be honest, his middle name, Zachary actually came before we realized the convenient combination of initials. Kim liked Zachary for his middle name and I said, "EZ?" She immediately loved it. During her pregnancy Kim would also allude to how quickly we got pregnant with Ethan after Camden by saying "Easy in, Easy out." This was her subtle hint at Ethan's name.

Additionally, it's always been my wish to want a boy that I could call "E". I referred in Camden's post to my desire to name him Eric. In lieu of Eric, I'm very happy with Ethan. I got my little "E".

If you read the post from Camden's blog, you may have noticed this excerpt:

Kim and I both really like Ethan alot. Unfortunately, so do a lot of other people. It did not fit rule #3 above. For those with children named Ethan, we think it is a great name. We would have been happy to name our son Ethan, but we do have rules to follow.

Rules be damned!

Our little miracle arrives!

It's been six days since Ethan arrived and I still cannot believe what a little miracle man he is! I think back to what a shock we had late in February when we learned about the little "stowaway" we were carrying! As soon as we found out we were expecting again, I granted the little man a full term lease for the whole pregnancy. As it turns out, my blood pressure spiked at 37 weeks (considered full term!) and we ended up evicting him early.

September 9, 2009!
Is today the day our little "stowaway" arrives? It was a beautiful fall day and we were heading off to the hospital to be induced. I was 37 weeks pregnant, so Ethan is a full term baby, which we are very thankful for. Although I have some apprehension about inducing labor, my blood pressure is spiking and the doctors say that Ethan will be better off on the outside. It's only 369 days since we were in the hospital delivering Camden, so I actually felt quite prepared regarding what to expect :-)

We kissed Camden goodbye early in the morning, promising him a little brother when we got home. He seemed okay with that... especially with Grandma and Grandpa Sindt around to spoil him! On the way to the hospital we chatted about what a great date 09-09 is to have for a birthday. And the fact that next year, his first birthday would fall on 09-09-09 :-) What fun. But.... that would have to mean that labor and delivery happened by midnight. I was certainly hoping so!

We arrived at the hospital and were checked in quickly. I had pitocin going by 9 AM and had the faint pangs of contractions. By noon, I was beginning to wonder when these big contractions would start. My blood pressure was high..but doing okay on my left side. So another labor confined to the bed on my left side. (Not fun, but well worth it of course!). I was really happy though to not need Magnesium Sulfate, which has a lot of uncomfortable side effects. Contractions came and went...they would increase in frequency and pain and then fade out. It all seemed a bit slow. The doctor came in and broke my water at about 3pm, with a promise that things should start moving a bit more quickly. I guess time is relative, because it seemed that the contractions were taking forever.

By late afternoon I was only dilated to a 4 cm, and I was beginning to think that Ethan's birthday would be 09-10-08. Steve had jinxed the birth date! My contractions were increasing and the discomfort was growing, but I didn't want to slow the progress by getting an epidural when I was only at a 4, so I set a goal to make it another hour (targeting 7pm) before getting the epidural. Managing back labor confined to the bed, on my left side at that, was getting quite difficult.

Finally, everything came together and I got a relief from the pain at 8pm in the form of an epidural... although I was "only" dilated to a 5. The relief was AWESOME and I was actually able to get some much needed rest. Steve ran an errand to pick up a couple things we had forgotten. I was becoming sure that we were going to be in for a long, long night!

However, at 9pm, things started picking up! After an hour of great pain management, I was having serious contractions one on top of another. I told the nurse that I was ready to push and luckily she agreed that I was ready. (Although, she mentioned if the doctor wasn't in the room, that I would have to wait.... luckily that wasn't the case!). By the time everything was set up, I was seriously ready to push the little guy out!

I still wasn't convinced that Ethan would arrive on 09-09-08 though... it was 10pm after all. Luckily, 20 minutes and a few great big pushes were all it took. Ethan arrived and was placed on me while Steve cut the cord. He was crying and pink and just perfect! There were so many things to notice, to love. His cap of dark hair, his long fingers, his long legs... It's hard to believe that Steve and I could create such a beautiful creature. I'm so thankful that the little guy decided to join our little family sooner than later. He's brought us so much joy and so many smiles since his birth. What a miracle!!

Coming Home

We got to take Ethan home from the hospital on September 11th, 2008. What a pleasant homecoming it was. A pretty stark contrast to last year when we were a bit apprehensive about going home and comfortable at the hospital under the nurse's care. This time, however, felt different. We were anxious to get home and get our whole new family structure started.

Camden had visited the hospital with Grandma and Grandpa during our stay. He seemed a bit indifferent and unsure of things. He was more interested in the cabinet doors of Ethan's bassinet than anything else. But we wanted to get home and get our two boys together and see how they would begin to interact with one another. More on that in later posts....

We had another great experience at Methodist Hospital. Just as we remembered it from only a year ago. The nurses and doctors were all fabulous, again. Here's a roll of the caregivers we want to give special thanks to:

• Dr. Norwick (on-call OB)
• Dr. Farias (on call family practice)
• Dr. Peterson (anesthesiologist that applied Kim's epidural to relieve her of SO much pain)
• Dr. Helgaas (pediatrician who attended THE Ohio State University medical school)
  
• Nurse Danielle S.
  
• Nurse Anne N.
• Nurse Linda
  
• Nurse Danielle (different than the first)
• Nurse Nicole
  
• Nurse Mary
• Nurse Mackenzie P
  
• Nurse Abby and Natalie

It was funny to be back at the hospital a year after being there for the exact same thing. The grill guy at one of the restaurants recognized me from the year before. The receptionist at admitting said, "You're Mr. Nguyen, right?" And the lactation consultant that visited us remembered us from last year too. Oddly, no one offered to give us a punch card like you get at the coffee shop. Something like, "After your 10th baby your 11th delivery is free."

We're still in the process of getting everything up and running for Ethan...Flickr albums, videos, etc. Grandma and Grandpa Sindt are in town for a few more days to help out so we'll see how much we can get done while they're around. As you can imagine, this kind of thing becomes a bit more challenging with two very young ones, but we'll make it work. Here a few more pictures of Ethan before he left the hospital...

The "Thinking Man".

Mommy adores her little E.

"C'mon VOGUE! Letch' your body go with the flowww!"

Bringing home baby.

Welcome Ethan Zachary!

As proud parents, Kimberly and I are happy to announce the arrival of Ethan Zachary Nguyen to our family! He arrived on September 9th, 2008 at 10:11pm. Kimberly and Ethan are recovering very well and everyone is in great spirits.

Ethan weighed in at 6 lbs. and 15 ozs. and 22 inches long. He has quite a nice head of hair. Perfect for big brother Camden to pull on. Camden is in the capable hands of Grandma and Grandpa Sindt and he is set to meet his new baby brother this morning.

Thank you to everyone for sending their prayers and well wishes. We look forward to leaving the hospital soon and introducing him to you all very soon. More delivery details to come...well, not TOO detailed :)