Evie met her maker

The day I got released from Dr. Russell's care he told me not to return for baby number 2 until "that baby is sleeping through the night." It just happens that Evie slept through the night for the first time before meeting her maker. So, is it time for baby number 2? Am I crazy? Yes, in fact I am crazy to already be thinking about a second one so let's see if I can hold off on this urge until next fall.

As for the little Evie pie -- she is growing so much. She attended her first UD tailgate and was baptized this past weekend. She is also officially sleeping through the night, but I don't want to jinx it. She is still sleeping and right now it is 6:40 am. At 5:30 I couldn't believe she was still sound asleep so I just laid there staring at her for an hour waiting for her to wake up, but nothing.  Right now she is still asleep and I'm up pumping...amazing :)

Evie loves bath time

1 month

I can't believe our little Evelyn is already 1 month.  Time has never moved faster.

Memories from our first month:
- The first night home with Evie she wouldn't stop crying and we just kept thinking she was hungry. After a sleepless night and overfeeding-induced vomiting we learned that maybe she was just having a rough night.
- She loves bath time.  She hated it the first time, but after investing in a floating turtle thermometer we learned that keeping the temperature hotter gave us a happy baby.
- Anytime you open Evie's diaper take cover.  She has no shame when it comes to exploding all over you.
- She loves her little lamb swing.
- We love her smile.  It is so big, bright, and perfect.
- We went out to dinner to celebrate our 3 year anniversary and all we talked about was Ev.
- I told Eric that I'm ready to have a baby bump again.
- I love watching Eric with Ev and he loves singing the Beatles to her.
- Breastfeeding didn't work out, so pumping and mixing with a small amount of formula is what works best for us.
- Evie loves her nuk.
- Dexter loves Ev even though he always wants her nuk.
- We feel like our home is shrinking and being here all the time has prompted immediate home improvements!
- The best night of the week is Thursday when Eric gets home.
- I'm still learning how to take care of both Evie and Dex. A full day of getting Dex out for walks  and not forgetting to take him out before bed is such an accomplishment.
- I can't wait to start running again.
- We order pictures on a weekly basis and finally have filled frames with many pics of Ev.
- We can't imagine life without our little girl.

October 6, 2011

This is a detailed account of my delivery because I want to remember everything about the best day of my life.

I arrived at the hospital on Wednesday at 9:00pm to begin the foley bulb induction process.  By 10:30pm I had my IV hooked up and by 11:00pm the bulb was in place.  At 2:00am I was dilated to 3cm and that unpleasant bulb finally fell out.  It was so incredibly uncomfortable.  Next thing I knew the nurse was hooking up my bag of pitocin and I was texting everyone thinking that my labor was going to go faster than I had anticipated. I laid in bed having contractions for the next 3 hours and then kindly asked my nurse for the epidural.  She was not very pleasant and discouraged me, but I was not taking no for an answer.  The anesthesiologist was there in about 30 minutes and as soon as it was inserted the relief followed.  Then, there was a hiccup. The baby's heart rate began to drop, so labor was put on hold. The pitocin was stopped and the nurse did not start it up again until 7:30am.

It seemed to take a while to get the process started again.  My contractions were starting slowly, but by 8:30 I was 4.5-5cm dilated and my OB decided it was time to break my water.  She also thought it would be best to put an internal monitor in as they were not getting a great reading from the outside monitor.  Around noon I was 6cm, 2:30pm 7cm, and right around 4:30pm I was ready to push.  Delivery was rough.  I pushed for 2 hours and during the process developed a fever due to a uterine infection.  Eric was an amazingly supportive husband.  The doctor was patient and encouraging.  The nursing student and nurse were perfect.  I asked the doctor during delivery how long she thought I would have to push and she explained that many first time moms spend 2 hours pushing.  That was all I needed to hear and my mind was made up that I was going to get this baby out before the 2 hour mark.  I kept watching the hand on the clock between pushes and my determination just kept growing.  Eric asked me during delivery who I thought was in there...Evelyn or Jack?  Without hesitation I responded, "Ev."  I just knew it was her.  Pushing was exhausting and because I was sick it felt as though I had the flu and someone asked me to run a marathon.  Eric kept feeding me ice and holding an ice pack on my forehead between contractions.  I remembering continuously complaining how hot I was and before I knew it I was puking my brains out.

At 6:35 (1 hour, 55 minutes after I started pushing) our world changed forever when the doctor announced, "it's a girl." It was amazing.  The NICU team whisked her away to clean out the bowel movement she had done in utero.  Little did I know they would also be taking her to the NICU because of my uterine infection.  This is when all chaos broke loose.  I was watching Evelyn squirm and everyone attend to her, but was quickly taken by surprise when things started to quickly go downhill with me.  While delivering, I began to hemorrhage badly, my uterus wouldn't contract, and my placenta was stuck.  My doctor was yelling out orders and people were quickly flying around me not able to inform me what exactly was going on.  At this time, the pediatrician was also trying to tell me that she had to take my sweet Evelyn away from me.  Eric was running back and forth between the two of us wondering what was happening and the whole moment was very emotional.

After everything was under control I finally was able to hold my daughter.  It was truly the most precious moment in my entire life.  It was just one minute, but it was so special.  I was not allowed to see Evelyn until 6 hours later due to my infection, and when I could finally hold her I didn't want to let her go.  I just wanted to unhook her from all the machines and run.  I was so sad that I could have possibly passed an infection on to this helpless little baby.

Evelyn stayed in the NICU for 3 nights and we were discharged from the hospital after 2.  Heading home without Evie was heartbreaking, but taking her home the next day made up for every bit of sadness I experienced the night before.

We are all home now and getting settled in.  I'm not sure we could be any happier.

Evelyn's stats:
8lbs 12oz
20 3/4 inches long

induction day

Well, this week really turned out differently than expected. Since Friday night I have had a headache and been seeing spots. I assumed this was just all due to hormone changes because I just felt uncomfortable and not like myself. Yesterday at my OB appointment I realized the way I was feeling was due to high BP. Whoops. My OB sent me to the hospital for monitoring and all looked normal, but because this is something she doesn't want to mess with I am being induced tonight at 9pm. I am 40w 3d. The process starts with a balloon to get me 3cm dilated and then they begin the pitocin early Thursday morning.

We are so excited for this little miracle peanut. I keep trying to pump myself up for the labor and delivery. I can do this. After a long journey to get here, we finally get the reward.

So, now we wait until 9. I am currently on strict bedrest, so I'm just hanging on the couch soaking up my last hours pre-baby. Dexter is on bedrest too. Eric is working from home. Our whole world is about to change and it is very surreal and exciting.

Can't wait to hear, "it's a......."

waiting for babe sween's arrival

Today I'm 39w 5d and really excited for the arrival of our Peanut.  The question is, when will he/she be ready to make an appearance?  On Wednesday, I was 90% effaced, a fingertip dilated, and babe's head was right there.

Eric and I have decided to keep ourselves very busy this weekend to remain distracted. Maybe some spicy Mexican on Saturday will do the trick?  If nothing happens, I will return to my OB on Tuesday to see if anything has progressed.  If I am 3 cm dilated she can induce me that day.  If not, I will have to wait until Monday the 10th or sometime that week to be induced.  So, here I sit just waiting to go into labor with no contractions at the moment.  I have definitely been having irregular contractions and lots of cramps.  Every time they start I hope that they become worse and more painful.  Eric said, "well I don't want you to wish for pain" but I told him I got over that a long time.  Painful contractions are what is going to get this whole thing started, so bring it on.  Bring on the painful, regular contrax.  We're ready babesween.

hi.

Welcome to my blog! My due date is October 2nd and we are trying to wait patiently for our Peanut to make an appearance. At this point, I am not dilated or effaced yet. I am, however, feeling extra large and ready for the babe. We are so excited to find out whether I have been baking a girl or boy. Eric is convinced I have a little boy boy in there, but I'm unsure and change my mind every other day.

Here is our Peanut's room and of course Dex has a bed in there as well! He loves it.