Our Baby Story.

Evelyn is a week old today, and we are all slowly adjusting to being a family of 6.  I haven't had (nor do I now) a lot of time on the computer, but I did want to post our "baby story". 

It all started a week ago Sunday.  I woke up Sunday at about 5 a.m. thinking I was wetting the bed (tmi?).  I wasn't, and without much thought, went back to bed.  So, we all get up thinking we are going to church.  I even got ready to go, but was telling Matt the whole time something just isn't right.  I was slowly leaking fluid, but couldn't convince myself that my water had broke since I was only one day away from being 35 weeks...I hadn't considered it being time to have a baby!

Eventually I came to the realization that we had to go into the hospital, and I gave them a call.  Before we left, I made Matt take a pregnancy photo of myself.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute:)  So, here I am before we left for the hospital, 34 weeks 6 days pregnant.

 I did a little research before we left, I expected our baby to be about 5-5 1/2 pounds.  This seemed like an okay weight to me.  Not ideal, but I felt peace that our baby would be okay.  The doctors were not as convinced.  They even debated keeping me pregnant in the hospital for a few days just to give the baby a little more time.  They kept saying "this could go either way".  I felt like I was suppose to be upset or freaking out, but I really felt calm about it the whole time.  God had given me a peace that it would be okay. 

We went into the hospital about 11:00 a.m., but nothing really happened until closer to 4 p.m. when they started pitocin.

Since I wasn't having contractions yet, the kids (who had been at my sister Amy's) came over for a visit after naps.  Here's Addie and me.  This was definitely taken later, closer to 7 or 8 p.m.

 It was kind of a circus for a while.  All 3 kids were there, as well as my parents.  But, I still wasn't having any strong contractions, so were just hanging out.

 The nurse offered me a Coke, and since I have a soft spot  for Coke, I accepted.  I did however take about 2 drinks and decided that was enough Coke for me.  This was about the point the contraction started getting stronger, about 11:00 p.m.  Also, they had started my pitocin drip at 2 (unsure of the units), and said they would slowly increase every half-hour until it was 20.  I think at this point they had over-rided it and had it set at 25...not appreciated:)

 Then hard labor started.  It was so late, getting to be 1:00 a.m. that I was unsure how long this was going to go on, and how long I would be able to handle it.   I just wanted a definite end in sight, but it wasn't there...I think I was about 5 cm dialated, and getting tired:)

At about 3:20 a.m. I decided I couldn't handle it on my own anymore and asked for some pain killers.  Not an epidural, just something to take the edge off.  The nurse had it all ready to go, but then backed away at the last minute deciding I should be checked first.  My midwife checked me and discovered I was 9 cm dialated. So, no pain meds...but about 1 contraction later I started pushing. 

I didn't need to push for long, and at 3:40 a.m. our baby girl was born.

I did get to see her, and she spent about 3 minutes on my chest.  She was breathing fine and everyone assured me that she was doing well.  But, then NICU took her to their nursery for testing.

 Here she is on the scale.  It's hard to read, but she was 6 lbs, 2.6 ounces.

 Matt went with her up to the NICU.  It was never my plan to be away from baby almost immediately after birth.  But, I'm glad that she did so well.  It also wasn't my plan for my baby to have sugar water and formula before I could nurse her, but they had to test her blood sugar level.

She was in the NICU for about 3 1/2 hours. Mainly they were watching her oxygen and blood sugar levels.

 This is a photo of the nurse "finger feeding" Evelyn.  Basically it was feeding her with a syringe, which is also what Matt and I had to do the first day of her life since she wouldn't nurse well enough.

 Under the warmer.

 I had my own little drama after delivery and got several drugs to stop bleeding...but of course, I too was fine.  About 5:30 a.m. Matt and I were transferred to our second room where we would stay and finally got to sleep!

I got up about 7:30 a.m.  They told me our baby was in the nursery, and I couldn't sleep knowing she was there, after all I had only seen her a few minutes and not again since then.  I couldn't hold her yet because she had to stay under the warmer.  By 8:00 though she was doing fine and I got to bring her to our room.

This is what Matt looked like. 

It was kind of comical how confused we were before we slept.   But, by 7:30 I just wanted to see my baby...and I was ravenously hungry (I think I ate a 2000 calorie breakfast)!   

I was so glad that the drama of labor and delivery was over and felt so blessed that our baby girl was healthy and doing so well.   There were no signs that my due date was wrong prior to her birth, but most of her tests showed she was closer to a 38 or 39 week baby.  So she's a little bit of an enigma...but a beautiful, healthy enigma:)