EVAN IS HERE!!!!
She was born on Tuesday, October 11, 2011 at 12:55am. She weighed 7 lbs, 10 oz. and was 21 inches long. Basically, she is just perfect. :)
We had a doctor appointment on Monday morning (October 10th) where they did an ultrasound and a check-up on me to make sure everything still looked ok since we were past our due date. Of course, everything looked fine! The doc stripped my membranes again (and this time, it was no joke!), and she asked us if we had tried several things that can lead to bringing on labor. She mentioned something about taking castor oil, and I had heard of people taking that, but wasn't sure if I should or not because it obviously can make your stomach upset. BUT I was very ready to meet my daughter! So on my way home that morning, I stopped by Walmart and bought some castor oil.
I found a little recipe online and mixed the castor oil with some orange juice and baking soda and down the hatch it went. This was around 11:00am on Monday. I called into work and told them I would be out that afternoon because apparently I would be making multiple trips to the bathroom, and HOPEFULLY starting labor sometime that day! Luckily, we weren't overly busy that day and it was fine for me to skip out....plus, Allison and Lianna kind of understand about being pregnant and on the verge of having a baby. :) Well, the castor oil definitely did it's job and cleaned me out! Sorry for the details, but hey, some people wanna know---so there ya go. But it didn't upset my stomach at all....for this, I was VERY grateful. I just went to the bathroom a few more times than normal, but I really felt ok.
Around 3:00pm I started having some mild cramps. They were evenly spaced at around 4 minutes apart and lasted for about 40 seconds each. Of course, I'm thinking, "Could this be it??", but then I kept telling myself that contractions don't start out that close together. Plus my whole belly wasn't tightening up like it had done before....these were just menstrual-feeling cramps. But I tried to keep track of everything.
When Jeff got home at 6:30pm, they really started getting intense. Jackie recommended we call the hospital to ask them about it and see if we should go ahead and come in. I hated the thought that we could drive all the way there and then be turned away because it wasn't time yet! So we called the hospital around 7:00pm and the doctor said that we could definitely head that way if we wanted to be checked, or we could wait at home a little while longer to see if they progressed anymore. (Remember, the contractions are still at 4 minutes apart, and they tell you to call the hospital when they're 5 minutes apart for an hour). So we decide to wait at home a while longer and I took a warm bath to help with the pain. By about 8:30pm, it was TIME TO GO. The contractions were getting very intense and I knew it would take us 40 minutes to get to the hospital and then who knows how long to check in.
Jackie rode with us to the ER at Durham Regional. We went in the get registered, and the lady told us it would be about 10-15 minutes because they had to get a room ready for us!! I was sitting there, having contractions, while this lady was trying to ask me questions and talking on the phone....that was a moment when I almost started getting a little emotional....but I didn't and just tried to concentrate on breathing and just getting to my room!
When we FINALLY got into our room, the doc came to check on me and I was already 6 cm dilated and 100% effaced. I was like "heck yeah"! That morning I was at about 2 cm and 85% effaced. I did quite a bit of work at home that afternoon and evening! :)
By now, the contractions were very intense. I asked when I could get my epidural since I was already 6 cm. They had to run my blood tests and it would be about 30 minutes. I ended up getting the epidural at around 11:00pm. And good gracious, I LOVE an epidural! Wooo---it was night and day with the contractions! I was feeling great after that!
At a little before 12:30am (Tuesday morning), the doc came in to check again, and we were at 9 cm! So close! She said she would come back in a couple of hours to check again and we would probably push then. But it wasn't just a few minutes after she walked out of the door that I started feeling pressure down there and asked the nurse about it. She said "that's the baby's head pushing, let me get the doctor". So instead of coming back in a couple of hours, it was only a few minutes and it was TIME TO PUSH!!
I only pushed for 25 minutes and Evan came into this world! It was amazing and perfect....just like her!
Family and friends were at the hospital and we took tons of pictures. Here are a few of her first moments:
She is already loved so much! Here are MORE pictures of our perfect baby girl! :)
We have already taken a million pictures of her already (as you can probably guess). I will post more later, but I wanted to FINALLY get this post online to announce our baby to the world!
Thank you to all of our AMAZING family and friends who have been there to help us and support us through this incredible experience in our life....we LOVE you so much and are VERY grateful for all of you.
Another post soon, promise! <3
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