Evan's Birth Story

This was definitely the most difficult pregnancy yet for me. I grew to be very sick of it. I had aches and pains in places I didn't even think was possible. I had pretty nasty varicose veins down my right leg and a big ugly patch of them on the inside of my right ankle that hurt pretty bad. Add to that back pain, round ligament pains... you get the picture. Of course I didn't make it any easier on myself by adding all my "nesting" projects on top of everything in the last trimester. We rearranged the kids rooms so that the boys are now together and the girls now share a room. I took on WAY too many painting projects. I painted the trim in the dining room (which took months), and then painted the dining room walls. Then I painted five doors, and then the front entry walls. And then there was the putting in of our garden. This is not something I recommend to someone who is extremely pregnant. Suffice it to say, I was ready to not be pregnant anymore.

I also really wanted to not be induced with this baby. Going into labor on my own for the first time with Lucy was great because it went really quickly and I really loved not being stuck in a hospital room for hours on end waiting for baby to get here. I definitely wanted to wait for this baby to come by himself.

It was fun to be pregnant the same time as my sis-in-law, Emilee. She was due May 28th so it was fun to compare notes and swap complaints.  My due date was Monday, May 30th, Memorial Day. We joked about how fun it would be to be neighbors at the hospital and to have our babies at the same time. Well, Emilee ended up being induced one week early with her sweet little guy, Tyson. So he was born on the 21st. Of course this made me extra anxious to have our little man here too. But we kept waiting and waiting and I really kept hoping I wouldn't have to be induced. Every week I went to my midwife and got checked, hoping she'd say something like "Oh yeah, you're already at a 4! You should head to the hospital!" But instead it was always, "Well, you're maybe at a one and your cervix is still pretty thick. We'll see you next week!" Well, the due date came and went. We entered into June. I was still holding out, hoping he'd come on his own. But we finally decided it was time to schedule an induction. We could choose either Friday, the 3rd, or Monday the 6th. I was leaning towards Monday until I realized then his birthday would be six, six, sixteen. That made up my mind. Friday was the day!

We got to the hospital at 8:30 in the morning on Friday, June 3rd. My wonderful mother was in charge of the other kiddos (huge thanks to her!). We had a newer nurse who was very sweet. She got me started on antibiotics around 10:30, since I was GBS positive. She said they wanted to get at least two doses in me before he came and said I needed to wait until 1:30 to get up and walk around. Then they started pitocin and then Doug and I started waiting... and waiting. It was like torture watching the clock to make it to the second dose. When another nurse came in, I mentioned I was anxious to start walking, and wished I didn't have to wait. She said, "Oh no! You can get up whenever you're ready. You don't have to wait!" (Really nice). We started pacing up and down the hall. It was probably not until 1:30 or 2 that I started feeling the contractions and then after that things happened pretty quickly.

I wanted to try for a natural birth. Lucy was born naturally, even though it was not intentional. I just didn't have time for an epidural with her. But I really liked not being totally numb! I loved being able to move around by myself, during and right after she came. I loved being able to get up and take a shower soon after she arrived. I loved that she seemed so alert when she got here. I also feel like the recovery was much faster afterwards.  So this time around, I told my midwife I'd like to go naturally unless it was going to take a while, and then I'd go for the epidural. She seemed determined to help me stick to the natural plan.

Once the contractions were coming pretty good, probably around 2:00, they pulled out the ball for me. It was the first time I'd ever tried it. It was wonderful! My back labor was pretty bad, so Doug would push on my lower back through each contraction. He did great and I was so happy and relieved to have him with me through all this.

 

After I bounced on the ball for a while, I decided to try the tub. The contractions were really strong and my back labor was super intense. The nurse filled up the tub for me and I was anxious to get in to see if it would help more than the ball. I stepped in and the water was about 500 degrees. Youch! I stood there in pain through a couple of contractions while they swirled some cold water around in it. When I climbed in, the water felt great, but unfortunately it didn't seem to help with the pain at all. In fact, it was worse because Doug couldn't push on my back anymore. I climbed out and got on my hands and knees on the hospital bed for a while. The contractions were super intense now. The deep abdominal breathing I had been sticking to so well was basically tossed out the window. It hurt! Soon my water broke. At this point I was definitely making some noise. I turned around with some help on the hospital bed and pushed hard for maybe three minutes. He was here! At 4:23 he came out screaming. They put him up on my chest and he screamed and screamed for a good while. We were so happy to see him finally here! He was beautiful! They had to stitch me up quite a bit which was not fun, but it was all oh so worth it for our sweet little man.

 I got to hold him and nurse him for a long time until I was ready to take a shower and eat some dinner. They had a rule about not bathing him until at least six hours after he was born. I loved the snuggle time! He weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz. and was 21 inches long.

 

The proud Daddy

Meeting cousin Tyson for the first time. They had a good little boxing match while they were both half asleep.

Juliann, Jackson and Lucy were thrilled to meet their new little brother. They love him to pieces.

They even made this sweet sign to welcome us home:

 

It truly is a miracle when you think about how these precious spirits are brought into the world. It was awe-inspiring for me to reflect on how fresh out of heaven our little Evan was. Of course I thought of our sweet Olivia, sending another sibling down to us. We still miss her every day but I'm so grateful to know that my children have their own little guardian angel that always has their backs.

Four kids is a heck of a lot more than three. It truly seems like we have a small army sometimes and I feel extremely outnumbered. And it's even crazier that some day when we are all together we will have FIVE. I can't wait though!

We could not have made it with out the help of both of our angel mothers. My mom watched the three oldest yahoos for two days and slept on the couch at our house for a night while we were at the hospital. She also kept them fed and very happy and kept the house clean. She even stuck around after the outlet in the garage almost started the house on fire! (That's a story for another day). She's a keeper. That is no easy task!

Doug's mom came and stayed for five days. While she was here she kept the kids entertained every minute of the day and also cooked and cleaned for us and was our resident Evan-burper. She spoiled us by buying us lunches and dinners and even our groceries. We were truly sad to see her head back home.

There's no true significance behind the name Evan. I just really liked it and had it at the top of my list for a good chunk of the pregnancy. Doug wasn't incredibly fond of it, just thought it was maybe a little plain, but he agreed to it, and for that I am thankful. He actually said he liked the name Ethan better, but I reminded him that my sister already had a baby named Ethan. He was slightly upset to be reminded. And somehow the name stuck in his head. Evan is two weeks old now, and Doug still seems to have a rough time calling him the right name. Juliann and Jackson had a rough time too for the first week! They were calling him either Ethan or Kevin. Doug called him Ethan way more times than I'm sure he would admit to, and even called him Ivan a couple days ago. Oh boy... We'll get there, right?

Evan is a sweet boy. He loves to be held and snuggled. He's a strong little dude. Every time we put him on his tummy, he flips over to his back pretty quickly, just like Jackson did when he was itty bitty. He eats about every three hours during the day and sometimes he'll go four hours in between feedings at night. He sleeps well in his little bassinet beside our bed, but also likes sleeping in the pouf. He's taken some real good naps in that thing. 

Sleepin' in the pouf

Lucy is doing a pretty good job getting used to not being the baby anymore. She really loves little Evan. She calls him "Baby Evan" but it totally sounds like "Bebe Onion." I love it. She asks to "hold it" very often and when she does hold him she things everything he does is hilarious- The way he waves his arms around, how he kicks his legs, and especially when he fills his diaper. She loves to brush his hair and kiss his face and say "Luh Yoo Bebe Onion." It melts my heart. (I took a video of her saying this, but I can't get it to upload! I'll try to add it later. It's so cute.) Her most favorite thing to do though is to honk his nose. 

 We've learned when we have any company at our house, little Lucy turns her not-so-sweet side on. She's smacked him in the face a few times, tried to lay on him, put a pillow on his face... you get it. She must have learned that doing those things gets her all the attention, and really fast! She's getting better though. And she really is very loving the majority of the time. She's going to be a great big sister some day.