Thanksgiving 2010

So much to be thankful for this year...

Uncle T

Gram and Pop D

Aunt Melissa

Daddy and Evelyn

Beautiful table setting

Delicious food

Coffee and Pie

Little girl had a busy day :)

It's amazing what a difference a year makes.

One Month Already??

Hard to believe but my sweet baby is one month old today! A few things that she's doing now...

She's making eye contact much better and is so close to smiling I just know it! Her weight is 9lb 2oz on the baby scale I borrowed from a friend and she measures 22 inches long. Pretty sure the L and D nurse got her birth length wrong because she measured 21.5 inches at her 2 week doctors appointment. Or she shrunk and has regrown. She generally sleeps about 6-7 hours a night with one feeding thrown in there. We don't really have a set napping schedule yet but she still sleeps quite a bit during the day, mostly in her crib or her stroller. Which is my most favorite piece of baby gear we have...

We are definitely better at the nursing thing, I'm hopeful we can stick with it...I can see how convenient it will be once we can get out and about...but it really has been the hardest thing to continue. Every day is still a struggle and I can't even count how many times I've been thisclose to giving her formula and saying screw this bullsh*t. I really wish I enjoyed it more, hopefully soon...

I am super excited about Thanksgiving this year. My brother, sister and grandmother are all coming into town for Evelyn's first holiday (I'm not counting Halloween because I was too exhausted to really notice it even took place).

I took a few photos of Evie with her favorite blabla Lola...

This is the same sweet outfit we brought her home from the hospital in. She has nearly outgrown it and this is probably the last time she'll wear it...

And this is a dress that my sister and I wore when we were babies...

Love this baby girl!

Our Little Love

Sweet Baby

I was woken up Monday 10/11 at 6:30 by what I thought was my water breaking (for the record I still think that's what happened) and by contractions that were about every 10 min apart. Tom got up about 7 as usual and I filled him in on what was happening. We made a plan for me to take a shower and get ready and he would go to work until they could find someone to cover his clinic (going into labor Monday morning was like the WORST timing ever as far as Tom's job is concerned). I got ready and didn't have any more leaking but was still having regular contractions. My mom came over and then Tom got home about 9:30. Mom had the camcorder and video taped us leaving for the hospital and we were on our way!

Once we got to L and D I told them my water breaking story and we were taken to our room where I got changed into a gown and hooked up to all the monitors. Evie's heartbeat was great and my contractions were about every 7-8 minutes apart but not painful, just crampy. The nurse did the litmus test to see if my water had broken and of course it was negative, very frustrating. So the nurse called my doc (LOVE her) who decided we would go ahead and break my water and go from there! Thank God she did because turns out Evie had meconium in the amniotic fluid so she did not need to be inside any longer! This also meant we were going to have the ENTIRE NICU team in for the birth. That was about noon I think...

About 2:30 I made the decision to go ahead and get the epidural. I wasn't in severe pain but I was dilated to a 4 and the doc gave the go ahead. Getting the epi wasn't bad at all, the numbing medicine was the only thing that hurt. I had the best epi ever, I couldn't feel any pain with my contractions but was still able to move my legs.

I labored (which for me was just laying in bed talking with family :) for about 8 hours before I started feeling the pressure that you always hear about. And let me tell you that it is INTENSE! At this point the nurse offered to call anesthesia to bump up my epi but I declined thinking that feeling the pressure would help me push better (and I do think I pushed better but oh my goodness did it hurt so bad right at the very end!) Once I was fully dilated and feeling major pressure (to the point I was crying during contractions) my nurse decided it was time to try some pushing. This was about midnight...I pushed with three contractions before she called my doc to come up. During this time I wasn't allowed to push and it was terrible but thank goodness it only lasted about 15 min before my doc arrived. I pushed for another twenty minutes and then out came my sweet baby!

She came out screaming and pink, apgars were both 9, and they were able to put her right on my chest (and the 7 NICU people left the room). Tom cut her cord and then the nurses took her and cleaned her up and did the all newborn stuff (eye medicine, shots...)

We were in the hospital until Wednesday (HATED being in the hospital) and we both have recovered really well. Evie is already back to her birthweight (woohoo!) and I'm moving around pretty good. We get between 4-6 hours of sleep at night which surprisingly is enough to function, sort of ;) Nursing is HARD...that first week is killer and we are still by no means experts but I feel like we kind of have the hang of it.

Last weekend my brother and sister came into town to see their new neice...it was love at first sight!

The girls drank champagne...
And the boys had scotch...It was a great weekend despite the fact that Arkansas lost to Auburn...

A few pics from the last week...I can't believe she's already over a week old!

She's Here!!

Evelyn Marie

10/12/10 12:42 am

7 lbs 12 oz

22 in

Tom and I are smitten, couldn't be more in love!

40 Weeks, Let's Go Baby!

40 Weeks and I feel no closer to having her than I did 4 weeks ago. I guess that could be a little upsetting but I'm really still feeling "ok". I'm not in any kind of terrible pain, uncomfortable for sure but not miserable. Still having braxton hicks but nothing regular or painful.

40 Week Bump

We finally received the mobile and it is so sweet. I love that it brings some green to the room.

At the doc appt. Wednesday we decided to set an induction date for next Thursday 10/14. Which means by this time next week we'll have a baby for sure!

38 Weeks and Nursery Pics

Nursery is done! Well, just about. I'm still wanting to put shelves above the changing table and get a different lamp but the big stuff is done! I am THRILLED with how the drapes and back-board turned out, the decal worked perfectly...I really just couldn't be any happier with it! And that's a kitchen table chair, it will obviously not be staying.

Belly is a bit bigger and lower maybe too. It's definitely easier to breath so I think she's dropped a bit. We had a doctor's appt. today ( I love my doc by the way) and I'm 1 cm and about 25% effaced. I've been that way for two weeks now though so not much to get really excited about. We also met with the Birth Center's patient care planner at the hospital this afternoon. She was awesome, we had a tour of the unit and got to see a room. It's all seeming a bit too real and I can't believe my pregnancy is coming to an end. I'm trying to enjoy every moment, every movement, every hiccup :)