Birth Story

I have been meaning to write about Evaline’s birth for a while now, but you know…babies. Who knew they require 100% of your attention 24/7?  😉

Anyway, the entire time I was pregnant I was in school and the semester ended on July 23rd and I was due July 6. It was CRAZY, but I didn’t want to miss a whole semester just because I was due a couple weeks before the semester finished. Thankfully I had some amazing people in my classes and that gave me just enough motivation to get my giant self out of bed in the morning to go to school each day. As my due date crept closer and closer I got more impatient and definitely more grumpy and people were starting to take bets on when this baby would come out. It was all fun and games until July 7th rolled around and I vowed I would not return to classes until after I had the baby.

Here’s a little secret, though. I was TERRIFIED of labor and when I was alone with my big baby belly I would thank her for giving me extra time.

So like I said, my due date came and went and that next day (a monday) I woke up, got ready, and picked my mom up from the airport. We spent some time in Idaho Falls and then drove back to Rexburg to make it to my doctor’s appointment. They did an ultrasound and a stress test and everything was looking fab. However, when the doctor gave me the news that I was only 50% effaced and less than 1 cm dilated, I didn’t skip a beat to ask when I could get induced. They asked me what day I would like and I said Thursday, so when the nurse came in and said, “You’re scheduled to go into the hospital tomorrow!” I nearly had a panic attack.

I called Jesse to give him the news that we’d be meeting our daughter in the next day or so and we were both very obviously nervcited (nervous and excited).

The next day my mom and I went to Wal Mart to buy some last minute things before I headed off to the hospital later that evening. The shopping trip consisted mostly of me sitting on the floor of the aisles while my mom shopped. She kept telling me I was in labor and I would always respond with “I think I would know if I was in labor.”

The day went on like a completely normal day. Jess came home from work and we ate (well, he and my mom ate. I was way too nervous to even think about food) and then Jess went to go get his hair cut. When I pictured this moment in my head a thousand times before I did not expect it to be so normal and relaxed. In fact, I was 90% sure my water was going to break while I was in class and I had this whole thing planned out where my lady friends in my class would escort me out to the parking lot where Camilla would be waiting to drive me to the hospital and I’d call Jesse and yell at him that the baby was coming out NOW like they do in the movies and possibly Camilla would deliver my baby…you know, the norm.

Heading to the Hospital. My feet were so swollen I could only wear flip flops.

7:50 pm rolled around and we were expected to be at the hospital at 8. So we were rushing around the house gathering all 10 of our bags. Seriously that’s only a little bit of an exaggeration. I knew I overpacked, but I was totally okay with it because it made me feel more prepared. We made it through the maze to labor and delivery after only having to stop a few times to catch my breath and being offered a wheel chair once by a complete stranger. Unfortunately I left my wallet in the car that had all our insurance information and Jesse had to leave me to run back to the parking lot. He took so long that they went ahead and checked me in and showed me to my room. I then had enough time to chat with the nurses and get into my gown. I was beginning to think that he ran away and I started to have a little anxiety…not to mention the nurse asked who I wanted as our daughters pediatrician and all I could give her was “Uhh, we were supposed to do that?”

Jesse FINALLY came back and immediately I felt better. There’s something about being clueless alone versus being clueless with someone you love. As long as you got each other you’ll be okay.

We were both giddy with excitement and took silly pictures until the nurse came in to check on me. They had planned on giving me some medication to speed up the process by thinning my cervix and then administering pitocin, but when she was checking to see how I was progressing she got a surprised look on her face and said, “You’re 90% effaced and 2 cm dilated…you’re already in labor!” So she left to go call the doctor and ask if he still wanted me to stay and take the medication or go home and labor naturally until I was more ready to go. Jesse and I both had our fingers crossed that they’d let me stay because I wanted to be as close to an anesthesiologist and an epidural as I could get (respect to women who do it naturally, but I’m a strong advocate for not feeling pain if I can help it.) Thankfully they let me stay and we went ahead with the medication just to help speed things up a bit

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Jesse and I stayed up watching Conan until 10:30 at which point my doctor came in and told me to go to bed…apparently labor is tiring or something. The nurse brought me ambien and I zonked out until 12:30 a.m. when I was woken up by the worst pain ever. Contractions are an interesting pain and impossible to describe, but I can tell you that they hurt like hell. Jesse helped me through each one by letting me squeeze the life out of his hands and cuddling me on my small hospital bed. Each contraction left me breathlessly saying, “I can’t do this!” Jess was watching the monitor that tracked my contractions and liked to say things like, “Oh this is a big one!” And I would respond with, “I KNOW.” Around 1:30 a.m. my nurse asked if I wanted an epidural and I thought I’d be brave and say no, but after another half hour or so of contractions I was frantically pushing the nurse call button. The anesthesiologist came in way faster than I expected and I wanted to marry him right then and there. I think I was still a little high from the ambien and was super happy about getting an epidural so I was quite the comedian. I told the nurse and anesthesiologist that some people say they don’t want to get an epidural because they are scared of needles and I was like, “Well you know what I’m scared of? Pushing a human out of my vagina.” I also told the anesthesiologist that the epidural needle was my favorite needle in the whole wide world. It still is, oh it still most definitely is.

The epidural was administered and it seemed like only a few minutes before the anesthesiologist asked if I felt the contraction that I just had. I looked at him teary eyed and said, “I had a contraction??” I then proceeded to cry tears of joy and promptly fell asleep feeling absolutely no pain. It was heaven.

I don’t remember much after that, but each time I got checked I had progressed a lot and by 7 the next morning I was 100% effaced and dilated to an 8. We called my mom and my best friend, Camilla, who so sweetly volunteered her amazing talent to take pictures and video of our special day, and told them they should probably hurry a bit to the hospital. Camilla showed up with all her camera gear and got right to work. We are destined to be best friends for life because she’s seen it all now. My mom on the other hand, was having a bit of car trouble and that’s a story in and of itself, but she made it right after the nurse checked me and said that I was 100% effaced, dilated to a 10, and ready to go.

The nurse called the doctor and started to get everything ready. She told me that soon I would start to feel the urge to push, but that I needed to “labor down” for half an hour which to me basically meant cross my legs and suck that baby in. The nurse told me that laboring down makes it so the baby is farther down meaning I wouldn’t have to push as long, so of course I complied. The urge to push grew stronger and stronger each time and as soon as a half hour had passed I was literally crossing my legs when I told my mom that I needed to push right now. She rushed out into the hall to find my nurse and relay the message.

At this point is was all starting to feel very real. I was super emotional thinking about actually getting to meet the little stranger that I had been carrying for 9 months. I asked Jesse to say a prayer and we shared an amazing peaceful moment before it was time to push. I started pushing around 10 and I wasn’t messing around. Pushing is tiring business and it hurt super bad even with an epidural, plus I wanted to meet my daughter asap so I was definitely motivated to get her out. We soon found out that it was very good that I was able to push her out fairly quickly and I was able to do so because of the fact that between each push it was like I was completely asleep, restoring my energy. I “woke up” for each push and was able to exert all of my energy into it, at one point I needed oxygen so I wouldn’t pass out. She was born at 10:37 with the cord wrapped around her neck. The poor thing was limp and blue and they whisked her away to the warming bassinet to try to get her stats up. Jesse and I were glued to watching the nurses work on her. The alarms were going off every few seconds as if the nurses didn’t already know that our little girl was in trouble.

The doctor stitched me up as all of this was happening (I had a second degree tear) and after about 5 minutes we finally heard sweet Evaline’s cry and we were beyond thrilled. Soon after that I was able to hold her skin to skin and I was so incredibly in love. I handed her over to Jesse and as he fell in the deepest of love with our daughter, I fell even more in love with him.

I like to joke that Evaline is going to be an only child, but seriously labor was an incredible experience. I have so many people to thank for making it that way, especially my doctor and nurses who took care of our sweet girl so that she made it into my arms as healthy as can be. Going back to school and finishing up the semester definitely wasn’t ideal, but I couldn’t have passed any of my classes without my mom who helped me with some projects and late homework. Moving 2 weeks after we had a baby was even more crazy, but again, my parents took charge and packed up almost my entire house. The sweetest girls from my church saved the day (and some starving bellies) by bringing by delicious meals expecting nothing in return. I’m so grateful for everyone who was thinking and praying for us and for all the love and support we had. I can’t believe how blessed we are. I’m eternally grateful to Camilla for capturing our greatest moment in photos and an AMAZING video (if you haven’t seen it already I’ve posted it below). Like I said, she’s seen it all so…best friends for life, am I right?

Finally, my husband. I mean, he’s kind of the reason this whole “have a baby” thing happened and I wouldn’t want to raise a child with anybody else. He’s already proven to be an amazing father in so many ways while still remaining an incredible husband. I know I’m not the only one who is lacking sleep and sanity yet he still takes care of her in the early morning and evening when he gets home from work so I can sleep or have me time.

Well, props to you who have made it this far. It’s a long post, but I can’t find my diary in the mess of boxes so here it is on my blog. I love my Evaline, I love my hubby, and I love you guys for loving us. Now watch her birth story video…you will cry.

Yours Sincerely,

A mom in love.

P.S. Evaline is pronounced Eh-vuh-line. Line as in the line that you draw, not EveLYNN, but I can understand the confusion 😉 You may hear us call her Eva (Eh-Vuh) or Evie (Ee-Vee) for short. We planned on naming her Evie, but changed our minds a few days before. We got used to calling her Evie though so it kind of just stuck around.

PC: Camilla Hancock at Inspire Me Video