Evie's Birth Story

Miss Evie decided to surprise us 2 weeks early!  As I mentioned before, I was scheduled to be induced at 39 weeks on June 30.  At my 37 week appointment, I was only 1 cm dilated and 0% effaced.  Even though I had been having a few contractions every now and then, I really did not believe that I would have this baby before the 30th.  Matthew and I hadn't gotten the car seat or bed out of the attic, hadn't packed bags or gotten anything really "ready" yet.  Our plan was to spend the weekend before doing all of that.
So on Tuesday the 21st, I took Mason to meet some friends at In the Zone.  We came home to eat lunch, and then I left Mason with Matthew and headed to my 2:00 weekly appointment.  I get called back to the room and the nurse measures me and listens to the heartbeat.  She made a comment that the baby must be sleeping since she wasn't moving around.  The nurse (Nicole) asked me if I had felt movement today.  I knew I had that morning, but I had been out and about all morning so I really couldn't recall much movement.  I just figured the baby was running out of room and not moving as much.  Nicole went ahead and ordered an ultrasound to be sure everything was okay.  She also ordered a bpp test which lasts 30 minutes.  The u/s tech immediately found the heartbeat and said everything looked good there, but for 30 minutes could not get the baby to move at all.  I ended up failing the test because of it.  They sent me back to my room, and immediately Dr. Michael came in very serious and said that she was having me wheeled downstairs to L&D.  I then began to freak out and called Matthew to tell him to get to hospital.  He had to wake Mason up from nap, pack him a bag and take him to the Lewis'.  I'm sure he was in a panic mode too!
While waiting for Matthew, they give me a gown and begin hooking me up to fetal monitors.  I was glad to see that my nurse was the same nurse I had almost 3 years ago with Mason.  We loved her and I began to feel a little better.  I called our parents and told them to start heading our way too.  After being hooked up to monitors for about 10 minutes, the nurses and even Dr. Michael said that everything looked perfect and were all pretty sure that I would be going home.  Dr. Michael decided she wanted me to have another bpp test and sent me down to radiology, but seemed fairly confident that I would be going home.  So I call our parents back and tell them not to come.  Matthew gets there and we go down for the other ultrasound.  Again, they can't get the baby to move, and the u/s tech calls in her supervisor to look at the screen.  It was a little scary because we had no idea what was going on.  Dr. Michael came in room and finds out that I fail the test again, and that they were seeing some blood around the placenta. Dr. Michael tells me we are going in for a c-section.  Here is where I really lose it!  I did not want a c-section at all!  Of course I wanted what was best for the baby, but I was not mentally prepared to have the baby that day, let alone by a c-section.  Dr. Michael did her best to calm me down and reassure me that everything was going to be okay.
Matthew gets on the phone and tells our parents to get on the road.  By this time I think it was around 5:00.  Everything went so fast from this point on.  We didn't even have a camera with us and Matthew didn't have time to go home to get it, so Lindsey brought us hers.  I can't imagine not having any pictures of the birth!  I get into OR, get the spinal (which didn't hurt, but was SO strange/weird not being able to feel my body from the chest down!) and then they put the sheet up and send Matthew in.  They cut me open and immediately begin talking about all the hair on the baby's head.  They pull the baby out, and Matthew says "it's a GIRL" and I begin to hear the sweetest cry.  We both are crying and so thankful that everything seems to be okay.  Evie was born at 5:55 pm, almost 3 hours after my initial appointment time.
Matthew takes some pictures and goes with her to watch her be bathed.  It took another 20 minutes or so for them to stitch me up.  I was so afraid that I would get sick, but luckily they gave me 3 different nausea medicines that seemed to do the trick.  The nurses and Dr. Michael were so sweet to me and really made me feel better.  It was a little sad when they told Matthew to go show Evie to the family and we had to tell them that no one was there!  Oh well, at least we got to experience telling the family with Mason's birth.
I get taken back to my room to recover and eventually people start to get there.  Donna, Caroline and Lezlee all got in around 8:30 and then Lindsey and Erinn came up too.  Lindsey brought Mason to meet his baby sister and he was so excited.  Lindsey said that she and Leigh had Mason, Bennett, and Drew all in the bath when we called with the news, and she just threw him in his pj's and brought him to hospital.  He just kept saying "i have a baby seester!" He wasn't too sure about me being hooked up to monitors and kept checking to make sure I was ok.  He honestly was just more excited to see Granna, Aunt CC and Lezlee.  My parents made it into town around midnight, but just went to the house and waited until Wednesday morning to come to hospital.  We were sad that not all of our family could make it, but were so grateful for the ones that could.
We found out that Dr. Michael sent my placenta off to be tested because something wasn't right with it.  I am just so thankful that they figured out something was wrong and decided to deliver immediately instead of just sending me home that day.
We had a good stay in the hospital and came home on Friday afternoon.  My parents will stay until next week and then Granna will come for several days.  One difficult thing about a c-section is that I cannot lift or clean (darn!) for 2-4 weeks, so I need even more help than normal.  My parents have been great so far, and of course Matthew has been Super Dad/Husband.  Right now I am thankful that he can work from home, so that he can be around to help when needed.  Evie is a good eater so far, and all she does is sleep!  Mason really isn't interested in her right now.  He will go give her a kiss every now and then, but really just ignores her.  I'm sure that will change once all the grandparents are gone.  He is loving the special attention he is getting right now!

I do need to say a special thank you to our sweet Shreveport friends.  We are so thankful that we had so many people only a phone call away while all of our family was trying to get into town.  I think Trey told Matthew something like "we are your family until your family gets here"  That means so, so much to us.  Lindsey took Mason with no questions asked, fed and bathed him and got him back up to the hospital to see us.  Erinn was also able to come up that night to meet Evie.  I know that we could have called several people to help and they would have done it immediately.  It was so nice not to have to worry about Mason because I knew he was in good hands.  We are truly blessed with our Shreveport "family"!!

My 38 week belly pic taken the night before.  I had no idea this would be my last picture!

Welcome Miss Evie!  5:55pm

6 pounds 8 ounces

Love that both my kids have enough hair at birth to get brushed!

I didn't love that the nurses kept giving her a mohawk though!

Mason meeting Evie for the first time

My sweet first child

Granna arrived to find out it was a GIRL!

First family photo

Aunt CC meeting Evie

We called it a night after this and Granna, Aunt CC and Lezlee took Mason home to bed.  The next day was filled with more visitors and a lot more pics!