A Birth Story

Ok, so as promised, here are the happenings of Evan's arrival :)

First of all, he was born 5 days overdue, so every day became a waiting game. His due date was on March 2nd, but true labor pains didn't come until Sunday, March 6th. I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for about 2 weeks, and then the morning of March 6th, at like 3 am, I woke up with pretty bad cramps, and they started becoming really regular really fast, so we were thinking that we'd have to head to the hospital in the next few hours or so. Well they stayed regular for a few hours and then it started to die down a little. After that every time I'd have a contraction it would hurt, but was definitely still bearable, and they started spacing out farther and farther. Soooo, Evan was just giving us a little preview I guess ;)

At about 12:30 pm I was able to call a friend from our ward who just so happens to be a nurse that works at the hospital I was delivering at: SWEET!! If we didn't have her to help us with everything, our whole experience would've been MUCH different, and not in a good way! Anyways, she left church early to come over and check me. It's a good thing I don't really care about that stuff, haha. Well, after 9 hours I was still only at a 4, and I was planning on having an epidural, and that's when the hospital gives you one, so she called the hospital and asked how crowded it was, and the answer was: EXTREMELY full, there were no open beds at the moment... great. So my friend said that I should pretty much put myself on bedrest the rest of the day to slow things down (darn, haha) so that's what I did, and it worked! So around 7 pm, things started picking up again, but it was still bearable, especially after I sat in the tub for an hour. At 9 pm my friend called me again and asked if I wanted her to come check me again, and I said YES please :) Well, as soon as she checks me, she said, "Girl, you gotta go, you're at an 8!!" I totally was not expecting that one at all!! So off we went, and in the meantime, my friend called and made sure that I got a private room (the hospitals around here get really crowded in L&D, so the chance of getting a private room without her was slim to none!), and the best nurse, and told everyone working there that we were her friends, so to take care of us... yeah, we owe her BIG time. Anyways, so we get into the room, wait about 30 mins for the epidural, which unfortunately only works on HALF of my body... yeah not fun. I seriously think I'm not gonna bother with the epidural with the next child. I might as well not even have had one, and I got through it, and paid lots of $$ for it! But the epidural also slowed things waaay down, so I got the epidural around 10 pm, and didn't have Evan until 2:27 am the next morning! So all in all, in was almost a 24 hour labor. Yikes. I was in labor with Jake for 17 hours, I definitely didn't think this one would be longer than that! Oh well, Evan is worth it :) So yeah, at about 2:15 am I was starting to get tired of all the contractions and my body was shaking really bad, so they checked me, and sure enough I was at a 10. I only pushed for a few minutes and he was here! And I didn't tear, which seriously was the best thing ever. A few days later I was feeling GREAT. All in all, everything went really well, and little Evan is perfect!!! Welcome to the world, little one :)

Sweet Evan Mac

I am FINALLY posting that Evan Mac is here!!! He is actually 6 weeks old today, but hey, it's been crazy around here so it's taken me a while ;) I'm planning on doing MUCH better with blogging after I play some catch-up. Anyways, so Evan joined our family on March 7th, at 2:27 am, weighing 8 lb. 11 oz., 20 inches long, and P.E.R.F.E.C.T. He is SUCH a sweet little guy, and such a good baby. He hardly ever cries, pretty much when he's hungry or tired, and every now and then when he just wants to be put down to kick his legs :) But he usually loves to be held when he's tired, which I'm trying to get used to because Jake was the opposite, believe it or not. He loves to suck on his binkie, but he isn't very good at keeping it in his mouth yet, and sometimes it's a problem... I have a love/hate relationship with binkies. But he's been a really good sleeper so far, he only wakes up a couple times to eat, and then usually falls right back asleep. If I could describe Evan in one word it would be: content. He is just a really chill kid! We need one of those around here ;) He loves to just lay on a blanket or on the bed and look around, but his favorite thing is to look at faces. He's been smiling since he was 3 weeks, and they keep getting better and better. He's just a doll!!! We love him soooo much, he's the absolute perfect addition to our family. Jake has been doing really well with Evan, too. The first couple weeks he was thrown WAY out of whack, naturally, and he had a hard time dealing with everything, but he never took out his frustrations on Evan. Not even once. It was mostly toward me, he was trying to do everything he could do get my attention, which meant he was n.a.u.g.h.t.y. Plus we had family in and out for the first 3 weeks of Evan's life, and poor Jake just couldn't handle everything. But he is MUCH better now and pretty much back to normal... but what is normal, really, with a 2 year old??? But seriously he has been such a great big brother. Let's hope it stays that way! So here are a TON of pictures, I'll do a separate post of Evan's Birth Story later, for right now just enjoy the pictures!

in labor... it ended up being 24 hours... loooong.

My sisters, Sarah and Hannah, and my mom were in the room until I had to push, so my sisters got to see that it's not quite what you see on TV ;) I loved having them there!

He's here!!! He was so content when he was born, he didn't cry pretty much the whole time we were in the hospital, even when he came out! Steve and I thought something was wrong with him but the nurses kept saying that he was great, he was just looking around!

Holy swelling!!

VERY proud parents :)

My 3 boys!!

About to go home, thank goodness. I HATE being in the hospital!

When Evan had his first bath at home, he fell asleep! So precious.

And this picture pretty much sums up what kind of mood Jake was in those first couple weeks. Yeeeah.

My favorite outfit, I love the little jeans!!

We love you, little man!!!! Thanks for being a sweet, lovable, handsome little guy, you are such a blessing!!

Just the 3 of Us One Last Time

A few days before the baby came Steve ended up having the morning off of work because he had worked really late the night before. I had a doctor's appointment (my last one!!) early that morning, and instead of just me going, Steve and J came with me and at the last minute we decided we should go and do something fun instead of going back home. And even though what we did wasn't really extravagant, it was one of the best days we had had in a long time! It was just fun to do something spontaneous together as a family, and we knew that this would most likely be the last time it would only be the 3 of us, so it was extra special :) We ended up going to the mall and did some window shopping and walked around outside (part of it is an outside mall), and the weather was PERFECT, so it just put us in a good mood. Steve ended up finding some really good deals on nice work clothes at Macy's, so he was happy :) And I got some smelly good stuff at Bath and Body Works, which would make anyone happy, hehe. Then we went to Red Robin for lunch... YUMMM!! Jake is still obsessed with balloons, and his first one ended up popping and scaring all of us and the table next to us. He had such a sad cry, and people around us were cracking up at how sad he sounded. Of course they gave him a new one, and he kept saying, "Green one popped, scared!!" "Blue one's ok." Anyways, it was just a good time, I wish I would've gotten more pictures, but it's better than nothing!

Jake looks so old to me in this picture... *sigh*