She's here!

What an amazing few days we've had!

Evelyn Dee Lorene was born April 11 (Karl's Birthday!) at 12:12pm via C-section.
She was 8lbs 11oz and 20.5in long.

Evelyn's Birth Story:

We were a planned C-section, so we arrived at the hospital at 9:30AM as instructed.
We had 1/2 hour of monitoring, and they did all the appropriate blood work, etc to prepare.
We were scheduled for 11:30AM, and actually went in to the OR on time.
I received a spinal, which was way more painful than I expected, and was immediately laid down and "strapped in".
Unfortunately they didn't have the leg compression machine ready so I got to lay there in my birthday suit,
completely paralyzed, and super uncomfortable (spinals are not comfortable feeling FYI) until someone got it, 30 minutes later.
At 12:00, Karl was brought in to the room, and they started surgery.



At 12:12PM Evelyn was born.







She was not doing well transitioning from in-utero-life to oxygen.
Her first APGAR was 5. (1-3 is barely hanging on, 3-5 if NICU, 6-7 is OK, 8+ is great)
She would not start a good breathing pattern, and I remember her being blue from head to toe, with purple hands.

I kept asking "is she okay" and no one would respond. I looked at Karl for some reassurance, thinking maybe with all the drugs I was on, I just wasn't understanding/seeing well.
My biggest fear was confirmed, Karl looked at me with a horrified face and wouldn't say anything.
I heard them say something along the lines of "she's got 2 minutes to perk up or she's going to NICU"
Karl literally turned white, and was 2 seconds from passing out and falling over.
The nurses had to get him a wheel chair.
Thank GOD - she started to breath with oxygen.
They suctioned her out so many times, and patted her back to get her to puke fluid, and had the oxygen up to her face....
It was so scary.
Finally she started to turn pink and respond.
They kept working on both her and me, and then sent us to the recovery room what seemed like forever later.
I had some problems with hemorrhaging so it took a while.



I wasn't able to hold her in the recovery room at first.
It was so hard on me emotionally.
They had to keep monitoring her, and using oxygen to keep her levels up.
I got to touch her feet after what seemed like forever,
and didn't actually hold her until she was already a few hours old.


They explained to us that there was no way that she was more than 37 weeks gestational age.
She was born covered in vernix, and downy hair - something that is a trait of a 37 week-er.
Thank God that they didn't take her any earlier, because had they - she might not have done very well.
I think it was God's perfect timing that made all the difference.

She pooped all over me when we were skin to skin (to regulate her temp), which lightened the situation a bit.
My parents were able to visit in the recovery room, and help us transition back to our room.

All I can say is she is so perfect and I couldn't be more in love.
Like Karl said: "I got to experience the best day of my life again, for the second time".
First, obviously being Ethan's birth.
I love my children so much, and this whole experience has made me realize it so much more.




(shows some of the crazy-feeling of all the visitors, monitoring, etc)

Our few days in the hospital were great! Everyone kept telling us we were their favorite couple to work with.
I don't know if they were lying or if they tell everyone that but it was nice to hear!
My recovery is 1000% better than it went with Ethan.
We've been sleeping great.
Karl's been amazing.
The baby is perfect! Since she's a little "early" she does nothing but sleep, but I'm okay with that!
Ethan is a great big brother already!
And everything is wonderful!










I am so thankful for everyone that came to visit!
And especially thankful to Kasey for stepping up when we needed her and taking Ethan over night.
She got the cutest pictures I've ever seen of my boy!

Oh - and can I say, IT FEELS SO DAMN GOOD TO BE UN-PREGNANT!