Eva's Birth Story

On Monday, March 10th I had my last acupuncture treatment.  Shamayne (my acupuncturist) asked if I wanted her to "hit some spots" and I said yes please;-)  I didn't think the treatment was as intense as it was with Hunter but oh well.  The next day I woke up thinking I was having contractions but they weren't that bad and went away.  I went to work (at the time, it was going to my second to last day before I went on maternity leave) and then met up with my friend Melissa for lunch.  (side note,  I was hanging out with Melissa the night before Hunter was born)  At lunch, I told Melissa that I was really hoping for Eva to be born in the morning so I could get full use of my hospital stay;-)  Later that afternoon and evening I felt completely drained.  When Jeremy got home from work I told him I didn't think he was going to be going to work the next day.  Before I went to bed, I gathered a few more things for my hospital bag and Hunter's hospital bag.

At 2:20, I woke up to go to the bathroom and started to feel some contractions.  I downloaded a "contraction tracker app" and began to time them.  They were about 4-5 minutes apart.  I told Jeremy (who didn't really move) and then texted my mom.  After talking to my mom, I called the doctors answering service and within a minute the doctor called me back and told me to go to the hospital.  I woke Jeremy up and said "it's time to go!"  We gathered everything, including Hunter who didn't say much until we put his coat on and said "Hunter leaving?".  

I checked into the hospital at 3:47 and was sent to triage.  It seemed to take forever.  I was dilated to 4 and my contractions were 3 minutes apart.  After being transferred to the labor and delivery room the nurse had to take blood and send it to the lab before I could get an epidural.  For the next 30 to 40 minutes the nurse stuck me several times in 6 different spots to try to get blood.  I was not a happy person and knew that this baby was going to be coming soon.  Finally the nurse was able to draw the blood and sent it to the lab.  My contractions were strong and at 5:00 my water broke.  From the fluid, the nurse could tell that Eva had had her first bowel movement and called for the NICU to be in the room just incase they were needed.  Soon after my water breaking, the anesthesiologist came in to administer my epidural.  I was having a hard time sitting still and before she placed the needle, I had a feeling that I had to stand.  I only stood for a few seconds and then I was ready for her to do her thing.  Within a minute after she placed the epidural and I laid back in my bed, I had an urge to push.  The feeling was so strange and the nurse said it was ok to push.  After I pushed a few times, she checked me and said I was complete.  My on-call doctor was 20 minutes out so they had the hospital on-call doctor come in.  I don't really remember what all happened for the next few minutes...I think the anesthesiologist put a few more drugs in my iv and things slowed and I mellowed out slightly.  There was another time that I had to push and they let me.  (not that there was really a choice;-)  When my doctor arrived, it didn't take long for her to get ready and she told me that I could push whenever I was ready.  So ready or not this baby was coming out quickly!  Not more than two pushes later and less then 10 minutes, our beautiful baby girl was in my arms.

8 lbs 14 oz
21 inches long

Shawnee Mission is really good about letting the mom and baby have skin to skin time right away.  So for the next hour or so, we hung out that way.  After everything was cleaned up, family began to come in and meet the newest member of our family.

After Hunter's birth I really thought that acupuncture helped aid in my quick delivery.  Now after Eva I'm convinced of that and will tell anyone to have treatments to help with a quick delivery.  Yea for quick labor and deliveries!

Weekly Pregnancy Pictures

Every week I tried to take a picture of my belly.  I did fairly well and got most weeks documented, including the day before Eva was born:-)  I love how Bow is usually in the background of the pictures.

Jan - Mar 2014

Since I was such a bad blogger for the first few months of the year I'm just going to update with pictures and videos.  Enjoy!

Coming soon...

more blog posts;-)

The worst blogger award goes to me!  I plan to get posting again soon.

Our Growing Family

You might have noticed from my Christmas Eve post that two of my siblings are pictured with their fiances.  We are very excited to welcome Donnie and Liz to the family!!

Donnie proposed to Aly over the summer and they are planning a fall wedding.  Andy proposed to Liz on Christmas Eve and will be planning a summer wedding.

Here are a few pics of Aly and Donnie.  I'll post pics of Andy and Liz after they have some taken:-)

Donnie had a photographer capture "the moment"

Poor Bow-Doggie

We had noticed a lump on Bows tummy and took him to the vet to be looked at.  The vet said it was a tumor and to have it removed.  So Bow had his surgery the day after Christmas.  The vet said the procedure went well and was pretty routine.  The tumor was easy to get out and has been sent it off for testing but the vet is pretty sure it’s a fatty tumor.  Which would be the best case but he would be prone to get more.  So for now we wait to hear what it is and we baby our big puppy who has a very big boo-boo. 

The first couple of days of recovering Bow moved pretty slow and just laid around trying to sleep.  Hunter has done a great job keeping his distance from Bow though he will sneak a few hugs in:-)  Within a few hours of Bow coming home from the vet, Hunter noticed where Bow was sewn up and got very worried saying "Uh oh, Uh oh!"  It was very sweet.  

Bow has been doing a great job at letting us clean the sutures.  Every day it looks better but still is horrible to look at.  The incision line is at least 5 inches long.  

The stitches should come out late next week.  That will be a wonderful day!

Christmas Day 2013

Hunter woke up around 6:15 on Christmas morning.  He was thirsty and wanted to rock in the glider when I went in to get him.  I could tell he felt warm so we just rocked for a little bit and then I took his temperature and sure enough had a fever.  (If you remember last year he was sick on Christmas too.)  So I gave him Tylenol and took him into our bed to lay.  It didn’t take too long and his fever was gone and we were all ready to see if Santa had visited us!

Hunter before going downstairs to see if Santa came

Hunter and his big tractor

Hunter opening his stocking

Bow got a bone

Bow watching over Hunter

Hunter showing me his "Jake the Pirate" 

Sure enough, there were lots of presents under the tree and the stockings were full!  Hunter went to the tree and found a big tractor and pointed out all the wrapping paper that had his favorite characters on it.  We then had Hunter open his stocking and he played and played with all the little toys in it.  We decided to take a break and eat breakfast before opening the presents.  After we ate, Hunter took his time opening his gifts and playing with them.  One of his favorite gifts was a basketball hoop for the door.  He loves to shoot hoops and always asks Jeremy or me to make a hoop with our arms.  So he might not be doing that so much any moreJ

We headed to Jeremy’s parents house around 11 to spend the rest of the day there.  Hunter enjoyed opening more gifts and playing with his cousins.  Jeremy’s mom prepared a very yummy dinner for us all to enjoy.  After we ate, I could tell Hunters fever was back.  So Jeremy went home and got some more Tylenol for him.  We didn’t put Hunter down for a nap but we could tell he was very sleepy.  (Hunter isn’t ready to give up his nap anytime soon)  After Hunter had another dose of meds, he sat on Jeremy’s lap while he rested.  After a while Hunter was up playing again. 

The family

The cousins

Hunter 

Hunter got a police car

Wyatt got golf clubs

Nora in the rocking chair

Grandma Peggy opening her gifts

Hunter helping Grandpa Bob

Cally looking at Wyatt's book

Hunter and Jeremy

Me and Hunter
(Hunter and I are wearing the same outfits as the night before but being super mom,
I washed them on Christmas Eve:-)  Ha!

Hunter playing ball with Grandpa Bob

When we got home from Jeremy’s parents, Hunter played with his new toys for a few minutes before it was time to get ready for bed.  Our little boy was exhausted so it was an early bed time but the little boys fever got him up a couple times at night.

Every year I have to take picture of Hunter's gifts.
One of my favorite when I was younger was to lay out all my gifts on the bed to look at them:-)

We are good on trucks:-)

And we are good on clothes:-)

Christmas 2013 was great fun with all of our family.