Friday, March 30th
On Friday (as I said below) we went in for a 41wk checkup and ultrasound. At that checkup the midwife did a membrane sweep and it seemed to help. That evening I started having mild, but regular contractions. They didn’t seem to be getting stronger or more frequent, so we went to bed.

Early Saturday, March 31st
Saturday morning I woke up at 3am and then again at 4am with stronger contractions. I wasn’t able to fall asleep again after the 4:00am waking. I started timing the contractions again and they were still coming very regular (every 10 minutes) and a bit more intensely. I was still able to walk, talk, think, etc, but I knew that today was the day. Just before 5:00am Alan woke up a bit and said “Are you ok?” I said “Yeah, but we will be going to the hospital this morning.” He jumped up and got in the shower :) My mom heard the shower running at 5:00am and also knew what was going on. We were all up and packing shortly thereafter. The contractions still weren’t very painful or much closer together, but I called the midwife and she said to come in. I was going to let Lex wake up on his own because he’s usually up by 6:30am, but he choose today to sleep in, so we ended up waking him up at 7:00am. We got him dressed and gave him a Zone bar for breakfast in the car.

8:00am
We got to the hospital around 8:00am and were promptly shown to a room. When Lex was born we went to the triage room first, but this time we zipped right by there. Probably because they knew how quickly he came and they knew that I was 4cm the day before. So we settled in. The midwife came in and checked me and said I was around 6cm and everything was looking great. Lex and my mom hung out in the room with us for a bit then went down to the waiting room to hang out with my grandparents and Alan’s parents. Contractions were getting stronger, but I was still walking, talking, and thinking.

10:00am
Alan and I went down to the waiting room to say hi to everyone and check in on Lex. He was having a blast in a cool room with new toys, lots of grownups playing with him, and my grandma feeding him graham crackers. I wasn’t feeling terribly social though, so went back to the room after a few minutes. Then the midwife came in and asked if I wanted her to break my water. She said that baby is all lined up and ready to go, but still trying to get through amniotic sack. I asked if it would hurt (I’m a wuss) and she said no, but it would kick labor into full gear and the contractions would come much faster. I said ok, let’s go. So at 10:10am she broke my water and boy was she right. I almost immediately started having stronger and faster contractions. She checked my dilation when she did it and “she’s at 8cm… now 9cm…” :) So I labored with Alan and the nurse on the birthing ball for awhile. They kept asking if I felt the urge to push and as soon as I did it was back on the bed. I couldn’t lie down so they put the head of the bed up as much as possible (the birthing beds are the coolest thing) and I was basically sitting up. This was maybe 10:30ish. I labored here for a few more minutes then started pushing. Labor hurts like hell and pushing is even worse!! I cannot imagine all day (or multi-day!!) L&D; like some people have. Anyway, after pushing a few times the nurses put a birthing bar across the bed (also called a squat bar, pretty cool thing) and I just pushed like hell through two more contractions. It was pretty amazing actually. Because I was more upright I was able to see the baby right away and could tell as soon as she was out.

10:55am
Evelyn Rose came out at 10:55am. She made a wailing face, but no sound came out. I said “cry baby, please cry.” The doctors assured me she was fine and took her to the pedi cart (right next to my bed) to check her for meconium. Since she was late there was meconium in the fluid and apparently it’s bad for babies to inhale. They did the same thing for Lex when he was born. Anyway, I was upright and able to watch as they suctioned her out and then I laid back on the bed and they gave her to me. They asked if I wanted her on my chest right away or after she was cleaned up. Believe it or not I said right away and they put slimy purple baby on my chest. So cool. Alan ran down to the waiting room to share the big news and get a camera (we left ours home!!)

Noonish
After some cleanup my mom brought Lex in to visit. He seemed mildly interested in her. She was crying, he said “there’s baby,” then “there’s a light.” :) Equally interested in both. Such a funny boy. We let him look at Eve a bit and touch her hand then mom took him home for a nap. I feel so lucky that the whole thing happened between morning and nap time so he was able to be around the whole time. I couldn’t have asked for better timing. After a bit more cleanup (I know, I can be vain) my grandparents and Alan’s parents came in. Everyone oohed and ahhed and we took lots of pictures.

Wrap up
So, this story is kind of short, but that’s the sign of a great L&D! The shorter the better :) Eve is doing really well. She took to breastfeeding right away. She was very sleepy after birth, but last night she woke up for good nursing sessions and has been nursing very well today. She has dark blue eyes and shows them off sometimes. She also has a beautiful triangle mouth which makes a great smile. She was a bit purple at birth and the nurses said her face was bruised. Today she is all pink and the bruising is mostly gone and this afternoon she passed her hearing screening and had her PKU test done.

My parents and B brought Lex over for another visit this afternoon. He was here this morning while my parents were at church. He has been amazing this weekend. He apparently has been eating and sleeping and behaving quite well for my parents. I’m so happy because he’s such a mommy’s boy lately I was really worried he’s be a mess when I was gone. I guess it’s like a little party at my house with the grandparents :) He’s always happy to see us again when he comes to the hospital though and sad to leave. I’m happy for the downtime here, but miss him so much too. Mom said that as happy as he’s been, he still won’t let anyone but me and Alan read books to him.

So that’s it for now. I’m going to find a few pics to add to this post and I’ll post more later. We go home tomorrow.