Our History
Sitting here with our pink little baby girl and feeling complete. She is two weeks old today and I wanted to share some quick images, and a little about her birth story but I should probably start from the {very} beginning. Way back, years ago on my first date with my husband we talked about everything you probably shouldn't. Skeletons, politics, religion, and kids. *and he didn't run away!* I laugh back at it now because there was NO way I thought we'd work. He very abruptly said he always wanted two children: a boy, and a girl. I told him there was no doubt, I'd have four children: two boys, two girls. He has a sister, and while I'm an only child I have a very blended family of half siblings, and step siblings on both sides. I always wanted my daughter to have a sister and my son to have a brother. As early as I could remember that was my plan. Now I just joke that Kurt was right, but I was right longer- we did have a boy, than a girl.... than another boy and this girl. She completed us. She really did.
Our Dynamic:
As much as I always envisioned wanting four children, life experiences (in recent years, really) led me to count my lucky stars. Three was a great number- the dynamic was pretty balanced and it took almost a year to get us there. So when we chose to try one more time I felt more nerves than I ever did. On one hand *shocked* because my husband and his "two kids" plan had already compromised on three- but man he must love me to give me the dream of having a big crazy family with four kids in 6 years <3
Pregnancy
The pregnancy was rough! Lots of things I forgot despite having all the kids so back to back. And each symptom seemed 10 fold compared to the previous pregnancies. Those life experiences I mentioned before: I was left feeling unprepared (crazy to imagine as someone with three kids). I just felt this overwhelming rush of anxiety and it set in early in my first trimester. It was then I reminded myself, "every first will be my last" so I chose to be present and soak it all up. I didn't announce right away like I had before, I didn't do some wild and fun gender reveal like whats been trending and I didn't shop like I did with the others. I really enjoyed that. It felt like this was on my time. I ate whatever I wanted, and WHENEVER I wanted. In N Out was a top on my list which has often been the trend for all four pregnancies, but it was probably a mistake to drink that jar of Peperoncini juice. I can taste it now even typing it, so we'll just pretend that never happened. Instead I did things day by day. I did more research on what I wanted for my last birth- I truthfully wanted a home birth but I faltered and did much less research than I thought- when it came time I really did feel comfortable in the hospital. Maybe because it was the most familiar?
Her Birth
We arrived to the hospital about 10am on April 18th. I had a sweep the previous day in my doctors office to help get things started. We checked in, got a room and my contractions were a constant 3-4 minutes apart. I was only about 4-5cm so they kept me. Around 2pm my water broke and I was about 6-7. I chose to have the anesthesiologist come in and give me an epidural. I had sent Kurt downstairs to get me "something with protein, like trail mix" and he arrived just as I was getting hooked up to receive the epidural. So this momma had no meal. As a woman who loves food I was very upset. Especially that my husband was able to eat that food he just purchased "for me" ....
The epidural t wasn't something I originally planned on with this pregnancy, but resorting back to the familiar I chose to get it. I asked that the doc give me the very minimum so I could still push the button as needed (which I really only did a few times because of how quick her labor was).
Within two hours of my water breaking she was gearing up to arrive! Our delivery doctor asked if Kurt wanted to deliver our last baby and he declined at first but when our doctor walked out I told him he HAD to! I encouraged him that he wasn't going to actually deliver her, but maybe get to have a little Patrick Swayze/Demi Moore pottery moment with the baby and BOY WAS I WRONG! I told our amazing nurse in the photos below that it was time and they tossed Kurt a gown about two sizes too small to put on. We were all laughing so hard- I had tears and the pain totally dispersed. He stood at my feet, and I could hear the doctor walking him through what he was going to do. Once her head was out, Dr. K asked if I wanted to touch her head and I said with eyes squeezed shut and laughing, "NO JUST GET HER OUT"... the rest was on Kurt. I opened my eyes on that last push, and I saw her in Kurt's arms and although I said in another post I didn't cry, I did. (I had to look at the pictures to verify because on my end I was so happy and surprised I didn't even notice the tears). Scroll down to see the shot Nurse E took for us. *SO* thankful I had my settings relatively correct for her to just take some snap shots.
We didn't know right away, but Everly had a knotted (and very VERY long) umbilical cord. I didn't know but not many babies make it when their cord is like that. Someone was definitely watching over her for us: could have been anyone, we have a few angels in Heaven. It was pretty incredible, and the nurse made sure to get a shot of that as well. Scroll down to see more! Her birth was my last birth and I couldn't have asked for a better experience. She was brought into the world in a room filled with laughter and joy, and I just hope that echoes for her life- that she go into everything with a smile, and a light so bright.
We love you Everly, here's to feeling complete on 4.18.2017 at 4:46pm
<3
