Introducing Evan Jeffrey!!

It's a boy!!  This seems a little silly to post since the majority of people know that he's here, especially since he is almost 3 weeks old now!  He definitely surprised all of us and arrived on 6/21/12, exactly three weeks early.  He weighed 7 lbs, 6 ozs and was 19 3/4" long.  He made the most of the longest day of the year and waited until 11:35 pm to arrive :) 



So, let's see...the story of his birth.  I didn't have any signs that I was going to go into labor anytime soon, or at least not any like I had with Grace.  On Tuesday night (6/19) I remember waking up a lot in the night with back pain and I remember thinking that it felt a little bit like contractions but not believing it really could be.  I was completely expecting him to come close to his due date, since Grace had been born right on hers.  I didn't think he would come until after the 4th at the earliest. 
On Wednesday (6/20) I took Grace to the Treehouse in Chelsea (it's an indoor playground for those of you who don't know) since it was SO stinking hot that we couldn't do anything outside.  It was the first time I had gone by myself with her and I was nervous because the last times we had gone she had needed help climbing the structures and I knew there was no way I would be able to help her since I was so huge!!  But it went great, and I remember I texted Jeff saying I was going to take her at least once a week until the baby came because it was so nice to be able to sit while she played and know that she was safe.  Ha ha!! 

36.5 weeks pregnant.  Little did I know that 3 days
after this pic was taken I would have the baby!

That night we went up to Pleasant Lake and went swimming.  We had already been a few times this summer and it was so nice for me to be able to relieve some of the pressure of being pregnant while I was in the water.  While we were there I had this strong emotion that I needed to cherish these moments because before long our family would be completely different.  I guess maybe subconsciously I knew something was going to happen?

After we got home from the lake I got a headache and felt a little nauseous.  It was the first time I had felt that way since I got over the 1st trimester morning sickness so it did make me wonder a little if labor was coming soon.  But I got over my nausea pretty quickly and decided to make blueberry scones - they were delicious!

We went to bed around 11:30 or so, and I remember that before I turned the light out I got up to pee one more time and it seemed like my underwear was a little wetter than normal, but I didn't think much of it and went to bed and pretty much passed out!  I woke up again at 2 am to pee, and as I was walking to the bathroom it definitely felt like things were really wet.  I sat down on the toilet but before I actually started peeing I heard "plop, plop" in the toilet.  I was still half asleep so it took me a minute to really register what I thought I heard, so I turned the light on (I had started freaking out wondering if I was bleeding!) and that's when I noticed that my pantyliner was TOTALLY soaked through and that there was clear fluid coming out.  I'm glad that this didn't happen with Grace because I might not have figured out that my water had broken.  I think I kind of stood there in shock for a minute or two before I really grasped what was happening.  I didn't have any contractions, I hadn't lost my mucous plug or had "bloody show" (both of which had happened with Grace a few days before I went into labor) so it was a complete surprise.  I went and woke Jeff up and told him that I thought my water had broken and he was completely out of it and I don't think it really registered with him what was happening either! 

Since it was 2 am, we hadn't lined anyone up yet to be "on-call" to come and watch Grace and since I wasn't actually having contractions I decided to try to go back to sleep and wait until either at least 6 am to call anyone or until I actually started having contractions.  Unfortunately, there was no way I was going back to sleep, even though I really needed it!  All I could think about was everything that still needed to get done and how we totally weren't ready for the baby to come and worrying about who would watch Grace, etc, etc.  I hadn't even packed anything for the hospital yet!   Finally at 4:30 I gave up and got out of bed and made a list of all the things we needed to do before we left for the hospital (and started working on those things!).  I also decided that I was going to wait until at least 8 am to do anything and call the doctor's office when they opened to see what they wanted me to do.  I was supposed to have my 37 week appt with my doctor that day where they were going to do an ultrasound to make sure the baby was head-down and I had a list of questions I was going to ask her.

We called my mom and dad at 6:30 and had my mom come over to stay at the house while Jeff and I went walking to see if it would start any contractions.  We walked for an hour and I had some minor contractions while we were walking but as soon as I stopped walking they went away.  When I called the doctor at 8 they told me I needed to go to labor and delivery so I took a shower and then waited until 9:30 when Grace woke up.  There was no way I was leaving before I got to say goodbye to her!!

I think we finally got to the hospital around 10:30.  They checked to see if I was actually leaking amniotic fluid and the test came back positive so it was official - I was going to have a baby that day!  I was also 2 cms dilated and 70% effaced at that point and they did an ultrasound that confirmed the baby was head down.  I was admitted to my room around 12:30 or so.  Since I wasn't having contractions they had to start me on pitocin, but I asked if I could walk around some first to see if it would start anything.  Unfortunately the walking didn't do anything so they started me on pitocin around 3:30 pm.  Once you are on pitocin you have to be constantly monitored so it sucked because it meant that I couldn't walk or sit in the shower. 

I don't think I started having "real" contractions until about 5 pm or so.  Even then, they weren't that painful and were pretty easy to breathe through.  They also weren't very consistent - sometimes they would be 2 minutes apart and then other times they would be 5 minutes apart.  I sat on the birthing ball for awhile and kept trying to change positions as much as I could but it was a total pain with all the IV wires and monitor wires.  I think I was around 4-5 cms dilated at that point.  Around 7:30 pm the contractions started getting really painful and were mostly concentrated in my lower back/tailbone.  I was really worried this meant the baby was "sunny side up" and I was in for a lot of pain but the nurse didn't seem to think so.  My mom, my sister and Jeff's mom had been in the room until that point but I kicked them out for at least an hour while I focused on getting through the contractions.  They checked me at around 9 pm and I was almost 7 cm dilated.  I had really been hoping it would be more since the contractions were really hurting by then!!  I couldn't believe how much my lower back was hurting and none of the positions I tried were helping.  I was also totally exhausted at this point - I had essentially been awake for over 36 hours and I hadn't eaten anything substantial since the blueberry scones almost 24 hours before.  The nurse checked me again around 10 or so and I was at 9 cms - she also tried to "stretch" my cervix when she did this (without telling me ahead of time that she was going to do it) and that was my breaking point.  I am honestly surprised that I didn't punch her in the face when she did that - it hurt more than any pain I had felt up to that point.  I think I started crying and I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore and told Jeff and the nurse that I wanted an epidural.  I figured they would tell me it was too late, but by 10:45 pm I had the epidural and was starting to feel a TON of pressure.  I kind of regret getting the epidural because I had wanted to go natural again like I had with Grace, but the doctor told me it had allowed me to finally relax enough to finish dilating so I guess it was a good thing.  Although it still seems silly to me that I had it for barely an hour!! 

Around 11:20 pm I started pushing and in less than 10 minutes of pushing baby Evan arrived!  Once his head came out (which hurt like CRAZY, even with the epidural) I figured it would be really easy from there since I remembered with Grace that it only took one little push to get the rest of her body out, but I was wrong.   The dr and nurses kept telling me to push as hard as I could and I felt like I was but his body wasn't coming out.  Finally I heard a "snap" (which TOTALLY freaked me out) and he came out all the way.  I heard the doctor say "make sure you check his clavicle" and I was terrified that he had broken his shoulder.  It turns out that he decided to come out with his right hand by his face so his arm was stuck on my pelvic bone.  Thankfully nothing was wrong except he had a bad bruise on his forearm but it completely explained why I had been having such bad pain in my tailbone area.  The doctor also told me that when babies come out that way that it's the equivalent of giving birth to a baby that weighs 1/2 lb more, so at that point I stopped feeling like a wimp for getting the epidural!!  The best part of Evan taking so long to come out was that when the nurse shift changed at 11 pm I was able to get my cousin Connie as my nurse.  She had just missed Grace being born so I was glad Evan cooperated for her :)

Best nurse ever!

We were discharged from the hospital on Saturday evening, but ended up going back on Sunday afternoon and spending another night because Evan developed jaundice.  We knew we were at a higher risk of him getting it because Grace had it, and also because our babies get a "special" kind of jaundice because of blood-type incompatibility.  I have O blood and Jeff has AB blood so both of our kids ended up with A blood.  A/B blood doesn't mix with O blood so while I am pregnant the anti-bodies of the different blood types cross through the placenta and the baby has more bilirubin in their bloodstream when they are born.  I totally blame Jeff for this because he's the one with the weird blood type!!  Anyways, more anti-bodies mix with each subsequent pregnancy so it gets worse with each baby.  Add to that the fact that Evan was born in the 37th week and the risk gets even higher.  The frustrating part is that our normal pediatrician doesn't do rounds anymore at the hospital where we delivered, so we just had whoever was on rotation each day deciding whether Evan needed treatment for the jaundice or not.  The doctor who let us go home on Saturday was following the "mid-risk curve" and said he was okay, but the doctor who made us go back on Sunday was following the "high-risk curve".  It ended up being the right thing to do to go in, but in a way it would have been easier to just stay at the hospital on Saturday night and start the light treatment then.  We finally got to go home for good on Monday afternoon, but Evan went to the doctor for blood draws on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and again the following Monday.   Plus, we had noticed a spot in his right eye inside the pupil so our doctor sent us to the Kellogg Eye Center at U of M on Thursday morning to have them look at it.  It ended up being a (hopefully) harmless persistent pupilliary membrane (basically a "piece" of the iris was left behind when the pupil formed inside the iris) that shouldn't cause any problems.  We have to go back in 6 months just to make sure it isn't affecting his vision - if it's making his vision blurry his brain can start to ignore the images coming from that eye which would essentially make him blind in that eye.  It has been a crazy few weeks, but so far things have finally started to settle down, thank goodness.

Coming home (the first time)!

What a sweet big sister!

Evan has been a pretty easy baby so far (except for all the medical issues!).  He usually only cries when he's hungry or needs his diaper changed, but the doctor warned us that he could be mellower than usual because of the jaundice and being born early.  We're bracing ourselves for the other shoe to drop since Grace was so unhappy the first 3 months of her life!  Thankfully, he is a really good eater (he latched on within 20 minutes of birth) so nursing has been easy, but I totally forgot how time-consuming it is.  It's easy to adjust to each new stage of independence your kids reach and hard to go back to the phase where they are totally dependent on you!  Evan actually gained 10 ozs from his Wednesday doctor appt to his Monday doctor appointment so I know he's eating enough!!

My loves!

Grace has been...interesting since Evan came home.  NO (said with an attitude) seems to be her word of choice these days, and it's hard to tell if she's acting like this because of Evan, or because she probably got whatever she wanted from my dad the entire time we were in the hospital, or if it's just the "terrible twos" showing up.   I've really been struggling being patient with her since I'm pretty exhausted most of the time and I've definitely been losing my temper more with her lately.  Every day I feel so guilty because I feel like at any given moment I'm ignoring one of them.  It was really hard on me when Evan came so early because I hadn't really prepared Grace (or myself!) for the changes.  I thought I had a few more weeks to spend with her and had even ordered a "big sister" book on Amazon 2 days before he was born that I was going to read with her before he came.  It is very overwhelming going from 1 child to 2, especially when you weren't really prepared yet!  Each day seems to get a little easier, but I'm worried about what I'm going to do when Evan isn't a little baby who can't move or get into things and I'll be chasing both of them around!!   Thankfully Grace is really loving toward Evan and always wants to see him or kiss him or hug him.  Hopefully these feelings last a long time :)  On a funnier note, Grace cracked both of us up the other day when we were out to lunch - we told Grace she was getting chicken fingers for lunch and when they came she shouted "chicken hands!!".  It was so stinking cute!!

With Great-grandma and grandpa Holleran

So, that's the story of our newest miracle's arrival into the world.   Please pray for all of us as we adjust to everything new!

Smiling in his sleep!