Thursday, January 31, 2008

Evan's finally here!

So I'm WAY late in posting this, but being a new mom is SO time consuming and overwhelming, but wonderful.


Evan was born on January 7, 2008 at 6:12 pm. He weighed 7 lbs and 15 oz and was 20.5 inches long. My induction started around 9 am. Fortunately I was already dilated to 4 and 90% effaced so I was able to get my epidural almost immediately. The anesthesiologists were awesome...right there every time I needed them. The good part about my labor is that I never really felt hard core contractions because of the epidural, so I was pretty comfortable until the time came to push. Even pushing wasn't bad at first, but after an hour and a half of pushing and no baby, the doc came in and realized Evan was posterior (face up rather than face down). That's why I wasn't able to push him out on my own. I was really exhausted by this point, but wasn't in pain really. The pain came when doc had to use forceps to turn him around...oh my goodness that hurt bad. I thought all my insides were gonna come out. Fortunately it only took one push once he was turned around and then he popped out!


Steve and Andrea were in the room with me, thank goodness. They were AMAZINGLY helpful and supportive. They stayed by my side and held my legs for the whole 2 hours! Steve was so wonderful and counted for me during contractions and "push" time. He coached me through the hard parts and kept assuring me I was doing a great job and I could do this. I don't know what I would have done without him. Andrea was awesome too. She said encouraging things to me while laboring that really helped me get through it. After Evan was born, they had to take him over to the warmer almost immediately because he wasn't crying very much. That worried me. Andrea assured me with her nursing knowledge that everything was alright. She said his color was good and he was fine. She stayed by my side and kept me calm while Steve went to be with Evan.


Fortunately my friend Giles' wife, Josephine, was in the delivery room with me too (she's a L&D nurse). She was wonderful. She also told me many comforting things and took care of Evan right after he was born. She helped me nurse Evan for the first time, helped when my epidural started to wear off and coached me through some tough times in the delivery room.


Unfortunately not long after the delivery, I started having severe shakes from all the medication. I almost started hyperventilating. It lasted for what seemed like ever. I couldn't hold Evan because I was so sick. I was very nauseated and ended up throwing up 3 times. Right when I thought I was better, I'd puke again. I even puked while I was breastfeeding him! Ugh! My postpartum nurse gave me some Zofran which eventually took away my nausea and I was finally able to spend time with and hold my baby at 3:30 am. I let him sleep on my chest till morning. It was wonderful.


The next few weeks brought more challenges. Severe sleep deprivation, extreme soreness from all the stitches, difficulty breastfeeding (especially since it took 4.5 days for my milk to come in) and people constantly calling and not being understanding about our need for privacy. But we made it through it!


Evan's 3.5 weeks old now and he is wonderful!! He's such a good baby, doesn't cry much, sleeps in 3-4 hour stretches at night, LOVES to snuggle and be held or be swaddled. He could learn to latch on a little better so it isn't as painful to feed him, but we're working on that. :) He has tons of dark hair and dark eyes. He still curls up like he was in the womb...so cute! He makes the funniest little faces in his sleep. I love when he smiles on accident....SO adorable. He definitely knows his mommy and daddy. Daddy can calm him in the early evening like nobody's business! Thank God! It gives me a huge break everyday. Steve is so good with him...better than I could have ever hoped for. He loves Evan so much. He happily changes diapers (it seems like he always gets the dirtiest ones too!), he feeds him in the early mornings or late nights so I can get a little extra sleep, he'll even bathe him and dress him. He's a perfect father.


I love spending my days with Evan. It's challenging still, but we're going to focus on getting some structure to his schedule this week and that should help. I know when he sleeps through the night, life will be much easier for me! We went out in public for the first time last weekend. Mom and I went to a consignment sale and had lunch on Saturday and Steve and I took him to church on Sunday. So I'm feeling more comfortable about taking him out. I love going to get him in the mornings and holding him when I'm nursing him. He's so cute in his little bouncy seat and swing. And bath time is fun too.


One of my favorite things about him is that he knows that I'm his mommy. He (usually) stops crying when I hold him and finds comfort with me when he's upset. After giving and giving and giving to a newborn non-stop, it really feels good to know that my baby knows me. I feel like that's how he shows me he loves me. I can't wait until he can smile at me!

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