MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Our little family is feeling so incredibly blessed this Christmas! Daughter #3, Evelyn Jane, was born yesterday morning and I will never, ever forget the experience. Here’s the play-by-play, for those of you who are interested (and not squeamish about terms like “dilation” and “afterbirth”):
{Keep in mind that, as of Christmas Eve, I was a whole week overdue and extremely frustrated with my OB doctors. I had been in and out of early labor contraction patterns for almost two weeks and was dilated to a 3.5 as of Sunday the 20th. I was so DONE with being pregnant and I was feeling guilty about my mom, dad, and sister, who had come to Delaware to meet the baby a week earlier. We all wanted this baby to come out!!}
7:15 a.m. – I wake up. My husband, Michael, is getting dressed for work. We had been up talking and praying (and me crying) until the wee hours of the morning. He looks at me, surprised, when I whisper that I think today’s going to be the day.
7:20 a.m. – Still laying in bed, I have my first contraction, but I’ve grown skeptical over the past two weeks. I have a doctor’s appointment at 8:30 and I’m worried they’ll make me wait longer if I’m not yet in active labor. The hospital does not schedule inductions on holidays or weekends, and my family was leaving on Sunday. I’m feeling anxious, but decide to get up and get ready for my appointment, hoping that I have another good contraction soon.
7:27 a.m. – The second contraction comes seven minutes after the first. My hopes for real labor without an induction are increasing.
7:50 a.m. – I get out of the shower and the contractions are coming pretty strong. They are increasingly painful but I figure that I’ve got some time because my water hasn’t broken yet. (This was my first experience with back labor – not fun.) Michael and I decide that this is the real deal and we should probably just go straight to the hospital. He calls my doctor to advise them that I won’t be making my appointment. The plan is to get ready for the day, drop off some stuff at Michael’s work, and head down to the hospital.
8:00 a.m. – I put on some make up and start to blow dry my hair, chatting with my family in between contractions. My mom wants my 20 year-old sister to see my labor pains and we all joke about how this is the ultimate birth control! Everyone gets excited that the baby is finally coming! We all hope together that she will arrive sometime before that evening so that I have a chance of spending at least some of Christmas Day with my other girls at home.
8:15 a.m. – Contractions are really starting to hurt and they are coming faster. It takes all my focus to manage the pain. I try as hard as I can to relax and breathe low. There is less chatting and joking with my family – it was game time. New plan: Michael calls a co-worker and asks him to swing by our house to pick up some paperwork because we need to head to the hospital right away. I’m still convinced there is time though because my water had not yet broken. I brush my teeth and pack my toiletries bag for the hospital.
8:35 a.m. – It feels like there is no break between my contractions. They come one after another. Somehow, using all my willpower, and with Michael and my dad on each arm, we make it down the stairs and out the front door. My water breaks during a particularly hard contraction on the front porch and all I can manage to yell is “Water!!” Michael runs inside to grab my water bottle and suddenly realizes that I am talking about a different water.
8:36 a.m. – I’m absolutely frozen in pain on the porch. Even though our hospital is about two blocks away, it felt like it might as well have been in another state. My legs start to shake and give and I blurt out “I need to push – NOW!” My dad (a family doctor in Arizona who also does OB) says, “Looks like we’re having this baby right here.” Thank goodness he was with us!
8:40 a.m. – We get back in the house and head for the living room. Michael and my dad lay me down on my ottoman (you remember my ottoman…). The baby is crowning. I start pushing, with my sister holding my back up and Michael and my mom holding my legs.
8:54 a.m. – Baby Evie is born in my living room, two feet from our Christmas tree. There is not a dry eye in the place. We tie the cord with dental floss (no clean shoelaces available) and Michael cuts it with my trusty pair of sewing scissors (sanitized with Purell, of course). All of the clean towels have been used already, so we wrap her in a beach towel. Evelyn is absolute perfection and I am so in love.
8:56 a.m. – The doorbell rings! Its Michael’s co-worker, coming to pick up the paperwork. My mom and sister quickly hold up a sheet to block the view before the front door is opened. The conversation is very brief and sort of awkward, I’m sure, for Michael’s co-worker. He becomes the first person to find out the baby has just been born.
8:58 a.m. – A rustle at the top of the stairs. Thankfully, both of my girls had stayed up late the night before and had slept through all the commotion of the morning. Claire (my two-year old) is awake now and shouts from the landing “Hey guys! What’s goin’ on?!” We direct Claire’s attention to the baby as she rounds the corner, so that she doesn’t notice the afterbirth just then being caught in my (formerly) favorite casserole dish. Grace (my four-year old) comes downstairs shortly thereafter. The girls begin presenting Evie with pacifiers, blankets, toys, and presents from under the tree. We decide that we should probably still go to hospital to have everyone checked out.
9:45 a.m. – We arrive at the hospital and there are no wheelchairs so we walk up to the labor and delivery wing and announce, “I just had a baby. Where should I go?”
10:00 a.m – We are checked out by the doctors and nurses and the results all come back great. Evie weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs even!! We recount our story about 20 times. A guy comes in and takes my picture with Evie in a giant Christmas stocking ((awesome)) for the Dover newspaper. After a few short hours at the hospital, we are cleared to head back home happily to spend Christmas as a family. Hooray!
The rest of Christmas Eve is full of BBC chick flicks, my mom’s famous Swedish meatballs and collective head-shaking. I am SO not a home birth kind of gal, but the experience was nothing short of life-changing and completely spiritual for me and my family.
The birth of any baby is amazing and miraculous, but we’re all feeling a special connection to sweet Evelyn Jane, our little Christmas Evie.
Thank you for all your love and support. I have the best readers and I truly appreciate each and every one of you!!
Lots of love and Merry Christmas,
jenny
One Thousand Congratulations…she's beautiful. A Christmas miracle indeed! :)
I am speechless!! What a true blessing. Congratulations to you and your family. Happy to hear that mother and baby are well and healthy. She is beautiful. Enjoy this special time with your family.
God bless you, your family + your new baby! What a wonderful Christmas present. She was just waiting for the right time to make her grand entrance. And boy did she ever. Congratulations :o)
Oh my, what a dramatic entrance for Evelyn Jane! And what a fun story you will have to recount at every Christmas. So good to hear that everyone is healthy and doing well. I'm sure you'll never quite look at your ottoman nor casserole dish quite the same.
What a beautiful baby. Congratulations!
I haven't commented before, but I've been checking constantly to see how things are. What a fabulous story! Congratulations to all of you, and what a beautiful baby!
Oh my goodness what an incredible story!!! So glad everyone is healthy!
Now I have to ask, what are your plans for that ottoman???
So beautiful (the story and the baby)!! Thank you so much for sharing your awesome Christmas story with us all :)
Oh my goodness, what an amazing Christmas gift! Welcome, Evelyn!!!
Beautiful! I am so happy for you and your family! Merry Christmas!
That is the most amazing, wonderous miracle for certain. I'm shedding some serious tears here. Congratulations! She is beautiful!
spectacular! congratulations!!!
That is the most amazing, wonderous miracle for certain. I'm shedding some serious tears here. Congratulations! She is beautiful!
What an amazing story! Got a little teary there! Can't imagine being in your shoes–congrats!! :)
WOW!! I'm expecting next month and your story was inspiring. Evelyn is beautiful. Congratulations.
That is unreal!! What a crazy story! Congratulations to you and your family. Merry Christmas!
i dont think i've ever commented before, but wow. what a story! beautiful baby and beautiful story. thanks for sharing.
A Christmas miracle, indeed. Congratulations to your sweet family. Evie is beautiful! What a perfect little angel. You look quite miraculous yourself, btw. Merry Christmas to your happy family.
XO*Tricia
OMG!!!! Congratulations! What an amazing experience! Best wishes to you and your entire family–what a Christmas miracle.
I'm crying! What an amazing experience and story and I'm so happy for your Christmas miracle. Evie (Evelyn) is the PERFECT name. I am speechless. Thank you for sharing and congratulations to all of you!!!
We miss you and hope to meet up sometime in the next year or so?!?!
What a beautiful experience! Thank you so much for sharing it with all of us! Many congratulations, and may God bless you!
That has too be the BEST xmas story ever!! I read it to my husband and we just sat there in complete awe!!
Congrats and God bless to a wonderful little Xmas gift ;)
Wow! Thanks for sharing your story… an especially great one for Christmas :). Congrats and enjoy your new little one!!
Congratulations – she is beautiful!
Congratulations! Welcome to the world baby Evie!
I am crying. What a beautiful and amazing story. SHe is beautiful and you look amazing. Congrats!!!
Beautiful baby and an amazing story! Merry Christmas and congratulations…God is good!!
Congratulations! That is such a beautiful story. A great way to end my Christmas day.
wow…that's so incredible! congrats on the new little bundle of joy! she's adorable :)
merry christmas!
Amazing!! Congratulations to you and your family. And you look gorgeous in the pictures, to boot! :)
Congratulations!! Evie is beautiful!
Congrats to you & your family…It was most definitely a Christmas miracle…
She's beautiful and so are you! What an amazing story! Congrats on your perfect little Christmas miracle!!!
Wow! What an amazing story, whant an amazing family! Congratulations to you all! A Christmas Eve miracle indeed!
you are officially supermom! a baby is alwaysalwaysalways a blessing, but what a fun story she will have to tell. i hope the rest of your Christmas was just as wonderful!
oh my gosh…. I'm so speechless! I've said it probably a million times, but you are such an inspiration to me creatively, and more importantly, as a strong woman! You are so blessed. This was such a Christmas miracle, thank you so much for sharing your story… I'll never forget it as long as I live!
Congratulations and it sounds as though it was a beautiful birth!
wow, that is quite the story! I'm so glad everything went ok despite the last minute change in plans. What a blessing!
Merry Christmas!
You are so amazing, Jen!! Merry Christmas to all of you. (I'm so glad your dad was there, too!) What a blessing to have your little one with you…finally! :) She is so beautiful.
Oh I'm crying. What a beautiful story! Congratulations on your little miracle. Happy Christmas,
xoxo MMW
That is an incredible story!! Wow, congratulations and Merry Christmas!!
Holy cow. This is amazing. I love that you had her on your ottoman. And the afterbirth in a casserole dish. It is just too perfect to be true. She's beautiful. Congratulations!
I have been following your blog FOREVER and I just adore your work!
You have me in tears; I love this story and I thank you so much for sharing it with just enough details! God is a God of Miracles, and it looks like you're holding your very own miracle now!
Congratulations!
That story is awesome!!! Congratulations to you and your family. I just read this to my boyfriend – we both are laughing and can't believe what a great story this is!!!
Most craziest, amazing, beautiful birth story ever! Congratulations on your Christmas Evie miracle! She is gorgeous!
Wow! Congratulations:). What an amazing wonder of God in little Evelyn's birth.
Oh My GOD! I feel like you are kidding, but obviously you arent! That is an amazing story!!! What a way to enter the world kiddo!!! Good luck to you and your family!!!!
that's the best birth/christmas story ever.
Seriously moving birth story. Made all the more special with your family being present and it being Christmas Eve.
So beautiful.
Merry Christmas Jen to you and your growing family.
x
best christmas story ever. CONGRATULATIONS! what an amazing little story- got me teary eyed! She is soo gorgeous and glad she came at home when you had helpers/family before they left! what perfect timing! chubby babies are the cutest! she's so perfect. rest up and i'll pray for a healthy recovery!
thanks for your help on paint by the way! you are such a sweetie to help a girl out:)
merry christmas to you and your new baby girl
A beautiful story, and a beautiful little girl. What an amazing Christmas! Congratulations.