She's here!! | Project Life 2014

All of the anxiety, impatience, worrying, planning and getting ready finally paid off this week when Miss Evelyn James entered the world on January 21^st, 2014 at 12:34pm. She weighed a wonderful 7lbs 8oz and was a tiny 19 inches long, weighing more than her sisters but measuring a few inches shorter than them as well haha. I have been absolutely smitten with her since the moment I first laid eyes on her and she has definitely captured my heart forever, sharing it only with her siblings and father. My life seriously feels so much more complete with her here, even though I will always be missing my Riley Bug. It just feels right having Ev here and seeing Olivia with her makes my heart melt like never before! 

Taken by the fabulous Alisha! :)

Jim and I, along with my amazing aspiring photographer friend Alisha, arrived at the hospital a little before 10 am to check in for my scheduled cesarean. We got back into the pre-op room pretty quickly, dressed down, started getting hooked up to the monitors and whats hopefully going to be my last set of IV's for a looong time. I was poked three times before finding a useable vein in my hand of all places. I hate hand IV's. After getting all of that ready, we were set to wait till noon when I'd have to drink this nasty shot of 'stomach settling shit' that made me wanna throw up more than I had been that whole morning. I was extra sick that day, I think from anxiety and nerves, and as bad as that shot was it did seem to help for just a bit. It was about 12:05pm or so when they came in and wheeled me back into the operation room where I got a spinal tap that seemed to kick in immediately. Thankfully, unlike my first section which was an emergency situation, I was able to get the catheter AFTER the spinal which was honestly one of my greatest fear going in to the surgery! Once the spinal took, the catheter was inserted and I was comfortably sprawled out onto the table, they let Jim come in and we began the surgery.

Once Jim was with me, I got very nervous and uneasy for some reason. I think it was just because everything was really starting to happen when he was there, everything was really coming to an end and I was going to be meeting my beautiful little girl so soon. Jim calmed me down, though, rubbed my head and talked me through my tears. It seemed like no time before the doctor asked Jim if he'd like to watch his daughter be born! He was able to stand up and see her being pulled from my stomach, I give him props for not fainting haha. He's not as gross as I am, since I'd have LOVED to see that going on, but said it was one of the craziest things he's ever saw. I could feel Evelyn kicking and punching me the whole time, could feel the doctor tugging and guts being placed on top of me.. I've said it before but it's a very surreal feeling that I doubt you could understand unless you've been through it too, much like a vaginal birth where you just have to experience it to understand the unexplainable. Shortly after Jim stood up, I could hear a beautiful cry and my doctor announce that the time of birth was 12:34...her little cry was raspy but strong enough to let me know that my daughter had entered this world! A few seconds later I saw a sticky looking baby with a head full of hair and a face to die for being placed on a table next to me and her daddy. She had tubes being shoved down her throat to clear out all that liquidy gunk and had another nurse sucking it out with that little blue bulb thingy. It was a bit scary to see all of this happening, but it was also SO awesome to be witnessing it rather than having her whisked away for all of the clearing and cleaning and such like with my first cesarean.

Jim was able to cut her cord down to size which he wasn't able to with either of our other girls and then brought her over to me so I could get a real good look at the little girl that will forever hold such a special place in my heart. She was, is, will always be just so damned perfect. There's nothing sweeter than meeting your child for the first time and let me tell you, after having such a difficult pregnancy it was a blessing to see her doing so well. She had a great APGAR score of 9 and a big cry that made me cry too, but such happy tears! 

Taken by the fabulous Alisha! :)

They then took her back to the table to weigh and measure her while my tubes were being tied and my organs reinserted inside me. At that point, I started feeling extremely nauseous and ended up puking all over my the side of my face till the surgery was completed. It all happened so quickly, the whole surgery lasted maybe 30 minutes, then I was able to head to recovery to spend some alone time with my newest little love and Jim. It seemed like this part of the day lasted longest as were waiting to be transferred into our post-partum room. We had a crap ton of family in the waiting room, against my wishes, so I guess it was a good thing everything took so long since that bonding time was essential for the best start with breastfeeding, I believe. She took the boob like a champ, seemed like she knew what she was doing right from the get go and made all of the nurses who'd look in on us just coo with delight at the sight of her little self and all her hair.

Once we were transferred to our post-partum room, the rush of visitors took over, Olivia got to meet her little sister, we had some amazing pictures taken and then finally silence as everyone drifted back to their own lives leaving Jim and I to admire what a beautiful soul we created together. Evelyn slept very well so long as she were in my arms. She had to be woke to eat a few times but still nursed easily, only crying when the diaper changes made her uncomfortable. Everything was as it should be with her here, I have never been so happy in my entire life knowing that my family is as complete as it can be with my two gorgeous girls here, Jim by my side and our perfect little angel watching over us all. The rest of my stay was pretty uneventful, with just a few visitors here and there and all of it ending with a fabulous massage by a silly and proud Japanese man. Evelyn was given a 'swag bag' full of awesome little goodies for being one of the first 100 babies born at the hospital and after her bilirubin levels were finally stable, we were sent home to begin our lives as a family of five :)

Life at home has been a bit crazy since Ev's arrival, Olive's been a bit more ridiculous than usual and she's regressed in potty training a bit, but I know that's her adjusting to the changes too and that we'll all be back on track soon enough. I'm feeling absolutely wonderful honestly, my stomach has been a biiit sore around the incision site but I guess that's to be expected after having a baby cut outta ya ;) I didn't have nearly as bad of gas pains in my shoulders this time around which was a blessing and staying active has been really easy to do since I have to chase my crazy toddler around all the time haha. I am so happy to feel so much more complete, my family is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I'm just so freaking thankful to be able to call them mine <3