Welcome Evelyn

She’s finally here…and she finally has a name!!  Evelyn Anne was born at 10:41am (the official time) Thursday morning.  She was 22 inches long and 8 lbs. 6 oz.  The entire experience was so different from Sophia’s birth.  We left around 7am to head to the hospital for a scheduled c-section, the back-up plan in case I didn’t go into labor by then.

I wanted to give Sophia a big hug, but felt selfish waking her up to say good-bye – I was so torn.  Then, thankfully, there were little noises on the monitor and we got to have a nice few minutes together – the last as a family of three. 


And one last belly shot before leaving – 40 weeks and 5 days. 

We thought we were scheduled at 9, but when we arrived, they said it was actually 9:40, however, we were being bumped for someone else.  It was so strange to just wait around for an appointment to have a baby.  My c-section with Sophia was an emergency one and I don’t remember most of it.  This time, I literally walked into the OR to be prepped for Evelyn’s birth.  I started crying almost immediately when I heard another baby crying in the prep room next door.  It made everything suddenly seem so real!

My platelet count ended up being a bit lower than was ideal for an epidural, but they decided it was still safe to get a spinal and be awake – I’m SO thankful for the steroids that made that possible!  The surgery itself was a little…odd.  I don’t even know how to describe it.  Here’s what I know…last time the nurse anesthetist was my favorite person in the room and the same goes for this time.  She was right by my head the whole time, looking me in the eye and walking me through everything I was feelings, making sure everything was as it should be, encouraging me so take quick breaths, and reassuring me that it would be done soon.  At one point it was pretty unpleasant and I decided this was our last baby, but then they lifted Ev’s little face above the screen to show me and I quickly reversed that decision.


This was the second time in a row that I heard the weight of my baby and couldn’t believe my ears!  Sophia was .25 oz. short of 11 lbs., so when I heard this fairly normal weight for Evelyn I was a little in shock – could we really just have had a regular sized baby?!


And, oh my word – is she not just beautiful?


Evelyn and her big sister both have the same mouth.  We’ve got two girls who have some definite similarities, but they also look very different to us as well.  It’ll be interesting to see how things compare as Evelyn grows.

Last time, I met baby briefly and then passed out – Dan spent a good amount of time waiting in the recovery room with baby.

This time, I was so awake and am happy to have been able to experience everything from her first cry on.  She started crying before they even had her all the way out and didn’t stop for a good ten minutes!  After she was all cleaned up Dan brought her to me and they sat with me for quite a bit.


I LOVE this next picture.  She looks so focused on something.  She has the sweetest little face!


Grandma brought Sophia around lunchtime to meet her new sister.  It was really fun to see them together.  All in all, I think big sister is handling it really well. 

A friend of mine had said that as soon as the baby came, Sophia was going to look instantly huge.  Well, she was right – suddenly she’s such a big girl, no longer the baby we still think of her as sometimes. 

She’s incredibly gentle with Evelyn and loves to hold her.  The way she says “Baby Evelyn” melts my heart completely.  I always wanted a sister and have high hopes that their relationship will be very special.


Dan is now completely surrounded by girls!


We wouldn’t have it any other way!


Sweet little Evelyn Anne, you couldn’t be more of a blessing.  You are the perfect addition to our little family and we can’t wait to watch you grow (just don’t do it too quickly).   You have already taught me plenty and I’m so, so thankful for that!  You very quickly and easily erased all my fears about being able to love two children with my whole heart.  You are a beautiful girl and I can’t wait to watch your personality develop and to discover all there is to you.

   We love you!!