Even though I didn't document this pregnancy, I want to remember all the details of her birth story.
I had a few false alarms leading up to her arrival, one causing my m & dad to drive in at 3am and miss the Baylor vs Tech game. Sorry. I just kept saying that no matter when she came I did NOT want to miss Nolan's Christmas program at school on Dec 11. So I kept saying she can come anytime except that Tues-Thurs. Ideally is like her to come on Dec 12 (my obsession with matching birth dates). Well, in true little sister form she came on the Tuesday before, so it was looking like I would miss his program.
It all started that Tuesday morning. I woke up with a few contractions, as I had the past few days. Went about my day; taking Nolan to school, utilizing my birthday present from Greg (cleaning ladies come), and getting things done. I was having more contractions than normal so I went upstairs while my house was cleaned & timed them. They weren't consistent so I just thought it was another day of waiting. Went to Panera and grabbed lunch & started to feel like I was leaking. I called my mom & told her I was watching it to are if I had more come & would call my dr. With Nolan when my water broke it was an instant gush. At about 1:30 I went to the bank and left another message for my dr's office as I had more leakage. Called my mom and told her that she should probably start to head my way.
I went to pick up Nolan at 3 and still had not heard back from the dr, I just wanted to go in & have the fluids checked to see if it was amniotic fluid or not. While I was driving home the Dr called and said to come in. I went home to get my hospital bag, just in case & luckily I ran into my neighbor Kelli. I literally stopped my car in the middle of my street and unloaded my kid on her. She was so willing to help & I'm so grateful!
I got to the dr's offic by 3:30 and while sitting in the waiting room the gush came. So when the dr saw me I told her that I had come in to have her check if it was amniotic fluid, but I was sure my water had broken. She came in, took one look & said "yep you are ruptured." She checked me and I was also already 5 cm! I had to borrow some scrubs to wear while they wheeled me down to labor & delivery admitting. I called Greg when leaving the dr's offic and he had to get someone to cover his case so he could head over. He got there quickly but had to leave to get a key to our house for my mom.
I got into my room and was hooked up by 6:30. They started my fluids so I could get my epidural quickly. I told them I was about a 4-5 in pain but knew it could change in a matter of minutes, because it did last time. And as I predicted, I had to call the nurse back in to open my IV fluids more so they could give me my epidural quicker.
My dr was not on call that night, so I had another dr for her delivery. My contractions were still inconsistent so she wanted to put me on pitocin, but at the lowest level 2, just to regulate. Mom and I were worried that would speed things up quite a bit and she wouldn't make it in time.
The anesthesiologist was from Greg's group and did a great job. I actually remember more of this procedure than I did from last time. There was no CRNA, so I saw him the whole time & he was very good and nice. However, I was already so far along that he had to come back and add more meds because the epidural was playing "catch up" to my contractions.
The nurse checked me after that and said she could stretch me to an 8. The dr came in, no more than 4 minutes later, and said I was at a full 10 and she could feel Evelyn's head. After that everything happened VERY fast. We had nurses yelling in to the hallway asking for the delivery table to be set up right away. My mom still wasn't there but I needed to start pushing. The dr asked Greg where she was & he said "she's in the building." She thought she had left her phone in the car & had to run back (but she hadn't), otherwise she would have been there sooner. Right as mom came in she had to drop her bags and grab my right leg because it was time to push. I pushed 4 times with the first contraction and only once with the second because my contraction was pushing her out without me doing anything. She came out with her right hand up by her face.
Evelyn Faith Lawler was born on Tuesday, December 9th at 8:28pm. Even though I didn't say it as quickly as I did with Nolan, I did say (on Sunday) that I could do this again :) We have decided I am made for pregnancy and deliveries, as this one was wonderfully easy just like Nolan's. We love our baby girl and our new family of 4!
A special thanks also to our friend Natalie, who came and stayed with Nolan so my mom could be there for the delivery, and at about 32 weeks pregnant herself! Even from her birth, Evelyn is showing us how important it is to have a supportive village around you to help bring your children up in a loving and safe environment. Thank you to our new San Antonio village, y'all are wonderful!
