As I sit here on Christmas Eve,I have a hard time not reflecting on the Angel Gabriel that warned Mary and Joseph that they would bring a Savior into the world. And that his name would be Jesus. From that warning, world changing events continued to take place.
When I married the love of my life, my world changed. It changed once again, when we brought a darling daughter into it. And again, our world changed when we delivered our boy on Tuesday evening. To say that angels were present, would be a total and complete understatement.
As we went to bed on Monday night, we knew the events that were to transpire the next day. We had a plan. With very little sleep that night, morning came. We received a phone call at 6ish am, that slightly dampened our plans for Nora. We had 15 minutes to come up with a new plan for her day. That new plan came in the form an angel named Kathy. Kathy (a teenager from church) received a phone call VERY early, asking if she could spend the day with Nora, so we could deliver the baby. We rushed to pick her up, and left her with our sleeping daughter. Already, my heart started to break. Knowing that Nora would be fine, I felt sad that her day had changed already, and I didn't even have the chance to explain it to her. Oh well, I couldn't worry about that right now. I had other things to think about... PUSH!
Joel and I arrived at the hospital, checked in, and met my nurse. She wasn't the angel that my grandma was when I was in labor the first time, but she was the next best angel in line. I know my grandma sent her to me. This angels name was Janice. Janices daughter had a baby the day before, so she was in grandma mode. Around 9am, Janice and the attending, broke my water. They were seemingly surprised by the amount of water that was released. "Much much more water then usual." All that meant to me, was maybe a smaller baby? Less weight to lose later? PUSH!!! It was another hour until they checked me. I had dilated another cm, but hadn't felt any contractions. They started the petocin at a very low dosage. Another hour went by, and NOTHING. So they upped the petocin. OH WOW! OW! I have a very low tolerance for pain, so as soon as there was a contraction that made me cry, I ordered my epidural. Am I glad that I did! Meet angel number 3... Kevin. Kevin was the anestesis. When he showed up, I wanted to kiss him. Then I explained to him my epidural story from my first delivery. I felt that it didn't take the first time, and the deliver was way more painful then it could have been. So, he was aware of my desires. LITTLE TO NO PAIN! Kevin was happy to oblige, and was so excited to make all my painless dreams come true. While he was administering the epidural, he received 3 more orders from other patients. So, I was glad that I called when I did. PHEW! The drugs did its job... for a little while. When the labor increased, so did the pain. Janice was not comfortable with how heavy I had to breath through the contractions. So, she called Kevin, and asked him to come back. He came back, and administered some more of something WONDERFUL! With no pain at all, we were preparing to start pushing. The babies heart rate was very low when I laid on my left side, so they were very cautious of the numbers on the monitor. Around 4pm, my angel friend Candice arrived. I had invited her to be a part of our day, and she arrived at the perfect time. Her and her husband are celebrities in our house but today, they were both angles. Nora loves her husband Joe. It made me so happy that I would have a friend there during this event. She was in charge of the camera, which was another reason I needed her there. I had a midwife that had been checking up on me, and when it was time to push, at 4:30pm, she was right there. She told me that the baby was in position, and that position was... FACE UP. She had a fancy term for it... O.P. or P.O. one of those. I guess I wasn't too concerned, because I had no feeling whatsoever. I started pushing, or what I thought was pushing... it is an odd feeling, when you are told to push, and you can't really feel it. Again, this was new for me. This sort of painless, "feeless" pushing went on for a good hour. I was told, "You're doing so good! You're great! Good job!" All the things that an amazing angel-like husband is supposed to say. Janice also helped to motivate me during this process. After pushing for what seemed like FOREVER! I asked them to... are you ready for this... I asked them to take the epidural off. I was worried that I would continue pushing for hours and hours, and I just wanted to get this over with! So, they took me off the epidural. Then I started screaming, and maybe cursing a couple of times. The doctor came in to check on us. He was the jolliest, roundest, cutest, ob I have ever seen in my life! Such a doll! Or should I say, such an angel! My only fear was how big his hands and arms were. Especially when they said, he was going to flip the baby. I guess that newer/younger doctors don't like to "flip" the baby, they just take the mom in for a c-section. So, I am so blessed that it worked out the way it did. So, now it was just a matter of pushing my brains out, without eyeballs popping out of my head! At some point, Dr. Big hands Jolly, decided we needed to use the vacuum. At that time, I didn't even care, what they did, this kid had to get out! Dr. Jolly used the vacuum with all his strength, twice, and on the third try, he was out. When I delivered Nora the experience was beautiful, spiritual, emotional, less physical, and I was so happy the first minute of her life. With this delivery... I was exhausted, angry, in pain, it was a totally different experience. It took a few minutes, but once I had processed with just happened, I was a new person, and I had just brought a new person into this world. Smith David Evans was born at 6:30pm on Tuesday December 22nd, 2009. He weighed 7lbs and 3oz. He was really 7lbs and 2.8oz... bit I am taking credit for 3oz. Here are some pictures from the day. I am quite behind in posting this, and since I see the light at the end of the blogging tunnel, I am going to quickly put the pictures up.
The angles that were present on that day, made it possible to bring Smith in this world with more ease and comfort. Had it not been for the numerous prayers and support throughout the country, a few angels may have not shown up. The most amazing angel of the day, was my brand new baby boy. He only sleeps, eats, and poops, but he does it cuter than any other baby I know! He has brought so much joy in our home. His older sister is so protective of him. She wears hand sanitizer around her neck, and uses it often, and offers it to all who come visit. She has her grandparents in town for the week, so I am a little more forgiving of her sudden hearing disorder. Maybe next week she will be able to listen better. For this week, I will admit... I feel a little guilty sticking her in a deserved time out. So, thank you for all the many thoughts and prayers that our friends and family pour out to us. We are sooo blessed.
This is the last picture of my tummy before it disappears! (And by disappears, I mean babyless... by no means did it disappear... YET!)
Breathing through contractions... I still had a sense of humor!
I had the greatest coach. He was awesome, and continues to be dad, cook, mom, cleaner, and Prince Naveen. I love him!
Breathing through contractions... steady as a rock!
OH BOY! No sense of humor... I didn't know I had veins in my forehead that made me look so tough!
Well, this was my first reaction when they put Smith on me. It is a very honest photo!
Like I said... 7lbs 3oz sounds so much tougher.
Collecting foot prints.
Dr. Jolly... do you see the size of those HANDS!
Me yelling... "KELLY CLARKSON!!!" Ripping off my epidural felt like a back wax would feel. But it felt so much better than what I had just done, so it wasn't so bad.
Janice. Super awesome wonderful nurse. She will for sure be in heaven.
I think Daddy cried. He didn't cry the first time, so I think he was emotional and happy for both of us.
Candice... she is amazing, and what she just witnessed made us even better friends. I hope I didn't scare her out of having children.
And Joe... if my kids ever show up missing, we will send the police there first. Of course they will kick and scream that they have to come back home. Joe is way more fun than mom and dad.
Our little bundle. Our Christmas miracle. Our newest addition in our family.
