I can NOT believe how fast the past 10 weeks have flown by! TEN weeks? It seems like only a few days ago that my ankles were swollen to an unrecognizable state, my heartburn medication had ran out and Tums were not doing the job, and i couldn't sleep worth beans despite how physically exhausted i was due to an insanely large protrusion in my mid-region. for anyone who spent any time with me in the weeks prior to august 13th, it was painfully obvious how READY i was to have this baby. but, as i would soon learn, our fourth and final broke the mold in almost every way imaginable.
i was due on 8-9-10 and i had never gone over my due date before. according to my own calculations, i was pretty convinced that it was going to be somewhere near the end of july/beginning of august. so when it came and passed, i was in the frame of mind: any day now!
Except when came to August 12th...dallas' 8th birthday. and as much as dallas wanted me to have her on his birthday--i did NOT. i only had his best interests in mind...
on saturday we were at a movie with the kids when i started having contractions. the plan was, at the first contraction we were hightailing it over to tacoma since it is an hour away and my labor with alec was only 3 hours. {we were not keen on having the baby on the tacoma narrows bridge} but that only holds true if the labor actually continues...with all my others, once the contractions started, they never stopped, it was full-on labor! so we went through the motions and dropped the kids off and headed towards the hospital, making a few stops along the way to do some walking since the contractions didn't feel "normal"....i.e. hard and regular. some were 3-5 minutes apart while others were 20-30 min. i finally did check in at the hospital just to get the green light to go home {it would have been very unfortunate to have the baby on the bridge on the way home} i was only 1cm dialated and so we headed home, thinking things would pick up overnight and i would be back in the morning. but i went home and slept soundly, waking up with nothing more. sunday, monday, tuesday, wednesday...same irregular contractions. which brings us to thursday, dallas' birthday. i lost my plug that morning, so i knew it was close, but i was determined to hold out till his birthday was over. we went to a movie {i crossed my fingers there was no dejavu}, angel took the kids mini-golfing, and then we went out to eat. my feet/ankles were at their all-time hugest and i was feeling lots of pressure. i woke up at 3:30am with the contractions i had been waiting for for the past week. i got angel up, called the midwife, and after we got the kids situated, we got to the hospital at 7am and i asked angel to check me in while i went to the bathroom. as i stood up, my water broke. {FYI, i was in the 95% for my amount of amniotic fluid. point being, there was A LOT of fluid.} they stuck me in a wheelchair to take me up to L&D and on the way i proceeded to soak myself and everything around me with the outrageous amount of fluid that would gush out every 10 seconds. the nurse checked me and i was at a 4. my midwife arrived, took one look at my fluid and told me that the baby had already had a bowel movement {or two} since it was full of meconium. they hooked me up to the monitors and alerted the neonatal nurses. right around 8:20 i thought maybe i could go for some pain medication of some sort...i deserved it on my last one, right? but she checked me and said i was almost a 10, which made sense, cause that's the only time i feel like i can't take it anymore--when it's almost over. a few pushes later, our baby girl arrived, and they quickly suctioned her out so she wouldn't inhale the meconium.
Evalynn Socorro
{named after mine and angel's moms middle names}
born 8:35am
8lbs 12oz
23in long
LOVING her fingers...
Everyone took their turn holding her, and my sweet Grace was overcome with emotion. at first we thought she was upset because she didn't get be in the room for the delivery {we had told her that she could, but there were so many nurses already and they almost didn't even let my mom and sister in} but she said that she was just "so happy".
as we all were....
it was the best feeling in the world to finally hold her in our arms
she was so peaceful and had the sweetest little cry!
and the nurses were all so good with grace...they let her help give eva a bath and get her dressed
{and let me tell you, that water was a sight to see!}
It was definitely different being in the hospital after having alec at home, but everything worked out great and we brought home a healthy, beautiful little girl, which we all know is the most important thing!
the view from our room
we checked out that night at 7pm and drove home where the rest of the family was eagerly waiting to meet the newest family member!
big brothers dallas and alec
we all know how fast time flies with little babes, but to me it seems like it's gone even faster this time around. i'd like nothing better than to push the "slow motion" button. but alas....if there only was such a thing!
