Evelyn's Birth Story

Evelyn Carrie Howe was born June 2, 2017 at 3:05 a.m.

She weighed 9 lbs 10 oz and measured 20.5 in long.

   A little over 24 hours old (picture taken by Heather Keil)                                 

 12 days old (picture taken by Katie Floyd)

We had a list of names that we liked, but the morning she was born Zach was holding her and said Evelyn and I knew that that was it. She was Evelyn.
Fun fact: Rewind 6 years to 11/11/11. My roommates went to Lava Hot Springs with a group of guys that we had just recently met. We went to IHOP afterwards and while we were there we were talking about how cool it was that it was 11/11/11. Our friend Zach mentioned that if he had a baby girl that very day he would name her Evelyn (I thought to myself: I don't think I'll ever name one of my daughters Evelyn). Yet here we are with a beautiful daughter named Evelyn (I'm glad that my thought way back then was wrong.)
The "Lyn" of Evelyn is named after me (my middle name is Lynn).

Carrie is named after Zach's great grandma, Carrie Emily Christensen. She is the mother of the well-loved grandpa Varge Christensen. He only lives 20 minutes from us and we are so lucky that we get to see him so often. It doesn't take long for a complete stranger to feel the love he has for them and I am certain that his mother was the same way. She was a very hard worker (had a farm in Bear River, Utah) and she was a faithful and stalwart woman. I'm excited to meet her one day.

Evelyn's due date was May 22nd, which is my brother Danny's bday. Oooh, maybe she'll share a birthday with him. Nope. Ooooh, maybe she'll share a birthday with my sister Mindy on the 27th. Nope. Hmmm, maybe she wants to be born in June....Yup.

I was starting to think that she was going to stay in my belly forever. Lucy was born 4 days before her due date and everyone says that your second comes sooner. Well, everyone, that was not the case with Evelyn. 38 weeks passed, then 39, then her due date came and went...and let me tell you...every day after the due date seemed like a year.

My wonderful doctor let me wait it out even though I was dilated to a 4, then 5, then 6! I was fully effaced and she still wasn't here! At 41 weeks and 3 days we went in for my doctor to strip my membranes. He said there was nothing to strip and if he did any more my water would break! He started getting worried that I would have this baby at home or in the car on the way to the hospital, so Zach and I discussed what we should do and decided that that night we'd wait until my contractions started (because they had been starting and stopping every night for a couple of weeks now and we had almost gone to the hospital a couple of times during the night but alas...they would stop) and then we'd go to the hospital to have them break my water. PS I totally did acupuncture later that day after my doctor appointment. I had never done it for anything before but my friend said that it put her into labor for two of her kids that she tried it with, and let's be honest, I was willing to try anything.

That night we prepared for the hospital. I lost my mucus plug around 7 that night, so we were hopeful. We put Lucy to bed thinking that it might really be the last time putting her to bed with just us three. Well, we were right. 

That night I woke up at 1 o'clock and was hardly feeling anything. I prayed and prayed for a contraction to come so that we could go to the hospital. Then around 1:15 one came full force. I reached over and grabbed Zach immediately and told him that we need to go to the hospital. He woke up and was ready to go. My mom was staying at our house so we were able to just zoom to the car and drive away (after Zach grabbed his pastry from Porto's, of course). 

We drove away from the house at 1:30 and were on our way. Thankfully the hospital is about 10 mins away from our house so I didn't have to feel all of the bumps on the road for too long. We pulled up to the ER and Zach said he'd get me a wheelchair and wheel me in, but I didn't want the people to ask me all of the questions that they did with Lucy so I waited outside on a chair until Zach parked the car and ran back. We went in together and Zach talked to them (thank goodness). They got me a wheelchair and off we went to the elevator. I was listening to my iPod to help me relax but when we got in the elevator I thought it was funny how I was going through this whole ordeal yet Zach and the guy pushing me were making elevator small talk. All that was missing was the jazzy elevator music.

Finally, we got to the room and the nurse asked me to change into the hospital gown. I tried walking to the bathroom but stopped on the bed to have a contraction and then somehow made it the rest of the way to the bathroom. All of the sudden I felt like I needed to start pushing. I told Zach and he ran to me and ran to the bathroom door and ran back (panic mode). I told him to go tell the nurse! So he ran out to tell them while I walked to the bed for a more comfortable throne. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to a 9 and a half. That was very encouraging so I just took one contraction at a time as my doctor rushed in. My doctor asked the nurses to take the monitors off of my belly in between contractions which I thought was so nice because it's not super comfortable having a strap around you when you're all hot and sweaty. He also told the nurses to dim the lights because there was a light right in my eyes. Thanks doc. Zach was cheering me on and had an ice pack and a cold rag at the ready (he's so great).

On the 2nd or 3rd contraction after I started pushing my doctor broke my water to see if there was meconium in the fluid because it can be bad if the baby drinks a lot of it. There was just a little bit. I kept pushing. I remembered to breath A LOT more this time around and that helped so much. After about 4 contractions of pushing they told me she was crowning. Music to my ears. So I breathed down and pushed and at 3:05 Friday morning, out she came like a slippery fish. That probably sounds weird or grosses you out, but it's the truth! Oh, and I didn't tear. At all! With a 9 lb 10 oz bundle of joy! Praise the heavens. Recovery has been so much easier because of that. I attribute it to better breathing, not pushing too hard, and being dilated to a 6 for so long (everything was getting stretched out with her head pushing down on it).

I felt such relief and joy and amazement as I saw my baby. She was perfect and I just started to laugh and cry. Birth amazes me. I cannot believe that she was inside of my belly and I could hardly believe that she was finally out. I kept saying how tiny she was and the doctor and nurses would say, "She is NOT tiny" and then kept calling her "sturdy". Evelyn wasn't very tiny, but to me she was. I loved looking at her long fingers and toes and her round head. Zach and I discovered her hairy ears and laughed. Just like her sister, Lucy. Her little chin, her button nose, her buddha crossed legs. We loved and still love every bit of her. 

I am so grateful that her birth went smoothly and quickly. I know that my prayers were answered and that we were all being watched over. She was breathing shallow as she came out so they used something to help her breath for a few minutes and then she was fine. The doctor said that it could've been that she swallowed some meconium and she was just trying to get that out to breath normally. I was grateful that she got to stay with us and not go to the NICU. The doctor showed me my insane looking placenta and the sac that she was in (SO CRAZY), congratulated us, and then they all left. It was just Zach and I with our brand new baby. Those quiet moments of just us with Lucy and now with Evelyn have felt so close to heaven. Family is really what life is all about.

Later that day my mom brought Lucy to meet her little sister. Lucy walked in saying "baby baby baby." She saw us and smiled and saw the baby and got so excited. She touched her umbilical cord and was a little confused, but hugged her and kissed her. I never realized how happy it would make me to see our babies loving each other. It still hasn't gotten old to see Lucy get so excited to hug or lay by her baby sister. Evelyn and Lucy are gonna be little besties and I can't wait for Evelyn to learn things from Lucy. Lucy is already learning some things from Evelyn. Evelyn does all of these cool tricks like suck on her fingers and flail her arms. Lucy tries them after she sees Evelyn do them. The best was when Evelyn spit up I wiped it up and told Lucy that when the baby spits up we wipe it away. Shortly after I saw Lucy making spit bubbles and then grabbed the burp cloth to wipe herself up. Good job, Lucy. 

We had so much support from family and friends while we waited for Evelyn's arrival, when she came, and even still now two weeks after she was born. We feel so lucky to be surrounded by such amazing people. Especially mine and Zach's mother dears. No matter how old you are you always need your mom. My mom and Zach's mom have been angels.

We love our little Evy.

 So grateful for Heather for taking most of these photos.

So much happy.

Our precious baby.

 I like that Zach's hand is on mine.

  

Smooching her sister.

Smooshing her sister.

Lucy is so sweet. I love that she is holding Evelyn's hand.   

      Our first picture as a family of 4.     

 I love this picture because of the way Lucy is looking at me. 

                                                    

 Look at those grins. I love them.

     Minutes after Evy was born.    

  Snuggling up to mommy in the hospital bed.

                                             

Going home!!!

Katie and I weren't prepared for newborn photos but Katie had the genius idea to incorporate this stitching in them. This embroidered pillow case was done by Carrie Christensen, Evelyn Carrie's namesake. 

This girl pulls so many faces.

We're so happy this angel is part of our family.

Our family.