Ethan, Eva, Food and More!: Eva's birth story!

It's been one heck of a week - one week ago, today, Eva FINALLY decided to come out and play :) The prior week was rather traumatic - 3 false alarm trips to labor and delivery for regular contractions, and going home to cry for an hour (on a good day, more so on bad ones).

The last false alarm trip to labor and delivery was on the Saturday before Eva was born. When I was sent home, I was an emotional wreck. Chris decided to be helpful and we went on a long drive in his car in search of bumpy roads - just so you know, there is a severe shortage of bumpy roads by where we live!

Fast forward to Sunday morning...I slept pretty well, but as soon as I woke up, the contractions started. This time they felt different than they had the previous 2 weeks - they were stronger, more regular (6-10 minutes apart) and more intense. Not wanting another false alarm trip, I informed Chris that I would not call the doctor's office or want to go to the hospital unless the contractions started coming closer together.

We then went about our normal Sunday morning routine - breakfast, crappy children's dvd's, going to Target :) It was a good thing I was in charge of the cart, because I started having more intense contractions that were making me bend over in agony. We did manage to finish our shopping and went home, where I promptly collapsed on the couch and began timing my contractions. They were coming regularly (still 6-10 minutes apart) and I could feel one building (it began in my back and then migrated around to the front). After an hour or so of this, I called my parents to let them know that depending on how things went, Ethan might be paying them a visit.

15-20 minutes later, the contractions had gotten so painful that I was in tears. When Chris found me on the couch like this, he immediately got Ethan's jacket and shoes on, and I managed to stumble my way to the car. We dropped Ethan off at my parents, which consisted of handing a crying child over to my mom, and went to the hospital.

At the hospital, the lady who checked us in took one look at me - and took me back to labor and delivery, where I was put in the same room I was in the day before. The nurse came in a few minutes later, checked my dilation and announced that I was in active labor as I was about 7 cm dilated by this point. I hadn't dropped from the day before (still a -1), but at least this time it wasn't a false alarm! I was officially admitted to the hospital around 11:40'ish.

Things went down pretty quickly from here - they paged the OB on call, who got there, checked me out, and let me labor on my own for the next hour or so. I had dilated to 8cm by 12:30 pm and the contractions were coming 3-6 minutes apart, so there was a mad dash to get all the proper equipment in the room. I was asked if I wanted an epidural, which I turned down. I had Ethan without anything (other than pitocin), so I saw no need to have one now. Plus the thought of that needle going into my back isn't exactly a pleasant thought! About 20-30 minutes later, the OB broke my water and started me on a little bit of pitocin to make my contractions more regular. Not too much later, I was ready to push.

Two pushes later, at 1:43pm, Eva Marie Barber was born. She came into the world crying, flailing and as soon as she got on the warming table, peed all over! The neonatologist (the OB paged one because Eva was borderline premature - she was born at 37 weeks and 2 days) gave her a clean bill of health and after a half hour or so of washing and measuring, she was handed to me, where I promptly fell in love with my girl :)

Please enjoy the following pictures!