The moment our world changed....[this first post is a little long]

I will start out when I first found out I was pregnant [July 22nd, 2012]. That positive test or tests made me nervous, excited, anxious, and joyful all at once.

[1st ultrasound...8 weeks along...August 8th, 2012]

My emotions were so over whelmed and excited. I was going to be a mom.

[2nd ultrasound...3 months along...September 6th, 2012]

It was amazing how much she grew from 8 weeks to 3 months.

[3rd ultrasound...22 weeks along...November 12th, 2012]

 She was beautiful. Seeing her moving on the screen took my breath away.

Than the moment came when the sonographer asked us, 

"Do you guys want to know what it is?" YES!, we do!

"It's a GIRL!"

[running through my head: We are going to have a girl]

My pregnancy for the most part was good. I had morning sickness bad from the 2nd month (we found out at 6 weeks) till about the 4th or 5th month hard core. It tapered off, but never fully stopped. At the beginning I started feeling just a little numbness in my fingers. As I progressed through my pregnancy it only got worse. I find out it was "pregnancy carpal tunnel syndrome". By the end of my pregnancy, or mostly the end of the second and all of the third trimester was the worst of it. I couldn't write without pain shooting through my hands. And my fingers were always somewhat numb. I had to wear braces that people with carpal tunnel used to sleep at night, other wise my hands and arms would have pain. I passed my GD test with flying colors [hoping I pass it with the others too]. That is the worst it got.

I didn't really gain any weight. I lost 10 pounds at the beginning. It was only about the last month of my pregnancy I gained those 10 pounds back + 14 pounds....but then at my 40 week appointment, I lost 5 pounds. So, I only gained 9 pounds. My metabolism with my pregnancy went way up, so she was using what I already had. Since having her, I have lost (as of my 2 week postpartum appt) 40 pounds.

I LOVED feeling Evelyn move inside me, and would get freaked out if I didn't feel her for awhile. I couldn't help just staring at my belly for sometimes what seemed like a hour. I also didn't really feel her until around 28 weeks fully. I had an anterior placenta, which means it is right in the front (where my belly was) so it was like a cushion. I started seeing her move in my belly around 30 weeks. I would put stuff on my belly so you could watch her move it, and I would put music to my belly so she could get used to music and noise. Which worked because she sleeps through anything.

[This is the first preggo pic that I decided to take. It was when I thought I was finally showing enough. It was taken in January 17th, 2013....I had about two months left]

[This was taken January 26th, after my 1st baby shower my sis in law Amanda threw me. It was also the first maternity shirt that I bought for the occasion. Taken at our 2nd apartment together near Valley Junction]

[38 week video of Evelyn moving in my stomach. I decided to put the remote on my stomach so you could see it move]

Fast forward to my (almost) 40 week appointment [March 19th, 2013]. The day before my "due date". I still hadn't gotten anywhere in terms of delivering or coming close. She just didn't want to come out. I loved being pregnant, but I was ready. I didn't want to do any kind of induction, and was planning 100% natural. I was going to wait till 42 weeks if I had too. My OB doc wanted me to have an ultrasound that Thursday because he thought she was going to be 9 to 10 pounds. 

That thursday [March 21st, 2013] we went into the ultrasound. As she moved the thing around and I looked at the screen, thinking that I was seeing the bottom by my ribs. She looked at me and said, no, that is the head. She then went to go get the doctor to see what our options were. I just stared at the screen in silence trying to hold back my emotions and not cry. Alan was behind me, and he was speechless too. We were maybe prepared for a bigger baby, but not breech. I just felt like in that instance I had failed. Failed at what I didn't know. My birth plan was basically thrown out the window.

The doctor and her came back. He was astounded. He said, "I was prepared for a bigger baby, but not this." He said we had two options. If we wanted he could try and turn her. He normally doesn't do it at 40 weeks. [it is usually done at 36/37 weeks]. He said it would be extremely painful, and there would only be a 70% chance of success. Than there would be a 30% chance she could turn back before she would get settled and get into labor [I never experienced a contraction]. That was going to be hard, because I was 100% locked up. I never was close to going into labor. He said, in the process...

- She could go into distress and end up in an emergency c-section
- Her cord could get kinked and go into an emergency c-section
- Her cord could wrap around parts of her body and go into an emergency c-section

He told me he could do it the next day [Friday, March 22nd 2013], but he wasn't on call that weekend. I told him that we had to think about it and have what just happened sink in. That day I cried I think more than I have ever. I just kept on thinking what did I do wrong? I had a long talk with Alan that day and we finally made the planned c-section for that following Monday [March 25th, 2013]. I talked also to a lot of women in my life. By that weekend, I had come to terms with it as much as I could and decided to finish whatever up that needed to be done and to pack for our time at the hospital.

[40 weeks and 5 Days. Sunday, March 24th, 2013: The day before my c-section]

Alan and I were at my mother-in-laws finishing up some art for the nursery.

[The name decoration that I made for the nursery]

It is a white frame with glass. I took several pictures from old Dr. Seuss books and organized them around the panel. Than put it in the glass frame. Than took white painted wooden letters and glued them with gorilla glue to the outside of the glass.

I was feeling really confident going into Monday to Mercy Hospital [East Wing] for surgery. They let me know that I had to be there at 11:30 because the surgery was at 1:30. I get there with my doula Donis and Alan. We found out that my surgery wasn't until 3:30, so I didn't have to be there until the 1:30. We decided to hang out instead of going anywhere. I also asked one of my pastor's DB Atrim to come and talk and pray over us. I couldn't have anything after midnight that morning to eat or drink. NOTHING! I was starving.

[Us waiting outside in the waiting room waiting to go to the recovery room to get ready for surgery]
The last picture of just the 2 of us before we become 3

Got to the recovery room around probably 2 pm [instead of the initial 1:30] because my room wasn't ready yet. It was a small claustrophobic room. The nurse knew Donis, so that was nice. Her name was Katie, and she was over all the nicest nurse there that I ended up having. I got blood taken [a couple tubes worth].  I was hooked up to the monitors [for the babies heartbeat and if I was having an contractions]. I found out I was having extremely small contractions, ones that I didn't even feel.

At 3:30 I walked with the nurse [Katie] to the operating room. As I walked in, it was all very intimidating and scary. There was machines everywhere, and lights which all pointed downward to this table in the middle of the room. My heart started pounding really fast. I didn't have my doula and I didn't have Alan. I just had this nurse named Katie that I clung onto. When they were doing my spinal [which scared me to death since it is a long needle going right into your spine between the spinal bones] Katie let me hug on her and squeeze her hands. It was so overwhelming, I started bawling.

[if you know me at all, you know that I am a very emotional person, even when not pregnant. Being pregnant just amplified it]

As soon as it took, this tingling started surging down my legs. I had to hurry up and lay on the table before I went completely numb. The curtain went up and they started working on me. I was completely numb and modesty goes completely out the window. About 5 or so mins into it Alan came in all suited up. He didn't have the guts [no pun intended] to look at them getting her. Not long after that I heard the doctor say, "BUTT FIRST!"  You got it, she mooned the doctor. The next thing I heard was a cry that sounded like....Mamamamamamama! Alan looks at me and says [paraphrasing] "Look, she is calling for you already."

He goes over there and takes some pics and comes back to me and says, "She's BEAUTIFUL Liz, she's beautiful."

  [They are cleaning her off and checked her, and than he got to cut the cord.]

Welcome...Evelyn Noelle Pierce [Evelyn means: Life]

Born Monday March 25th, 2013 at 4:08 via C-Section

8 pounds 6 ounces & 20.5 inches long

Mercy Medical Downtown Des Moines, Iowa 

Doctor: Bernard Munro

Alan brought her over to me after everything was said and done. He than went to the nursery with her while I was getting finished. I had to go to the recovery room for two hours afterward to have them check me out. 

[The middle picture is me holding Evelyn for the first time. I swelled up because of the IV liquids]

[The family outside waiting for me & family time with Evelyn: March 25th, 2013 around 6:30 pm]
All the family waiting outside of my suite. Room # 2010
All the family Enjoying Evelyn for the first time: Grandma Pierce, Grandma Seaman, Aunt Melissa, Cousin Andrew, Cousin Sean, Uncle Paul, Aunt Amanda, Aunt Chrissy, Uncle Brian

[Visitors Above: Donis & Michael Bosworth, Sheliah McFarland, Crystal McFarland, Christina Tufty, Scott Vulgamott, and Angie Kufner]
We had many more visitors. Evelyn had lots of love.

[March 25th, 2013: Evelyn's first bath @ the hospital: She didn't like it so much]

We were there from Monday to Thursday afternoon. All our nurses were GREAT! except our last nurse. Alan was close to reporting her. She was very disrespectful and rude. If I ever got her again, I would put in a request for a new nurse. I started walking that Tuesday. Doing laps around the hallway with Evelyn in her hospital bassinet. We made it kind of a family thing with the three of us. My feet ended up swelling so bad along with the rest of my body with so much IV fluids they were giving me. I barely got into my shoes that I came to the hospital with. We were ready to go home. The Pierce Family was now a family of 3. 

[Just the 3 of us]

[March 28th, 2013: We Headed Home...]