Baby LucyMae Zina Evans has arrived!!!!

LucyMae Zina Evans was born on Sunday, May 25, 2008 at 1:02pm. She weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and was 20 and 3/4 inches long. Her hair is still red and as far as eye color goes, we are betting on blue....but we'll see. She came out with a little bit of screaming...but just enough to let us know everything was alright. She is PERFECT!!! We are SO in love with her. I can't get enough of just staring at her and laughing at her hilarious sleeping faces. She is already so full of personality. The short story is that my water broke at about 8:00pm on Saturday night, and after 10 hours of laboring naturally with contractions that were immediately 2-3 minutes apart, I opted for the epidural and was able to enjoy the remaining 7 hours of labor with some sleep included! For the longer version of things read on....... and there is a slideshow below too!

LONG VERSION:

Her real due date was May 30th. So on Saturday, May 24 I was QUITE sure that I had at least another week to get some more of my "to-dos" done. However we were quite hopeful that she would at least wait until AFTER 7:30pm that night to try to come because we had kind of a busy day on Saturday, including a wedding quartet gig that was going to earn us a very needed $260. So our prayers were that she would let us at least finish the gig, and then she could come whenever she wanted. On the other hand, my sister, Serenity, was quite anxious that she show her little face earlier than May 29 because she was leaving for a music camp in Maryland for a month and wanted to at least be able to see her.

Friday night we got to bed quite late, and then I had to get up quite early to prepare things for the baby shower I was throwing for my sister, Tenille. So I was already short on sleep when I woke up Saturday morning. The shower ended at about 1:00ish and then Sam, who had also gotten up early to go work on our car at our mechanic's shop, came home around 2:00ish. We had just enough time to go on a good walk and do some cleaning on the porch before we headed out for the wedding gig at 4:45. We walked straight up Skyline Dr. (which any who know where we live is the steep street that approaches our circle, and it just keeps going up until there are no more houses) and around the "H" rock and back down. It was a good little workout for this pregnant lady. And while I felt a couple contractions, they were nothing to concern me. So, then we went to the wedding (which was downtown on the 23rd floor of the Wells Fargo building), played from 5:30-7:30, and then packed up our instruments. We all stopped at the bathroom before going to our cars, so my bladder was empty.

And then on our way down to the car Serenity decided that it would help me go into labor if she didn't offer to carry stuff for me as she had done when we arrived for the wedding. So as we were approaching our car to load our stuff up.....I felt a bit of fluid leakage and said "Whoa! I did just go the bathroom, so I know I didn't just pee my pants." Sam, who is much smarter than I, was quite sure that my water had just broken and proceeded to get as giddy as a little school-girl. Serenity was just so excited that she was actually going to get to be here for it. And I was just in total disbelief. Less than 10% of women go into labor by having their water break, so I just thought this couldn't be it. But we did have a blanket in the car, so I sat on that while we drove home. When I got out of the car and realized that I had continued leaking as we drove, I started to get a little excited myself...I ran into the bathroom, and sure enough, my water had indeed broken. So we called my midwives and the hospital and let them know. They told me that if I hadn't started regular contractions within 12 hours, I needed to go to the hospital, and otherwise I just needed to time them and come in when they were at least 1 minute long and 2-5 minutes apart, and in the meantime to get as much rest as I could. The contractions started pretty much while I was on the phone with the midwives (at about 8:30) and were immediately 2-3 minutes apart. They started out being 30-40 seconds long and from there they just got longer and stronger.

Sam was so wonderful just running around getting everything on my list packed (No, I had not packed yet, but I HAD made a list...I hate packing so I always procrastinate it). He was quite entertaining to watch as he skipped from room to room and kept stopping in front of me to say "we're gonna have a baby!" By 2:00 in the morning, with no rest attained, the contractions were a minute long and we headed to the hospital. We requested a room with a jacuzzi tub, and I labored in the tub for a while. I was falling asleep instantly as soon as each contraction ended though, and so was Sam. We were SO tired. We kept at it until 6:00am, at which point they checked me and I was only dilated to a 3! That sealed the deal for me....I couldn't keep this up for another 10+ hours. I had NO energy left and neither did Sam, and the midwife hadn't even shown up yet (apparently because the nurses hadn't called them to tell them I had arrived...still a little mad about that one). So at 6:30am I was put out of my misery....I got the epidural...and it rocked!!! I was finally able to get a little (1 1/2 hours) sleep and was happy and having fun and enjoying labor after that. Within an hour and a half I had dilated to a 7 1/2! My midwife did come in about an hour after I got the epidural, very apologetic for not being there sooner. She was quite upset with the nurses. But I didn't care at that point. I was happy and feeling great!

So, after laboring for 5 more hours they decided I was ready to start pushing. I pushed for 1 1/2 hours...but it didn't seem like that long. Sam and I and the nurses were all just joking around and having a good time....kind of having a competition with another woman to deliver first...and finally at 1:02pm LucyMae Zina Evans came into this world. It was the most wonderful and miraculous moment I have ever experienced. Just thinking about it right now is making me tear up. They pulled her out and immediately handed her to me. I was so busy looking at her and crying myself that I didn't even get to see Sam crying (I have never seen a tear run down Sam's face....it finally did and I missed it...but the nurse vouched for him. He did cry!)

We stayed at the hospital until about 6:30pm on Monday and then we were able to come home and start to get settled with our new little family. Every day is an adventure to look forward to (even with the lack of sleep at night). She is getting so much better at her eating and sleeping schedule....I actually only had to get up once last night, granted it was for close to 2 hours. But hey, she can't be perfect yet.... although we think she is pretty close. You know how everyone these days says that
you have to swaddle a child to get them to sleep well?.....well, we tried it for the first couple nights and let me tell you...every child has their own personality. And this little one likes to sprawl when she is sleeping. If we swaddle her she just gets mad and wakes up when she tries to move. But if we let her sprawl she sleeps like a baby...ha ha!

We couldn't have hoped for a better end of the nine long months. We didn't know we could love this much. So, for any who want to see pictures of our little miracle, check out the slide-show below.....