Eva Marianne

She is here! We were so blessed to welcome our sweet baby Eva Marianne into the world on Tuesday, August 20th at 12:04pm. She weighed 7lbs 10oz and was 20 inches long. She is named after someone very loved by our family, Grandma Marianne Baker. The delivery was perfect and she was welcomed by a well prepared staff ready to tend to her needs. She was born with Vocal Cord Paralysis, just like Aidan and Arabella but fortunately did not have any distress because of a well prepared group of NICU staff.

There is so much to update but for now I will just say how happy and grateful we are for Eva’s safe arrival and how excited we are for her to come home from the hospital. She is absolutely beautiful and our little treasure! She has 3 siblings that are very anxious for her to come home so they can snuggle and love her to pieces.

Just a few minutes after birth

About 30 minutes after delivery they rolled me in on a bed to see and touch her.

A couple of hours after delivery they wheeled me in to hold her.

Baby Eva, WE LOVE YOU more than anything!

It’s Baby Time…For Real ~40 Weeks~

We just made it official this morning. I will be induced tomorrow morning at 7:15. We found another doctor that is very experienced and is taking our case very seriously. He called Rich this morning to ask a few more questions so that he can be sure he has a good team in the delivery room. I feel really good about him.

The kids have been extra sweet today. Aidan seems to be getting more and more excited about having a baby sister. He loves to hug and sing to my belly. This morning he was singing, “Little little baby! Dancing dancing baby!” and then she would move and he would get so excited!

While I’m not a fan of bare belly pics, especially big, pasty white ones, this is Aidan loving his baby sister.

 

As it turns out, baby Eva will be born the day before Aidan’s birthday. I don’t really like the idea of them having birthday’s so close but there is not much we can do about that now. He has been asking if he could be the first to hold her even though Maya has been wanting to be the first to hold her. Since the first time he meets her will be on his birthday I think that it is very fitting that the birthday boy be the first to hold his new baby sister.

I can’t believe that it is actually going to happen this time. By this time tomorrow, I will be in active labor…YIKES! I’m so grateful for all of the support we have and will have. So many neighbors and friends have called and texted to see if we need anything. My neighbor, Liz will be watching the girls tomorrow while my friend, Jess, watches Aidan. My other neighbor, Dawn, is bringing dinner for Rich and the kids tomorrow night and so many others have offered to bring us meals. We have a great ward and military family. I feel so much love and support from all of our friends, near and far.

A foot tall cookie that my friend, Jess made for me. The second pic is after Arabella got to it while I was sitting outside talking to Jess.

 

I have been feeling so much peace when I think about the possibility of baby Eva having vocal cord paralysis. I just feel like she is going to be fine. I have my moments of complete panic when I think about the details of what we have to go through if she does have it but for the most part I have complete peace. Praying for a healthy baby and a smooth delivery.

~40 Weeks~

Today is my due date.

Aaaaand I’m Still Pregnant ~39 Weeks~

Today was supposed to be the big day. Today we were scheduled to go into labor and delivery at 7am to be induced. Today was supposed to be Eva’s birthday. It was not. Last night at 8:30 we got a call from labor and delivery informing us that our doctor had “an accident” and would not be available to deliver our baby in the morning. We were offered a doctor that has been assisting our doctor, Dr. Hall. We looked him up online and found that he has only been practicing for a year! Yikes! Now, that’s not to say that he’s not a great doctor but for our particular circumstance we did not feel comfortable having someone with so little experience. We requested another doctor that I had seen before and really liked and they called him to see if he would be willing to do it. He was going out of town that very morning, of course. We just did not feel comfortable with the options we were given and passed on the induction.

I wanted to take a picture wearing the same top I wore for my first belly shot just to show the growth.

First pic ~21 weeks~  Second pic ~39 weeks~

 

This morning I called my doctors office to find out a little more information about Dr. Hall so that we could make a decision about what we were going to do. The people I spoke with were so frustrating because they wouldn’t give me any information as to how long Dr. Hall would be out. They just kept saying, “He is dealing with a personal matter.” Ok. I’m not trying to be nosey, I just want to know when he will be available to deliver my baby! They acted like it was some big secret and they couldn’t tell me what was going on as far as his schedule. They later offered to connect us with the doctor that would be taking over Dr. Hall’s patience while he is out. Rich spoke with him and he was quick to fill us in on what was going on with Dr. Hall. The big secret was that he had fallen off of a ladder and hurt his wrist and head. He would be out for one week. Not such a big deal and now we knew we had to plan on having our baby without him.

We have set our induction date for next Tuesday, the 20th. That’s one day before Aidan’s birthday. Baby Eva will be delivered by a different doctor, Dr. Bitner. Rich and I feel that he will do a great job. When Rich spoke with him he had already read over our file and had questions for Rich about Aidan and Arabella so that he could better prepare. Rich spoke with him about not clamping the cord right away and Dr. Bitner is 100% on board. We are confident that everything will go smoothly.

So, looks like I’ll be pregnant for a few more days which is ok by me. It gives me a little bit more time to let the excitement of meeting our baby girl build:) Once again….getting excited!

Eva Is Almost Here!

I can’t believe that baby Eva is almost here!!!! I’m kind of freaking out I’m so excited! We had our last doctor appointment last Friday and decided that we would follow the doctor’s advice and induce before I actually go into labor. My induction date? 8/16/13….THIS FRIDAY, as in the day after tomorrow! I can’t believe that Eva will be here in 2 days.

This past week I have spent each and every day trying to muster the energy to get things ready for her to join our family. I failed the first 4 days but finally managed to get a nice big burst of energy the day before yesterday so our home is almost 100% ready. The kids are super excited, especially Maya who asked if she could be the first of the kids to hold her. She is so sweet! I think I am most excited about two things-holding my sweet little newborn and watching the kids interact with their baby sister. I can’t wait!!!

Feeling so excited, anxious, nervous and blessed! See you very, VERY soon baby Eva!

Random Pics Worth Posting

Love how she makes her “E’s” and her clothing combinations.

Got my head stuck.

Loves his daddy!

This is what happens when you pee all over your panties and dress at church.

I love having girls!

What’s summer without hopscotch?

Aidan’s ears

Eva love

Dresses herself

 

Haircut!

Mommy-1………Arabella-0

Spot It!

Maya and Arabella’s version of the game “Spot It”.

Brad Paisley SURPRISE!

I have a very sneaky husband. A couple of weeks ago my neighbor, Liz, told me that she wanted to watch my kids before I had the baby so that Rich and I could go on a date. I was so grateful and apparently so was Rich because a week later he told me that he had spoken with Liz and worked it out so that we could go on Friday night. Ok. I’m usually the one that works out the babysitting situation for dates so I, for some reason, didn’t take the date seriously. I guess I assumed it wasn’t really going to happen? Not sure what exactly I was thinking. Anyway, Friday came and I spent the day out with a friend and the kids at the Tree House Museum and got home right before Rich did from work. I wasn’t thinking about the date, I didn’t even remember we were going on a date until Rich got home and reminded me. Now, I feel like such a horrible person because I was so annoyed with him for not reminding me because then I would have stayed home and cleaned the house for Liz to come over! I made him get busy cleaning the kitchen while I mumbled not-so-under my breath my frustration. It wasn’t even his fault, it was mine!

So, he keeps insisting that we need to leave no later than 5:00 because we were planning on going to watch X-Men and Rich HATES being late for movies. We head out the door, go to eat dinner and then head out to Salt Lake because the theater there has the best sound system and of course Rich has to watch X-Men on a good sound system…(insert rolling eyes). So, we’re driving and talking about everything and nothing and then suddenly I realize it is taking us FOREVER to get to the theater! I also realize that we are going a different way than we usually go and of course I tell him he should have used the GPS on his phone because the Garmin sucks to which he agrees. I’m kind of laughing at him inside because I can see that the movie is going to start in 10 minutes and we are stuck on some back road behind a ton of traffic. I don’t care because I don’t mind being late to movies.

Then, suddenly we take a right at a light and there are people directing traffic. Now I’m totally lost and confused as to where in the heck the GPS took us. Dumb Garmin! Rich follows the direction that they direct us and I’m like, “What are you doing? Why are are you going the way he told you to go? This isn’t where the movie theater is!” He just acted all confused which was so weird to me. Then, we were directed into this big arena parking lot and at that point I was so confused that I rolled down the window and asked the girl directing us, “What is this?” To which she gave me a blank stare. We pull in and park and I’m still confused as to why Rich just followed the crowd (Yes, I’m THAT slow). This is how the rest of the conversation went:

Rich: “We’re not going to watch X-Men.”

Me: “What?” Still not understanding what is going on.

Rich: “We’re not going to watch a movie. We are going to a concert.”

Me: Sounding like a broken record, “What? What are you talking about?”

Rich: “We are going to a Brad Paisley concert!”

Me: “Oh. My. Gosh. I am so confused!”

It seriously took me a good 2 minutes of sitting there in complete shock and confusion before I realized what had just happened. Then, I had to touch up my makeup

Lee Brice and Chris Young opened. They were so good!

We had awesome seats too! Halfway through the concert Brad Paisley walked right in front of us to a little stage that was set up right next to where we were sitting! Ignore my goofy, “Oh my gosh, Brad Paisley just walked right in front of me” look.

I love how spontaneous and fun Rich is. I love that after 7 years of marriage he still gets a kick out of surprising me, even when I’m being a grouch. I love knowing that our lives will always be filled with adventures and excitement because that is just the kind of guy he is. I love that I get to be the one who’s life he makes exciting.

I LOVE HIM!

Getting Close!!! ~38 Weeks~

I think that it’s obvious that I’m getting close by the lack of blog posts the past couple of weeks.

Here I am, 2 weeks shy of being done!

I’m feeling physically done but still a little mentally and emotionally not quite there yet. My body is hurting and tired but I still can’t imagine what it’s going to be like having a baby and maybe, just maybe I’m gonna be a little sad that this is the last time I will ever be pregnant? Still sorting through those emotions.

Rich is starting to really stress and worry about whether or not she will be born with vocal cord paralysis. When I think about it I freak out so I really try not to think about it. I spoke with my doctor about a few more details of how it will all go down. I initially did not want to be induced but after talking to my doctor about it I think we have decided that it would be much safer if I was induced so that he could be sure to be there and he also prefers the daytime NICU staff over the overnight staff because he feels they are more experienced. He will be sure that the NICU is in the room at delivery and we even spoke a little bit about not clamping the umbilical cord for a couple of minutes after she is born so that her oxygen supply will not be cut off immediately.

Ugh! It really sets me into panic mode having to plan and think about the worst case scenario but at the same time I feel so grateful that we can at least be prepared this time and avoid what happened with Aidan and Arabella.

GETTING SO CLOSE!!!!!!!!!