Welcome To The World Evelyn Jane Johnson

Welcome to the world, Evelyn Jane Johnson! In honor of Evie girl’s 6 month birthday I am finally blogging her birth story! It’s definitely a wild ride and quite the story…so strap on that seat belt!

Before I get started- let me preface her story with the fact that I am a first time mom…and had no idea what I was doing. I read all the resources that I could but as many moms know, some times things just don’t quite work out like everything/everyone said they would.

It all started on Friday, June 24th. The hubs and I were on date night, we had just eaten dinner at Zupas and were taking our typical walk around University Mall before our movie. When all of the sudden I felt a bigger gush of fluid come out. It surprised me a bit, but the day before when I was at my doctors appointment he told me that I would feel more fluid come out because of how hot it was and the changes my body is making. It didn’t feel like a HUGE rush of fluid, just more than usual and then it stopped. So we went to the movie and didn’t think much of it… I definitely didn’t think that my water broke.

We went to Independence Day in 3D and had to take a picture of the ridiculous glasses!

Then, on Saturday, June 25th. I woke up that morning and, like I had always done on Saturday’s, went for a run. Evie’s due date wasn’t until July 7th so I wasn’t even to the point where I thought I should maybe stop running for fear of Evie just falling out of me haha. But while on the run I started cramping BAD. I had to stop several times because it hurt so bad. I ended up only running about a mile in a half because it was just too painful. Then, I got ready for the day and ran to Walmart to do my weekly grocery shopping. While at Walmart the cramping started again… it was so intense! I had to use the cart to hold myself up because trying to push the grocery cart and walk at the same time was just too hard. I remember texting AJ while he was at work and telling him I thought that I was going to die at Walmart haha and he said, “GO HOME! I can get the groceries later.” I, of course (because I am an idiot), didn’t listen to him and finished my grocery trip.

My family was getting together for a late Father’s day celebration up American Fork Canyon that day so after I got home from Walmart and loaded the groceries in the house, I headed there. Once again, AJ told me not to go because he wasn’t there to drive me or take care of me. I really wanted to see my family and my dad for Father’s day so I ended up going and once again having the WORST cramps in the car on my way up there and then again while I was there. I remember my cute mom and sister in laws being so worried about me and my brothers offering to take me home, but I declined because every once in a while it would get better. You guys, my contractions (I found out later that these were contractions hahaha oh dear how naive I was) were NEVER consistent. I thought they were just braxton hicks. When it came time to go home, my parents followed me down the mountain to make sure I got past the no service zone safely and I met AJ at home. When we got there we went for a walk and I was still cramping. We timed my contractions and they would happen about a minute apart and last for 30 seconds. Then they would be 5 minutes a part at last for a minute, then they would be 20 minutes apart and last about a minute. After they started getting further apart and longer in between, we were both sure that it was just braxton hicks. I took it easy the rest of the night and they eventually got much better!

My mom and cute sister in laws at the Father’s Day celebration!

The next day our niece Indie (her and Evie are exactly 4 weeks apart! I love it so much!) was being blessed at church so we attended her beautiful blessing. I started cramping a bit while we were there and a little bit throughout the day but I took it easy and everything seemed okay!

The girls at Indie’s blessing!

AJ and I afterwards at his parents house.

Then, on Monday, June 27th I woke up bleeding. I was stressing big time so I called AJ at work and he and I decided that I needed to call my doctor immediately. I wasn’t cramping, believe it or not, just bleeding. But I think that was what was stressing me the most after what had been going on all weekend.

I called the doctor and with it being Monday morning, could not get through to anyone. I called several times and left several messages with my nurse but after about two hours hadn’t heard back yet. I finally got through to a cute lady at the front desk and I told her what had been going on. She was really worried so she patched me through directly to the nurse (I can’t believe how sweet she was). The nurse told me to go to the hospital ASAP! So I called AJ and he left work right then to come home and take me to the hospital, I really didn’t want to drive there myself. He works about 40 minutes away so while he was getting to me I straightened up the house and put the finishing touches on my hospital bag. I keep laughing to myself thinking I was so silly for going to the hospital, I wasn’t even having cramps! I felt totally fine! When he came home him and I both talked seriously about maybe not going to the hospital. We didn’t think I was in labor at all and the bleeding from earlier had completely stopped.

But we decided to go, to feel peace of mind. When we got to the hospital around 1 pm, we told them what was going on and they could tell that I was definitely not in labor haha but they said that they wanted to run some tests just in case. They took us back to a little room and strapped on a monitor to watch Evie’s heart rate and make sure she was okay. I was so relieved to see that her heart rate was strong! Then they ran a few tests to see if they could detect amniotic fluid…which all came back negative. They called my doctor and he didn’t feel good about sending me home, so he ordered an ultra sound to check my fluids.

Me, feeling like an idiot for going to the hospital when I was SURE I wasn’t in labor :).

I will never forget waiting for the nurse to set up the ultrasound and check my fluids, AJ and I were laughing so hard at the waste of time this had been. We had already been there two hours and we felt like everything was definitely coming back negative. The nurse started checking my fluids and never said a word. So we were both kind of like…what is happening? Then she poked her head out of the door and told the other nurse some number and the other nurse just shouted down the hall “She’s a keeper!” AJ and I both looked at each other in complete shocked and laughed so hard! “WHAT!? She’s a keeper?!” Yes, my friends that meant that I was staying there for sure and having my Evie girl soon!

After we found out that I was staying there for good!

They came back and said that my fluids were extremely low and they think my water had broken on Friday (eek!! I felt so dumb for not going in). They gave me some medicine to soften my cervix and get the contractions going, it wasn’t Pitocin but I can’t quite remember the name of what it was. After about an hour contractions started getting pretty strong but I was still only dilated to a 2 and about 70% effaced. I wanted to go as long as I could without my epidural so I could walk around and get things moving. However, the pain was really intense so my nurse gave me something to help with the pain. What she gave me made me  extremely nauseated so I threw up about every 20-30 minutes. At first it was awful but after I got used to it and could predict it, it wasn’t all that bad!

I waited about 5 hours, until the contractions were getting really strong, then I decided to have my epidural! When I got my epidural I was only dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced. It felt like things were moving soooooo slowly.

The epidural started working like a dream as soon as I got it! It worked amazingly well for about 30 minutes and then the pain was getting incredibly intense again. I remember writhing in pain, hugging the bar of my hospital bed (I seriously don’t know how people have babies without an epidural, you are SUPERWOMEN!). I could hardly breathe through my contractions. AJ was doing counter pressure but I remember thinking “I swear that if I am only dilated to a 4 and I feel this much pain WITH an epidural, I have no idea how I am going to have this baby!

Finally a different nurse, Kiley (an ANGEL), came into my room to help the nurse that was over me (the nurse that was over me was a floater nurse and not used to my hospital or their equipment). She saw how much pain I was in and said “Are you okay, sweetheart? You shouldn’t be in this much pain with the epidural. Let me check you and see how you’re progressing.” The other nurse hadn’t checked me in a while so she went ahead checked me. She said to the floater nurse, “You better come check her too.” After that nurse checked me they said that I was at a 10! They upped my dosage on my epidural so the pain would lessen, they didn’t anticipate me progressing from a 3 to a 10 in less than 30 minutes so my epidural was on an extremely low dose and not helping for me much at all.

Now here’s where things got crazy! It was around 4 AM, about a half hour after I got to a 10. The floater nurse came back in the room and said she wanted to do some practice pushes to help get Evie moving on down the birth canal. I was horrible at pushing at first, it is crazy how different pushing to have your baby is then just regular pushing haha. I had no idea! After a few tries I started to get the hang of it though! Around 5 AM Kiley came in and asked the floater nurse if she had called my doctor yet. He wasn’t scheduled to come in until 7 but told them that he wanted to know my status because he would come in early to deliver Evie! I guess that the floater nurse hadn’t called my doctor yet so she immediately went and called him.

While she was calling him Evie started making her way down the birth canal even more, she got to the point where her little head was about 1/4th of the way out! Kiley was freaking out, trying to decide whether to have me keep pushing and have this baby without a doctor or to wait until the doctor arrives (yes, there was an on call doctor on the floor but he was back and forth between two other women who were pushing at that exact same time as me). She decided that waiting wasn’t going to be possible, Evie girl was practically here! So she called another nurse into my room and said to me, “We’re having this baby right now. I have helped deliver a baby without a doctor before, everything is going to be fine!” We were FREAKING OUT, YOU GUYS! I pushed two more times and my angel baby was out right around 5:45 a.m!

They put her right on my chest and I felt her little heart beating so strong. She was having a hard time breathing at first and her APGAR score was low because of that, so they kept trying to get her to cough. This went on for a good 5 minutes but it felt like 5 years. AJ and I were so worried and stressed, more than we had ever been in our whole lives! She finally gave a good couple of coughs and started breathing much better!

I will never forget how it felt to hold her for the first time and feel her sweet little heartbeat on my skin. I truly had never felt what love at first sight felt like, until I saw my Evie girl for the first time. I immediately knew that I was meant to be her mama and it felt like I had known her for years. Right after she was born AJ stroked her little hand and she immediately grabbed on to his finger. It melted my heart to a puddle!

Becoming a mama to my baby girl made my heart whole, seeing AJ become a daddy to her, made my heart overflow.

After about a half hour, my doctor showed up! I could tell he was flustered and felt so bad that he wasn’t there! He sewed me up, made sure Evie was okay, and then they weighed and measured her! She had pooped all over me hahaha and even somehow got poop all over her face and mine!

She weighed 6 pounds, 9 ounces and was 18.5 inches long! Every single inch and pound of her was absolutely perfect!

Shortly after they weighed and measured her AJ was finally able to hold her, it was one of my very favorite sights to see, one I pray I will never forget! He has since told me that that was the first time he had felt peace all day, knowing we were both okay.

The first time he held her!

After everyone was settled they started getting things ready to move us to another room. AJ ran out to grab our parents from the waiting room and the nurses had all left the room. I was alone with my baby girl for the first time and the best word I can come up to describe it would be “heavenly”. She started crying so I sang to her “You Are My Sunshine.” She immediately stopped crying. That moment gave me hope, that even though I was absolutely terrified that I couldn’t be the perfect mom that this perfect little girl deserved, I might be able to do an okay job.

My Evie girl has forever changed our lives. She is the happiest, sweetest, best baby, and I thank God every single day that I get to have her in my life. She is an absolute angel sent from heaven and I don’t know how I lived 25 years without her.

Happy 6 months to you, Evelyn Jane! Mama loves you more than words can say!