My little girl will be 6 months old this Friday. It seems we just welcomed her into this world at 7 lbs and 7 ounces, she was 20 inches in length. Now my little girl is almost 18 lbs and is 28 inches in length. She is getting so tall, so quickly that we are having to look for the next car seat already. It really comes as no surprise to me, as apparently I got tall very quickly and filled out quickly too.
She will always be my little girl, I will always see that little face with eyes filled with wonder staring back at me. I’ve cuddled her lots this past week in pure awe and wonderment. I’ve even shed a few tears while holding her, this time is going by way too quickly.
In celebration of her reaching her half birthday I want to share her birth story. If you are not one for details on labour and delivery then continue reading no further.
The story of Everly’s birth…
On the evening of December 27th, Jason and I had decided to go on a date night as we were not sure if we’d be able to get another in any time soon. We’d actually crammed in a few date nights when my due date was approaching, and a this one after it passed. There had been controversy since day one as to what my due date was, either the 21st or the 27th of December.
I had been craving the honey mustard dipping sauce and chicken from Red Robins, I had not had many cravings during the whole pregnancy, but near the end this was one of them and I finally caved and begged for us to go. We actually got seated at the same table where we had lunch together on our first date. During all of dinner I felt a little off. I did not think much of it then, but realize now that it was signs of impending labour. I felt a cramp feeling occasionally during dinner. Jason asked me a few times if I was okay, but I just shrugged it off as some more pain. I’d been in constant pain for awhile because the pregnancy had caused my pelvic bones to separate too much.
We went home that evening and relaxed, we also took a few more tummy photos near the Christmas tree that we had not bothered to take down yet. I sure did not have the energy to do so. Little did we know that those would be the last tummy photos. We settled in for the night. I did not sleep well, I woke up every couple hours, and soon every hour with more cramp pains. Still for whatever reason it was not registering with me to keep track and pay attention to what was going on. Eventually I just surrendered and waddled my way downstairs to curl up on the couch and watch the news. It was then that I started keeping tack of what was going on with an app I had on my ipod. Jason had to work that morning, but was checking in on me.
Soon enough I said that I thought I should call the hospital and see what the thought about what was going on. I had been told that I needed to go to the hospital early so that I could have a few rounds of medication as my strep test had come back positive during a recent doctor’s visit. In order to make sure all was well with baby, and that she did not get an infection I needed this medication when in labour. I got told to get my butt down there. Jason contacted his manager and informed work that he would not be able to continue his shift for the day, baby was coming. We packed the car up, and left the house for the last time as a family of two.
Our dreams of becoming a family with a child were about to come true. All the heartache from having a miscarriage at the beginning of the year, was about to be filled with so much joy with the arrival of our daughter at the end of the year. The moments of fear we had several times over during this pregnancy, from moments where we could not feel any movement, or moments when the technicians could not find her lung or a part of her heart, all of this was about to be replaced with the fears that come from being new parents. Fear that we will always have, but its a good fear.
I was nervous, and afraid, but my heart was full of so much excitement for what was to come. Overwhelmed with anticipation to hold my little girl, and to see her face.
The early stages of labour were fine. I was admitted quickly at the hospital, which was odd for a full moon I was told. Apparently babies like to make their entrance into the world around the full moon. I had several nurses check in on me. I started with the doctor who I had seen regularly for my prenatal visits. Her shift was coming to an end, and another doctor who I had also seen on a few occasion came in to see me. We had made lots of calls, and sent several text messages to let people know. Some how though in all of the craziness we still missed some people, our apologies. My Mom said she’d come and join me when she was done work in the afternoon. Thank you to those who gave us gift cards to Tim Horton’s, those sure came in handy, especially for lunch when Jason was hungry.
During the time I was waiting, trying to get through the pain of contractions. I went in with an open mind about pain relief. I would try my best to get through it naturally, but I was open to things like laughing gas, and an epidural. I do not have a high pain tolerance, I actually get ill when I am in a lot of pain, or I pass out.
The laughing gas and morphine combo I had was interesting, apparently I became very talkative. I actually had a bit of a panic attack with the laughing gas, I am very claustrophobic so they had to switch the way I was able to inhale the laughing gas from just using a face mask, to this weird tube thing. It gave me something to focus on during each contraction.
By the time my Mom arrived, and a bit after I was feeling everything and it was getting harder to handle, the morphine had warn off, and the laughing gas was not helping. At some point my water broke when I got up from a chair. The doctor came to check me again and by then I was really hurting and decided it was time for an epidural. The anesthesiologist could not have come at a more perfect time. I was able to get an epidural right around 6 or 7 centimeters. After having the epidural I was able to relax much more, because of that, things progressed much more quickly. It was already evening time.
The doctor had checked me earlier, and had been concerned that the baby was turned the wrong direction, that she was posterior. The doctor had me move around several ways, and was eventually sure that the baby had moved to the position that she wanted her in.
At some point it was noted that meconium was present in the amniotic fluids. Around this time, a monitor had been attached to our daughter’s head so they could monitor her heart-rate. Her heart rate had been dropping and rising back up for awhile, concern had been expressed that she was either pressing on her umbilical cord of it was wrapped around her some how. Everything started to become a bit of a blur.
My doctor was called back in, and suddenly there were many more nurses in the room. . At one point I was being told a c-section was going to be needed because of my daughter’s heart rate not returning to normal and it was continuing to decrease. At some point verbal consent was even asked for as they were still trying to round up the papers for a c-section. Thankfully the doctor checked me again and I was fully dilated, I was told that I needed to push and that the baby needed to come out quickly. After a bit of pushing, a vacuum was used to aid in helping get my daughter delivered quickly. Something that I didn’t really want used, but in that moment you do not care, you want your child safe, if it meant the vacuum or a c-section I did not care then. Just get my child here, and safe.
Everything seemed to happen so quickly, within 30 minutes of pushing, our daughter arrived. She entered this world posterior, with the umbilical cord up and over her shoulder and a bit around her neck. This was the reason for her decreasing heart rate. They did not want her to cry for fear she may get more fluids or any meconium in her lungs or system. Thankfully she was not a green baby. The doctor and nurse commented on how I could have had her here in as a little as 15 minutes if she was not facing the wrong direction, good to know for future deliveries if we are blessed with more children.
She was placed on me for what felt like not even a minute before she was quickly taken to the side to be checked. I did not even know that Jason got to cut the umbilical cord with all the frenzy going on around our daughter. Jason told me later that evening. During the delivery I had said that I felt like I was going to be sick several times. After our daughter was taken off me and to the side, I said it once more and turned to my side and was sick, all over my Mom. Sorry Mom.
Jason kept a watchful eye over our little one. He saw the bump on her head from the vacuum, I thankfully never saw this as I would have burst into tears at the sight of it, the photos still make me sad. They put a little white hat on her head, this helped hide it from me. Once again my daughter was placed back into my arms. She was alert and looking right at me. I’ll never for get that little moment. It felt like she was piercing through my soul, trying to take everything in, yet it also seemed like she already knew me. It was like her eyes were begging me to love her. Don’t worry little girl, you were loved the moment we found out we were expecting you. You are so very much loved.
Everly Anne Janelle Goyette, was here at 9:36pm on December 28, 2012. All 7lbs and 7 ounces, and 20 inches of her. Her cute little squished face from entering this world the wrong way. She was set to do thing her own way from the start.I held her and cried tears of joy.
Her arrival is a defining moment in our lives, we are parents now. We were now a family of 3.
She was checked over by the doctor and a pediatrician. We were told she was perfect. We were told that the swelling around her eye would go down, and that it was normal. We were told her lump and bruising on her head would take awhile to go away, and that it is normal. It was not until later in the evening when I tried nursing her several times that we knew something was just not right. Every time Everly tried to nurse she ended up choking and throwing up. We called the nurses in every time asking for help, begging for help, desperate to know what was going on. Only to be told it was normal.
Everly would not sleep that night unless she was in someones arms, she spent most of that first night curled up in her Daddy’s arms so that I could try and get some rest. Jason never left his little girl’s side, he was so concerned for her. He showed me then and there the type of father he would be, totally committed to our little girl. She already had him wrapped around her little fingers, all ten perfect little fingers.
If its even possible the next day I fell even more in love with this little girl. She has taken over ever corner of my heart. We went home after 24 hours, looking back I wish we had stayed longer. We were sick of the hospital, we wanted to be home with our daughter. I will always remember the car ride home. How nervous we were to be returning to life outside the hospital, with someone so little that we were responsible for.
Sure she has come into this world with some challenges, reflux and a squinky eye, but she is our perfect and unique little girl. We cannot imagine not having her in our lives, she has made our lives so much more. Everly is a true blessing to us.
Life together continues, and we continue to write new chapters each day in the story of our family of 3. Page by page we will write this adventure…
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