Evelyn Marie Folkerts

So it's taken a while for me to find the words to describe what the birth of Evelyn was like. Or what going from a family of three to a family of four in minutes felt like. It also has taken me a while to get into a routine which includes a little sleep, a shower here and there and lots of kisses and cuddling. Okay, maybe those all sound like good reasons but really it's taken me 12 days to get on and tell you all about Evie because I am just plain tired!

Evelyn Marie Folkerts. She takes my breath away. I kept questioning how it is possible to love someone, a child, as much as I love Addison. It is so easy. She came out and there was this instant incredible love between us. She needed me as much as I wanted her. Oh, she and she decided that she needed to stay in me until the very last second!

We arrived at the hospital at 6:45am and were expecting that we'd have our bundle by noon. Everyone was expecting this except Evelyn, she had different plans. They asked me the 400 questions, which include ones I can't honestly believe people answer yes too..."Are you under the influence of street drugs" or "did you drink while pregnant" or (with Billy in the room) "where you forced to become pregnant". It makes my heart hurt that a: they have to ask these questions and b: people answer yes. Well, anyway, after an hour of Q&A they checked me and started my pitocin and fluids. By this time I was tired and just wanted to nap before the contractions got started.

This labor was a bit different in the sense that I didn't have my family there. It was just Billy and I and I felt different, calmer. I knew that less then 2 years (18 months to be exact) ago I did this with my epidural not working. I could do this. I kept breathing and dozing, trying to keep my mind off the fact that they came in every 30 minutes to up my pit since nothing was hurting. I progressed nice in the beginning. I went from 3 to 5 in a few hours but my water had not broke and Evie's head wouldn't fall. Around 1:45pm they broke my water. All I have to say about that was I'm glad that 15 minute "gush" didn't happen at home. After my water broke my contractions seemed to pick up and Evie's head got right into position. I decided on trying the epidural again with some convincing from Dr. Faust.

Oh, Mr. Epidural Man, I am a challenge. Apparently I know nothing and telling the Dr. that I have a ton of scar tissue in my spine meant nothing. First try at the epidural was so painful I asked them to stop and said I would just have natural labor. He hit the scar tissue which shot the most painful, debilitating feeling into my left hip. It felt like he paralyzed me. They begged to let him try again so I did and he again sent pain into my hip (I was sobbing and I thought Billy was going to punch the guy in the face) but within five minutes the pain in my hip was gone and surprisingly my contractions weren't so painful...on my left side. Crap, same results as last time.

They had me lay on my right side so the medication could drift down and hopefully take some of the pain away on that side too. It did help but I was still blowing through contractions which shouldn't be the case with an epidural. About two hours later they placed my catheter to empty my bladder and it was SO painful. I again asked them to take it out so they did. About five minutes later I called the nurse back in and told her that I thought I had to either poop (seriously, it's what it feels like) or push. The resident came in and checked me. He thought I was at 10 but the nurse felt like I was more like a 7. I was so tired at this point I wasn't sure I had the energy to spend hours getting to 10. Good thing Evie agreed. Four minutes later I again told them that I couldn't resist the urge to push. In came the nurse and resident, both checking me deciding I indeed progressed to a 10 in that four mins and I INDEED was ready to push.

On my next contraction the resident felt Evie's head while I pushed. He was shocked that I could push like I did. I reminded him that a year and a half ago I pushed out a 10 pounder. He yelled for the nurse to get Dr. Faust in the room because and I quote, "She just pushed that baby like 2 inches in 3 seconds." Dr. Faust entered the room about 6:35pm. Explained to me that I needed to NOT push at the next contraction and then it was in my hands. I pushed for about 7 minutes and she came out. She was screaming before her legs were out and looked so tiny. Well, tiny to us is certainly relative! She was 9 lbs. 6 oz. and 21 inches long. Nine ounces less then her sister, 1/2 inch shorter yet she looked TINY!!

Instantly, my heart melted. I felt relief, lighter and a little sad that it wasn't our little secret that she likes to wiggle or that she gets the hiccups around bedtime every night. I knew I'd miss being pregnant and I knew this would be the last time so I spent much of this labor trying to remember the kicks, wiggles and pain that I was going through for the last time. It's a weird feeling knowing that this completes our family yet it makes me excited for all the things to come. They placed her in my arms after doing the initial checks and we just cooed together. She was so perfect. She looked just like Addison (although I now think she looks like Evelyn!) except that her little arms and legs were SO skinny!!

I called my mom who was driving down from Wisconsin and told her all about Evie. Then I called my dad. There is something about watching my dad be a Grandpa that gets me every time. He was at the Roadhouse for burger night and when I called to let him know I heard the bartender in the back round say, "he's a Grandpa again, his daughter just had a baby". I cried thinking about how excited my dad was about Evie's arrival. So excited he told the entire bar!!

The next day Addie came to visit her little sister. Being that we were not sure how all of this was going to go, Billy and I prepared ourselves for a breakdown. To our complete surprise she crawled into my bed and looked at her kind of weird. Within five minutes of their meeting Evelyn was Addie's sister and only her's. She wanted to hold her constantly and would throw a complete tantrum with the nurses or I would need to take Evie. She has, for the most part, adjusted better then Billy and I could have ever expected. She's very helpful getting us pacifiers, diapers and even helping to feed her sister (I am currently only pumping, another story). She wants to hold Evie all the time. Her favorite thing to do is press Evie's nose and say "honk, honk" and give her kisses! She's a great big sister. I hope they continue to develop a bond that someday I am jealous of.

It's been a long twelve days. Evie developed a bad case of jaundice so she spent 6 days on the biliblanket. Man that makes it hard to cuddle her and even harder to go anywhere. My mom was here for 10 days and her exit on Friday brought on a lot of tears. I'd like to say that most were from Addie but I think this time it was me who knew mom would be very missed. She was a tremendous help. She played and chased Addie around for 10 days straight. She made tons of meals to both eat and freeze. She grocery shopped, ran errands and comforted when I couldn't. She was amazing and when she left she was exhausted!

Friday was my first day alone with the two girls and I managed just fine. It made me realize that I can do this, as I have to, on my own. Billy came home, I think expecting a mad house but we were all showered or bathed, dressed and ready to go watch some high school football. I'm enjoying the three day weekend with Billy. We spent Saturday and Sunday running errands that had been put off for months. I told Bill that I think we spent more money in one weekend then we had in a year! I bought myself a couple of shirts and it felt good to not have to buy XL shirts (I love breastfeeding) and to fit into normal clothes again! Bye-bye maternity wear!!

That brings us to today, Day 12. We're all enjoying a little quiet time. I hear Evie starting to stir, it's been two hours, she's hungry. Addie will be up soon, too. I enjoy the silence, even if for a minute, to reflect on how things are. This is our family. It's the four of us now. Addie is a big sister forever. I am a mom of two little girls and the wife of a man who adores the three of us. I have to say that before Evie came and I was uncomfortably pregnant I wasn't sure I would love this. But today, if you were to ask me if I was happy, I wouldn't delay in telling you, extremely. I love my life.