Welcome to the world, Baby Eva!

She's waking, she's waking... back to sleep... I think... I have this little thing wrapped on my chest, sleeping away. I finally have a few minutes to write. She is the sweetest little baby. We just love her so much. I could sit here an look at her all day. Eva sleeps quite a bit, except at night. She loves to be cuddled and close to people. She is pretty happy while she is awake except when it comes to eating. We call her little piglet because she snorts and wiggles and grunts and flails her arms around when she's trying to eat. Patience is not her strong point. It is amazing though how much of her personality we can already see.



Her birth was an incredible experience. Ok, it was totally crazy in my mind. But what first birth isn't? The day after my due date I was getting anxious so I got a massage from a friend. She worked all the pressure points that you are supposed to avoid during pregnancy. Walking out of her office I had 2 big contractions and then it was every 5 minutes from then on. Around 11pm we decided to go to the hospital to get checked out. I was sure I wasn't ready b/c I didn't think the contractions were hard enough yet. But I was 5 cm by that point and the nurses were sure she'd be there by morning. We had planned on a natural delivery as far as I wanted to handle it and the contractions were definitely bearable up to that point. My friend Kristin arrived a bit later and helped coach me through the contractions. As they got stronger, I also needed Devin's help. Then as they got even stronger, my mom also joined in. By the end all three had found their respective duties and we were all in the groove. I know it sounds crazy but with the three of them it was very bearable. There was only one time when I thought, "why am I doing this?" and by that point I knew I was so close to the end and that I could get through it. Anyway, the labor hadn't progressed much by about 4 am so they started the Pitocin. Finally at 8am we were ready to push and she was born at 8:50. That was the most exciting hour of my life. Everyone in the room was cheering and coaching me through it. Devin, Kristin and my mom had been so involved in the labor all night that I think it was just as much of a high for them as it was for me when she finally came out. The whole experience was truly amazing and I feel like superwoman. It was incredible to experience the birth process firsthand and learn how much the human body is capable of. Will I have a natural birth again? Ask me in a couple years...