Everly June is One!

I can't believe how the time has flown by. I know it's cliche, but it really does seem like just yesterday that we were impatiently waiting for our sweet girl to come. Thank goodness, Peter took notes down about the birth because I have already forgotten some of the details and I blame mommy-brain!

*By the way, sorry for the picture overload!

Here I am at 38 weeks. My due date was August 24th.

Skip to the pictures below if you want to avoid the details of the birth...

I was tired and the heat was not fun. My mom and Tibi were at our house, waiting for me to have the baby so they could stay and help, but my mom had to be back in Nevada to start teaching seminary in a short few days. I had already gone in and been sent home due to a false alarm a few days before going into real labor.  On Tuesday, August 21st, I started having contractions in the evening at 8:45. They soon got to about 3-4 minutes apart. When the pains got to 1-2 minutes apart, we decided to go in to the hospital. We woke up my mom to tell her we were going in.

We got to the hospital at about 11 pm. The pains were coming on really strong and I was a little worried about getting my epidural in time. I had to stop and breathe a few times as I got checked in. They took me back into triage and hooked me up pretty quickly. The nurse looked at my contractions on the monitor and checked my cervix. I was already dilated to a 7. She told me that she was going to be right back to wheel me into delivery. As she left the room, I heard her say to her co-workers, "She's a keeper!" I told the nurse I wanted an epidural and was worried about time, but she reassured me that I had time to get one as long as the anesthesiologist could get there soon. He did, and we joked about how everyone must be happy to see him when he comes into the room, unless the anesthesia doesn't work. I got my epidural and he left. I could feel is sort of start to work. In the past, I have always felt the numbness start in my feet and tummy and kind of meet in the middle from there. I could never so much as wiggle my toes. This time I felt the edge taken off high in my tummy, but my pelvic area and legs and feet were not numb at all. I could move my legs and wiggle my toes. I knew it hadn't worked right.

I was grateful that some of the edge was gone, but the contractions were getting really hard and I was having a hard tome breathing. A nurse came over and reminded me how to breathe, which helped. Then I started to feel a ton of pressure. The nurse moved me to my side to see if it would help me deal with the pain and pressure better while we waited for the doctor to get there. It only made my blood pressure drop and the baby's heartbeat slow down, so she moved me to my other side, which also didn't help. Right then, I was feeling the need to push. I couldn't believe how strong the feeling to push was.

The doctor still was not there and I was really beside myself. I was clinging to the side of the bed and I kept saying, "I can't not push! I can't not push!" The nurse was running around, probably thinking that she was going to be delivering my baby that night! I was shaking and I went through about 5 contractions where I wanted to push really badly. Finally, the door opened, and I saw a pair of shoes behind the curtain and I knew my doctor was there and that I would be alright! Apparently, he had run a red light to get there, and thank goodness he did!

I couldn't believe how quickly the nurses got him ready. Within what seemed like seconds, he was down there, dressed, and ready to go. He said the baby was crowning, and to go ahead and push. The head came out and he told me to wait to push again. Some fluid came out and then I gave another small push and one of the shoulders and everything else came out and she was here! She was beautiful! She didn't make a peep and I was worried that something was wrong, and I even asked the doctor if she was okay. He said she was fine and she started to cry. He laid her on me and I got to meet her for the first time. She was so tiny.

She came at 12:59 am on Wednesday, August 22nd. I was surprised that as soon as she came out, the labor pains had totally stopped. Having never felt the actual birth before, I was pretty surprised by that. In the long run, I was really glad that the epidural hadn't worked. It was amazing to feel my daughter being born. It was really painful and stressful (mostly because my doctor was late), but it felt great. My doctor did a great job and was so sweet to me.

Poor baby girl didn't have a name. We were trying to decide between two. We talked about it a little bit over the course of the day and by around 3 pm decided to name her Everly June Shirley. The kids thought we had chosen Tess and told some of their teachers at school that their new sister, Tess, was born that morning! It was pretty funny having to explain her real name to them later. Everly proved to be a great breast feeder. She also was pretty mellow and didn't cry too much. And she was ADORABLE! She had blue eyes and a little bit of light brown hair- my first brunette! (She ended up losing it all and going blonde, but she started out brunette!)

My mom brought the kids by that afternoon. She took them out a little early. They had had picture day that day. They were so excited to see the baby! I had to explain what her name was though.

 Right after she got home.

 Everly has always been a great baby. She rarely cried just for the sake of crying; she only really cries when she's hungry or sleepy. She was such a cuddler as a young baby. When she started learning to get around by herself, she kind of grew out of that, but we used to take the best morning naps together! She is a total sweetheart and we love her so much.

Today Everly had her 1-year appointment and she was 19.3 pounds. She was about 65% for height, 25% for weight, and about 30% for head circumference. She still seems like such a little bitty thing and it's probably mostly because of all the things she can already do. She has been my most advanced kid with milestones. She held her own bottle at 3 months, rolled over at 3 months, sat alone at 5 months, crawled at 6 months, pulled up on furniture and cruised at 8 months, said her first real word at 9 months (Na-na, which means food), walked at 10.5 months, went up the stairs at 11 months, and just learned to go down the stairs backwards a couple of weeks ago! This little angel keeps me on my toes, and is the best companion while the other kids are at school. I just love spending my days with her.

On Everly's birthday, we opened presents as a family and had some cupcakes. Everly devoured hers in record time! She loved it! She got some fun toys from her grandparents and from our family.

We had a little family get together on Sunday with her other grandparents and cousins. She had her very own little cake to smash up. She knew just what to do! She started eating it like a dog- face first! She loved the cake and it was so funny to watch her with it.

We are so blessed to have such a sweet and good little girl in our home. The year has gone by too quickly for me and I have tried my best to hold onto each day I have with this little girl.