Princess Evelyn Merie Turnell Has Arrived!!

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made

~ Psalm 139:14 from NKJV

Another Princess is here!! That's right! My baby sister was born on February 22nd, 2013 at 7:52am  at Baylor Frisco. She was 6 pounds 8.8 ounces, 19 inches long, and scored really well on her APGAR scores (8/9). I am so excited to introduce her to all of our wonderful friends and family!!

"A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world."~ John 16:21 from NIV

The Chain of Events:
Evelyn came early! She was expected to arrive on February 27th, however, the Dr decided based on two weeks of dropping fluid levels, that it would be best to bring Evie safely into the world early. On Thursday, February 21st, Mommy received a phone call from the Dr asking if she could come in for a fluid check (the Dr had a feeling the levels were low), so Mommy packed me up and drove to the Dr's office late that afternoon. Her levels were low and Evie wasn't gaining as much weight as the Dr would have liked to see, so the Dr told us to call Daddy to meet us at home so they could get a sitter for me and grab their hospital bags.
Daddy high tailed it home from work and Grandma Jennie and Grandpa Jim-Jim met us at home so they could watch me.
Mommy and Daddy got to the hospital around 7:30pm and the nurse started Mommy on her IV, fetal monitor, and Cirvidil, which is a cervix ripener. Mommy did not like all of the cramping Cirvidil caused and it made it very difficult to sleep. Knowing she wanted to have a "natural birth" and knowing how exhausting it would be, she asked the nurse for some pain meds to help with the cramping and help her rest before they started the Pitocin the next morning. At 5:15am, the nurse removed the Cirvidil and measured Mommy's cervix at 3cm and at 5:45am, the nurse "plugged in" the Pitocin (which started contractions). Around 7:00am, Mommy started feeling pretty strong contractions, but she still felt comfortable enough to update everyone via Facebook on Evie's arrival status. Around 7:20am, Mommy started timing her contractions and they were hitting her every 45 seconds and lasting about a minute each. Mommy said she did not remember the Pitocin acting this quicly or things hurting this bad when she had Pitocin with me. Around 7:30am, Mommy was getting very angry with Daddy and demanded an epidural. When the nurse came in to get Mommy's verbal request, Mommy felt a sudden urge to push! The nurse looked at her like she was insane and said, ok well, let's check to see how dilated you are. Mommy looked at Daddy and said, "Her head is there, she's coming out!" So Daddy took a peek (he's a Firefighter, so he felt it was his job) and sure enough Evie was crowning, so he told the nurse that before she could even get gloves on. Everything was a whirl-wind from that point forward. The nurse told Mommy to stop pushing (which she wasn't even doing, her body knew what it was doing!) and turn to her side and "blow out candles." That lasted about 5 minutes before Mommy told them Evelyn was coming out regardless. The on duty Dr hadn't even made it in the room and nurses were coming in, running around, trying to get ready for Evie to arrive. Then, Evie arrived at 7:52am. She had the umbilical cord wrapped around her neck, but she squirmed through and no harm was done. The nurse delivered her, the Dr on duty didn't make it in until after Evelyn was already being measured and cleaned up and Mommy's Dr didn't arrive until after Mommy and Evie started kangaroo (skin-to-skin) time. Then Daddy held her and fell in love, too!
 

Daddy

Shortly after Mommy and Daddy spend some one-on-one time with Evie, Grandma Jennie and Grandpa Jim-Jim, and I came in to meet my new baby sister. Then Cici and Pawpaw came in to meet me for the first time. A couple days later Nanny, "Ant " Cheryle, Uncle Dalton, RB, Cousin Erin, Uncle Nathan, and Grandma(?) Jodi came in to meet me, too!

Cici

RB

Grandma Jennie

Grandpa Jim-Jim

Paw-paw

Cousin Erin

Uncle Nathan (and me, the Big Sis, playing in a box)

Children are a gift from the Lord; they are a reward from him.
~ Psalm 127:3 from NLT

Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father
~ James 1:17 from NLT

 
The first couple of weeks were pretty rough on me - Evelyn just won't get down and play with me! Mommy and Daddy promise she will soon, though. Evelyn and Mommy are doing better with the feeding process than Mommy and I did. Evelyn doesn't spit up like I did and she doesn't nurse like a barracuda like Mommy says I did. Mommy says she can already see significant differences between my and Evie's personalities. Where I was more intense as a baby, Evie seems to be more care-free. Evie is doing pretty good at the whole sleeping thing for a breast-fed baby. She and Mommy usually get to bed by midnight at the latest, wake up to eat at 4:30am and again at 6:30am. Sometimes Evie has cluster feeding moments, but since Mommy is pumping, she is able to feed her with bottles so she knows she's getting enough to eat and Evie seems to do better sleeping. Daddy has been a huge help, too since he was off work for two weeks for "Daddy Leave" and his work schedule is a lot better than when I was born! Also wanted to mention Mommy and Daddy's Bible study class, Foundations... they were such a huge blessing to us by bybringing us meals!

Evie had her 2-week screening last week, which was a family affair. It went pretty well, Evie only cried a little, I told her to wait until the next visit when she'll get those shots! Ouch!

From the fullness of his grace we have all received one blessing after another.
~ John 1:16 from NIV   

Evie is 3 weeks old on Friday, and is eating about 3 to 4 ounces per meal. She also lost her umbilical cord at the beginning of her second week. She is getting more alert, looking around and checking out the world around her. She grins at Mommy sometimes, too; Mommy said she thought she saw dimples on her cheeks!

 

*Most of the photographs featured were taken by: Ashley Robin Photography