When our Family of 4 became a Family of 5

Evelyn Olivia Alford

February 1, 2016

@7:45 am

9 pounds 10.5 ounces

22 inches long

Well, February 1st, finally came, but it came in a way that we had not planned. Since my birthday is February 1, we decided to go out to dinner the night before my scheduled c-section.  We went to one of my favorite places, The Cheesecake Factory.  I had begun having what I thought were Braxton Hicks contractions, but they were definitely different, too.  There were many I couldn't talk through or walk through. We decided to just try to enjoy our last date night for a while.  During dinner, the contractions continued and I was starting to wonder whether there was something more going on.  

We went home after dinner and finished up packing our bags because we had to be at the hospital at 5:15 the next morning.  By this time, I felt like these "contractions" had waned and so we went on with our evening and decided to try and get some sleep.  I had a few contractions, but nothing like they were.  Around midnight, I couldn't sleep, and neither could Curtis.  We watched Tommy Boy.  Suddenly, the contractions came back and they were unbearable.  We called triage and they had me come on in.  This was around 3:00 am.  

Once at the hospital, they got me hooked up to a monitor and gave me some medicine to take the edge off.  It didn't take away the pain of the contractions.  I was having contractions every 2 minutes and was only a fingertip dilated. They weren't worried about me feeling the need to push because my body wasn't ready, but the contractions I was having were like ones you would be having close to pushing.  I really wanted to hold off until my scheduled time because I wanted Dr. Wicker to deliver Evie.  It was several hours of excruciating pain and I wanted to die, but we did make it until 7:00.  

Once in the operating room, they administered my spinal tap.  It took the anesthesiologist about 12 times to get me numb.  Once numb, everything went as planned, contractions were gone, and at 7:45, she was here.  

She cried and weighed a lot and, was yet, another beautiful and healthy little girl.