Our Adventure Begins

We wanted to start this blog to share our experiences and memorable moments with our friends and family. What a way to begin; with our newest edition kicking it off! Evelyn Mae Fortner was born July 8th, 2008 at 9:18am, unexpectedly early.
I was only 36 weeks and 2 days pregnant, and had almost 4 weeks to my due date. On Monday, July 7th, Josh and I visited my OB to have yet another ultra sound and to discuss scheduling a c-section delivery. We decided that day that due to my amniotic fluid levels being low, the possibility of having a heart shaped uterus, and the baby being breech, that the safest delivery for our baby would be a c-section. So we scheduled it for Tuesday, 7/22/08, 2 weeks from that Tuesday. So we began preparing ourselves for the reality that we would be having a baby in 2 weeks rather than in 4 weeks.

That night, my normal contractions began becoming consistent and we decided to time them and realized that they were exactly 10 minutes apart. We called the doctor and decided at 7:00pm to go straight to 'Labor and Delivery' at Banner Baywood, where they monitored me closely. We had no bags packed and nothing ready for a hospital stay so we grabbed our cameras and not much more. My contractions started to become even closer together and more intense. They gave me IV fluids to see if the contractions were linked to being dehydrated. The nurse also told me that I wasn't allowed to have anything to eat or drink, just in case. After 3 hours of monitoring, my contractions began to subside and they sent us home at 10:30pm. As soon as we left, we grabbed some Wendy's (it wasn't as good as we thought it would be), and then went to bed. At about 1:15am I woke up for my regular trip to the bathroom, and noticed that I was bleeding. I yelled to Josh, "We have to go to the hospital, I'm bleeding," (which totally freaked him out). We grabbed as much as we could again, and headed to labor and delivery. In the car we called the doctor and she said to go get checked again. Once we got to the hospital, they confirmed that my contractions were now 2 minutes apart, as they became more and more painful. The nurse called the doctor who told her to give me a shot to help slow down my contractions, hoping it would at least hold me off until morning. The nurse instructed me again not to eat or drink anything, in case they needed to do a c-section. That's when she first told us that we would most likely be having this baby that morning.

My contractions began intensifying despite having multiple shots of meds to slow them down. By early morning I was in pre-term labor and attempting to use the breathing techniques that I had never learned, because my labor class was a week away! The doctor later confirmed with the nurse that we would in fact be having the baby at 8:30am via c-section! We went from trying to comprehend having a baby in 2 weeks, to having to prepare for one in the next 5 hours! Both of our moms came, followed by Josh's brother, sister, sister in law, and my dad. Unfortunately, my sister was out of town. It was pretty crazy having 2 nurses, Josh and I, and about 4 family members in the same triage room at the same time while having labor contractions, medicine running through me that made me feel anxious, and being hooked up to about 20 different contraptions, all at the same time! I was ready to get this baby out! Then a nurse came in to tell us the pleasing news that the doctor would be in a half an hour late, I was beyond ready at this point! Once the doctor arrived everything happened so fast that we felt overwhelmed. As they were preparing me for surgery, Josh had to wait in the hall. He was very nervous and emotional. He said that he has never prayed so earnestly.

Once they were ready, Josh was allowed to enter the operating room and sit by my head. It seemed like only seconds before they told us that the baby was coming out and for Josh to get ready.Thankfully, he got it all on video tape. I immediately heard the baby cry, which was a huge sigh of relief. Josh's first words when he saw her were, "She's so small."

They took her to clean her up and Josh was able to trim the umbilical cord. They wrapped her up and gave her to Josh, who carried her to me. I was having such a hard time seeing her because of the way I was laying and said over and over, "I can't see her!" We had one of the doctors take our very first family photo right there! After just a couple of minutes, Josh was telling the nurse to please take the baby to the nursery. I know he was excited to hold her but was anxious to make sure everything was ok.

Josh went with her into the nursery, where they put her under a heat lamp, and took her measurements. The nurse asked Josh what her name was and he told her Evelyn.

Evelyn Mae was 5lbs 2oz, 17in long and was born at 9:18am on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008. We love her with all of our hearts and are so thankful that she was born healthy and that everything went well with my surgery. We thank God for the grace that he has shown us in blessing us by making us stewards of our sweet little daughter. We are looking forward to raising her according to God's word, as we sit at home, as we walk along the road, as we lie down and as we get up. Praise God for his goodness, because all good things come from Him who is good!

Click below to see all photos
http://photobucket.com/fortnerfamily