Evelyn Edith Moore

Evie is here! 

She was born via C-section on Monday morning, November 18th, at 8:16 am.  I can't believe she is here, yet it already seems like she has always been here. 

This might be a super long post.  Forgive me. 

On the Monday prior to the C-section, so November 11th, I had an appointment with the specialist to check on Evie's size.  At that appointment, they predicted her weight to be 9 lbs 6 oz.  They also saw for the first time that I had an excess amount of amniotic fluid.  Because of the excess fluid, they told me that they would need to see me again on the 18th.  I was so frustrated because it just felt like there was always some new thing for them to check on.  But, anyway, I left that appointment with the information that she was 9'6, with a 10% margin of error. 

I then decided to reschedule my regular OB appointment to Wednesday so that I could meet with someone who would potentially do the C-section if that was the route we decided to go.  (The doctor that I had been meeting with was on crutches due to back surgery, and is not currently delivering babies).  So, I went to my appointment on Wednesday, with my main prayer being clarity.  I prayed lots about the decision, and I decided that God had provided these doctors, and I was going to trust their guidance.  At the appointment on Wednesday, the doctor strongly, strongly suggested that I go ahead with the C-section, and I counted that as answered prayer--the decision was made.  It turns out that the doctor I wanted was not going to be on call any this past week, so I chose another doctor, and the C-section was scheduled for Monday morning at 7:30.  I was so relieved that the decision was finally made.  To say that I had analyzed the decision to death is an understatement!!  For weeks I had been weighing the pros and cons, so to move forward with a decision was a huge weight lifted.

Now, obviously, there were advantages to that decision.  The big one being that I could plan everything.  My mom and my sister Sarah arrived Saturday, Scott was able to arrange for time off from work in advance, Scott's parents made plans to get to the hospital on Monday, we were able to enjoy a last fun night out as a family on Friday night, etc. etc.  I was trying to really look at the good things about the C-section.

My nerves were on overdrive by Sunday night of course, and I slept maybe 3 hours that night, despite going to bed very early.  We had to be at the hospital by 5:30 on Monday morning, and it felt a bit like Christmas morning, with some fear mixed in ;)  I mainly prayed for peace.  Or, begged for peace might be more accurate. 

leaving for the hospital.  That big baby still tucked into my tummy.  So glad she is out now!!

After we got checked in to the hospital, and the nurses began hooking me up to everything, I admit I did have a moment of overwhelming panic.  I kid you not, I thought I might just bolt from that bed, and take off running as fast as I could from that hospital (which would have been really slow considering my hugely pregnant self).  Then, the nurse accidentally "blew a vein" (proper terminology?), when trying to put in the iv, which then caused me to throw up, and then after the throwing up, I calmed down.  Blessing in disguise?  I think so.  I felt so much better after that.  Ha.  I promise I kept thinking if I am panicking now, how in the world will I make it through the C-section?  So the vein situation and the throwing up was a huge answer to prayer, and then I was super calm. Everything was pretty much on schedule, and by 8:00 the doctor was starting the surgery.  The insane calm stayed with me up until they actually got Evie out, which I was so thankful for, I mean, I couldn't stop saying thank you, Lord, over and over in my head. 

at the hospital, getting ready to check in.  The doors were locked, so we had to wait for about ten minutes outside.  a little crazy.

Scott getting ready for the operating room.  We were laughing so hard at his "get up."

And she's here!  After what felt like an eternity, I finally got to see her.  Scott got to see her before me, so he took some pictures and showed them to me before he finally got to bring her over to me.

not enjoying the C-section at this point ;)  They told Scott he could go with Evie to the recovery room, and as he was about to walk out, I grabbed his hand and said, "stay!!"

And we both made it to recovery, and I am so happy and relieved to be there! 

Things did take a turn after Evie was actually out and they were sewing me up.  I won't go into the details, but suffice it to say, I didn't like the C-section at that point, and I think I was having a minor panic attack or a reaction to the anesthesia or some combination of all of the above.  But, the thing is, it was all so quick.  I mean, a vaginal delivery can get a bit like that too--painful, panicky, etc. etc.--and then it's over, and it was so quick, and you have this baby.  This beautiful, miraculous baby.  So, in hindsight, the C-section was so not bad.  Really.  It was SO QUICK, and there I was in recovery by nine-something with my beautiful baby.  Plus, by then, ten minutes after surgery, the anesthesiologist had put something in my epidural that made me blissfully numb, and I was euphoric over my new baby.

It is the most blissful thing in the world to see that baby for the first time, isn't it.  I mean, I saw her in the operating room for a brief second, but to be there in that room with her, and the nurse handing her to me, and nursing her for the first time.  It is magic and a miracle and a gift, and I can't believe I got to do it for a third time.  Thank you, Lord, for undeserved gifts.  At one point in the operating room, I looked at Scott and said, "never again.  I will never do this again."  Then thirty minutes later with that brand new life in my arms, I looked at Scott and said, "I could do this a million times." 

I will stop there.  I want all the details recorded.  I do.  For me, for Evie, for the record of our little family.  So, I will be back with more. 

I will end by saying, I just adore little Evie.  Just like I adored Ada and John and still do.  But, the sweetness of those newborn sounds and faces and the way her little body just curls up.  It's too much. 

By the way, she was 9 lbs 2 oz, 20 inches long.  Precious girl.

Evie's Room

Tomorrow is my final ultrasound with the specialist.  I can't wait to see what she weighs--woo-hoo for being so near the end!  My body is over it!!!  38 weeks tomorrow.

We put the finishing touches on Evie's room this weekend.  I actually have two framed pictures of my grandmother to hang in her room, but my mom will bring those when she comes for the birth, so that will be the actual finishing touches.  I assume that the bedroom will be Evie's for at least two years before we switch her with John, so I've got time ;)

Here are a few pictures.

okay, in an ideal world, almost every drawer that you see in this room would have cute knobs.  I haven't gotten around to that.  Again, we'll call it a work in progress.  Plus, the chest of drawers, rocking chair, and cabinet that you will see could all use a fresh coat of paint/distressing, but it is what it is.  Maybe it will get done on the other side of very pregnant/newborn sleeplessness.  We'll see. 

Here we have the crib I found on craigslist, and her bedding that I ordered from amazon using birthday gift cards.  The chest of drawers started off with my parents and then went with me to college.  It's seen a lot of miles.  The wooden basket was a gift from my best friend, Amy, when I was pregnant with Ada.  Both lamps were purchased from Home Goods, my only real purchase in the room other than the crib. 

Oh, I did purchase the initial sticker hanging over her crib.  I "stalked" jane.com (do ya'll know about this daily deal site?  I love it!!) until I found what I was looking for.  So I got that for super cheap.

 The iron bed was my bed when I was little, and my parents graciously passed it on to us when we got married.  It has served as both Ada's bed and the master bed, but it will now serve as the guest bed.  I hope to one day purchase a similar iron bed before Ada and Evie are sharing a room, so that they can
each have one in a shared girl's room.  That is my "vision," anyway.  The bedding on that bed is straight from our old master bedroom.  As is the night stand.  The rocking chair came from Scott's parents, and we used it in Ada's nursery.  The curtains were hanging in the living room of our last
house.  All of the art work started out in Ada's nursery.  And the white cabinet came from Scott's parents, and it was originally in Ada's bedroom in our first house.

 
We did not paint the walls, because it is, after all, a rental, and we weren't ready to make that commitment.  I also tried to get a better picture of her bedding here, but basically it's white with gray trim, and the crib skirt has small gray polka dots.

 you can't really see it, but hanging above those drawers is a cute little framed print of Evie's name that I received at a shower this past weekend.

yay, yay, yay for diapers from the baby shower!!  I felt very loved and thankful this past weekend as friends gathered to celebrate Evie's birth.  And beside the rocking chair is another baby gift from a dear friend--a new gray and white diaper bag.  I can't help it, I really like gray and white together ;)

I am especially thankful for this room because when we found out that I was pregnant with Evie, we were prepared to squeeze her into the last rental house with no real space to call her own.  I mean, I wasn't even sure how she was going to fit into the master bedroom with us.  So, I was overwhelmed by God's provision last night when I sat in that rocking chair and looked around at her very own room. 

I was also taken back to sitting in that same rocking chair in our Vinings apartment as I waited for Ada's arrival.  It seems just yesterday that we were newlyweds, barely past our one year anniversary, waiting on Ada.  Now we are waiting on child number three.  I am sure it is hormones from the pregnancy, but I felt a bit emotional as I thought about the fact that it's been SIX YEARS since we were waiting on Ada. So, so, so cliché, but where did the time go?!!!  How did we get here?!!!

As tired as I feel, as stretched thin as my body feels, I also feel so thankful that I am doing this again.  Waiting to meet my child.  There is nothing like it.  The anticipation, the necessity to trust the Lord with every detail, the imagining what it will all be like.  One day, this season will be over, and I want to soak it in. 

And I'll post the pictures of my grandmother that will also go in the room.  As I already mentioned in a previous post, Evie's full name is Evelyn Edith after my maternal grandmother, Edith.  I asked my mom for a couple of pictures of my grandmother, Edith, as a young mom, and my mom went a step further and had the photographs framed.  They will be my absolute favorite part of the nursery, as they will remind me of the generations before--that there is purpose in what I am doing--it's not just about me, or even just about Evie, it's about generation after generation.  Lord, give me grace to do this thing you have called me to do!!  Give me eyes for the eternal!!

 Above, Grandmother with my mom and Mary Ann, my mom's sister, whom I am super close to.

And my grandmother with my mom. 

Quick Pregnancy Update

I am feeling super encouraged because today at my 37 week/almost 38 week doctor's appointment, my stomach had not grown any from last week, and the midwife spent a long time "pressing and poking" on my stomach to try to guess Evie's size.  She guesses 8ish lbs, so I am thinking the growth has slowed way down.  Just a few weeks ago, my stomach was measuring five weeks ahead, and today it was only 2 + weeks ahead, with no increase from last week.  I can handle anything less than 9 lbs, so maybe all that 10 lb talk is not going to happen.  Woo-hoo. 

I do have my final ultrasound on Monday, so we'll see, but I am feeling good about waiting this thing out and just going into labor with no more C-section talk.  Praise. the. Lord.

Lately



Okay, these pictures are not in order, but I am just going with it because I am doing good to get them on here in the first place.  And then I will feel caught up on what has been going on in the day-to-day of our life. 



 

Here we have a mixture of Halloween and a quick weekend trip to Scottsboro.  I was excited about Halloween this year because I thought we were finally in a trick-or-treating type of neighborhood.  Wrong.  We were the only trick-or-treaters in our neighborhood, and as a result, there was a very small handful of houses that were even handing out candy.  It's a perfect neighborhood for trick or treating, but I guess these days it's all about the fall festival.  I just didn't have a big fall festival in me.  As it was, walking around our neighborhood wasn't the easiest thing in the world.  But we trick-or-treated, and it was great to meet the handful of neighbors that we did meet.  Many of them knew exactly which house we were because they all said they had seen our children playing outside.  It's the hugest blessing in this house, my children play outside by themselves all the time, and I am so thankful.  John is eating better as a result (so much more exercise!!), and I think it helps them to go to bed easier.  I mean, it's just so good for kids to be outside, right?!!!

 

 

so far, our Halloween costumes consist of digging through the dress up box.  Well, I did purchase John's costume on clearance at Old Navy, but in a size too big, so that it can be worn for a couple of more years.  I like the friendliness of trick-or-treating, but I am just not going to go all out for Halloween.  I am sure at some point my kids will have stronger opinions about what they want to be, but so far they have never argued with my, "look in the dress up box," philosophy.  Ada did change her mind about seven times, but we finally settled on a ballerina/fairy?  Her main requests were a high bun and make up--done and done.

 John would not cooperate for pictures.  I kept saying, "don't you want to stand by Ada?"  he did not.

 the night before Halloween, we carved a pumpkin for the first time.  I called Scott on his way home from work and said, "guess what, Ada is counting on carving a pumpkin."  So, he did a quick run by Home Depot, and we fit in a pumpkin carving.  Our hearts weren't totally in it, but Ada loved it, as she tends to love these kinds of ritual type things, and I even roasted the pumpkin seeds, which were yummy.

 posing in scary poses (I guess?) with our half-hearted jack-o-lantern

 this is just a random picture that has already been on facebook and instagram, as have most of these, but it's such a snap shot of John's life right now.  He is so the little brother who just follows Ada's lead in their daily playing.  She wanted to play Wizard of Oz, and he was the lion, naturally ;), and if Ada was wearing high heels, shouldn't he?  Bless him.  He is such a little boy, but he is also such a little brother to a big sister.

 my one and only picture from our quick trip to Scottsboro.  My sister Kate was home from New York, and I never see her, so we did a quick weekend trip.  Here Ada and Abigail are having some strawberry milk before bed one night.  Plus, nothing beats north Alabama in the fall.  That drive home through Mentone, AL is so beautiful.  I always like to try to squeeze in an October trip home just so I can see the colors.  My part of Georgia just can't compete.

and finally, John in character.  There was a question on facebook about whether this was John having a meltdown or what.  This is actually John's monster face, which is hard to distinguish from John's meltdown face.  Both are a bit "monster-like." ;)  And there you go, October happenings.

Next big event--the newest member of our family coming very soon.  I am having a several strong contractions but nothing that will settle into any type of pattern, and this could easily go on for three weeks, so praying something happens soon.  Monday is the final ultrasound to check her size, and that means decision time.  Yikes.  Come on, Evie, just come on out. 

Pressing On in First Grade

I guess I haven't really said anything about first grade since our first day of school.  It seems it is high time for an update, as the school year is flying by, and first grade is important, after all.  It is certainly something to record in the books. 

It is amazing the difference I see in Ada at six years old versus five years old.  She will always be my first born, so she will always be the one I learn on.  Obviously, I will learn so much with all of my children, but so much is unknown with the first--the doubts are greater, the confidence less, there is no experience to back up anything.  So, when Ada, unlike her cousins and many children around her, didn't absolutely take to reading at age five, (And she didn't.  It was a struggle last year, as you all know.) I immediately assumed the worst.  I wrung my hands, searched for answers, analyzed to death, prayed, and then worried some more.  What was I doing wrong?  Would she never read?  on and on and on the thoughts went.  But I now know, that she just wasn't there yet.  I mean, I also know that she needed more in depth instruction, and I am thankful for Saxon Phonics, as it was a HUGE answer to prayer.  But I also firmly believe that she just wasn't ready.  At six, she is taking off with reading.  This is her year.  We still faithfully do our phonics lesson, and she even still struggles at times with the vowel sounds, but on we go.  And more and more and more she is reading books and words that we haven't even gone over yet.

 

(reading to me while I made lunch)

Please hear me say, though, that we still have very frustrating days.  Where I want to pull my hair out.  And scream.  And I lose all patience, and I apologize, and we keep on keeping on.  But if one day John or Evie is struggling with reading, I hope that I can take a breath and know that we will get there.  And worrying won't get us there faster. 

We are also doing Saxon first grade math, which at this point in the year is very, very easy, and is more of a kindergarten level than first grade, I think.  Or so I hear from other moms.  I suspect it will get tougher as we get farther in the book.  Right now it is very nice because we never have to struggle our way through the math lesson.  We breeze through, get it done, and move on.  That is a huge blessing during these final days of this pregnancy.  Easy is a welcome thing!

We are still finding our stride when it comes to getting our CC review done.  Some weeks we are on it.  As I get larger and more uncomfortable, the weeks where we struggle to get it done definitely outweigh the weeks where we get it done.  The good news is that age six is also helping us with this.  Ada is now in her third year of CC, and memorization is becoming more second nature to her.  Even though this is a year of pregnancy and soon new born, she is still committing that timeline song to memory, which in itself is a huge accomplishment.  If that is all the history she got this year, well it would be more than I had in all of my school years.  Even little John is beginning to sing along with the timeline.  This is also her third year of the same math facts, so those are becoming more second nature.  The point, it's true, if I trust the "system" of CC, it really does work, even when I am feeling like a slacker mom.  I think our latin and English facts are suffering the most, I am ashamed to say, but the good news is, we have the same latin facts next semester, so maybe we can catch up then.  We are also behind in our bible memory work, but we have finally gotten into a good habit of starting each school day with bible verse and history sentence copy work.  So, though we are behind on the bible verse, we finally have a system, and I think we can catch up before second semester begins. 

*I started this a week or so ago, and now I am finally back to try to get something posted.  I have actually declared this week a holiday from school for us as I tackle the list of things that must be done before Evie arrives.  The countdown is on as we are looking at a little over two weeks at the most.  Luckily, we still have CC to listen to in the car, so we are reviewing even on our "holiday," and Ada continues to take off with her reading, so she eagerly reads to me each day, which is really the most important thing for us to not slack off on.  I am prepared to go way into the summer this year in order to finish, as it is the year of a new baby, after all.

Night With Ada

The other day, Ada reminded me that way back during first trimester, when I was barely functioning because I felt so sick all the time, I promised her that when I felt better, we would have a special day together.

The problem was, though I certainly feel better than I did back then, I never had a moment this pregnancy where I felt good, so we kept waiting...and now we are two plus weeks away from the big day.

It was time to just bite the bullet and have a day with Ada.  (which actually turned into evening with Ada instead of day).

It was so cute, because naive me was picturing us running to Target together because I had to run some errands, and we would leave John at home with Scott.  However, when Ada walked into my room dressed in one of her church dresses, I realized that she had a different vision for this night.  I did manage to tone down her outfit, but she still insisted that we "eat somewhere fancy, not McDonalds or Burger King or anything," and she specifically wanted me to say, "table for two, please."  She way outdressed me that night.  I am to the point of putting on whatever will still cover my stomach.  I am horrified that my stomach will be showing in public and I not know it.  My options are very limited.  So, I had on my favorite yoga pants and flip flops, and Ada had on a (less fancy) church outfit. 

It really did end up being such a special night.  We ended up at a Mexican restaurant, and she talked non-stop.  It so nice to be able to focus just on her, and she was on her best behavior because she was feeling so grown up.  We followed dinner with a trip to Target and finally a run through the Starbucks drive through.  I was so exhausted at that point, but it was oh so worth it.  As we were finally headed home she said, "this night was not what I expected, it was even better than what I expected."  It broke my heart a little bit because it was so clear that I need to do things like that more often.  Who knew it would mean so much to her.  My precious first born. 

A few pictures, which John insisted on being a part of.  I am so very pregnant, but why refuse to be in pictures because this is how we will remember this time.  I really am that big, and my children really don't care if I am huge, so I take the pictures anyway, to remember these last days before we add another member to this family.