Section 1: Labor & Delivery

Say Hello to the newest Stephenson and the first of the next generation on the whole Evans side Sarah Ayanna Stephenson! She was Born Dec. 22, 2010 was 20in long and weighted 8lb 9 oz at 6:08 pm.

It has been a will so I have some catching up to do which may take a couple of post. Where to start I think the beginning is the best.

Well as we know December rolled around and I was ready to pop and see our beautiful baby girl. So we went to our appointments during the first half I was only 1 cm dilated for two weeks needless to say that was not very exciting. The next week rolls along and I am what I call a fake 2 meaning I was a tight 2. So My doctor had talked about inducing me on the 22nd the two weeks before and so she wanted me to come in on the 20th for are last check up. And of course at the visit she told me I was a fake 2 still so she asked me if I would like to wait and have a full natural labor or would I like to be induced. Well that point I was ready so we said induced so she told us to come in tomorrow at 8:00 pm and we would get things going.

After hearing that I was so excited and surprised because it was one day soon than I thought it would be but nun the less we were excited. So Peter and I went home and only my grandmother was there and so we told her and talked with her for a while about babies and things and as the others came home we told them we were going in the next day they all got very excited and just couldn't stop talking about it. Since we knew when things were going to happen we got everything together and packed so we would be ready.

At that time it all felt so surreal to me that I was going to see to hold my baby for the first time in a matter of days, I just could not believe how fast it was happening. So the 21st rolls along and I am excited and really nervous my heart was racing and the time just seemed to just slip away from me. Then about 6 pm I get a phone call from the hospital telling me that they need me to come in at 10 rather than 8 because there were no beds. Of course I agreed and that was that I was able to calm down and then for some reason we went out side and it was a full moon. No wonder there were no beds. So after discovering this we went inside and watched a movie with my family and about 10 min. til the end we had to get ready and so we grabbed our things and left. We had to make a quick stop to get something for me and I told my mother this but sure enough as we are getting to the hospital we see my dad and grandparents vehicles going the opposite way. So naturally I call my mom and as we are parking they had already gone inside and was about to ask which room I was in when she picked up. Apparently everyone else went back home and was going to come back later and had just dropped off my mom and grandmother.

After calling and catching up with those two we went back and got in our room. They told us that they would get us started at about midnight so I just laid there and talked with Peter and some of my family until midnight. It wasn't for a while after they gave me the meds that I really felt the contraction. Once I did I had no sense of time because they gave me a drug to help me sleep and that put me in a weird state of half awake and half sleep. I would have flash dreams were I was awake and listening to Peter and my mom talk and then I would be dreaming and try to talk to them. I would then wake up and they would be asking me what? But before to long I was 3cm and was asking for the epidural because I was not getting any real rest. I was hoping I could go without it but its ok I gained a new friend that day. I love the epidural but the lady had to poke me about four times because she said I had a bunch of junk I am not sure what she means by that because she said I had good spacing and everything else but lots of junk?

Apparently after I got the epidural I was out before the laid me on my back. So a few hours roll by and I missed some things because so the sleeping pill they gave me but I do remember my water breaking. I remember I could only see black so my eyes must have been close but next thing I knew I was laying in a huge puddle. In my dream like state it felt about 5in deep and and then they moved it and I was totally dry. I must have been really out of it to miss the details of that and when they checked me at 5cm because I have no memory of that. All I know was I woke up after a long while and they were giving me oxygen.

Pure oxygen you would think that it would smell ok or that you wouldn't smell it at all. It has a weird cool smell and I did not like it it just smelt to funny so I would take if off and sometimes put it back on. Every time I had it off for more than 5 minutes that nurse would come in and catch me.

But back to the main story so after a while the nurse comes in and says oh my gosh oh my gosh you are 9cm and then tells us she is going to call the Doctor. About 5 minutes after she left I start to feel something new. It was hard to tell because of my epidural but I thought I needed to push so I tell Peter to call the nurse and let her know. She comes back and tells me I am a 10+ and we can start pushing. So she leaves and we start pushing until the doctor comes and then I had a whole support team telling me that was a wimpy push, push harder. At one point peter forgot to push back on my leg and I told him hey you need to push back on my leg with a tone I guess because my doctor said I know they mean business when they start to talk like that. So after what I think was two hours of pushing I feel her head and then her body leave me.

At first I didn't hear or see anything because she had me covered then I hear her cry and see that Peter is cutting the umbilical cord and plop there she was on my tummy. She had her eyes wide open crying and looking at me with no surprise on my part a full head of hair. She was so beautiful. They then got her cleaned and weighed her and when they called it out we were all surprised even my Doctor said what. No one on my side have had a baby more than 6 lbs. All that mattered to me was that she was healthy.

A Quick Update

November 30th we had an appointment with our doctor. Everything is looking good, blood pressure was a little high but not bad I guess because they didn't seem worried. After my doctor was done doing her thing she tells us I am 1 cm dilated and we are full term. So she could come any day now I hope it is sooner rather than later but I bet it will be some time next week I think but we will see. I will need to start walking more and I know my mother will be all over that. Everyone here is getting really excited and can't wait to meet her. I am really excited too but am also getting more concerned with the thought of will I be a good mother to her but I know everything will be fine and I will do the best that I can. After all that is all I can do.

Cute Little Baby Sarah

Today we had a Doctors appointment and a 3D sonogram. The Doctor did the normal things she says we are doing good heart is sounding great (148). Then said we will start meeting every two weeks so our next appointment will be Nov. 3.
Once we were done we waited for our ultrasound appointment. About 30 min later we were in the room and we saw our beautiful baby girl again. First she did some measurements and then she tried to get a view of her face and we got a little peek.




And then she opened her little eyes.




After she had finished the measurements she wiped off my belly and then at some point I told her that we were here for our 3D sonogram. Once I said that she turned around and said "what". You see she assumed that we were doing a growth check sonogram rather than the 3D. So she said that we could try to do a 3D one but she was not sure because it was hard to really see her face and she was not in the best position and she might be to big. So I was not to sure what to do because on one hand I could get my money back and the other we could try and see what we could get. Luckily the lady said we can try and see what we get and if it was not very good we could get our money back so that sounded perfect to me so we went for it an this is what we got.




One great view of her beautiful face.






Peter and I thought this one looked so beautiful.




She tried to cover her face with her arm again the ultrasound lady was not going to have any of that so she really shook and rubbed my belly to get her to move she did but it was not so pleasant.



Look at those cute little fingers I just love that little hand!



After all that she got tired. She is so cute!






We are so happy and excited we can't wait to see her in person!
Our beautiful baby girl Sarah!
3lb 14oz

The Name

Peter and I have decided to name our baby girl
"Sarah Ayanna Stephenson".
We are naming her after her Ant Sarah which means princess and get this Ayanna means Beautiful Blossom in wouldn't you know it African. We thought it sounded right and flowed well with her whole name. So we have a beautiful princess blossom coming this December.

It's a baby girl!

Well this morning I woke up and was really excited because we were going to find out what our baby is. I was just walking around the house trying to calm down because I felt like I was about to jump out of my skin waiting for Peter to get home so we could go. Once he was home he changed really quick and we were off. We get there maybe five minutes early do the whole sign in thing and then sit. About two to three minutes later they call us in to do our sonogram.
We get in there sit down and get ready and we start to hear a squeaky sounds turns out it was a grasshopper. Don't ask me how a grasshopper makes it's way to the third floor and in the farthest room back because I don't. Well anyways she gets us all set up and then there is baby!




An like last time baby was moving around like crazy swinging those arms and moving that head and legs it was cute! So the nurse takes all the measurements and she does he legs and I am looking and I think to my self it looks like a girl but the nurse didn't say anything and just moves on taking pictures and stuff. Then she says lets find out what your baby is and she looks at it for a while and yes I was right she was a girl!



We were really excited! An plus we secretly knew ok Peter really secretly knew it was girl because the name just came together so fast all we did was look once and we had it and the boy's name just wasn't coming together and it was easier to find the things we wanted for a girl.
Yes, we do have a full name but we are not saying until she is here.




Here is a full body picture of our little girl. It was funny the last thing we tried to do was get a picture of her face and she was being a girl and did not want to do it she would tuck her chin in, turn her head, she even put her arms in front of her face. Then after all that she lets us see it for a second here or there and then puts her face in a spot where we can see and goes to sleep. We tried to wake her up but she was out nothing we did would even bother her. So we gave up and said maybe next time.




This is her with her head way down in there.



One last picture just for fun and just becase she looks so sleepy and cute!

Second Appointment

Ok this time around Peter and I get there early and we are the first ones there. They take us back and we sit for a good 25 minutes. When she comes in Doc. Walsh smiles and says all the test came back good and we should be able to hear the baby. That was great news she then had me sit on the chair and lay back. So once she puts the heartbeat ultrasound thing on me she moves it around a bit and says ok that is you. So she moves it some more and says "that's you" "that's you" and she does this for a while and I started to get a little worried. I was thinking is my baby dead did it die and I say out loud "baby are you hiding in there?" hoping that it was. An sure enough she moves it all the way to my right side and there it is. It sounded soft but steady to me and she looks at me and says "that is baby" It was such a relief to hear that little heart beating. The doctor said it was 150 and sounding good and then that was it. I asked a few questions and we were on our way.

I can feel the baby move now it is a little painful I think because I must be a little sore from my body stretching on the inside. The first time I really felt the baby move was at wok the day I had my first appointment. I was sitting there at my desk and I feel three figures or toes lightly brush me and then a second or two later I feel it again. I sit there am just thinking what was that was that the baby? It must have been I turn around and tell one of the ladies and she thought so too. When it happened I felt very peaceful bushed me and I love thinking about it it was just so sweet.

Unlike the first time today was way different. Today at work there was a moment where I learned something about the baby. Right before I had my learning experience I was sitting at my desk with my belly feeling hot and uncomfortable so I need to use the restroom like a lot of pregnant women do. So I wash my hands and to cool my belly down I dry my hands and then put my cold hand on my belly. Then the second I put my hand on my belly the baby freaks out and starts to move like crazy. It was probably was thinking what it that I don't like that to cold. I think I might have startled my baby. Well what I have learned is that my baby is definitely like Peter and is always warm and that it is a Texan that does not like the cold lol. I love learning new things about our baby!

First Appointment

I had my first appointment yesterday and I must say Dr. Walsh is great I really like her and how she does things. (Jumping back to the beginning) of course we start off just trying to get to her office and like always as things must happen we can't find it, so we called and finally made it to her office a little late. Once we were called in they talked to us about what we were going to do you know the usual stuff some blood work and then a sonogram. After we get through the other stuff we go in for our sonogram. Once the Lady gets everything ready we see our baby for the first time.


It was so cute this was it's first picture! Before she took the pictures the little baby was in the middle sitting there and then it started to wiggle around! It was kicking it's legs and moving it's little arms I loved it. It looked like how babies move when they are happy laying on their backs. It was the cutest thing Peter and I have ever seen. It did this for a few minutes and then whoosh it moved to the spot it is at in the picture. I think it mush have been thinking "wo what is that get it way" or "ooo look mommy and daddy can see me" I hope it was that one!


While we were still looking at the baby I noticed something . . . it has Peter's jaw I think, I thought it was funny.


This last picture is my favorite if you look very close you can see some of it's little fingers so cute! Peter and I are really happy and so excited for our little baby Due Dec. 15, 2010!