1 Week later...

Well, life has definitely changed in the Keyser household!! It's amazing how such a tiny and new being can completely control every aspect of your life! Evie's been keeping us on our toes. She likes being swaddled and fed, but dislikes diaper changes and evenings. She seems to be nocturnal, which makes for very overtired parents. I can't believe she's already a week old! Too soon she'll be asking for the car.

Eric's been my rock through everything. He's so caring, patient and sweet with Evie and supports me when I'm feeling overwhelmed. He's an amazing daddy. I'm so lucky to have entered the adventure of parenthood with my best friend.

The cats are doing okay. I think Toby is going through middle kid syndrome. He's being extra affectionate, but acts up more. He was first to sniff Evie and isn't scared of her, which is remarkable for a notorious scaredy cat. Frankie's pretty aloof to the baby. He's checked her out, but doesn't find her interesting. Eric and I try to give extra pets and cuddles so they don't feel too neglected.

Introducing Evelyn Jean!

It was a dark and stormy night...no, seriously. In the middle of the night, in the middle of a tornado watch with streets flooded over our tires, Eric and I left for the hospital to have our little girl.

Let me start at the beginning: I went into labor on July 14th. I had contractions on and off beginning at 3:30am and they continued until noon when everything stopped. Very frustrating, since I wanted to get this show on the road! Around 4pm though, contractions began again and at 7:30pm, I began having timeable contractions. Yay! Well, they hurt like hell, but at least there was some progress. By July 15th at 1am, I was having contractions 5 minutes apart, 1 minute in length and had been for over an hour. Here's where the dark and storm night part begins.

After an hour and a half of driving to the hospital (it was terrible weather), we arrived with me 3 1/2 cm and asking for an epidural. Over an hour later came sweet relief. I'm pretty proud of myself for making it to 5cm without killing someone, but thank goodness for the drugs! Eric and I were able to get about 3 hours of sleep at this point. In that time period, I progressed from 5cm to 10cm! I woke up ready to push! I began pushing at 8am and at 9:26am my beautiful baby girl was born!

Evelyn Jean Keyser was 7lbs. 2oz. and 20in. long at birth. She has a ton of dark hair and dark blue eyes. She's the most adorable baby I've ever seen (a completely non-biased opinion, obviously).