At this hour, one year ago...

I woke with contractions that were stronger than the ones I had felt earlier that morning. Those contractions had mysteriously stopped. These contractions were much stronger...

I couldn't sleep because lying down made them hurt even worse, but they were more bearble if I stood, so I tried to get some sleep by standing and leaning over on the bed.

Finally, at 3 am, I gave up and went to watch TV.

From 4 to 5 am I timed them, they averaged 5 mins apart.

At 5 am I called Josh (who was working his way back into town on a train coming from Sparks, NV) and he said, "I'm pulling in to Roseville right now" and BAM, my contractions really started to intensify.

I went and woke up my mom and got in their hot tub (I was at their home because my hubby was gone and I didn't want to be alone). I labored in the hot tub for an hour or so before I went to take a shower.

While I was in the shower my mom heard me moaning with each contraction and realized that I was, indeed, in labor and she pressured me to go to the hospital. She banged on the door- "Brooke, you'd better hurry up!" I insisted on blow drying my hair first but I didn't put on makeup because I wanted to look pitful so they would admit me!

At 7 am we arrived at the hospital and checked in. The contractions were intense and I was so scared that they were going to tell me I wasn't really in labor, because if this wasn't labor, I wasn't sure I could handle it!

The nurse checked me and I was 4 cm dialated and 100% effaced! My mom and I looked at one another in sheer happiness and amazement. My mom called my hubby (who had been up about 36 hours at this point) and told him to get himself down to the hospital, we were having a baby today!

My birth experience was beautiful, I actually look back on it with fondness. Once my epidural was administered I was happy and joking around with my family. I asked my MIL at the last second to stay in the room and she cried with happiness. I was glad I asked her, it was just perfect. In the room was my mom, my dad, my MIL and my hubby. My mom and hubby held my legs while I labored. My sister was in Southern California and on a flight home. My whole family made fun of how polite I was during the whole experience, I said "Please" and "thank you" to all of the nurses and the doctors!

At 10:30 AM I started pushing. At noon my nurse called my doctor and told her she had better get there. At 12:10 I was begging the nurse to deliever my baby herself And at 12:15 my doctor arrived and I began to really really push. When Evie's head came out she started crying and my doctor said to her, "Silly baby, you aren't even born all the way yet!" I announced (mid push), "Her name is Evelyn, Evelyn Paige, we are going to call her 'Evie'". At 12:22 my daring, little, precious baby was placed in my arms.

My sister arrived at 12:30, missing her birth by 8 short minutes. But she held my hand while I got stitched up and later told me that the experience of being there afterwards was the best birth control she could think of.

They took Evie away shortly after she was born, she had to be monitored for her breathing in the nursery. I had visitor after visitor, numerous people (family, friends, church family) came to see our baby girl and welcome her into the world. They all saw her first bath in the nursery (my sister said I would've freaked out if I saw how hard they scrubbed her ) and they re-arranged the babies in the nursery so that Evie could be next to the window, because she had so many people peering in to see her.

Thank you for letting me share a bit of my special memories of that time with you. When I drive by the hospital I still get the warmest feeling, being introduced to my daughter was the most amazing thing that ever happend to me.

Happy 1st Birthday little miss Evie. We love you more than you can imagine. This year with you has been the most incredible of my life. We'll love you forever.

Seeing her for the very first time:


All hooked up for breathing monitoring: