Our Sweet Girl...

So a lot has changed since my last post in October... mainly our sweet addition to the family! I cant believe that Cora Elizabeth is 3 weeks old! It has been the toughest, most rewarding 3 weeks of our lives. I am not going to sit here and tell you everything is rainbows and giggles because that would be a huge lie! I think some women are made to have children and love every screaming, pooping minute of it but that's just not me! I have spoken with a lot of my mommy friends and they assure me that I am not the first to feel this way... I love Cora to pieces, more than I ever thought was possible. But being a new mom, continuing to care and love my husband and dealing with the crazy (and I mean CRAZY!) hormones that come with postpartum has been challenging!

Cora Elizabeth Eversull was born on January 29, 2013 at 9:43 pm and did she ever come with a bang! People have asked me about my experience that day... and I have been hesitant to talk about it mainly because it was SUCH a whirlwind and took me until... really yesterday to be honest to sort out in my mind. As you all know Cora was due on February 10. Back in June when the doctor told us we were expecting they threw that date at us and we then planned our life around it. Funny how God and Cora had a different plan! Jason and I went to the doctor for a check up on Friday January 25 and I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. Doctor terms... basically my body was showing signs but doctor reassured us that Cora would indeed be a February baby and off we went! On Sunday morning I woke up with a back ache and remember telling Jason that I thought I could feel Cora low in my belly. We went to church and I didn't think about it again! Well... Tuesday morning Jason went to work and I started getting ready for work. That same back pain went with me to work that day! About 1:30 while I was with a patient I began to feel something a little different... the back pain took my breath away for about 30 seconds then would go away. I decided maybe this was just Braxton Hicks (which everyone had told me about but I had not experienced to this point!) This continued with slowly increasing intensity until 4:00 when I saw my last patient and left for home. When I got home my mom was pulling into my driveway...she was coming to visit and help me finish up the nursery etc... and I told her about the pains I had been having the last few hours. My mom knowing me and being a wonderful nurse starting timing these "pains" behind my back! At this point I was having 30 second ...we will now call them contractions! 3 minutes apart!! My mom calmly informed me that I should call Jason and we were heading to the hospital at which point I began to freak out! I am sooo glad she was there.. especially since I could not get ahold of Jason at work!

We checked into the hospital ER at 6:45 and I was 2 cm dilated ... this is when I informed the nurses I might be interested in an epidural. For those of you who don't know... this was totally against my "birth plan". Jason and I had taken classes and read about 10 different books about the Bradley Method and natural birth. I had my heart set on this but couldn't imagine the pain continuing 8 more cm not knowing how long that would take. Jason got to the hospital about 7:15 and reassured me that I could in fact do this!! He was a wonderful coach :) ... in the next hour to keep this short and spare you the details things progressed VERY quickly! My water broke and I was 10 cm within an hour. At this point I was so thankful that we had prepared for natural birth because I no longer had a choice in the matter! Cora was born 4 and a half hours after I left work (maybe I should have stayed home that day!!) Needless to say... she entered this world with a bang and 2 weeks early!

The last three weeks have been a blur... but I have managed to catch some pretty great pictures of our girl! So I will end this post with her cuteness! :)

Crazy but beautiful!

Quick post this morning to share something new! Jason and I have been able to feel Cora moving around for a few weeks now... it has mostly been at night when I am laying very still, of course! The first time I was sure it was her I was feeling and not... other things ;) was pretty amazing! Just a few flutters here and there has been about it ... until this morning!

As I was getting ready for work.. just walking around the house I felt like there was a dance going on in there! If this is child is a product of Jason I have no doubt in my mind she will be pretty active! As I was eating breakfast... I had a first! I looked down and sure enough I could see my stomach moving... so strange but pretty amazing at the same time! I couldn't help but laugh!

SO! Long story short... I have a little monster inside of me... and she is beautiful! :)

Next post will include LOTS of pictures and updates with the nursery progress! Jason and I are having so much fun with the nursery.. Until then!

Cora Elizabeth

Well... I warned everyone that when I started a blog I was terrible at keeping up with it! A lot has happened since my last post including our Gender Reveal Party! Yes I know OLD NEWS! However, I wanted to post some pictures and just give a summary of that wonderful weekend!

Throughout each twist and turn of this pregnancy... Jason and I have felt blessed to have so much support! We invited our families to the party... much to my surprise this turned into some extended family as well! My Nana's 80th birthday was the same weekend so she flew in along with my two aunts, uncle and cousin. What a blessing it was to see everyone and celebrate our bundle of joy!

I thought for a LONG time about how I wanted to reveal the gender to everyone (I'm pretty sure Jason was so sick of hearing about it!)... Jordan and my sister in law Jeris did a cupcake reveal with my sweet nephews so even though I'm not very creative I wanted to try something different! So happy I got this on video!

Yes! It's a girl! :)

Jason and I went in for the anatomy scan on Sept 18th and had to wait til the 21st to tell anyone! It was a tough week.. however living in a different city made it much easier! I was so nervous the day of our doctor's appointment. I have been this way since day one. You might think it gets easier but there is so much built up emotion each time! Jason wore a blue shirt and I wore pink scrubs that day... not exactly planned! As we were waiting... A guy that works with Jason at the fire department and his wife came out and said they were having a girl! Jason just laughed... knowing what that meant! We walked in with the ultrasound tech ... the same one we had when we found out we were preggo! And almost immediately as soon as we saw sweet Cora Elizabeth on the screen she blurted "it's a girl!" I of course started bawling... and Jason so sweetly said "Guess we should start saving for a wedding!" Haha! We are both VERY excited to meet our sweet girl in February! 

Anyway! I'm just going to share a few pictures from the gender reveal night! 

Nana with sweet Graham! 

Jason and I getting a little baby practice in!

I did some simple decorations for the party... a little pink and a little blue! We also played a game guessing how many pink/blue kisses were in the glass bowl. My Uncle Doug won a gift card for guessing the closest!

My brother Zach and my Aunt Laura and Julia were getting in late friday night and we couldn't wait for them to tell everyone! So when they arrived at the house they bit into these AMAZING cupcakes and the inside was pink! 

Couldn't do this party without this lady! Sweet friend Erin. We have known each other for a LONG time!

TEAM BLUE!

TEAM PINK! We were few.. but we were right! ;)

My sweet parents! Love the shirts!

Sweet hubby! He was such a sport in this whole pink/blue craziness!

As soon as the family found out it was a girl, my mom and Jason's mom showered us with girly gifts! This is Cora's first dress... one of MANY!

This last picture may seem random... BUT! These have been our children for the last few years! Jonah (aka Kitty) is 4 years old and Dash is 2 1/2 now! Dash just wants a friend to play with... so needless to say she was VERY excited when she found out she was getting a sister! She already has a moody brother to deal with :)

20 weeks!

So I knew I would be terrible at this blogging thing! For some reason I have a hard time making time in my head to write things down! However... today I went to the doctor today and we had the anatomy scan which was amazing! Seeing little Baby E's heart, kidneys, bladder, brain...etc was an incredible experience! YES we did find out the gender... but that will have to wait until my gender reveal post! We are having a Gender Reveal with family this friday!!! YAY!

Quite a few things have changed since my first post!

How far along? 20 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 10 lbs...ah!
Maternity clothes? oh yes!! and I LOVE them! There are so many cute things out there now... and talk about comfortable!
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Well.. up until 2 nights ago I was sleeping great! I have a cold now and last night slept about 1 hour... Here's to tonight!
Best moment this week: ABSOLUTELY finding out the gender of little peanut! And I know the gender reveal will be a highlight!
Miss Anything? sweets... for some reason this baby doesn't like anything sweet! Is this my child?!?
Movement: Mostly at night when I lay down... I feel a few kicks and flutters!
Food cravings: cereal, bread and oh more bread!
Anything making you queasy or sick: Mexican food... YUCK!
Have you started to show yet: sure have!
Gender prediction: ?!?!?!?
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In but changing everyday!
Wedding rings on or off? On
Happy or Moody most of the time: how about tired!
Looking forward to: Telling everyone the gender and getting started on the nursery! :)

I am terrible at taking pictures and so far baby bump pics just aren't cute! So here is peanut at our 19 week ultrasound! SO sweet!

15 Weeks!

I decided that I would start a baby blog...cliche as it may be! The majority of our family and friends live away from us so I figured this would be an easy way to keep everyone updated! I want to start off by thanking EVERYONE for being so supportive of Jason and I as we enter this incredible journey together. There are so many mixed emotions and we feel blessed to have all of you praying for us and our little "Peanut" as we refer to my belly! I will be posting belly pictures, must have items and random things I figure out in the next 6 months! Here's to a countdown to February 10! :)

As we thank God for this beautiful gift we have been reminded of many bible verses and I wanted to share a few that have been on my heart lately...

Behold, children are a gift of the LORD; The fruit of the womb is a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, So are the children of one's youth. How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them; They shall not be ashamed, When they speak with their enemies in the gate. Psalm 127:3-5

Every good thing bestowed and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation, or shifting shadow. James 1:17

This is what the LORD says—your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself ... Isaiah 44:24

How far along? 15 Weeks
Total weight gain/loss: 3.5 lbs
Maternity clothes? I have bought a few things but I have only worn my belly band! Can't button my jeans anymore :(
Stretch marks? No
Sleep: Thankfully I have been sleeping well! As a matter of fact that's ALL I want to do! Right now I get up almost every night about 4am to use the bathroom! It's amazing how your body tries to prepare for the baby!
Best moment this week: It's a toss up between discovering Mama Mio Tummy Rub Butter (amazing!!!) and Jason and I disagreeing wholeheartedly on baby/"dog" names!
Miss Anything? My family :( As far as food/drink not at all! 
Movement: Jason claims he can feel something ... I'm not so sure I want to!
Food cravings: Anything sweet or terrible and containing no nutritional value whatsoever! Oh... and Chinese food
Anything making you queasy or sick: Not yet!
Have you started to show yet: Seems like all the sudden there's a baby bump!
Gender prediction: Girl
Labor Signs: No
Belly Button in or out? In
Wedding rings on or off? On (well at least the one I have) We won't go there!
Happy or Moody most of the time: Happy!
Looking forward to: Finding out if we are having a boy or a girl!! We cannot wait! I honestly don't care but I am dying to know! We are also looking forward to starting on the nursery!

My next doctor's appointment is on Tuesday! We cant wait!!! Until then...That's all for now! Pictures and lots more posts to come!