Our Thanksgiving Turkey

As most of you already know, Dana and I didn't eat a Thanksgiving dinner this year.  Instead, I gave birth to our beautiful baby girl, Eva Veronica Nevins.  Obvious contractions started at 8:30pm on Wednesday night, by Thursday morning at 8am we were headed to the hospital.  We arrived to find that I had already dilated 4 cm and this baby was definitely on her way.  At 7:07pm, baby Eva was born, weighing in at 7 lbs 1.2 ounces and was 20 1/4" long.  We heard her first cry just seconds after she was out, I held her on my chest immediately, and of course, proud daddy, Dana, cut the cord.

The joy that came over us in those first moments with her are indescribable.  I have never in my life felt so happy, proud, or astonished at this miracle of life that Dana and I created. 

As for the labor and delivery, we had no major complications and the baby was healthy, so we opted for a short 24 hr stay at the hospital.  Our stay in the hospital went well, and we soon figured out our roles in parenting.  While my main concern was feeding our baby, daddy took on all other duties.  He is an expert at changing diapers, swaddling, and doing whatever he can to make things a little easier for me.  Dana and I have been together for 6 years and I really thought I knew him inside and out.  But, what his daughter has done to him completely amazes me!  He is more amazing than my wildest dreams could have ever imagined.  I always thought I married the world's best man, but now I know FOR SURE that I did :)

Now, a little bit about our baby's name.  Her name is Eva Veronica Nevins.  It is pronounced "Eeeeeva".  We found the name on a baby name website months ago and just hadn't been able to shake it.  We knew right away that it was fitting and that we both loved it.  We tried considering other names, but we always came back to Eva.  Of course, we wanted to meet her first, to be sure that is just what she looked like, which we knew just seconds after seeing her.  The middle name Veronica is a family name.  It has been somewhat of an unspoken tradition in my family to carry on a family name.  My middle name is after my grandma and I wanted to do the same with Eva.  I chose to use my mother's middle name (also after her grandma), which is Veronica, rather than her first because it flowed well with Eva.  And, of course, she is also a little Nevins baby who will proudly carry her family name for at least the next 30 years ;)

(in the hospital, preparing for Eva's first pictures)

Of course, no picture does baby's any justice, for she doesn't usually have this scrunched up face and isn't nearly as big as the camera makes her look.  Regardless, she is still as beautiful as ever. 

To see more pictures from her first week, so far, click here, or on any of the pictures above.