Joy Comes in the Morning!

Since I only recently started blogging, I decided to take a few steps back and remember the arrival of our little princess.

I was so impatient waiting for Eveley's birth. As you can imagine, our transition away from a lively house with an energetic 2-year-old boy was very difficult. The silence was deafening and the memories so loud. We were surrounded by the toys. The snacks were in the cabinets, and I could still see smudge marks of little fingerprints on the windows. It was hard!

Eveley was due on April 24, but I was determined not to have to wait that long. In the month leading up to her arrival, I was already dialated 3 cm and the doctor assured me she could come anytime! Well, I wasn't so sure. So I purchased some castor oil and kept it in the cabinet just in case.

I couldn't take it anymore! I decided Wednesday, April 18, was as good a day as any. So, around noon, I mixed a little castor oil with orange juice, held my nose, and chugged it! It was as awful as it sounds. In fact, I am almost heaving as I'm writing this.

Bob came home from work around 3 to take care of a tree that had fallen across our driveway. Around 4 (I remember this because I was watching Oprah!), I started feeling a little funny. I started looking at my watch when I would feel the tense pain and noticed they were coming pretty regularly - about ever 3 or 4 minutes. Well, that doesn't make sense, I thought. Contractions are supposed to start out at 10 minutes apart and then gradually get closer together. After about an hour of this, I called my doctor, and he said I could head to the hospital. The pain was getting pretty intense and coming regularly every 3 minutes. I told Bob it was time to go. "Okay," he said. "Let me go iron my shirt." "No problem," I replied!

We got in the car and made the 20-minute drive to the hospital. I did not have one contraction the whole trip. I felt like such a fool and thought this had to be false labor. So, we decided to walk around the parking lot for a little while before heading inside. Then, the contractions started again with a vengeance!

Around 6:45, we made it to the OB floor and the nurse showed us our room. We walked in and realized this was the same room where I had given birth to Robbie almost 2 years earlier. Bob was overcome with emotion.

Long story short, it was time to begin pushing at 8:50 and little Eveley Joy entered the world at 8:58. Not bad! She was beautiful and seemed to recognize our voices immediately. Just as he had done with Robbie, Bob took her into his arms and began singing to her. She calmed down right away.


It took some time getting use to having this new little one in our house and in our hearts. But she has reminded us how large our capacity is to love.

Her name is Eveley Joy. She is named after my maternal grandmother, Evelyn. And her middle name, Joy, was given to me by the Lord not long after Robbie went to heaven. "Though sorrow may last for the night, Joy comes in the morning." I think it's perfect!

On a side note, I just discovered yesterday that the first time the word "love" is used in the Bible is when God is talking to Abraham about his son Isaac. In Genesis 22, the Lord refers to Isaac as "your only son whom you love." Pretty neat!