Eve Arabella Rose Eugenio

Our cute little turkey was born on Thanksgiving at 9:00pm on the dot. She weighs 9lbs 2 ozs, (and I thought she was going to be tiny), is 21 inches long, and was hungry the minute she was born. I am holding her now and she is looking around peacefully at her new world. She is very awake and aware and I think she looks just about perfect.

We have named her Eve for the mother of all living, probably the best example there is of a person who chose the harder path because she knew it was the better path. Arabella means "answer to a prayer" or "proud lion." It comes from the family tree on my Grandma Hallmeyer's side. She was born to a prominent family, the Dawsons, in Ireland in about 1694. Her family was the steward of a city that was later named after them: Castledawson, Ireland. We will have to make a trip over there someday and see what has happened to the ruins of their castle. And finally, Rose is for Dillon's Grandma who lives in Hawaii. A lighthearted storyteller who draws a crowd with the twinkle in her eye. We hope that Eve will come to understand the origins of her names and be inspired by them as she lives her life.

Amazingly, I labored all day without any intense pain. I wanted my water to break on its own and let things progress naturally. However, even though I was dilated to a nine for hours and took a caster oil shake and tried every other natural method of progressing labor, I couldn't get any strong contractions to bring baby down. When I finally worked up the courage, around 8:30, I had the midwife break my water. Things progressed even more quickly then I thought they would. I was ready to push within seconds. I quickly got into the giant tub at the birthing center and Eve was born a few minutes later under water and face up (which is one of the hardest ways to birth a baby, I am told). I caught her myself, lifted her up and held her. She looked wonderful and gave a good cry right away. It was beautiful.

Dillon's only complaint was that he had remembered everything I needed and brought nothing for himself. No food, no clothes, no toothbrush, no nothing. He had a pepperoni stick and dintymoore stew from the gas station for his Thanksgiving dinner. Really, though, he loved the experience, and can't stop talking about how amazing it all was. I'll let him post the next one and tell you about his perspective.