EVAN EDUARDO TALUSAN VEGA



Hurray! Evan is here!

Details:

so, of course, I've been anticipating labor for, oh, about 4 weeks now. But, on Tuesday, March 24th at about 3:00am, I woke up feeling pretty regular (every 6 minutes) contractions. Nothing too painful, but certainly enough to get out of bed and start counting. Jorge woke up with me once I said, "I'm timing now!"

Around 4:15am, we called Lola and Lolo to tell them to make their way slowly over to our house because my contractions were getting closer and stronger - every 5 minutes or so. Knowing we were going to go, I brought out the hospital bag (which, yes, had been packed for weeks) and went to take a shower. Grandparents arrived around 5:00am, and Jorge and I woke the girls to tell them.

Liza: "Girls, Mama and Daddy are going to go to the hospital now to deliver baby! Lola and Lolo are here to watch you while we are gone, okay?"
Jada: "No, Mama!! I just want to snuggle you, Mama! Not Lola! Only Mamaa!!"
Joli: "Oh, you're going to the hospital? You think the baby will come? Okay, I'm going back to sleep."

We left the house at 5:09am - with Lolo screaming "GO ALREADY!! Stop talking and GO ALREADY!"

Had a few strong contractions in the car and made it to the hospital. Went upstairs, was 4 cm dilated already and got the most horrible, painful and awful epidural ever. Let's just say that it was good Jorge was NOT in the room because I was screaming bloody murder! I don't think I have ever screamed that much out of pain (yes, even during labor). So, needless to say, that was awful. The epidural was also way too strong once it was in, and I quickly went numb. So, for about an hour, I felt nothing. On one hand, it was a good thing because I went from 6 cm to fully dilated with the baby already descended way down into the birth canal -- imagine, that's how numb I was... I didn't even feel THAT.

When I told the doctor I couldn't feel anything, they all but turned off the epidural. The numbness went away very quickly and soon I was feeling everything! Yes, everything.

At 10:00am, it was time to push -- a few quick pushes, lots of "it HURTS!!", and Evan Eduardo Talusan Vega made his way into the world at 10:15am! Fifteen minutes - that's definitely a record in our family!

"IT'S A BOY!!" they all yelled as I actually got to pull Evan the final way out. Good thing -- because at 9:00am, Jorge and I still didn't have a baby girl name!

So, why EVAN EDUARDO TALUSAN VEGA?

Evan is named after Jorge's mom -- Eva Nydia. Vega (get it... Eva.. N... Evan)
Eduardo is Liza's Dad
Talusan is his Middle Name
Vega is his last name

The girls are the same way - double 1st names, Talusan as their middle name, and Vega as their last name.

All three babies, though, when they were born, spent the first day or so as "Baby Talusan" because of my last name. So, for the first 24+ hours, he was Evan Eduardo Talusan. But, as of 3:00pm on March 25th, he officially became a Vega baby boy.

The first text from Pedro Vega was something like, "Thank you for taking the weight off of my shoulders for being the last Vega boy... now there is Evan!"

I love the story of how Jorge came to Evan's name:
At about 8 1/2 months, I took a really bad fall. When I was brought to the hospital via ambulance, the EMT's and the Firefighters were all telling me I should name my kid after them. There was a John, a Mike, a few others, and an Evan. I told Jorge that story, and we both kind of laughed.

That night, Jorge had a tough time sleeping. I even remember him getting up sometime around 4:30am and not coming back to bed. At about 6:00am, he woke me up to say, "I think the EMT was right -- let's name him Evan. But, not after the EMT.. after my Mom." And, that was that. We knew Baby Boy would be named Evan for a few weeks now - we just didn't tell anyone ;)

So, here he is -- Evan Eduardo Talusan Vega. Born Tuesday, March 24th, 10:15am, 7 lbs 5 ounces, 20 inches long, good head of hair, dark brown eyes

We took lots of pictures and I'll post those as soon as I get home.

Yes, I am writing this from my recovery bed.... ;)