NOT 4 weeks and counting... Surprise!

Well, as all of you know, the baby came 4 weeks early. Evan William Bond decided that he needed to make a statement of some kind. Not only did he arrive 4 weeks early at 6 pounds and 3 ounces, but he decided he needed to confirm the name we had chosen for him. We were visiting some friends of ours in Evanston, WY. We were there just for a one night trip to have a BBQ and see the new houses of a couple of our friends up there. We decided we better go up there while we still had time before I had the baby. For those of you that don't know, we had picked out the name Evan William Bond since we found out the baby was a boy. So we have had this name picked out since about April. One of the reasons we picked the name is because Mike's mom's maiden name is Evans. We liked the name Evan as well and decided it worked because it was a family name. Well, when we were in Evanston, we spent the night at one of our friends house. We stayed up till about 2:30 in the morning talking to our friends because it had been a long time since we had seen them. We went to bed and about 4:00 in the morning I woke up with some cramping. I went back to sleep for about 20 minutes and woke up with more cramping. I tried to walk off the cramping and tried going to sleep again, the whole time wondering if there was any chance I could be in labor. For those of you who don't know, I don't feel contractions until it is time to push and deliver the baby. So I wasn't exactly sure if this was labor or not. Being 4 weeks early, I thought there was no way I could be in labor. The cramps did not go away and only got worse, so I finally decided to wake Mike up. I woke him up about 4:50 and had to convince him we needed to go to the hospital. He kept asking if I was joking, or pulling his leg. We were trying to decide if we could make the drive down to Ogden or not because neither of us wanted to have the baby in Evanston. And besides, I still wasn't even sure if I really was in labor. We decided we better stop at the hospital in Evanston to get checked out just in case, and it is a good thing we did. We got to the hospital at 5:20 a.m. and discovered I was completely dilated and my water was leaking. I had to wait for the on call doctor to get to the hospital before I could start pushing. That was about 15 more minutes. Well, Evan was born August 3 at 5:49 a.m., delivered in Evanston, WY by Dr. Evans. I guess Evan needed to confirm the name we had chosen. He was on oxygen for several hours after just to make sure he was ok. We spent the night in the hospital and went home the next day. We were a little un prepared so we had to borrow a car seat from Mike's mom's neighbor. It was quite the surprise. I had no indication that I would go in to labor that weekend. Evan did have jaundice and had to have the lights on him for almost a full week. We spent everyday taking him in to the hospital to have his bilirubin count tested. He had his little feet pricked so many times. He is doing well now and is up to just about 7 1/2 lbs. He is already growing to fast. Despite being a preemie, he was quite strong and trying to lift his head the first day.

Alesea and Elizabeth started school on August 25 and they both seem to enjoy it so far.

James is hanging out at home with mom and Evan. He is doing well with the baby so far. Just a little "Father Hen"

Mike was able to take a week off of work to stay home and help me with the kids after Evan was born. He was also able to get our roof re-shingled. It looks great and takes a weight off our shoulders. He has also started re-building our fence on the side of our house. 3 months after we moved in to this house someone crashed their car through our fence and ripped half of it down. We are just now getting it fixed.

I am doing well. I am getting fairly decent sleep. Just enough that I don't feel myself going crazy. But still not enough that I don't fall asleep while feeding Evan.

Things have been crazy busy, but we are all hanging in there. Hope all of you are doing well! All our love to you and take care!