6lbs 11oz of joy

Last night we arrived at the hospital around 7:45pm. We got settled into our room and they hooked me up to the monitors. Shortly after, Kaitlin and my mom arrived! The doctors did some blood work, then came the IV. The nurse got it on the first try, thank goodness and proceeded to tell me that the worst part was over. I was reluctant to believe that!

Then it became somewhat of a waiting game; we were able to enjoy watching the Cats beat South Carolina and some Olympic figure skating. I was examined and still at 1cm so they gave me a pill to ripen my cervix before they began the pitosin. At 2:30am they started the pitosin on a slow drip. Ben was peacefully snoozing on a rock hard couch, while I layed uncomfortably in my rock hard bed with vinyl sheets. We tried getting some sleep but the monitor alarms were going off every ten minutes. Ben woke at about 5:15.

At about 5:30 the nurse came in and was concerned about Avery's heart because it had dropped to 80, when 120-160 is normal. After consulting the doctor, they decided to do an immediate c-section. It all was happening quite sooner than expected. I guessed she would be here by 6:30pm considering how mild the contractions were. Mom said 8pm - and Kaitlin said 4pm. I was at peace with having to do the c-section, shaking all over because they were pumping me full of fluid, and emotional because I was going to be a mom in the next 20 minutes! Ben put on his white moon suit that barely fit him and they wheeled me to the operating room. Kaitlin and Mom waited anxiously outside. I went in to get the epidural first - and a praise, it did not hurt a bit! They gave me some happy juice and I don't even remember it. Apparently I was being quite the comedian.

They put up the blue screen and Ben joined me, he stood by my side and comforted me as the doctors went to work. Ben tried to distract me as much as possible, and at last we heard a little cry and were overjoyed. Ben gave me a play by play of what they were doing to little Miss Avery. Then we got to see the most precious baby girl ever. Well at least to us. After cleaning her lungs and toweling her off, I was able to give her a quick kiss before sending her off to the nursery with Ben for Kaitlin and mom to see the new addition to the family. After they left, I was given some more happy juice by the doctors and the next thing I know it was all over. The nurses rolled me into the post op room where Ben, Kaitlin and my mom were waiting for me. After what seemed like forever Avery was brought in to join us.

Going to the Hospital, and We're Gonna Have a Baby!

4 More Hours until I'll be admitted to St. Joe East to be induced!! What are you supposed to do on the day before your baby arrives? Well, I got up, ate some cereal, took a bath and shaved my legs, made the bed, did some laundry, got a haircut, ate lunch with Mom, watched some Olympics action on TV, and now adding all the things I "might" need to my hospital bags.

Ben worked today and should be home shortly. We're going to have a normal evening here, finishing up chores, eating dinner in, and then we'll head to the hospital around 8 pm, just in time to watch the UK game hopefully.

The plan is to start a slow drip IV of Pitosin tonight and if my water hasn't broke by 6 am, my doctor said she would break it for me to help my contractions progress along. I hope it doesn't take too terribly long after that, maybe by noon?? to start pushing. Kaitlin and Mom are going to be at the hospital with us, and I've got an army of people praying for us.

I called my friend who is a nurse at St. Joe East and she got me set up with a nurse that she recommends for tomorrow. She said they're all great, but this one in particular is halarious and everybody loves her. I hope humor is what I'll want when in labor, but I don't know???

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone for all of your support throughout the entire pregnancy. I told Mom that this is like a chapter of my life coming to an end and a new chapter beginning-- heck, it actually feels like a whole new book beginning.

I was like waterworks last night thinking about what Ben and I have coming to an end, but I am very excited to bring Avery into this wonderful family. It's just hard saying goodbye to what I'm used to...just the two of us.

I also cried on my way to work on Wednesday thinking about leaving all those little angels, but then realized quickly as the day progressed, that I think I'll manage just fine. :)My last day of work went well. The kids were very excited about the baby, but I don't think realized that I am taking 12 weeks off. One kid asked, "So I won't see you until I'm a third grader?"

Sara will be here on Saturday, and Kelley on Wednesday. Mom is pretty adamant about them not meeting their niece on Facebook, so pictures may take awhile to be put up. Plus, babies are always cuter after three days rather than three minutes. Who knows, we may all agree that she is the cutest baby we have ever seen and decide that posting pictures just can't wait. :)

Thanks for everything!!

One More Week!!!!! :)

The final countdown has begun. Avery will be here in one more week!!! I can't wait to see what she looks like, even though she'll probably change a lot in the first couple of months. Every time I see a baby out and about I get the biggest smile on my face just thinking of how soon she'll be here!

Yesterday we went to the doctor for our weekly check up. We met Dr. Elkhari and went through the normal routine: urine check, blood pressure check, weight check, heart rate check, belly measurement, and now the routine exam to see how far I'm dilated. Everything is perfect so far. I'm dilated 1 cm. My belly is measuring a perfect 38 cm, and her heart rate is a perfect 140. We are so blessed. My comment to Ben was "We waited an hour for that." His response was that we are lucky to wait an hour to only hear good news. He is right.

So the plan is this weekend to finish up the baby laundry, do a little spring cleaning, pack our hospital bag and install a car seat! :) I go back to the doctor on Monday and then will be induced on Thursday night.

I've been at home all week, and that has been a blessing in disguise. I have been sleeping a lot, which I know has helped me relax and not feel so tired all the time. I have also been pampering myself a little. I got a pedicure and massage yesterday and I have a facial scheduled for next week. Who knows when I'll be able to do that again, right?

I've been feeling a lot more pain in my lower pelvic region lately and the doctor says that's her coming down. Her head is still down, which is good news for the delivery. The doctor says she is a very happy baby--well of course she is!! Dr. Elkhari expects her to be about 7.5 lbs. I asked how she knew that and she smiled and just said, "It's a guess." I think it's a pretty safe guess to say 7.5 because that's the average! They should just say, "I don't know."

I've been getting more questions from students at school about the baby, as my stomach is so much more noticeable now. It's hilarious, and I should be writing it all down. I had one student ask, "So, how do you know it's a girl?" I said, "Because the doctor told me so." "Well, how does he know?" "Because they ran a test," I answered generically. "What kind of test?" "An ultrasound" "What's that?" "Where they can see the baby on a TV screen." "All babies look the same when they are little. None of them have any hair," he said. "You're right Gabe. They do." "So what will you do if it's a boy?" "I'll be shocked." "Why?" "Because I have all pink clothes for him at home." "Well, that was poor planning." "Well, I guess so." LOL "What will his name be?" he asked. "I guess I'll have to name him Gabe since I don't have any boy names ready." "You could name him Jason. I know two Jason's." (that's his dad's name) "Maybe I will."

Another student said, "My mom works at the hospital in Georgetown and she said she could take some baby blankets from them for you." "Uh, that's okay. I don't want her to get in any trouble."

Another student said, "I'm going to get you a car seat for your baby." "No, that's okay. Car seats are very expensive." "No, Walmart has them" he said.

I'm going to miss those guys so much. All of these snow days we've had are going to put me back in school in June, since I get 12 weeks off. It will be nice to finish out the school year with them and get my things somewhat organized before summer. I'm sure Kaitlin and Mom won't mind to babysit a couple days for the sweetest little girl ever. :)

I'll keep you updated on any news! Please continue to pray for us!!

Waiting for Avery

My dear friend Amelia came over to take a few shots of the nursery and Ben and I before the big day. I'm so thankful to have these photos and will treasure them Forever. Thank you Amelia!

Best and Worst of Pregnancy

Top Ten Best Things About Being Pregnant:

1. Feeling a little baby move inside of you

2. Everyone being super nice to you

3. Elastic belly pants

4. Guilt free massages any day of the week

5. No worries about gaining weight

6. Watching Ben's face when he feels Avery move

7. Seeing the baby on the ultrasound and falling in love

8. Picking out all kinds of cute little itsy bitsy items

9. Getting the nursery ready

10. The Miracle of it all



Top Ten Worst Things About Being Pregnant:

1. Back pain

2. Being the permanent DD

3. Feeling tired from walking up a set of stairs

4. Crying for silly reasons

5. Not being able to tie my shoes without pain

6. Getting in the bathtub and realizing the water only covers half of me now

7. Feeling fat a lot of the time

8. Realizing how much babies really do cost

9. Itchy stomach

10. Crazy horrifying stories from everyone

She'll Be Here Soon!

Avery will be arriving any day now! I can't believe it! We are so excited to finally meet her. I am 37 weeks and 5 days pregnant today and things are going well. Over the past couple of weeks of doctors appointments I have begun to dilate, my cervix is softening, and Avery's head is down in my pelvis. So far everything is very "normal" as I tested negative for the Group B Strep, I've gained my 30 lbs., and my belly is growing about 1 cm per week.

We set a date to be induced at our last doctor's appointment on Monday. If she has not arrived by the 25th, I'll go in at 8 pm to be induced that night and deliver her on the morning of the 26th! The doctor predicts that she will weigh about 6 lbs. when she's born, which will be great for me.

I've been off school for three days this week for snow, which has been super nice because I haven't been feeling the best. I've had a lot of drainage at night and waking up with a sore throat every morning for the past three days. It's been a nice little break from working and we've gotten to do a few more things for Avery.

Mom and I went shopping yesterday for a "Bring Me Home" outfit. I had already picked one out at Mom's store, but we wanted to find one that might be a little more special. We found a store downtown called Bella Bliss, which LB had told me about. There stuff was precious. We got a pink gown with Avery's monogram on the front, a little matching hat, and a blanket with pink bunnies and her name embroidered on it. I thought about having the date put on it as well, but I figured I was being a little too gutsy.

Her nursery is mostly finished. We are going to order some shelves for the wall and a end table for beside the glider. Mom has also ordered some "art" for the walls. These will all be "add-ons" after she arrives. The most important things are here: diapers, wipes, changing table and the bassinet.

Mom did an awesome job with the bassinet. It has been in the family since my grandfather was a baby and Avery will be the 4th generation to use it. Mom repainted it, since Ben was very concerned about lead paint, and she also put in a new liner which turned out beautiful! It's a yellow and white gingham in a silk material.

We've been attending some maternity education classes at the hospital. The first class we took was great: Infant CPR. We learned the basics to what to do if a baby goes unconscious or is choking. This was reassuring and not scary at all. The second class was a birthing class. This class was scary and should be taken by any woman who thinks she wants to get pregnant, not by those who are about to deliver a baby and it's too late to change your mind.

We watched 4 videos of real live births. They tried to show us the different types of interventions that may have to be performed. I don't want to go into any detail for those of you who still have a very rosy picture of a baby being born, but I DO NOT want my experience to be anything like what 3 out of the 4 births on that video turned out to be. Yikes.

We were scheduled to do the Breastfeeding class this week, but it got rescheduled because of snow, and next week we'll be doing the Baby Steps class. And then, I'll officially be ready to be a mom. :)

Things haven't been too crazy busy lately. Ben and I went to Gatlinburg last weekend with a group of 14 friends. We spent some time relaxing, eating, sleeping, talking, and outlet shopping for baby clothes. We got the CUTEST bathing suit ever made for little miss Avery. It has a little bubble butt for her diaper. We are currently planning a trip to the beach for the first week of October. I already can't wait.

Life is good and it's about to get much better!! I'll keep you posted on these last 14 days of progress towards her grand arrival! Much LOVE!!