Meeting More Family

We traveled to Houston this weekend so more family could meet Avery. I was a nervous wreck on the road - it was raining and there were so many bad drivers (or perhaps I was just more paranoid). But, we made it there safely and had a great time!

When the grandparents are around, Avery spends very little time alone and a lot of time in someone's arms. She's giving huge smiles to Grandpa, but he's the only one who gets them. Luke and I are still trying. I just wish I had a picture of that!
Aunt Lela was a saint, and rocked her at 3 in the morning when we failed to get her to go back to sleep.
Mam-ma (Great-Mam-ma?) was a huge hit with Avery, and pretty soon she'll tell Avery the story of Foot, Foot Foot, and Foot Foot Foot. I can't remember how this goes for the life of me, but it was a favorite of mine apparently during diaper changes.

meeting my dad

Avery and Great-Aunt JoLynn

cousin Emily didn't want to let go of her

Cousin Peyton

inspecting Avery's feet

Great-Grandpa sang to her and calmed her down

4 Generations


And, after a long weekend of visiting relatives, there is nothing better than cuddling with Daddy.

Avery's Photo Shoot

An old friend of mine took some professional photos of Avery last weekend - we had a blast and the photos are amazing. Here are a few for you to enjoy:

Avery, Weeks 1 and 2, at Home

Here are some highlights from the past week - it's hard to believe she'll be 2 weeks old on Thursday and that we've been home for over a week now!!

She is the sweetest baby and Luke and I are loving our time with her. There are definitely moments where we wonder, "What in the world are we doing?", and Luke has walked in to see both Avery and I crying. We're still trying to get the hang of nursing, but overall that's going well. She loves bathtime, relaxing completely when I wash her hair.

She spends much of the day nestled in the corner of the couch napping, but today she spent some time in the swing and loved it!

One of my favorite pictures - I love how her little hand is tucked under her chin. It's also the only way her mouth stays shut.

Her hat was too big, and slipped down over her eyes during her nap. Ha!

I was so thankful for this, because I'm trying to keep her alert and happy during the day in hopes of better sleep at night, but when I hold her she wants to eat or sleep. I'm also thankful for help from the grammas the past 2 weeks. They have saved my sanity and been such a huge help!

Grandmommie and Avery, first week at home
Nana and Avery, yesterday

She has Daddy's cowlick.

A visit from our sweet friend Raine and her hubby Matthew (that's his arm), who brought us a delicious home-cooked meal.

Avery's Photo Shoot

A friend of mine took some pics of Avery yesterday, and the sneak preview pics are great! I can't wait to see the rest of them.

PureWonder Photography

We had such a good time, but poor little Avery just couldn't hold her liquids (or solids) in, leaving quite a mess. This was our first outing, apart from a trip to the doctor's office, so it was a big deal for the both of us - she slept all the way there and back in the car (yay!), which meant she wasn't quite sleepy enough for the shoot, but overall she did such a great job. I'm definitely not ready to venture out on my own though - it was a blessing to have Mom with me, to make sure I don't forget anything, or the baby!

Introducing Avery Jane

The long wait to meet our daughter is finally over - she was born last Thursday, April 2, at 4:24 pm. Avery was 8 lbs 2 oz of pure cuteness, with a full head of dark hair and huge blue eyes. At first she seemed to resemble Luke the most, but over the past few days she looks more and more like me, despite her coloring. Or at least more like my baby pics.

The birth story:
I went to the doctor Wednesday morning, fully expecting to set up an appointment to induce the following week. However, my blood pressure had spiked pretty high, so my doctor said it was time to bring her on out! They admitted me to the hospital Wednesday night to do a procedure to ripen my cervix for inducement the following morning. My parents and Luke's sister drove in Thursday afternoon, and we all went out for a last supper at Kerbey Lane before heading to the hospital to check in. Luke's parents arrived later that evening, so there was a whole crew of people in my L&D room - I think we overwhelmed the nurse at first.

The procedure went so well Wednesday night that I started having contractions on my own, and they delayed giving me Pitocin the following morning. The pain got to be too much - I thought I'd brave it and push through the pain, a supermom, doing it all naturally, but I quickly gave that idea up and had the nice anesthesiologist numb me up. I felt so much better after that, but in hopes of pushing later in the day, I didn't max out on the meds for fear of not feeling anything during pushing. Dumb idea as I later learned.

Lunch time came and went and still no baby - not to be unexpected, but I wasn't progressing fast enough because they couldn't get the dosage right on my Pitocin, and I kept coupling contractions, rather than having very regular ones. This also put stress on the baby, and with each contraction later in the day, her heart rate would drop by almost half. For a brief period of time there was a flurry of activity in my room as they tried to adjust me and roll me and get her heart rate back up. I finally made it to full dilation, but for a tiny little spot, which they decided to let me try and push through. After about 30 minutes of pushing, the baby was getting worse, and my doctor broke the news that my pelvis just wasn't wide enough for her to fit through, and that she simply didn't have the energy reserves to last through another couple hours of pushing. There wasn't even a guarantee that she'd come out at all this way. So, I was rushed off to the operating room for a c-section, crying and panicking because I hate needles and knives.

They upped my epidural dosage and tested my abdomen for numbness...only my left side went numb, while I still felt everything on my right. More bad news - they had to put me under general anesthesia in order to perform the operation, so that meant Luke was no longer allowed in the room with me. I went under not knowing if anyone had told him what was going on.

I woke up an hour later in a strange room, asking if she was out of me yet. I had NO idea what had just happened. Luke showed up a minute later pushing our daughter in her bassinet, handed her to me, and she smiled up at me, the second she was put in my arms. It was probably just gas, but I like to think that she knew who I was. They wheeled me down to my post-partum room where the entire family was waiting (this time the room was smaller, which probably overwhelmed the staff even more). I had the shakes so badly that I couldn't hold Avery, so I spent the first few hours watching her from a distance. Before the delivery, I had dreams of holding her right away, nursing her, loving on her. Instead, I was drugged up and in pain. But, in the end it was all worth it, knowing that she was her safely and that she was healthy. God was gracious.

We're home now finally, after a very long stay at the hospital where I still battled blood pressure problems. I was up and moving the morning after though, and on solid foods, so I healed fairly quickly, although now that I'm home, I'm still moving slowly and wishing that I would just be better already.