Avery's story

Monday, October 25th, was my due date and also my scheduled induction date. We were scheduled to be at the hospital at 4am- what an early morning. I was afraid that I would not sleep well Sunday night due to my anxiety of all the "unknowns" of labor and delivery. I've never had a broken bone, an IV or any other need for medical attention other than the annual shots and having my blood drawn. SO, the fact that I was about to have an IV, epidural and give birth all at once had me completely freaked out. I had worked myself up so much on Sunday night that I thought for sure I would not sleep... I was wrong. I slept great!! My alarm went off at 2:30am and I showered and got ready for the big day.

{40 weeks preggo- just before leaving for the hospital}

Chris and I left the house just after3:30am and arrived at the hospitalat 4. We went directly to our delivery room and I was changed and filling out paper work within minutes.

{Checked in and ready for the day!)

At this point I was still 3cm and 90% effaced. I was started on pitocin at 5:10am and the contractions started coming every three minutes, but the pain really wasn't too bad. Chris and I actually spent the next few hours watching The Office on our laptop. :) My amazing doctor, Dr. Graham, came in at 7:45 am and broke my water.... within minutes my contractions were much more intense and before she even left my room I was ordering my epidural. Yes, I have a very low pain tolerance!! When the anesthesiologist came in to start my epidural I got really nervous and started shaking... I seriously couldn't stop the shakes, but boy was I a happy camper once the epidural kicked in. It was weird not being able to feel my legs and having to have Chris and the nurse rotate me from side to side every 30 minutes.

{Post epidural and feeling good!}

Our family arrived not long after I got the epidural and it was so great to have their love and support. Around 10:00 am I felt the need to be turned onto my left side. Chris asked the nurse to come in to help rotate me and when she got there she felt the need to check me again. I was already 10cm and the baby was almost crowning. She immediately called the Dr and told me she thought I would be pushing within the hour. Chris and I were shocked!! All of the nurses and even the Dr. had told me they expected it wouldn't be until mid afternoon that I would be ready to push.... well, I was pushing by 10:30 and Avery was born at 11:04!!

{First family photo}

I honestly feel like I had the best labor and delivery and of course the epidural helped a lot. :) Avery is such a huge blessing to us and we are so in love with her. God has trusted us to be her parents and we pray every day that He will guide us through this amazing journey. She is a miracle and we are so grateful for her.

{Family meeting Avery for the first time}