Avery Grace Walker has arrived! Here is our precious daughter’s story…

The Labor…

Started early Wednesday morning when my water broke at 4:57am (I had Justin look at the clock). Justin and I actually were able to take a shower and get ready for the long day ahead of us, as my parents shuffled around trying to do last minute things before heading to the hospital. Justin, my mom, and I drove in the truck to Memorial, and my dad followed behind. We checked into the hospital at 7:15am, and they tried to determine if my water really had broken. I remember thinking that if it hadn’t I was going to have no idea what it was like when it really did. My doctor and the nurses admitted us when they felt confident that my water had broken, and of course, the contractions started as well. At about 10:30am they started me on patossin to speed up my delivery. I was told that since this was my first baby I was taking a long time to dilate as my body had never gone through labor before. The contractions became more intense, and eventually I was having strong contractions every 2 minutes (exactly 2 minutes, because Justin would always prep me right before another one). OUCH! That’s all I have to say about that. At 4:00pm I finally asked for an epidural, and if I wasn’t so happy with Justin, I may have asked my anesthesiologist to marry me. It was totally wonderful, and I personally would never opt to have a baby without one. Laboring for such a hard time before made me truly appreciate the drugs. However, they continued to raise the patossin drip, and before long they raised it to the highest level possible. Though I was not in a lot of pain, my body knew that it was going through a lot, and I started getting really nauseous and throwing up. Finally they came to check me at 8:30pm, and said I was at 4 centimeters. We about died thinking that I had 6 more to go! Everything was going sooo slow, and as good as Justin was trying to be about it, I could tell he was getting antsy. The nurse eventually turned down my patossin level, and about 10:45 the nurse came back to check again. I was convinced it was probably only another centimeter or so, but as soon as she checked she said that baby’s head was right there! We could not believe that it had all of a sudden happened so fast (clearly I was really numb not to feel that). They called in the doctor, brought in a team of nurses, and at 11:41 baby Avery Grace Walker was born!

The Baby…

She is so wonderful! She is the best thing Justin and I have ever done! We absolutely adore Avery. No paternity test needed as she looks A LOT like Justin as a baby. However, we are convinced she is a good mixture of us both! She has my lips, and I can tell that her eyes are shaped a lot like when I was baby. We have had some trouble feeding, and the recovery has actually been by far the hardest part of this whole pregnancy process, but besides the times she clearly is hungry, she has been really a good baby. Of course, do we really know the difference? We love when her little body is exposed and she is sitting on me in her little diaper, since we are so amazed by all of her perfect little body parts. I just kept thinking that I couldn’t believe she was inside of me, and how on earth did we make that perfect little thing?

The Proud Papa…

I just had to add to this story how incredible Justin has been. He has had to deal with some pretty messy stuff, and has taken such good care of both baby and me. He has been supportive, caring, affectionate, brave, and every other quality of a good father and husband. He probably won’t want me to add this to the blog, but I cannot leave this part out, as I think I would have died in the recovery process without him. I love seeing him adore Avery, and he continues to baby me despite our new baby. I couldn’t have asked for better support.

The Proud Grandparents…

Need I say more? My parents are sooo excited about the baby. Even my dad, who really is afraid of hurting newborns, held Avery after she was born (he needed a little convincing that he wouldn’t break her). My mom could not be more wonderful. She rubbed my feet, ran errands, took pictures, and did anything and everything during the labor, delivery, and the recovery days in the hospital. She is a wonderful mother and grandmother, and her coaching and support has made the hard parts of this process bearable, and the joyful parts even more wonderful. As soon as we could we sent pictures to Jim and Diane. Justin's parents were very patient in waiting for the first pictures of their new grandchild. Although they are far, we have loved keeping them informed and can't wait for Diane to get here next week. We are lucky to have such wonderful parents to share this experience with.

What Now?

We brought Avery home today! She has been so calm since we brought her home tonight…I think she is grateful she is not being poked. This recovery is still really hard on my body right now for various reasons, but I am really looking forward to feeling better and being able to do all of the things I want to do for her. It’s 11:00 pm and Justin and I are exhausted from our sleepless nights in the hospital with people coming into the room every hour, and trying to meet Avery’s needs, but I don’t think we have ever been more grateful or happy as a family. I can tell my hormones are going a little crazy since that sentence brought tears to my eyes…maybe it’s the lack of sleep? Avery is sleeping now and the one golden rule we have learned is to sleep when she is sleeping, so I really need to stop the report. I apologize for all of the phone calls that haven’t been returned, but we are just trying to recover a little, and really appreciate everyone’s support. We are especially greatful to our Father in Heaven for this wonderful opportunity and for trusting us with this sweet little spirit. We’ll send more updates soon…promise!