More Avery

Avery is such a sweet baby and it is so much fun having a baby girl in our home again. For the most part of my pregnancy I felt like I was having a girl and it was a lot of fun going to the hospital Wednesday morning knowing that we'd soon know for sure. The whole thing was such a fun surprise. I had myself so convinced that this baby wasn't going to be coming early at all. I was even preparing myself for going past my due date. So when I started having contractions in the middle of the night I kept telling myself that they'd stop and I'd be able to go back to sleep. Finally at around 5:00 AM, the contractions were more than just uncomfortable and I realized they weren't going to just stop. Aidan must have known something was going on because he decided that 4:30 was a good time to start his day. He came into our bed and probably would have gone back to sleep if his mom wasn't moaning in pain every 10 minutes. Tucker's mom came over around 6:00 and by then Halle was awake, too. We left for the hospital and I thought for sure we'd get there and they'd just send me home; I still couldn't believe that I was in labor. Instead I got there and discovered I was already dilated to 6 cm. Then I sort of panicked thinking there wouldn't be time for me to get an epidural. With both Halle & Aidan, once I was that far along they were born less than an hour later. This time the epidural slowed me down, a little and it wasn't until they broke my water that things really started moving along again. After pushing for a few minutes, we had a baby girl. She is so tiny and fragile...when we left the hospital she was down to 5 lbs. 15 oz. Hopefully she'll gain weight quickly so she won't be swimming in her clothes for very long. Even the preemie diapers are big on her. We had to take her back to the lab for another bilirubin test today, but luckily she's fine and we don't have to put her under lights.

I wanted to share some more pictures...we have taken A LOT but I won't post all of them. Here are some of my favorites...



Halle loved helping give Avery her first bath. The nurse took some really cute pictures of it.



This is Halle's favorite picture...she said Avery stopped crying when she held her hand!







Love this picture!




These next few pictures are so funny...this is Aidan's first reaction to Avery!




Ripping her bow off her head!


Beeping her nose!


Trying to pick her up.




Halle & Aidan hanging out. They quickly realized the hospital isn't fun at all.


Wide eyed and awake!




Avery still hasn't figured out the sleep thing and, like me, she loves to eat. We are remembering what it's like to go through 5 outfits and 15 diapers a day. Halle is realizing that she has to share the princess spotlight and has had a harder time adjusting then I thought she would. Aidan doesn't seem to notice that anything has changed and has been really good. He loves giving her kisses.

It's been a little crazy at times and Tucker is still at home. I'm not sure how I'll manage all this on my own once he goes back to work but, lots of people do it so we'll just take it one day at a time.

Thank you to everyone for calling and emailing...we're so lucky to have so many friends and family that have been so willing to help out.

Well gotta go...its feeding time again. I'll have more to write about later.