Welcome to the World Avery!

I better get all the craziness of Avery's arrival down somewhere before I completely forget! So here's a little timeline of our sweet girl's arrival.

Friday - July 1, 2011
10:00 AM:
I had a regular OB appointment scheduled. They were going to do an ultrasound to check on baby girl's size and that was about it. Brent was going to be able to come along this time, but almost had to stay home with Parker who was getting over a stomach bug. At the last minute we decided to all go. I'm so glad Brent was there! I asked my dr. to see if I was dilated because I'd just felt like something was going on and had been having contractions earlier in the week. He semi-reluctantly agreed mostly to put my mind at ease. He was pretty surprised to find that I was about 6cm. and told us we were going to need to go to the hospital and have a baby! I tried to argue that we could wait it out and he talked me down from a few weeks to 1 hour to go home and pack. I was pretty overwhelmed and unhappy how things were happening so fast and so early and so not according to how I'd imagined. But Brent was so great and just calm and kept me sane. Our friend DJ came to watch Parker, and Brent and I packed and went up to the hospital. Brent's parents started to head down to Denver as well.

12:00PM:
Settled in at the hospital in L&D, and started my IV's. A while later I got my epidural even though I wasn't feeling anything. I didn't want to risk it haha! They broke my water and a bit after that I was able to start pushing. My epidural was great because the pain was definitely manageable but I could still feel enough to help me push.

4:26PM:
Avery Hannah Byrd was born. Weight 5.4 lbs, Length 17.8 in. She was 5 weeks early and was taken to the NICU after just a few minutes of holding her. That night she "graduated" to the Level II NICU and stayed there for 2 weeks.

So tiny! Look how big that preemie diaper is on her!

July 13, 2011
Avery got to come home! :)

We love her so much. She is a sweet baby and pretty easy I'd say. I can't believe how amazing it is to see her join our family and how she just fits so perfectly. Thank you Lord for my two sweet babies. I'll probably do more details another time of everything that went on during her NICU stay too.