Welcoming Avery Grace: Birth Story

Wow. As mentioned in my last post, I am officially the WORST at keeping up with happenings in our household. It seems like a lifetime ago we were living in Florida and I was able to write about my favorite things, especially since the list only grew longer and longer by the time we moved back to Memphis...which made it that much more difficult to leave! It is hard for me to skip ahead and not fill in blanks of the year since we lived there because God has taken us on such an incredibly sweet journey and we have experienced His grace so deeply while there and since we moved. We miss our friends and living in Orlando so much, but thankful to be exactly where we are. Another story for another day-for now, I am excited to share about our sweet Avery Grace!

BIRTH STORY:

Being my 2nd child, I thought surely this story would be almost identical to Caden's birth story. Nope. Just like they are unique and individual people, something which is so evident even this early on-their "stories" of entering the world are as well! Avery's due date was August 28, and so like most pregnant women at the end of the pregnancy (especially in the summer!), I was hoping and praying she would make an early appearance. Caden did, so she would of course...right?! I wasn't miserable, I can truly say that-I was able to enjoy the last days of it just being Caden and knew she would come when she came. However, after she didn't make an appearance as early as Caden had, I will admit I did get a little nervous she was going to be stubborn! I was tired for sure, and gave myself the freedom to take naps, butI was much healthier this pregnancy, between running after a certain little 2-year old, eating healthier, and working out in a mommy-to-be class...I felt good and energetic overall! I am thankful for this because I consider it to have a part in helping for a faster recovery postpartum!

The week she was born, I had lots of contractions which would begin and then subside after awhile. I actually had 2-3 nights where I woke up to contractions, thinking I was in labor and actually waking Brett up to "coach" me, only to be disappointed they weren't the real thing. I knew my body was preparing for labor, just felt teased by the contractions coming and going as they did. With Caden, they came and they stayed! So, this was already much different. At 3:30ish AM on August 23, I woke up as I had the other nights with contractions, brushing them off as just false labor pains, I opted not to wake Brett up because he had a nasty cold and wanted him to get sleep so when the real thing came he wouldn't be sick anymore. Wishful thinking. I had downloaded an app on my phone called "FULL TERM" and used it to help time contractions, but I really wasn't thinking or just convinced myself it wasn't the real thing so as not to get disappointed if they subsided like they had the previous nights. They didn't subside, but they weren't miserable by any means. My doctor knew I preferred to labor at home for as long as possible, and so had warned me "the 2nd is going to come much faster....so don't wait around as long as you did with Caden!" I remembered her advice that early morning-but truly did not feel I was in labor and thought if we went to the hospital, they would tell me it was false labor. I didn't want to go through the process of having Brett's parents come so early in the morning to watch Caden for no reason at all, right? Since I couldn't go back to sleep though, I decided to make most of this time-clean my kitchen, bathroom, read a little, did some of my squats and lunges...just in case! Oh...and paint my nails of course. That's what all do when they are in labor right? In hind sight, I know all this is ridiculous-but at least I came home to a partially clean house and my nails were pretty....At 6 AM the contractions were strong enough where I thought I needed to make sure Brett was up and ready-I needed his coaching and his help thinking for when we needed to ask his parents to start heading our way, etc. When I woke him with "Brett, I think I am in labor" he jumped out of the bed alarmed and called his parents immediately and then a friend closer by to come over in the meantime so someone could be there with Caden when he woke up. I then proceeded to have a meltdown on Brett, and I am not really sure why. He told me later I was babbling and incoherent and he knew I was further along than what I thought based on my behavior.  I wasn't very kind to him for "forcing" me to go then, telling him I wanted to wait another hour and at least see his parents beforehand, etc. He gently but sternly insisted we go, so off we did, me pouting at being rushed. The hospital is about 15 minutes from our house, and on a Saturday morning at 6 AM you would think it would be fairly empty on the roads, but it wasn't! The 15 minute drive suddenly became a very long one, as the pain of labor was undeniable and all the breathing techniques etc. were thrown out the window as I proceeded to SCREAM. Poor Brett was calmly coaching me from the driver's seat recalling all the breathing techniques he had learned to help me with labor and delivery, while driving through traffic, as his wife literally is screaming like he never has heard before. He prayed over me and the delivery process, during which I interrupted him (you guessed it) with a very ear-piercing scream! He says now he was legitimately concerned he was going to have to deliver a baby in the car. I do not deal with pain out loud, so this screaming and crying fit alarmed him! When we pulled up to the parking lot of the hospital, I insisted he park and walk with me instead of dropping me off at the entrance. After all-walking helps the progression of labor. (Clearly, this decision was made in between a contraction!) Once parked and walking to the entrance, another contraction hit and I cried out to Brett that I could not do this, he was so firm in encouraging me and reminding me that there was no going back now....a little unwanted humor at the time. :) After what seemed like the longest walk of my life to the hospital and then the elevator, and then up to the waiting room-the front desk asked some more questions and my response to Brett made them realize they needed to speed the process up a bit. Once in triage (without Brett) the nurse asked me to change and then she would come in with the routine check and paperwork, etc. As soon, as she stepped out of the room, another contraction hit and she promptly stepped back in and told me she was going to help me, check me, and then move right along. She must of thought I was other far along, dramatic, or both! Once checked, she calmly told me I was about to push and we were going to be skipping a few things. The room became abuzz, Brett is brought in. His face was priceless. I remember him saying, "Did we almost just have her in the car?" I am so thankful he had us go when we did, if we had listened to me, we most certainly would have had a home birth by accident! The next part is so vivid in my mind but seems as a dream at the same time. I was overcome with emotion. I am someone who is not quick to have an epidural, preferring to wait as long as possible, but I am also someone who doesn't "push" for all-natural at the same time. I think it would be easy to condemn myself if I had a goal of doing it natural and had to have an emergency C-section or ended up getting an epidural after all-which would take away from the main thing: holding and enjoying a precious gift after months of waiting! With Caden, I got an epidural at the last possible moment and had a great labor experience. Postpartum recovery was rough though, finding out a month later that my tailbone had been fractured unknowingly in delivery. So with Avery, I was basically planning on playing it by ear and doing the same type of thing, but was feeling a little uneasy about the tailbone issue becoming an issue again this delivery experience! It is funny how go with the flow I was about something as intense as this. I think I just have a very open view to it-I disagree when people are overly vocal about one way or the other because at the end of the day a healthy momma and baby are the goal and I don't want anyone to take away from the beauty of the story of their child's birth because it wasn't the "preferred method." <End soapbox now. >Anyway, once getting to the hospital and getting checked, I quickly realized that the word "epidural" wasn't even going to be brought up because there was no chance of one. Even though this somewhat excited me, it scared me to death! Brett said, "If anyone can do this, you can. You want this and can do it!" He was so sweet and encouraging through the whole thing. So thankful for Brett. He was so proud of me even in this moment-such a beautiful part of labor and delivery to have such a loving 'coach'. I was quickly wheeled in the the delivery room, resisting the overwhelming urge to push. There was a resident doctor right there with me. Dr. Dulaney was not on call this weekend, so I heard them saying they were going to call the other Dr. who actually showed up just in time....to be there after Avery was born. Brett was remaining so calm on my behalf, allowing me to squeeze the life out of his hand. Coaching me to breathe in 1-2-3, breathe out 1-2-3. My crazy screams muffled him out though. I was that woman, screaming my lungs out. I remember telling the nurses in between contractions that I was their entertainment for the night. If there wasn't a lot more embarrassing things that happened during labor and delivery I probably would be mortified by the fact that I was a screaming lunatic that morning. I joke often about movies with labor and delivery scenes-they are never accurate....except for that morning, I was THAT lady on THAT movie. Seriously. The crazy woman who accidentally delivers a baby naturally.  Screaming.....and then 2 pushes later, at 7:24 AM, a beautiful baby girl basically fell out. (This means we were there MAYBE 20 minutes...including parking lot time-so when we joke and say if we had waited any longer at the house and Brett would have delivered in the car we mean it!) The most incredible relief, joy, and sense of accomplishment flooded over me. All 7 lbs 14 oz, 20 inches of her. She was worth every day of sickness, sleepless night, EXCRUCIATING pain. I had been looking forward to holding her, for this moment, and it was finally here. I would do it all over again gladly (just maybe get to the hospital a little bit sooner!). "How great a love the Father has for us, that we should be called children of God..." I remember that sweet verse being brought to my mind when Caden was born...and it returned again-How sweet it is to get a taste of the Father's love for us! Our sweet Avery Grace. Thank you Jesus for entrusting us with another precious gift. We are so blessed to be your mommy and daddy!

She's here! Moments after her birth: WHEW!

Real life: Caden didn't want anything to do with Avery or me until
I lured him onto the bed with MY dinner. That's my boy! 

So blessed to be her mommy.

 You are so deeply loved sweet Avie!