...and Baby Makes Three

As most of you may have heard, we welcomed Avery Jo into the world early yesterday morning. She is so precious and (as most parents say about their children) she's perfect. She was born on 6/23/10 (3 days early) at 6:56am at a wopping 7lbs 15oz and 18 3/4" long. The most surprising is that I was only in labor with her for 5 hours. I started having hard contractions around 2am Wednesday morning and they began at 4 minutes apart with absolutely no pain or clear warning of labor prior to my first contraction. We immediately left home and by the time we reached the hospital, I was already dilated to an 8. My contractions continued to be intense and by the time I received the spinal anesthesia around 5:30am, I thought I was going to die! They don't call it LABOR for nothin'! After I received the spinal and thanked Paul, the anesthesiologist continuously, Avery arrived on her own time right before 7am....only 5 hours from my first (felt) contraction.

These past few days have been a blessing and we can't wait to continue our lives with our new baby girl. Other than some breastfeeding trouble during the first day, Avery and I are doing quite well. We're slowly mastering the ART of breastfeeding and she continues to be a happy and healthy newborn who loves her daddy very much! It's only been 31 hours but her looks continue to change with every hour...looking more like her dad. Here are a few pictures of Avery and we will continue to post new pictures frequently.