38 hours of labor and one C-Section later…

 Avery’s first picture came after 38 hours of labor and one C-section later.  He was born on Friday, September 8, 2006 at 5:21 in the evening at 8 lbs, 8 ozs and 20 1/2 inches long.  Here’s the story…

So there I was…minding my own business, sleeping like a baby at 3:30 on Thursday morning, I went into labor.  We went to the hospital on the direction of our doctor at 5 am.  After a few hours of checking everything out, they sent us back home.  Todd went to work and I stayed home (because, ironically, my doctor had just given me a note not to go back to work until after the delivery).  I went all day in labor until Todd came home.  We were timing the contractions to see what the status was and as of 10 pm we were back at the hospital with contractions that were 3-5 minutes apart.  We were officially in labor.  I was progressing so the nurse told me I had just bought myself a one-way ticket.  One way or another I was not leaving without a baby.  Ooo, scary, but exciting.

After a while, my labor had stopped progressing (I was at 5 centimeters for who knows how long) so my doctor decided to break my water to move things along.  (And I thought those first contractions were bad…I was in for a treat!)  Still no progress.  They decided the only other way to go was C-section.  So they prepared me for the surgery. 

It turned out to be a good thing that we did the C-section, we found out that Avery’s head was stuck (kind of like a backwards pretzel).  Those are some very scary words to hear your doctor say from behind the curtain.  After a disturbing ‘pop’ I heard the most beautiful sound I ever heard…my son’s first crying breath as he entered the world.  As they finished sewing me back up, Todd went to meet our new son (yelling out the play by play of his stats and how he was doing).

 Our first family photo.

Some more photos of the week…after that, I will post more info on the birth a little later.

20 and a half inches long

Beautiful baby face

Aunt Mary made him a blanket

So did Great Grandma Brown

He has the cutest little feet

Avery and his very proud Daddy