Someone once told me that God gives you a reserve of love that only your child can tap into. I don’t know that I fully understood the weight of this until the day I met you. I am in awe – you are perfect. I have never known a love like this, and I fall more and more in love each day. When you cry, my heart literally breaks. When you smile (even though you have no idea what a smile even means), my heart fills with an unimaginable amount of love and happiness. I just smile like crazy back at you and pray you don’t think I’m a lunatic. I love watching you and your Daddy together – he is the proudest father. When you frown, cry or even hint that you might not be perfectly content, he tries everything in his power to console you. The day you were born was the most incredible day for your father and me. Avery, I am writing you this letter to tell you about the day you changed our lives forever.
On Thursday, April 19th at 8:30 am we went to our weekly OB
appointment. After the usual weight,
blood pressure, and measurement check, I was still at 3 cm dilated and 80%
effaced - same as the week before. Without going into too much detail, our physician
asked if I wanted to have a “sweep” procedure done. This procedure does not make you go into
labor, but produces a hormone that can speed labor along. Of course I was willing to try anything. After the appointment, I went to work and
completed an entire day. I didn’t feel
any different – just minor cramping, but knew it could take 24-48 hours to work,
if it was going to work at all. When I
got home, your Daddy thought it would be a good idea to go for a walk to see if
that would help. We walked for about a
mile around the neighborhood. After our
walk, our friend Jamie came over for dinner, and by 8:30 pm I had determined
you had decided not to come that night.
I was wrong. Around 9:30 pm I
started having contractions about 10-12 minutes apart. I wasn’t certain if this was the real thing
or just more Braxton-Hicks contractions, which I’d been having frequently. I told Daddy that we should go to bed because
if I was in labor, the contractions would only increase in frequency and
intensity. The doctor had also told us
not to call unless my water broke or the contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. We had plenty of time to wait. I woke up at 11:30 pm with very painful
contractions and all labor pains were in my lower back. At that time, I realized I wouldn’t be going
back to sleep, but told your father to get as much rest as he could. I moved myself out to the living room and
propped up in front of the TV as I continued to time the contractions for the
next 3 hours. By 2:30 am, they were 4-6
minutes apart and very, very painful. I
tried everything in my power to take my mind off of the pain. I took a shower, played on the internet, but nothing
was working. With your father’s
persistence, I finally called the on-call physician (Dr. Gaines) and she said
it was go time. We grabbed our bags and
headed to the hospital.
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| After the first round of pain meds, but before the epidural |
Upon arriving at Carilion Clinic around 3:15 am, the nurse said I would need to be checked to make sure we would be staying. I was in so much pain that I was staying regardless, but I didn’t tell the nurse that! Lucky for us, I was 5 cm dilated and the nurse gave us the green light to contact family members – we were having a baby! I was given some pain medication, and an epidural, and by 7:00 am I was 7 cm and 100% effaced. Apparently, you were just as eager to meet us as we were to meet you. At this point it was just a waiting game. The physician (Dr. Martin – they had a shift change) decided it was time to break my water. Finally, by 9:30 am I was 10 cm dilated and I thought ready to push, but much to my own dismay, the physician said she wanted to let me “labor down” for a little while. I learned very quickly that this was code for letting you drop as low as possible before I started pushing. Luckily, your Mimi and Noni arrived around this time, which proved to be a nice little distraction as we awaited your arrival. Around 11:40 am, Dr. Martin asked Noni and Mimi to step out as she wanted to check my progress. Apparently, you were exactly where you needed to be, because I was asked to start pushing and you were born 14 minutes later at 11:54 am. As soon as you were born, they placed you on my chest. At that moment, your father and I fell in love. We were overwhelmed with so much joy, we both just cried. And don’t worry, because you cried too. A lot. In fact, you cried for the next 3 hours straight. In your defense, you were extremely hungry, but we weren’t able to give you a bottle until we were moved to our postpartum room downstairs and you were given a bath. But, you were upset, nonetheless. You’re like your Mommy in that regard, don’t mess with our food.
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| First family pic |
The next few days in the hospital felt like a whirlwind. You had so many friends and family members come to visit you and even your cousins, Trey and Karoline, came to say hello. There was one night that your father and I chose to send you back to the nursery to allow us to get a few hours of sleep. Around 5:00 am the next morning our nurse, Mary Ann, brought you back to us as you’d been crying for three hours straight and they couldn’t get you to calm down. As soon as she put you in my arms, you calmed, fell asleep and slept for the next 3 hours straight. You just wanted your Mommy and I was happy they brought you to me. It’s unbelievable how much I missed you in that short four hour span of time. It made my heart hurt to know you’d been crying for that long and I had no idea.
The next day we were discharged from the hospital and were so
excited to take you home. Exactly one
week later, I am watching you as you sleep in your favorite lamb seat wondering
how it’s possible that you were born a week ago. Time is already flying and it’s unbelievable how
much you’ve changed over the last seven days.
You are already more alert, you have your likes and dislikes, you’ve developed your own little
personality, and your Daddy and I are just
learning as we go.
And that, my little pea in the pod, is your birth
story. I am so excited to embark on the
journey we call parenthood. I’m nervous, anxious, scared and every other emotion imaginable, but I can promise you
this – I am more excited about this journey than I’ve ever been in my entire
life. I love you.
Love always,
Mommy and Daddy
