Avery's Birthday

Here's the story of our amazing little girl's arrival:

  Monday morning, Oct 18 (37.3 weeks), I got up and got ready for work like normal. I was having braxton hicks off and on while I was getting ready, but this was nothing new. I have had braxton hicks multiple times a day since 27 weeks. They aren't uncomfortable, they are just annoying. So I go on to work, get my assignment, and start my day. As i started taking care of my patients, I realized my back was very sore. It had been sore all weekend, but I thought I had over done it walking at the zoo and playing Frisbee golf. Again, nothing new, so I just brushed it off and kept going. By 930, I noticed my braxton hicks were pretty regular every 10-15 minutes. I was still calling them BH contractions at this point, because they felt the same as every other time before and they were so far apart i thought maybe I was imagining the pattern. this continued for many hours and I began to keep track of them. they progressively got closer together and by 3pm (my lunch time) I was having one every 5-6 minutes. At that point they were starting to be a little crampy, but nothing like what I thought they should feel like to be real contractions. I called Josh and told him about them and he told me to call the doctor, just to see what his recommendation was for the night. My doctor advised me if they got any closer together to go to triage and be checked out to see if this was real or not. So about 5pm I left work having contractions every 4-5 minute lasting about a minute each.
   Josh met me at Baptist and we got checked in. Once admitted they of course put me on the monitors to see what was going on and checked my cervix. Sure enough, after a day of what i thought were BH contractions, I was 1-2 cm dilated and 80% effaced. We were so excited! We were going to have a baby!!
   Many of you already know this, but we had been preparing for a natural, medication free delivery. We read and study the Bradley method for natural childbirth. I felt pretty prepared for the journey ahead, but of course was still anxious not knowing how things would progress.
   After being officially admitted to the hospital, we called our parents and they all began making their way to see the first granddaughter be born. Little did we know, it would be so many hours later. At this point, contractions were getting uncomfortable and lasting longer, but they were still nothing I couldn't talk through. We took a few strolls through the halls to help keep things going and finally decided to try and get some rest, before contractions got to the point I really needed to concentrate. Around midnight, I was checked again and to my disappointment I had not progressed very much at all. I was only at 3. The contractions started getting stronger and occasionally would go in to my back, which I must say is the worst pain. By 3am, I was at 5-6cm. this is where the Bradley method really was helpful. I had a breakdown around this point and couldn't relax through the contractions due to my crying. I'm not sure if I was crying from pain or exhaustion or a combination. Josh being the awesome husband and labor coach that he is, he was able to get me back on track and relaxing through the work. By 6am, I was 8cm and man were those contractions stronger. I couldn't wait until they said 10cm and I was able to start pushing. everyone has told me that once you make it to the pushing stage it is such a relief and it feels great to work with the contractions instead of relaxing through them. This was not the case for me. As we started the pushing phase, I felt some relief, but it was immediately followed by intense pressure and discomfort that we soon realized was due to Avery trying to join the world facing up instead of back. When babies try to do this, they often get stuck. she would make progress forward with each push, but when it was over she would go right back to where she was. To try and remedy this, we changed positions many times and got pretty creative. She refused to turn, so after an hour and a half of pushing without much progress, my doctor decided he was going to have to use the vacuum to help get her out. This was not something I was interested in, we had specifically said no to this type of intervention. However, when it came down to vacuum or possible C-section, we opted for the vacuum. With the assistance of the vacuum and a few good last contractions Avery Elizabeth Webb joined our family on October 19, 2010 at 0918, weighing 6lb 2 oz and 19 in long. She is perfect in every way!! :)
  So there you have it. The not so gory details of our natural delivery. It was hard and at times more painful than I had anticipated, but it was worth it and I am glad we chose the medication free delivery.
  Since then life has been great. It still seems surreal that she is here and I'm not pregnant anymore. Every time I look at her, I am reminded how faithful God is and how amazing His gift of life is! I will try to post a few pictures here, but see facebook for more. Thank you to everyone for their support, congratulations, and well wishes. We appreciate them all and I will do my best to keep the blog updated as our life with Avery continues to get better and better!