Averie Lousie One Week

August 27, 2012 - Well our little girl, Averie Louise, made our world more beautiful on August 20, 2012. What a previous little girl she is! Justin and I are so happy and excited and in love with our little princess. She has been such a joy so far!
 
It is truly an amazing feeling to have this little girl in our life. I have never been happier in my life, except for the day I married my wonderful husband. September 10 will be our on year anniversary. I don't know where to start to thank my husband for all the wonderful things he has done for me during this entire pregnancy, labor, delivery and recovery. I truly believe I am the luckiest woman in the world to have the most amazing husband anyone could ask for and such a beautiful little girl. Thank you Justin for being there through all the stages of the this process. You are the absolute love of my life.

What happened on that fine day?

Milo Loves his Little Sister

Sunday, August 19 was a beautiful day. The entire weekend I was not feeling anything that would lead me to believe I was going into labor anytime soon. Justin and I both thought for sure that we would be at work on Monday. We spent most of the weekend around the house relaxing. I really did not want my water to break in public. We went for a walk down by Pfiffner Park Sunday afternoon and that was when I started to feel some contractions to the point that I needed to stop walking. There were very random so we were not sure what that meant.

Going Home from the Hospital

We went to Belt's and got some ice cream and then went home. We had been watching the show Dexter. I know...great show to watch before going into labor. I was feeling contractions throughout the rest of the day. Justin started keeping track of them late that morning.

Around 10-10:30 pm they started to become stronger. We went to bed because we weren't sure what was going to happen. I was waking up every 20 minutes from the pain so we decided just to get back up and watch tv since I couldn't sleep anyways.

We first called the hospital at 1:16 am to let them know that we would most likely be coming in that day. We wanted to be at home as long as possible. Contractions started getting closer and closer together. Around 2 am they were about 5 minutes apart. The pain was still tolerable to me at that point, so we continued to stay at home. We called the hospital again the let them know we thought it was time to come in. We ate a small breakfast and got to the hospital around 5 am. Got checked in and my first check I was dilated to 3 cm.

I was checked a couple more times and one time my water broke and then around 10:30 am I was dilated to 5 cm. At that point I decided that I wanted an epidural because that pain was getting too strong and they said that most women with their first pregnancy dilate about 1 cm every hour. Knowing that I had at least 5 more hours of that and then the actual pushing part, I thought it would be best to get the shot. I felt so much better. I could still feel my contractions which was good, they just were not as strong anymore. In the end, I am very happy that I got the epidural because of what happens later on.

Daddy and his little princess

Around 1 pm I was 7 cm and then at 3 pm I was ten cm and ready to start pushing. I pushed for three hours and then the doctor came in and gave us two options....C-Section or to use the Vacuum. In Lamaze class, Justin and I tried the vacuum on our hands and we thought at that time, no way would we use that, but on the day and after three hours of pushing and everything I went through already, I really did not want to have a c-section unless it was absolutely necessary. The doctor said we could try one more round of pushing, but if he couldn't get her out then we would have to do a c-section right away.

The vacuum turned out successful. I was very determined to not have a c-section so I pushed as hard as I could and if I didn't have the epidural, I really don't think I would have been able to push as hard as I did for as long as I did, so like I said, in the end, I am very happy with that decision.

Averie Louise Hoerter was born at 6:40 pm on August 20, 2012. She weighed in at 8 pounds 15 ounces and she was 21 inches long. Everyone in the room was very surprised that she was so big, as were Justin and I. I guess I just did a really good job growing her. At her doctor appointment today she weighed 8 pounds 9 ounces and already grew a half of an inch.

Grandma's

She is doing great. Mommy is doing better everyday. Daddy has the perfect touch to sooth her and he has been doing a wonderful job making sure mommy has a speedy recovery.

Averie is doing great with everything. She is a very calm baby. Of course she has her fussy time, but overall she is such a perfect little girl. She is nursing wonderfully and did right away from the beginning. She is sleeping well with some not so good days. Hope you all get to meet her soon if you haven't already. Enjoy the photos.

T-Minus One

August 17, 2012 - Well our big due date is tomorrow! I guess baby girl didn't want to come early. If she is anything like her daddy and I she will be a little late, as many know we are late to almost everything.

I have been feeling some things today and yesterday, so I have a feeling it will happen soon. We are both very excited and nervous. I will admit I am nervous and a little scared of the unexpected. I know it will be great. As my friend told me she just thought to herself, if all the other people I know can do this, I can do it too. So that is what I am thinking about. If everyone else can get through it, so can I!

We had a doctor's appointment this weekend and hopefully that will be the last one before the baby comes. I gained a total of 22 pounds so far. I was measuring exactly on the week every week until the past couple visits. He said that was because when the baby drops women tend to measure smaller. This last time I measured at 37 weeks.

I have had some minor swelling after a long day on my feet, but nothing that stayed. My ring still fits my finger, so that is good. My complaints at this point would be that my feet hurts a lot, especially my heels. My hips are sore from sleeping on my side all the time. I really miss sleeping on my stomach. I cannot wait for that. Other than that I must say I have had a pleasant pregnancy and would totally do it again. I feel very lucky for that.

We will post some pictures tomorrow. Just wanted to get something out here in case baby decides to come tonight! Keeping my fingers crossed!

37 Weeks

August 2, 2012 - We are in the  of month of August and that means two things...we are officially celebrating my birthday month (for those of you who don't know about this, once you hit 30 years of age, you get to celebrate your birthday month, not just your birthday day!) and the baby will be here any day now! I think it is so fun that baby girl is going to share the same birthday month as me. If we are both Leo's, we are really going to be fighting over being center of attention. I am sure we are going to drive Justin crazy once she becomes a teenager.

Well being so close to the due date is absolutely crazy. Every now and then I get these crampy feelings in my lower abdomen, but they go away. Today I have been feeling them for a few hours. It is so weird because right away I wonder if it is a contraction or not. It is painful, but not painful enough to take me off my feet by any means. It will be really interesting when it all does start because right now I just have no idea what to expect. Soon enough...

I have to say I have been feeling really good still. I am still tired all the time, but I have been getting up earlier every day and waking up more often in the middle of the night. I guess that is just God's way of preparing me for the arrival of our little girl. My feet have been hurting much more lately, but I have such a wonderful husband and he massages them for me whenever they are sore. He is so wonderful. I also had a wonderful pedicure this past weekend with my friend Kelly. It was wonderful. I got the mud wrap on my feet and it felt so amazing. I really enjoyed it. Thanks for going with me Kelly!

We had a doctor's appointment this week. We are at the point where we go every week now. Everything is good and I am measuring exactly to the week. I have gained a total of 20 pounds so far. These next few weeks I think they say you can expect to gain about a half pound per week.

Overall I will honestly say that I have had a wonderful pregnancy experience...I fell very lucky.

Here is our latest profile photo. I also put in our 4 Week photo just because I am so amazed when I look at these two photos next to each other. What a beautiful thing!

WE ARE SO EXCITED TO MEET YOU BABY GIRL!!!!

37 Weeks!

4 Weeks