Avery Catherine Scott

Our baby is here!! Avery was born at 4:58 am on Friday, July 15th (a full moon!!). She weighs 9 lbs 2 oz, 22 inches long and has dark brown hair. Here is a summarized version of our birth story without too many yucky details :)

I woke up at 1am on Friday morning and tossed and turned for an hour because I just was feeling yucky. (Earlier that day I had a "talk" with Avery and told her I was ready whenever she was). At 2am I got out of bed and watched TV for a half hour and realized my yucky feelings were coming and going pretty regularly and they were getting a little worse. I got Paul out of bed and he sat with me for a half hour and we decided to call Ann (my midwife)

She got to our house around 3:10am. I was only 2 cm dilated and my contractions were irregular enough that she thought my uterus might have just been irritated (same thing happened with Maddy). Within 10 minutes my contractions became very intense and were getting closer and closer. Paul called my dad at 3:50 am to come and get Maddy while Ann blew up and filled the birthing pool. (For those of you who didnt' know, we are those "crazy" people who have their babies at home, I highly recommend it if you are healthy enough.)

My official active labor started at 3:50am. I got in the pool soon after that and the hot water made things much more bearable and helped me enjoy the "down time" between contractions. I was a little nervous because I felt like I had to push right away. Ann checked me and I was already at 9 cm with a little to go! Ahhh! She said to push if I felt like I had to. I really didn't want to tear and I couldn't believe that I would be pushing less than an hour into my labor...

My pushes were pretty strong and got Avery down right away and there her head was...waiting to come out! Ann talked me through pushing and "panting" so I wouldn't tear. I really just wanted to push her head out but I had to be careful and let it go gradually. After her head was out I just needed a deep breath and a little pep talk "This next push and I get to meet Avery" and out she came! One hour and 8 minutes into labor. Holy moly. Is that even possible? We were all blown away and I was very proud of Avery and my body for knowing what to do.

I think having a baby is the most empowering thing a woman could do. I really feel like I could do anything after I just had Avery. She is so beautiful and I am so proud of what a good and loving big sister Madelyn already is. Lots of kissing hugging and patting her head.

O yea, one small side note.... my dad didn't make it to the house to pick up Maddy in time and Avery was born before he got here. Madelyn slept through the whole thing, which is pretty insane considering how intense things were. Thank you Lord! I don't know what I would have done if Madelyn came out to see Mommy in so much pain and all that, it really is awesome that God kept her asleep. later I find out that Dad got here when I was pushing but knocked, Paul ignored the door, so Dad waited outside for a while and tried again after the craziness was over. Wow.

Pictures are on their way, www.picasaweb.google.com/e.ann.scott for the whole album.