Blessing Announcement

I just wanted to let everyone know that we'll be blessing Avery on January 2nd at our church which is at 100 S 200 W in Logan. Our sacrament starts at 2:20 and we'll be having a pot luck after in the gym. Tell everyone please so everyone will be able to come!

One Month From Heaven

It's pretty hard to believe that it's already been a month since Avery joined our family. It's been a fun month and I think Louis and I have done well with the adjustments it's brought. Avery's learned a lot, had her first babysitter and has gotten to go on a lot of fun trips.

Let's start with what she's learned. . .at about 3 weeks she rolled over from her stomach to her back! I know she didn't mean to but it was still very exciting. She's always rolling onto her side so I wondered if one of these times she'd just go all the way over. We have gotten the art of nursing down pretty well, we had a rocky start, but I'm glad it's going well now. She had jaundice when she was first born and had to be on a bilebed for a few days and I was told by my aunt who had some of her kids on one as well that babies with jaundice have a harder time nursing so maybe that's why it was so hard at first. She'd push away from me and pretty much refuse to eat, I had to pump and then give her a bottle. She would actually take the bottle with no problem which was slightly frustrating. It is so much better now though! She does pretty well with sleeping, she only usually get's up once during the night and hopefully (fingers crossed) she'll learn to sleep through the night.

Avery's Grandpa Brandley was her first babysitter. Louis had a work Christmas party that we went to and Joel came all the way up from Ogden to watch Avery for us. Everything went well and they had a good time together! Josh and Megan have also watched her, it was actually on Josh's birthday (we had celebrated the night before though) and they took her so we could go on a little date. I really appreciated it and was able to have a great time going out to eat with Louis. I'm grateful we have family close and family that are willing to watch her for us, even on their birthdays!

The past weeks have been a little busy for us. The Sunday after Avery was born Louis' brother Phillip was having his farewell. So we headed down to Ogden for that. He did a great job on his talk even though he was nervous! We also sang in the sacrament meeting and that went well too. Phillip was very grateful that Avery came early for him and that he got to spend a little time with her before he left. The Tuesday after that we headed back down to Ogden for Phillip's setting apart and to go to Sterling's basketball game. Which they won if I'm remembering right. That Saturday we once again went to Ogden to go to Kami's institute Christmas program which was really good, I always enjoy going to them.

So our little Avery is doing great and so are we! Here are some pictures of our first month with her.

This is usually how she sleeps, always with a hand by her face, even in her ultrasound pictures she had a hand up by her face like that

Grumpy face

After her first real bath, she hated it

Tummy time

Louis and Avery taking a nap, they do this a lot together

In her swing with the cute headband from Nanette

This was Louis' idea, but it's cute isn't it!

Avery Nola Brandley-birth story

Our little baby Avery is here! She was born November 22 at 11:31 A.M. 

She was 6 lbs 10 oz and 19 inches long. 10 fingers 10 toes and just perfect! 

I woke up at 3:30 in the morning having pretty regular contractions and stayed at home until 6:30. Louis was at work so I called my sister-in-law Celestial to take me to the hospital then called Louis so he could meet us there. He met us there just a few minutes after we got there. I was only dilated to a 3 when I got there which was frustrating because I was already a 3 at my appointment on Friday and after 3 hours of regular contractions nothing had happened! I was 100% effaced though. When my doctor came in I had dilated to a 5 though and within two hours was to a 8 and I swear 1 minute later I was to a 10.  I chose to do my labor un-medicated, partly because I wanted to prove to myself that I could, partly because millions of women have done it, our bodies are made for this, and partly because I hate needles and have you seen those needles they use to give you an epidural???  Things went well, I walked around while I could and rocked back and forth and that helped.  At one point they said Avery seemed to be stressed so they put me on oxygen, and honestly that helped me get through the contractions more.  It helped me to focus on my breathing and relax.  I think it helped speed things along in the end.  Right before I started pushing I was feeling a lot of pressure.  I have never been through labor before, I didn't know that it was Avery ready to come, I just thought I have to go to the bathroom haha!  I called in a nurse to help me up to go to the bathroom and then I realized no, I think I need to push!  We got back to the bed and my doctor was called!  When my doctor came in the baby was already crowning and 5 minutes later she was here! It felt like more than 5 minutes of pushing, but Louis told me it was only 5 minutes, my perception of time was messed up I guess!  When she was born they immediately put her on my chest and I cannot even explain the emotions that came over me at this moment.  I guess Louis cut the umbilical cord, but I honestly do not remember that, I was just focused on my Avery.
Louis was very helpful the whole time, he stayed so calm which was a huge help because I was not calm so he helped me stay focused. A very wonderful nurse named Leslie helped me so much as well. She wasn't even the nurse assigned to me, but stayed right next to me the whole time during the delivery and helped me to stay focused on what I needed to. It was all worth it and I'm glad I was able to do it naturally and that she's good and safe. . .and out of me! We're both doing well and are enjoying our bonding time!

Enjoy a bunch of pictures!

Right before heading out to the hospital

Getting to hold my baby girl for the first time

Getting cleaned off, and showing off her good lungs

6lbs 10 oz

Getting to hold her after she was all cleaned off

Proud Daddy!

Her first bath given by her daddy.

Uncle Phill was so happy she came early 

and he got to see her before his mission!

Sweet Daddy daughter moment

Getting ready for baby

Today at my appointment my doctor told me she wouldn't be surprised to see me come back in later today to have the baby! I'm dialated to a 3 and 90% effaced now and I've been having more contractions today than usual. I've been feeling about 2 a day lately and today I've felt around 7. They're not getting any more intese or painful yet, so we'll see how things progress! I'm trying not to get my hopes up though. I have two baby showers in Ogden this weekend that I'm hoping I can go to! I have one tonight with my friends (thanks Holly!) and one tomorrow with my family. So today I'm going to try to keep myself busy and get some things done around the house in case she does come today. I have laundry and dishes to do and I'm hoping to clean the house so I won't have to do it after. I also want to make a lasagna to add to the freezer stash I've been working on. I've added a few pictures of the baby room so people can see it. We've had our crib since I was 10 weeks I think, but didn't get any bedding until a couple of months ago. Which still may seem early for some people, but I'm the type of person who when I know something needs to get done, I like to do it as soon as possible so I'm not stressing about it later. We still need to buy more sheets though, we only have two. That's all for today and who knows maybe my next post will be about the delivery!

This is for Megan, she keeps asking what colors the bedding is. And Sarah do you like the little night stand??

Closer up on the bedding, so now you know Megan it's dark red and tan

The blanket we made for her

Just a quick update

Today I had a doctor's appointment and she checked to see if I was dialated and effaced. And guess what. I'm 2-3cm dialted and 80% effaced! Woohoo!! I was very surprised to hear I was this far already. I'm 36 weeks right now. The doctor was surprised too she said oh wow! She didn't expect me to be this far with my first pregnancy. I'm happy though! She said maybe I'll have a Thanksgiving baby, but also maybe I'll just be sitting at 3cm for the next 4 weeks. (hopefully not) I'm going in every week now though so we'll see how things continue to progress.