Last day

This is the last day that my baby will be a baby. :(
Last year at this time, I woke up with pressure cramping... didn't think it was contractions though. However, I timed them anyways. They were very irratic ranging from just a few minutes apart to 18 minutes apart. They stopped in the afternoon for awhile, then started again in the evening a little more intense. They continued throughout the night, after we had all gone to bed, and I woke up about twice an hour or so with another one. At about 4am, I woke up with one that was particularly painful, and it was then that my water broke. I woke up Derek, told him my water broke, and he proceeded to get up and get ready to go and get Jadon ready. I told him I didnt think we needed to go quite yet because, up until that point, the contractions had still been quite far apart. Luckily he didnt listen to me. Instantly they became regularly 5 minutes apart, and getting much more painful.
We got to the hospital around 430 or so. When I got to the labor room, the nurse checked me and I was dilated to 5cm and requested an epidural. She said that it would be a little while before the anesthesiologist would be able to get there to administer the epidural... I was wondering how in the heck I would survive much longer with this INTENSE pain! Just 5-10 minutes later I felt an incredible and uncontrolable urge to push. The nurse checked me again, and what do you know, fully dilated! The called the on-call OB doctor to come in, and then the midwife came in until the OB got there. They didnt want me to have Avery until the OB got there, so they made me breath through the contractions. HOLY HECK, that aint easy! Neither Derek nor I had prepared for a medication-free delivery, so luckily one of the nurses stepped in and helped me focus on breathing. Let me tell you, it takes every ounce of concentration to not push through those things! Whew!!!
Once the OB got there, neither Avery nor I wasted anymore time, and out she came at 5:28am, October 8th, 2009! All 7lbs 9oz, 19.25 inches of her! First thing I noticed was her fat little thighs, and that felt good to know that her time spent in me baking was worth it. She was perfect!

Today, she is full of personality, adorable, demanding, yet she's got me wrapped around her finger, and I know its only a matter of time before she's got her daddy wrapped around her finger as well! ;)

Here is the slideshow I made of Avery's first year of life. I hope you enjoy....to the grammas, you might want to have some kleenex with you when you watch it! ;)