Who would have thought?! Apparently our daughter wanted to come out early much to our surprise. I thought I had so much time to prepare for childbirth, nursery decor, finish reading a couple parenting/baby books...I was finished with work this Wednesday and was looking forward to my time off--being able to prepare and "nest" before the arrival of our daughter. Then on Saturday morning I thought my water had broken and so in I went to just check and see if it did or not. I didn't actually think it had, but I just wanted to make sure so we went to the hospital. When I went in they told me that my water had not broken but that I was dilated to 3 centimeters. They decided to keep me overnight for observation to see if I progressed any and to monitor the baby's heart rate. So the next morning I started feeling some contractions and they told me that I had progressed to 5 centimeters and that I was having this baby even though I was only 36 weeks. I was extremely shocked and pretty emotional at first...I just thought that the baby might not be ok if she came out that early. But the doctor told me that lots of baby's are born this early and perfectly fine. Also, they said that "baby knows best" when it comes to knowing when to come out. Anyways, so the labor was pretty painful to say the least. Luckily, I was able to overcome my huge fear of getting an epidural because without it I don't know how I would have coped with that much pain. Brian and my mom were such a great support for me. I am so glad Brian was so sweet and helpful the whole time. Looking back, I must say: delivering a baby is the hardest thing EVER, no question. Above is me after I got the epidural.
Avery Michelle Norton was born on February 8, 2009 at 8:07 p.m 6lbs. 11oz 20 1/2 inches long
Above is when she was getting checked in the NICU; she is less than an hour old here--they returned her to us pretty quickly once they determined she was breathing fine. She has her mom's long fingers and toes.
She is just the cuttest, most precious baby! We are so lucky.
Daddy's little girl
This is my favorite picture of her--she looks so happy and just SO adorable. I am so glad Brian is such a great photographer! We are so happy Avery is finally here!
11 comments:
Congratulations! What a beautiful baby and cute name.
It really is true that the baby knows best. My first came at 35 weeks and was perfectly healthy. Congratulations. I love the hair. What a precious little baby.
Brian, you are such an awesome photographer!!! I guess its not that hard when you have such beautiful subjects!
She is so cute, lots of hair! Congrats, Brian will be an awesome dad! Girls are so much fun. She's the same size and weight our little girl was. Glad all went well. There is nothing better than knowing you have a healthy baby!
We are so blessed to have another beautiful healthy baby in the family, and she is so cute. I think Heather she looks like you. It is so incredible that she has so much hair and so dark, wow, she doesn't look at all like a Norton but in time that may change. She is beautiful, what a good job you did. Five girls and 6 boys in the grandchildren pool.
I know you both will be wonderful parents. I bet Brian is going to be like his dad, always kissing her cheek.
Congrats on your new baby girl! She's very beautiful and I love the dark skin and hair. I'm glad that you are both doing very well!
I know I already said it, but congratulations!!! It's weird how having a baby brings all moms together. We all know exactly what it means to have a baby and heal. Good luck. I am so ridiculously jealous of the hair. She literally has more than what Peyton had at 1 yr!!
I love it! She's ADORABLE, and GORGEOUS! And I can't believe you missed out on that ninth month! What's the fun in that? Lucky! j/k (well, not really) I'm glad everything went well and she's healthy! How fun for you guys, what a new adventure!
Congrats!!!! What a beautiful little girl and I LOVE her name! Hope you're all doing well and hang in there: the first little while is rough! But it soon shall pass!
P.S. I didn't realize that you were a photographer until a minute ago. Your work is gorgeous!!! Daniel is a photographer too so I love to look at other people's work. How long have you been doing it? Is it what you do for a living or is it on the side?
We are so glad you and the baby are fine. We are anxious to see Avery and the family. Let us know when the best time is to come by. We can work around Avery's schedule. She is so beautiful. I thought Haley was small when I held her. Hope you are doing well Heather.
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