avery turns SIX!



wow! it's hard for me to believe i have have a six year old but, here she is!

a little background on how avery came to be--don't be scared ;) i was told by 3 different doctors i would most likely never carry my own baby to full term. i had several miscarriages even using fertility medications....so, i gave up-decided to go back to school and figured harley and i could look into adoption when i was established working somewhere. i enrolled in a surgical technology program and when you get into the program you are required to sign a paper that states you will not get pregnant during your schooling. you obviously know what happened next. roughly 4-5 months into the classes you're required to take before you actually start the surgical courses i got knocked up! classy, huh?! :) i took a 4 week medical leave from the program because i was positive i was going to miscarry. i waited and waited for it to come--it never did. when i went back to school my instructor cornered me and ask the inevitable, 'why did you take a medical leave?' i was dreading the conversation with her and dodged her every chance i got...if you get pregnant you could get kicked out...i told her, 'i'm pregnant.' then i proceeded to tell her i was told pregnancy wasn't something that was going to happen for me etc..she didn't kick me out! wow. an exception? for me? i worked my butt off. it was hard. pregnancy is not kind to me. finally, there came the day my hands were literally too swollen to hold a pencil. i didn't want to leave school but knew i had to. my instructor promised me after avery was born i didn't have to be put back on the waiting list to get in. i was ecstatic!....
the night i went into labor i was terrified. what will happen? how will i know? i ate chinese food while harley and my dad installed a doggy door so our dogs could get in and out of the house to do their 'thing' while we were at the hospital. at about 1:30 a.m. my water broke. i was in bed and it wasn't a gushing flow experience like other people i know described but, i shot out of bed and ran into the bathroom panicked. i scream at harley, 'my water broke get my bag!' all i see is his arm reaching across the bed to my night stand and he grabs the 'what to expect when you're expecting' book and tells me to, 'hold on.' um, are you kidding me! i scream at him again and he jumps out of bed and off to the hospital we go.
when we arrived at the hospital i was only dilated to a 4 but, they still gave me an epidural. i labored for 10 hours. i remember sleeping--a lot--watching 'monty python and the holy grail' and waking up to a nurse looking up at me from the floor shocked... apparently i had fallen asleep and they needed to put a new iv in me. when she poked my hand with the needle i swung my hand up at her and yelled with as much gumption as i could muster, 'what the hell are you doing??' hey, nurses, don't ever try and pull a fast one on a patient when they're asleep ;) by the time it came to push my epidural had been bone dry for a while...it hurt. i remember looking at my ob with a panicked look and he said to me, 'the anesthesiologist is gone doing an emergency c-section so, it's just you and me. maintain eye contact with me like on 'runaway bride.' ouch. avery went into distress seconds before she was born and the cord was wrapped around her neck. i never heard the scream i was anticipating to hear. the nurse blocked my view of the nicu code team. they did cpr and intubated her. i was terrified. here i am, a woman told she would never carry a baby to term and when by the grace of god i do i kill her in the delivery! when they brought her to me before taking her to the niccu i couldn't hold her tight enough and felt so helpless. she had a tube down her throat to help her breath and an iv. it was one of the hardest images for me to witness-ever.
she was in the nicu for 4 days and then they let us bring her home. i was yet again-panic stricken. how do you expect me to take care of this helpless newborn after such a rough ordeal bringing her into this world?? somehow, i did it--we did it. i couldn't have done any of it without harley. that man was/is amazing-getting up in the middle of the night, feeding her, changing diapers, all of it. amazing.
it's been a crazy awesome journey raising this child. she's fiercely passionate, affectionate, funny and nurturing.
here are some of avery's favorite things:
...................................................
favorite movies: christmas movies
favorite color: silver
favorite food: french toast
favorite holiday: christmas
favorite animal: dolphin

avery wants to be a librarian when she grows up :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, miss avery! we love you!

*listen to sara bareilles: the light