Avery Lynn

We can't adequately describe the moment our third beautiful little girl entered the world in the wee hours of yesterday morning.  Saturday evening as Steve and I walked the halls of the hospital to speed up labor, we talked about how excited we were to be so close to knowing whether the baby I was carrying was a boy or girl, and how thrilled we would be with either.  Three hours later the doctor held up a gorgeous baby girl- a mix of both of her big sisters, with a full head of dark hair-- and suddenly our family was more complete than it was before.  God has given us THREE little girls to raise for Him and even though the littlest one is only a day old I can't imagine having it any other way!  Here's the tiny face we were gazing at just minutes after the birth:

I don't think Steve or I ever pictured ourselves as the parents of three girls, but honestly can it get more wonderful than this?  Watch out, world, "The Deterding Sisters" are here!  Grace and Leah are completely smitten with their little sister and love to hold her and talk to her.  More pictures of that will come, I promise.  For now I thought I'd share Avery Lynn's birth story...it's not a long one:)

Saturday, March 26

Two days after I wrote about being peaceful in waiting for real labor to begin, I was still feeling pretty content.  At 1 pm I got a very sharp pain covering my entire abdomen, and then mild contractions began hitting every 5 minutes.  For four hours.  They were barely uncomfortable and never lasted longer than 30 seconds.  By 5 pm they were 4 minutes apart but still hardly worth timing, in my mind, because they were so weak.  The girls were packed up and sent off to Grandma and Pa's house so that Steve and I could look forward to a good nights' rest (I wasn't convinced that this was really labor and was becoming less content by the minute!).  At 7 pm they were 3 to 4 minutes apart, so I called the doctor on call to see if I should get checked out.  When he heard that it was my third pregnancy he asked me to come in, even though the contractions were only lasting 15 seconds and still very weak.  By 8pm we were in triage (I checked in to triage at around 8 pm for all three pregnancies, isn't that interesting?) and I was 3 cm dilated, 90% effaced.  We were told to talk a stroll around the labor and delivery unit for an hour, then check back to see if there was any progress.

After our walk I was no longer doubting that we'd have a baby that night.  I was having contractions every minute and was 4-5 cm by 9:30 pm.  Upgrade to the delivery room, and we barely had enough time to call the grandparents before labor got intense.  At 11:03 I got my epidural (5 cm) and settled in to wait for the next 5 cm.  By 11:45 the epidural had worn off of my entire right side, so for the next 15 minutes we tried to readjust my position to get the medication where it needed to be.  6 cm.  As midnight approached Steve finally pushed the button for an extra dose of the epidural, thinking that I'd have a while to go waiting to progress 4 more centimeters...but had I known...

Sunday, March 27

At 12:05am we called the nurse and doctor back into the room because I suddenly became aware that the  baby was coming.  I mean, coming OUT.  I had made it to 10 cm in about 2 minutes and my doctor started throwing on his delivery gear.  The nurse told me I could push a little bit to relieve the pain, so I gave a little half-hearted effort at one push.  As the doctor slipped his last arm into his gown and sat down in the chair, out came the baby at 12:08!  It took her less than a minute.

It all happened so fast, I'm still trying to get over the shock.

Avery Lynn Deterding was born Sunday March 27, 2011
12:08 am
7 lbs. 9 oz.
20 inches long

We're so happy that our friend Stacy was there to document Avery's birth.  Thanks to her skills with the camera, she was able to beautifully capture every moment-- fleeting as they were!   Thank you, sweet friend for giving us this beautiful gift of being able to relive our girl's birth day in photographs!  I'm so excited to share them with you all, too.

To view a slideshow of Avery's birth, click on the link below.  Be sure to turn on your computer's volume and have the tissues handy.  God is so good, I'll tear up every time I watch it.

Avery Lynn's Slideshow

Peace

I think that "peace" will have to be the theme of my Project 52 this week.  I haven't taken any pictures all week because I'm too busy trying to induce labor and time contractions, but I'm sure I can come up with something that shows "peace".  Here's the story.

I've been banking on having a newborn in my arms by this time and it's just not happening.  Women who are 39 weeks pregnant are, for the most part, always anxious to go into labor and I've been no exception.  This pregnancy has challenged me physically in many ways- and it's been hard to see my higher-than-usual levels of pregnancy discomfort affect my ability to care for my family over the past 9 months.  However,  I've been blessed to have a healthy pregnancy without any complications, for which we as a little family daily thank God.  

When all the "signs" pointed to an early delivery, I set my heart on it and imagined the bliss of having my body to myself again.  And as silly as it may sound (especially to those who have never been pregnant), I was NOT supposed to be waiting, still, for our baby today at six whole days before I'm even due :)

I went to the OB today and saw a doctor that I hadn't seen before.  She told me that I was maybe 2 cm dilated and then launched into a conversation about inducing me on April 5th and setting up appointments for next week.  After two straight nights of false labor, and having been told a week ago that I had progressed to THREE cm and would likely be in labor soon, I was a little discouraged on my drive home from the doctor's office.  

Then I started preaching truth to myself.

-- I can't be discontent with the sovereign plans of a God who loves me and loves my unborn baby so much that every detail of this pregnancy and the future delivery have been planned for our ultimate good.

-- It's not the end of the world if Grace and her sibling share a birthday.  Actually, it will make a 4-year old Grace extremely happy!  The thing I've wanted most was some space between their birthdays, but that's not how we do things in the Deterding family anyway so I need to let that go (right, Steve and Amy?!)

That's all I really had to say to myself to snap out of it.  So, there's been a restoration of peace in my heart and I hope it remains even if I'm headed for another night of regular contractions!

Birthday girl-- she's going to be four next week, I just can't believe it:

And the Competition Begins

Baby Three Baby Poll

Kaz and his Cuz

We're estimating that our nephew Kaz and his cousin are about the same size in this picture.  

(One is a bit more cramped, however).

Rite of Passage

Grace got a little too creative with some scissors on Sunday, and as a result she's now sporting a new short style for the Spring season.  Thanks to her cowlick, the clipped bangs are sticking straight up!

Baby Time!

After months of waiting, it's finally time for these Deterding kids to make an appearance!  Our sister-in -law Laura and Steve's brother Jimmy welcomed Kaz over the weekend, and we're so thrilled for them!  Uncle Steve and Aunt Heather (and of course Aunt Heather's camera gear) went to the hospital yesterday to meet him and bask in the glow of the new first-time parents.  I'm happy to share some of the pictures I took here because 1) Kaz is absolutely precious and adorable and perfect (and sleepy, too), and 2) I'm a very proud Aunt, and finally 3) I know that our out of town family will appreciate as many pictures of the little guy as possible!  I narrowed them down to 8 favorites but there certainly are more, I couldn't help myself.

Here he is!

The Things I Do To Pass Time

I'm enjoying a day at home all by myself, and in between fake contractions I'll be working on the chair a friend is helping me reupholster, watering our seedlings for the garden, napping, eating ice cream, napping, and doing my taxes.  And napping.  First, though, I discovered that you can add a poll to our blog.  Why not?  If you feel so inclined, vote for boy or girl on the sidebar to the right.  Then play in our Baby Poll.

It's pretty obvious that I have baby on my mind, isn't it?  Hehe.