Just Thought You Should Know...

We had our baby girl! Avery Cynthia Carr was born on 4/5/12 at 10:42 PM, weighing 5 pounds, 10 ounces.

I just don't have the energy to type up a long birth story right now, so I'll just tell you some tidbits.

• She was 35 weeks when she was born-  a surprise. I thought my preterm labor was being pretty effectively managed. 
• I labored the whole night before, went into the doctor's the next day, got sent to the hospital and then had her 12 hours later. 
• I had an amazing epidural. I'm not ashamed- it was a great experience. No pain, no loss of sensation. It was also helpful in slowing my progression down (It was going really fast for about an hour or two) and gave the doctors time to give me full rounds of antibiotics. (I was GBS  positive again and they treat it very seriously if you've had a previous NICU baby.)
• I pushed 3 times- a very stark difference to Adam's birth which was 2 hours of pushing.
• As soon as she came out, I named her, I'm embarrassed to say. We had talked about names, and Avery was our favorite, but I pushed her out and instantly said, "Her name is Avery." I'm still not sure why I did that- I feel awful for Jeff. I stole his naming vote!
• She's named after a character on 30 Rock (ha) and Jeff's mom.
• It was a very easy delivery. It would have been completely trauma-free for me (re: tears), but Avery had her arm by her head and did a weird little pivot as she came out. Regardless, I still felt really good afterwards.
• Here's another embarrassing one- I felt so good after having her that I called my mom seconds later. I pushed her out, named her, and called my mom as I delivered the placenta. Yes, I just admitted that online. It was weird- I know.
• She came out pink and screaming. 9 and 9 on her APGAR's. (Adam was 4 and 7)
• She didn't need to go to the NICU! (But on a related note, we were released from the hospital too early. She wasn't eating and her jaundice levels were elevated, but they still sent us home. I  am still mad about that- she got re-hospitalized with super high levels of jaundice and a pretty big weight loss a day later.)
• Adam is doing well with the changes- much better than I thought he would. He loves to visit her while she sleeps and loves to point out her body parts. See this video.
• I've been a little blue, I have to admit. So far, I think my blueness has been justified, but I am a little worried about PPD. I definitely have some risk factors- we'll see.
• Jeff can take up to 6 weeks of leave at 60% pay off of work. Good news- that's awesome. Bad news- we can't live on 60% of income for very long. The rent is too darn high! We will be using some of that time to visit family and friends in July. (Sun Valley, IF, and Salt Lake for about 2 weeks.) 
• She looks like Adam. People say she doesn't, but Jeff and I say she does. 
• Since she was early and is a bad eater, I nurse her, supplement with a bottle, and pump. This takes at least an hour- sometimes more. She eats every 3 hours, so my time is limited. She's getting more alert and starting to wake up on her own for feedings. Hooray!

Here are some pictures! 

First picture.

Right before getting discharged the first time.

Home after the second discharge. 

Adam likes her!

She's very sleepy most of the time. It's fun to see her start to wake up.

Two kids- yikes!

Tummy time.