Hello World...

...my name is Avery.

And with what only can be discribed as a ROAR, Avery Elizabeth Baker entered the world at 5:16 am on August 20, 2008.

At 12:30 am on August 19th, Christine's water broke, by 4 am we were at the hospital. My 9 am she was on pitocin and the contractions were getting stronger, but then it happened, or it actually wasn't happening. Christine was still only 1 cm dilated, she had been that way since August 18th, and now is was 11:30 pm on the 19th. She was having contractions like she should of been at least 7 cm, but she wasn't dilated any further and apparantly Avery was very happy to be where she was that, thank you very much

So after 11:30 pm, it was decided to give her an epidural to help her possibly relax more and more importantly help her with the pain. Usually they don't give epidurals until one is at least 3 cm, but with Christine's pain becoming more and more unbearable, it was necessary.

After a short little nap, at 4 am, August 20th, Christine was only 2.5 cm dilated; this is not good. So the options were presented which included, wait another 8 hours for a possible non c-section birth, but that was only about 10-15% likely of happening. Also at this point Avery's heart rate was dropping in between contractions making Christine have to frequently change positions. No fun also. So the likely hood of having a c-section was there no matter what, and we decided earlier that this was a good choice if needed.

At 4:30 am she was wheeled into the operating room and at 5:16 am, Avery came into the world. Mom and child are both doing very well. Christine is recovering on schedule and Avery is doing all the things babies do (eating, sleeping, pooping). She was 6 lbs 14 ozs and 19 inchs long, with a head covered in black hair.

We want to thank everybody for the love and support that has given to us and we are excited for Avery to meet you.

It's time

Christine and I are currently at the hospital. We have been here since about 4 am, a few hours after her water broke. Things are progressing slow and steady and hopefully we will have pictures of our little girl soon!

Due date- come & gone

Today is Friday, August 15th - Avery's due date, and no baby yet.

There has been a little more progress this week, and some probable undercover contractions. I've experienced some intermitent lower back aches, that I've been told by several other women are probably the beginings of contractions. So far nothing consistent or what I anticipate full-blown contractions to be. So we pray and wait expectantly for her arrival.

My next appointments (OB and acupuncture) are on Monday the 18th - more info then!

Waiting on baby

I went in yesterday, Monday the 11th for another check-up. Thankfully there was more progress, and even some dilation. For now we are going to stay the course with walking and acupuncture to get labor started.

I am scheduled for my next follow-up appointment next Monday the 18th (if no labor by then). My doctor said that he will look to induce the week of August 25th if Avery hasn't arrived by then.

My last scheduled day of work is this Thursday the 14th- yeah!! We are hoping that Avery arrives soon, so that I can spend my time off with her, instead of waiting for her. :)

The countdown begins

We are less then a week from Avery's due date- Friday August 15th.

At my appointment last Monday, August 4th there was a little bit of "progess". Tomorrow (Monday the 11th) is my next appointment, so I am interested to see what my doctor says at that visit. Last Monday he did suggest trying acupuncture to get things going- so I went once on Thursday and on Saturday, but so far no baby.

Overall I am feeling pretty good besides some swollen feet and hands. We know that Avery will come when she's ready, and we are getting more and more excited to meet her.

Just add baby...

It's 38 weeks and 2 days & we are officially ready for Avery to be born. Her laundry's done, car seat installed, swing assembled and room complete. So now we wait... I did have one contraction on Saturday afternoon, but that was it. I go in Monday afternoon for my 38 week check-up.

Here is a picture from 37 weeks and some pictures of Avery's completed nursery:

Time to shower baby!

We are approaching 32 weeks (on Friday June 20th) and closing in on two months until Avery hopefully arrives. This past weekend we attended a weekend childbirth class series, and feel a bit more educated and prepared for her birth.

As we continue to get ready, we have been blessed to have friends and family plan four baby showers for baby Avery. There was one shower on May 18th and one on June 7th, the other two are scheduled for June. Below are some pictures from each of the showers.

3/4 of the way there!

Our last appointment was a few days over 28 weeks, and everything looks very normal. I am measuring right on track- one centimeter per week along. Baby girl's heartbeat was a strong 145 beats/minute and she has already moved into a head down position with her bottom up near my ribs. I am scheduled for my next follow-up at 32 weeks which will be the last monthly appointment. After that I'll be seen every other week until 36 weeks, and every week after that until her debut. We have started taking some baby-prep classes and are amazed to think how fast time is going by.

Our preparations continue and things are continuing to come along with Avery's bedroom. Below are the most recent pictures of her room and a curent "profile" picture.

A bed near the window with Reed's old friend George keeping watch for the time being.

Dresser/changing table with a china doll my grandma gave me when I was a little girl.
Bookcase with baby's first books and some bins for toys.
30 weeks and counting.

Talk about a heat wave

Today hit record temperatures in the Seattle area. While driving back home around 3 pm, the car registered 93* outside!!! We spent the morning at the University Ave street fair, and Bailey met several other dogs. He however did not like the heat- nor did I, as my hands swelled up like sausages and I had to take off all my rings.

After the street fair Reed & Bailey went to the Bellevue park to sit in the shade and play with other small dogs while I looked around at the mall for some more warm weather maternity clothes. While leaving the park Bailey took an unexpected "dip" in the water fountain- head first. Luckily Reed was standing right next to him and was able to grab him out of the water before he realized what happened. Although he was startled, the water helped to cool Bailey off a little bit. Below is a picture of him relaxing in front of the fan, trying to keep cool.

Below is a picture of me at 27 weeks, also trying to keep cool. It's amazing to think that in about 3 months baby Avery will be here. We are still working on the nursery and will be taking our first baby-prep class in a few weeks.

A Spring snow, a crib, and a growing belly.

For those of you that don't know, it snowed in the Puget Sound area on April 18th. Yes, April 18th...almost a month after Spring started. We actually got snow on the 20th as well. Here is a picture of the snow coming down. After it was all done we had over 3 inches. It was terrible.

We have been working hard on baby Avery's room. We painted it, put together a bookcase, hung some shelves, put some wall decorations on the wall, put together a crib, took apart and sent back a crib because a screw was loose, and put together another crib. Here is a picture of the crib: Also here is a picture of Christine at week 24:
Lastly, a picture of what happens when you leave a 14 lb dog outside without supervision for 60 minutes, may this be your lesson from us to you, we obviously didn't learn the first time.

How cool is this....

On Thursday Christine and I went to Siemens Ultrasound to get another look at baby Avery Baker. Thanks to our friends the Van Gorkoms, who told us about Siemens Ultrasound, we got some great 3D pictures of her. Siemens pays you a little bit of money to come in and get an ultrasound done so then if the pictures are good, they can use the shots in their marketing material. We saw her heart beating, the blood flowing through it, saw her hiccup and she saw her moving her legs around all over the place. Here are pictures of the baby:

Her right arm is on the left and her face is in the center. You can see her eyes, nose, and mouth.

This is another picture of her face also in this shot is the unbilical cord (it's across her chin) she was playing with it when she wasn't playing with her toes.

This one is of her left arm and her leg. Check our that calf muscle!

Lastly, a short clip of Avery moving her fingers and giving you a sneak peek of her little chin and mouth.

Tomatoes & flips

Today marks the beginning of 19 weeks gestation for baby Avery. She has grown to the size of a large heirloom tomato and is approximately 6 inches from head to bottom (not including limbs). I've read countless articles online and talked with other mothers to figure out what the first movements feel like. Well now I can say that I know for sure.

Baby girl is more active in the morning (when I first get to work and sit down to check email), and in the afternoon (after lunch, and in the car on the way home). I definitely know now that what I'm feeling is the baby moving around - not just stomach rumbles.

It's not so much of a "kick" as a "roll and press" or a "flip". I'm sure that will change in the coming weeks, as 18-22 weeks is a time of significant growth for babies. At 22 weeks she should be the size of a spaghetti squash- or 11 inches. That's almost double the length in 4 weeks!

Here is a link to the website that shows a baby's growth by week in relation to foods. It's helpful for those of us that are a bit more visual, and kind of fun. :)

A 90% percent chance...

Today was the day that we went in for the "big" ultrasound. I wasn't able to be at the ultrasound that Christine had a few weeks ago, so this was my first time seeing the baby moving it's arms and legs and opening and closing it's hand and mouth. Obviously it is really, really cool to see those things and is definitely a testament of God's awesome power.

The baby was in quite an active mood and the ultrasound tech wasn't able to get a straight on view, but she said with 90% confidence that it's a....

Girl!!!

151 beats/minute

We started taking profile or "belly" pictures a few weeks ago. This picture is from 15 weeks and 3 days along.

I am now 16 weeks 4 days, and had a great appointment yesterday. The baby's heart beat is strong and we are scheduled for the "big" ultrasound on Friday, March 14th. In less then two weeks we should know if we're shopping for pink or blue. :)

Another picture

Christine had an ultrasound done last week due to a scare, thankfully everything is fine. She was able to see the baby moving it's arms, opening its mouth and rolling over. Here is the latest picture of baby Baker:


It isn't the best photo, it's a picture of a picture, but you can make out the head, body and we think we see a thumbs up in there somewhere.

Also here is a picture of Bailey and his friend Tula "throwing down", we figured we should probably show more then him just laying around the house. Though, when Bailey and Tula are done with 45 minutes of wrestling, all he wants to do is rest, that makes us happy.

Yeah- it's true...

we are having a baby... We'll wait for the shock to set in...

We found out on Friday, December 7th that we are expecting. So far we have had three check-up appointments (all good), two rounds of blood work (good also), an early ultrasound in January (very cool, the picture is above) and we heard the heart beat (awesome) at an appointment on Monday, February 4th.

As of today the expected due date is August 15th, 2008, which puts us just over 13 weeks along.

We are excited, surprised, thrilled, scared, and most of all grateful to have been given this gift. Please do continue to pray for the health and growth of baby Baker and Christine's health as well. Thank you for all of your support during this amazing journey.

Reed, Christine & baby (and of course Bailey)