The Rippee's: April 2009

Averi Mae was born April 6th at 9:21 am. She weighed 6lbs 14 oz and was 19in long. She decided to come 3 weeks early and really surprised her parents. My water had broke around 7am on the 5th, but I didn't really think that was what had happened. I woke up wet and thought that maybe the baby's head had hit my bladder and I just wet myself. So, I cleaned myself up and went back to bed. I woke up another hour later and was wet again and didn't really think much of it. At 11 am Gary told me to call the hospital because he thought my water had broke. I called the hospital and they said that I should come up because it did sound like my water had broke. My step mom was having a shower for me that day so I asked if I could go to the shower and then come up, they said sure. So, I went to the shower....it was a fast one, and then went up to the hospital around 4:30pm. At that time they checked me and really wasn't 100% positive if my water had broke so I went for an ultrasound and at the time it was verified. The doctor decided to let me progress on my own and let me tell you that took forever. At 4am they decided to induce me since I wasn't progressing at all. By 6am I was still at a 1 and the contractions were starting to hurt. The nurse told me that I couldn't get the epidural until I was at a 3 or 4, but could see about giving me a relaxer. So she gave me something that was suppose to help me sleep between contractions, however by time I received this lovely drug my contractions were 3 minutes apart. The doctor came in around 8am and said that he was just going to keep an eye on my and let nature takes it course. I asked him to check me and he said no because they had just checked me 2 hours earlier and nothing had changed and didn't want to risk an infection. When the doctor left the room I had the worst contraction ever and told the nurse that I felt like I needed to push. She checked me and Averi was ready to make her appearance. The nurse had to run to get the doctor because he was getting ready for a c-section so that he could come in to deliver our little girl. By this time I was freaking out because my chance of getting the epidural were over and I was going to have this baby without drugs, my worst nightmare. After about 40 minutes of pushing, Averie Mae Rippee entered this world. The pain was the worst experience ever, but the end was result was well worth it.

Here are some pictures of the day she was born and her first day home. They aren't in any kind of order, enjoy!!