and baby makes three.

well folks. it happened. zachary and i became parents. we have an 11 week old human being living in our house. {the important word here is 'living'.} i've been wanting to write this blog post almost every day for that 11 weeks, but haven't been able to. lately, it's been mostly cause i'm busy, but for the first 6 weeks it was because every time i thought about it, i wanted to break down and cry. i'll give you more on that later, but for now, there's a cute little miss in our life that you all need to meet.

so, where to start? i guess from the beginning. {don't worry, i won't go back to the very beginning. just for your sake. ;)}

•22 july 2013•

i woke up that morning at 5:27 am. i made my usual rounds on the social media sites on my phone as i tried to get myself to wake up. the top news story was that kate middleton had just been admitted to the hospital for early labor signs. yes. the duchess and i were going to have twinner babies. this was exactly what i had been hoping for all week! i kissed zachary on the cheek and told him the great news, then proceeded to get in the shower.

the entire time as i got ready that morning, all i could think about was how much our life was going to change.

"this is the last time i'll take a shower as a not mom."

"this is the last time i'll blow dry my hair as a not mom."

"this is the last time i'll get dressed as a not mom."

i was having a hard time wrapping my head around it, but i couldn't stop smiling. i then went downstairs for breakfast - zachary and i have a tradition on birthdays to have german pancakes for breakfast and we thought that this birthday should be no different.

we were told to be at the hospital by 7:00 am to be able to get everything prepped and ready to go by 7:30. well, that'd be totally acceptable for most people, but for some reason, i can't be on time to anything worth a darn. so, there we are, zachary, arika {zachary's sister/my bestie/our photographer} and i rolling up to the hospital at 7:25 am.

oh well. luckily i had already pre-registered for everything, so things went pretty quick.

we made our way to the fifth floor - the labor and delivery floor. i'd be lying if i said i didn't have butterflies up the wazoo. the nurse showed me to my room and had me change into my hospital gown. this was it. there was no going back. we would be leaving this place with a baby whether we liked it or not.

i laid on the bed as i got hooked up to an iv and waited for the doctor to come in about a half an hour later. she applied the induction gel and before i could even ask how long until contractions would start, they began to come. they were mild, but still there.

they had to monitor me for an hour and that was probably one of the longest hours of my life. not only were contractions getting harder, but let's just say that all those people who told me that your bowels wanting to be emptied was a sign of early labor - were totally right.

the moment they let me up, we took to walking the halls. it felt like i was in a movie. i didn't need to walk to induce labor because, well, the doc already had that covered for me. i walked to ease the discomfort.

after sitting on a medicine ball for as long as possible {because that thing is amazing}, back to the bed i went for more monitoring. i stayed there for about a half an hour and then the doc came in to check me. she said i was dilated to a six. yes, a six. i came in there two hours earlier at a five, how could i only be at a bloody six?! she broke my water though to speed things up and speed things up it did. not five seconds later, i started having intense contractions. like the kind that made me want to pull my uterus out. since my water was broken though, i couldn't get up and walk or sit on my exercise ball or anything. i just had to lay there. in a pool of warm amniotic fluid. uh. gross.

my goal in all of this baby having thing was to do it all without an epidural. not because i wanted to, but because i was terrified of the "big ginormous huge needle" that everyone so kindly told me about. no way josé was i going to willingly subject myself to that. that was until the contractions started bringing tears. no thank you. let's just say that the next time i have a baby {if there is a next time}, i'm asking for that epidural the moment i walk through those hospital doors. it was magical!

to spare you all the details, i started pushing like 45 minutes later and between my head wanting to explode and a couple bouts of falling asleep, out popped a baby! a beautiful, sweet, gorgeous baby. with the lungs of...err...something that has really strong lungs. man, that girl could scream! we didn't care too much. we had just experienced one of the most incredible moments in our lives and nothing was going to take away that special feeling of overwhelming love and gratitude in being able to create something so beautiful as a human life. 

adelaide candice averett

7.22.13

2:24 pm

7 lbs. 9.6 oz. 

18 1/2 inches long.

thankfully, things have gotten a lot better recently, because let me tell you - that first little bit was rooooough. but now we couldn't love this little girl more. ;) anyway, here's a video to sum up the big day. it's a little up close and personal, but arika captured everything so perfectly that i had to share. enjoy! {p.s. i don't know why, but this video kind of pixelated the pictures. for your viewing pleasure, i suggest you do it in full screen to make things crisper and cleaner. :) that's all.}

-the mrs.