Avenlea Dawn

Avenlea Dawn Mitchell, 6lb 14oz arrived at 3:17am on August 29th, 2013. Here is her little birth story: I started having mild contractions the night of the 27th around 9:00. The doctor had stripped my membranes earlier that day so I was hoping this was the real deal. I wanted to go into labor on my own so bad this time but also wanted to have Mamma here for a while with the baby so I was torn as to get an induction or not. I was dilated to a 3 so the doctor said I could be induced any time. Anyways, the contractions were about every 6-7 minutes but were not very intense and I went to bed hoping to go into real labor. I woke up at about 4:30 with a strong contraction. The next one was about 15 minutes later so I slept in 15 minute increments until about 7. Well, these strong contractions lasted ALL DAY and got stronger around 3 pm but still no closer together, about every 10 minutes. When Nate got home from work we packed up and headed to Em's knowing I would either go into labor or get induced in the morning.
So we stayed at Em's for a while with the contractions still not getting closer. I was getting a little annoyed by this time because the contactions hurt a lot but weren't getting me any closer to seeing my sweet baby. I went for a walk around 6 and that seemed to do the trick. While walking the contractions came every 5 minutes and by the time the babies were asleep at 8:30 I was ready to go into the hospital with the contrations coming every 3-4 minutes. HaHa, Nate told the LONGEST version of Goldie locks and the Three Bears that has ever been told. The whole time I was just thinking I need to get out of here and get to the hospital because the contractions were getting so close together, but he just kept plugging away with his story. I finally had to whisper for him to "wrap it up" because it was getting hard to sit on the floor and not show pain with the babies watching. Anyways, they kept me and I asked for my epidural right away. It had been a long day dealing with painful contractions and I was ready for some relief. The anesthesiologist came in really quickly and placed the epidural and I felt much better. I took a short nap, they came in, broke my water, and we did more waiting. After they broke my water they tried to start Pitocin but little Avenlea didn't seem to like that very much so they unhooked it pretty quick and things continued to progress on their own.
So around 3 am I was complete and ready to push. I pushed 3 times with one contraction which brought her down all the way and with the next contraction I pushed once and her head came out and again and out came her little body. She cried right away and so far has been perfectly healthy. We love her so much already!!

 Sweet baby girl

 Chloe was so excited that her new baby sister finally came out of mommy's tummy. She asks me if now I can do spin flips because the baby came out.. what a funny girl.

 Big brother Blain loves his new baby sister

 Em and Marie came to visit while we were in the hospital -- Molly came too but I couldn't find the pictues...

 Family of 5!!

 Kisses from her brother and sister

 Getting ready to go home

 Coming home outfit

Having this precious baby for a little over a week now has been such a blessing. She loves long naps and even lets Mommy get some sleep at night with occasional 4 hour stretches of sleep. She nurses like a pro and already has a cute little personality which I can't wait to see more of!

 

The New House
We made it into the new house with a whole 5 days to spare before baby came! We moved in (with ALOT of help due to my giant belly and Nate's recent surgery) on Saturday the 24th and we are loving everything about it. Now that we are settled and all our stuff is in I am IN LOVE with this house. Our stuff fits great, we have plenty of room, the outside yard and pasture are a dream come true. Chloe and Blain have liked the house since we first moved in. They don't ever want to leave in fact, Chloe even refused going to the park because she wants to stay at her "new house" I think having all their toys out of boxes again has helped with the transition. But everything is out of boxes thanks to Mamma and pictures are hanging on the walls thanks to Nate. I mostly just point and say yes it looks good :) We have discovered a couple more mini plum trees and the big apple trees are getting SO close to being ready to harvest!

 

Chloe and Blain are back to their normal ways, including song writing and piano playing!

Looking at the hot air balloons that we've seen a couple times - still need to investigate where and why they are being launched.

 Chloe and Blain love their Grandma!

And so does Avenlea!

 Grandpa Tony and Grandma Peggy drove all the way from San Diego over the long weekend to come and visit little Avenlea. It was so nice to see them and Avenlea loved getting to meet her grandparents. They also took Chloe and Blain out and bought them a new toy each for being a good big brother and big sister - Chloe plays with her play dough bakery multiple times daily and Blain loves his Thomas the Train that rides on its own. Everyone has been so great to all the babies - Molly got each of them a build a bear (or should I say build a pony) which they love pulling around the kitchen because the ponies are on roller skates! Thank you to all our family who helped with everything while little Avenlea came into our family! I could go on and on but I hope everyone knows how much they are appreciated and loved!!! What would we do without family...