DAY 5

I wished I could stop time. I LOVE this new little girl! We are enjoying every moment with her! She is such a good baby, gets up one time in the night and never cries~sometimes she'll let out a little squeal to let you know she is ready for milk, or she'll suck her fist or finger.

Madelyn and Brynlee love to help feed her. She has not mastered nursing so the pump works wonders........

The girls came to visit us every night while we were in the hospital, they loved being able to see us.

This was her very first outfit. At the hospital they put one a tie onsie that was really obnoctous! I finally decided to put some clothes on her.

In her car seat, ready for her first ride home.

Sleeping in her swing...........

Sleeping in her swing with her tongue out.

She had her first bath a couple days ago. She loved the warm running water down her body. I am not sure she loved getting out though.

She truly is an ANGEL and and getting her here was ALL worth it!

Avery Lynn.......

Well...let's start off with Friday, 10 July. Nichole went in for her check up. They sent her back home. She was dialated to a "1" and about 37 weeks...not yet. 6pm, some serious doozies start hitting, wow that's painful! So I wake up around 12am with Nichole telling me the nurses said she should come in and get checked out to be safe. We had been timing the contractions througout the evening and they were anywhere from 1:30 minutes apart to 3:30 minutes. Thankfully Amy came over to watch the girls and we were off to Wilford Hall. When we arrive, Nichole is in pretty good pain at this point and they bring us back to the triage room. They hook her up to the machines to start monitoring the baby and the contractions and send for the Doctor. Well the Doctor arrives, it's now around 1am and he checks. Hey there, Nichole is now a "5" and here comes the real kicker...the baby is feet first breech! The Doctor doesn't even miss a beat, he simply states, "Well the baby is breech and so we are going to do a C-section and so we will go over some paperwork and start the process"

Within 30 minutes they had Nichole in the OR getting here spinal anesthetic and they they let me in. It was all very quick and to put it mildly, Nichole was terribly frightened by the whole process. However, the doctors and nurses were all very understanding and patient and reassured us at every step. We didn't really see anything (or feel anything for Nic) but as soon as it was started it seemed it was already over and out came this beautiful little girl. It never ceases to amaze me how they can seem so wonderful and angelic even though they are covered in placental fluid and goop! Unless you are a parent you won't understand the feeling you get when your child is brought into the world, but it is an overwhelming feeling of love and joy that makes your heart burst and your eyes fill with tears of gratitude as you experience the miracle of life.

>Avery Lynn Hipple, was born at 3:20 am, 11 July 2009, at Wilford Hall Medical Center, in San Antonio, TX. Nichole had to stay behind and get all put back together and I went up with Avery to get her bath and feed her. It was weird not having Nichole with us but it was also very special to sit there with our newest daughter and hold her in my arms. Such a precious gift. We couldn't be more excited to have her in our lives. I will let Nichole do the next blog and talk about her experience in the Hospital (and how bad the food was). Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.

Brynlee turns 3!!

Today we had a very fun day celebrating Brynlee's 3rd birthday. I can not believe she is already three years old! My little baby is growing up so fast!

She woke up and had her favorite "apple cereal" to start her day. Then she got to open presents from family.

Sea World is her very favorite place since that's where Shamu is. So we took her to Sea World to see Shamu, feed the dolphins and get a Shamu ice cream cone. Mmmmm...........

Since it was 105 degrees today, the sun wore us all out. We came home and had nap time to refresh for the pool party. Later, friends came over to celebrate~we had pizza, watermelon and cupcakes. Brynlee got to open presents and swim in the pool.

It was a great day! Thanks for coming!

Opening her Shamu barbie doll

She LOVES Tinkerbell, thanks Neena!

Feeding the Dolphins

Mmm....Icecream!

I think they're ready for MORE fish.......

SHAMU!!!!!!!

Swimming at the pool

Blowing out CANDLES......off to another great year!