"Hello new world," says Avey.

Well well here we are. A long road of pregnancy, a long way from home, and a VERY short labor everything came out perfectly (pardon the pun).

At 12:01 a.m. on December 8, 2009 Avey _____* Stevenson was born.
She weighs 9 pounds, 2.2 Ounces and measures 21 cm in length.
She has red hair (arguably strawberry blond), dark blue eyes, chubby cheeks, and a fabulously pleasant disposition.

*We are still torn about the middle name. The competing middle names are JoAnna, Kristine, or Anne.

This was a miracle in timing. I guess that means that Avey will be a punctual person throughout her life. Brooke called me (Eric) on the way home from picking up Sharon (Brooke's mom) from the airport stating contractions were coming every 4 minutes. We hadn't even gotten to our house when she called with "the voice" that told us to hurry up 'cause the baby is coming. That was a little after 10:30.

We rushed her to the hospital down the road, I dropped Jack off at the neighbors house, and walked in right as the big stuff was coming. by big stuff I mean the hard pains. Brooke was screaming politely asking for an epidural because the pain was coming strong and it was coming FAST.

By the time the epidural came Brooke's doctor (who happened to be on call and was going to be gone the rest of the week) told her to start pushing. Brooke decided to take the opportunity to practice her voice techniques she learned in school. The pitch and volume she was able to reach would impress even the best opera singers. This was 11:48 p.m.

...and the epidural wasn't working yet.

After 12 minutes of hard pushing Avey was born...total labor from start to finish - about 2 hours.

...about 10 minutes AFTER Avey was born, the epidural started working.

After Avey was born she would only cry intermittently and only when it was necessary to breathe, she is just pleasant (the above picture is one of the rare times we caught her crying).

Brooke was simply amazing (though I'm sure she would tell you otherwise). For all intents and purposes she had this baby natural. Her experience was painful but, like all pain in life, we do much better than we think we are doing, and Brooke was doing amazing even though she felt otherwise while she was giving birth.

After a night's rest (well, almost rest) Jack came over and met his new baby sister and the bond between them was evident right away.

He loves to hold her and, with the exceptions of a poke in the eye every now and then, he is very gentle with her.

More Jack and Avey pictures, the beginning of a wonderful friendship.

Pullin' the shades over Avey's eyes

A subtle poke in the eye
(sorry to say it Avey, but you might need to get used to it).

"Is this crib strength up to OSHA standard?
This is my sister we're talkin' about."

"But mom you said she was my sister, I wanna hold her."

We feel blessed, Avey is everything we hoped in a new baby girl. She has already brightened our day and has made us feel loved. We also feel blessed that everything happened in such a way as to help Brooke have as pleasant of an experience as possible.

Enjoy more of our new baby girl, Avey...we know we will.

no, we didn't just get an old picture of Jack and put it here...it's really her!
Brooke, Avey and Dr. Mikich
(Avey came in EXACTLY the right window
for the doctor and Sharon to be there.)

"ok, you can stick your tongue out this once."

If you look closely you can see her little hospital band.


The knights and the new princess.

Thanks all!!!

-posted by Eric-