Meet Kate

She's here!

With as much joy and pride as can fit in one mommy's heart, I'd like to announce the arrival of Miss Avery Kate Spencer born on June 21, 2011, via induction. She was 6 lbs 13 oz and 19 1/2 inches long. And she's got a head full of dark hair!

The delivery truly could not have gone any better. The doctor that delivered her was the same doctor that delivered Ashley, one of my favorites in that practice. :) The nurses were wonderful. The day was smooth. My mom and my grandmother were in the room for the delivery which was really special. And because Jake's never been a cord-cutting kinda guy, my mom even got to cut the cord, which I'm pretty sure made her year. :)

We went in at 6am, got all set up with pitocin by 8. They broke my water soon after and a bit later did my epidural. All went totally smooth. Not long after the epidural, I was at 4 cm, then all we could do was sit back, visit with one another, and wait for my sweet baby to make her arrival. At some point, I think around 2pm, I was blissfully painless (thanks to my epidural :)) but knew from four other deliveries that the time was getting close. ;) So we called in a nurse and sure enough, 9 cm! Almost time. The great team of nurses and my awesome doctor got everything all set up, and after 3 pushes our sweet 5th baby girl entered the world. It was beautiful.

Not long after, Ashley, Emily and some of our family and friends came in to see her. The girls got to watch the nurse give her the first bath, which was cool. Our good friend Kory was able to capture some of it on his camera and put together this awesome video that we will forever treasure....

The next day, Jake brought the three little ones up to the hospital to meet her. And yes, it was a little crazy having 6 kids in that little postpartum recovery room, but I think all things considered, they did pretty good. :) Here's my very-long-much-less-glamorous video of that experience. :) I don't expect anyone to watch the whole thing, I'm mostly posting because I think the grandparents will get a kick out of it. :)

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

(Disclaimers: 1.) Poor Micah had some bad experiences in hospitals before he came home and still gets really stressed when he's in one. Hence the look on his face for most of the video. 2.) Fixing little girl hair is not one of Jake's many fatherly talents, so please excuse the back of Abbys the girls' hair :))

Today is her 1 week birthday.

She's doing great, nursing great, sleeping... some... ;) and I have to say that I really feel great too. I certainly don't feel like I had a baby a week ago. For some reason I thought that each baby would be harder and harder on my body. And while each pregnancy is NO walk in the park, the postpartum time with Mabry and Kate have been much easier than I've anticipated. I kinda feel like a normal person again, and its wonderful. :)

And yes, Kate. We'd tossed around the idea of calling her Kate before she was born. When we saw that little face and as we're getting to know her little personality, she feels like a Kate. :) So baby Kate it is.

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Now that we are more settled into our new house, and now that baby Kate is here, I'm getting the first tastes of our new family rhythm. And I'm loving it. What a great new season. My heart is so thankful for the many blessings the Lord has showered (and is showering) over us.

This busy but blessed momma of six will check back in soon. Until then I hope you all are enjoying your summer!!