Happy Due Date

She is here! Avery Jo Huff arrived on Thursday, July 17th, at 7:51pm weighing in at 8 lbs. and measuring 19.5" long. She is beautiful and perfect and the mom is so glad to have her here!
I was in labor but unsure of it all day on Thursday, ended up in labor and delivery (unadmitted) to be monitored and make sure baby was ok. Contractions were every two minutes and ALL in my back, and I'd felt like pushing since 2 that afternoon. Laurie, my midwife, broke my water at 7:27 and Avery was born while I was standing up after 24 minutes of screaming and crying and wishing I'd had an epidural! Ryan was wonderful and so sweet...I am thrilled that he is my husband and daddy to my little girls. He likes to actively participate in labor, helping push Lily out the first time and having my bag of waters empty on him this time around, as I was standing up and holding him around the neck when most of it came out after Avery was halfway out. Needless to say, we need to go shoe shopping!
Lily is adjusting to being a big sister, and is doing fairly well. Today, now that she is finally acknowleding Avery's presence, she reached over and tickled her toes with a big grin on her face. It was so sweet and gave me hope that she won't resent her for too long. Not to overlook her achievements with all of the new baby stuff going on, I will brag on her using her big girl potty for the first time yesterday! Lily was in the tub and indicated she needed to go "yucky". I helped her to her potty where she quickly went, hopped up, and dashed out naked into the hall! I was too preoccupied with catching her and getting her back in the tub, I didn't realize she'd actually gone wet in the potty until about five minutes later, after which I started singing a congratulatory song which Lily reveled in and clapped along. She was so proud of herself! Looks like I'll be buying pull-ups and diapers next time I go to the store! (Which may not be for a while...)
I hope this all makes sense to you - I am still taking pain meds and am a little fuzzy. All I know is being a mom is the best thing in the world, no matter how tired and sore and frustrated I get, I know that there is no better feeling than to hold my girls and feel my heart sparkle!