Happy 2013 (Baby Pics Abound!)

Elizabeth JoDene Gravett (the first) was born on January 1, 2013 at 7:55 PM.  She was the third baby born in St. George in 2013.  Although such a claim to fame would be too much for most newborns to handle, Lizzy Jo is taking it all in stride, mainly by sleeping, eating, and yawning.  Merry is doing great as well and sends all her love to all you peeps out there in the interwebs. 

We knew that 2013 was going to be different right away.  At 4:15 AM Merry awoke me with a hard slap to the face and said, "My water just broke!" (translation: "Time to get your wife to the hospital, WAKE UP YOU IDIOT!!!")  Our delivery hospital was in St. George and we live 20 miles away in Mesquite; not too bad of a drive.  However, we were not in Mesquite; we had gone to Pahrump to spend New Years Eve with some friends from our old ward.  So, we were actually just outside the California state line when Merry's water broke.  We jumped  into the car and drove like manics to the hospital.  When we arrived two and a half hours later, Merry was 2+ cm dialated and fully effaced with contractions coming about four minutes apart (again, I had no idea any of that meant until yesterday, I now know it means, "Buckle up folks, it's going to be a long day.")

Once we settled into the torture room birthing room, Merry declined an epidural and decided to go natural until she hit 8 cm dialation.  Which meant a lot of time in the the birthing pool and lots of quality breathing.  She was awesome and did everything right, I was so impressed by her strength and determination.  She progressed quite nicely, dialating about 1 cm every 2 hours.  At 2:00 PM she hit 7+ cm dialation and got an epidural so she could sleep a little bit prior to the "pushing" phase.  The labor nurse initiated pushing at 7:00 PM.  Seven or so contractions later Lizzy Jo made her entrance to the world kicking and screaming, at 7:55 PM.  Needless to say, we're happily sleep deprived and loving every minute of it.

**Edit**Vital statistics at birth: 6 lbs, 5 oz, 20 inches

Now what everyone skipped through the post for: pictures!

(Merry smiling through a contraction, what a babe!)

(Merry after getting the epidural, so much happier.  This is not an endorsement of epidurals mind you, just a statement of fact.  And, it turns out, the epidural did cause some problems with the delivery down the road.)

(Lizzy Jo getting checked out right after being born, giving a very vocal opinion as to the situation.)

 (Lizzy Jo with her mom, where she wanted to be all along.  For those of you troubled by the immodesty, deal with it, birth is an immodest experience.)

(Lizzy Lo and Merry, both a little tired by their recent battle with each other--perhaps a harbinger of teenage years to come?--but otherwise doing great.) 

(This just in! The center of the known universe has just been discovered!)