Meeting Miss Ava

At 3:45 p.m. on February 7th, we met our new little girl. Weighing 8 lbs even and measuring 21 inches she entered this world within two minutes of the doctor making it into my room. Modern medicine failed  the last forty five minutes of labor and my "wish" to experience labor and delivery without an epidural was granted.

Ava Grace. A head full of black/brown hair, eyelashes models dream about, Audrey's nose, and the perfect lips. She's beautiful and we couldn't be happier.


The journey to meet Ava:

We arrived at the hospital at 7 am for an induction. My doctor broke my water at 8:30 am.  Ava's head was so far down it was acting like a plug, causing only a little water to come out. Lucky for me, that helped my contractions not hurt as bad for a few hours. When she moved and the last of the water came out, it began to hurt, BAD. I was in active labor from the time she broke my water.

I resisted the epidural for five hours.

At the end of those five hours, the contractions were INTENSE. They had been every 2 1/2 minutes for the last four hours, getting more intense with time. Not that regualar contractions don't hurt but I still believe that pitocin makes them stronger.  I could no longer walk or stand during them. After five hours of contractions and the last hour being almost unbearable to me the nurse checked me. I had not progressed any further that what I'd been the day before  in my doctors office (4 cm, 80%) I was disappointed, frustrated and plain mad that my body wasn't progressing faster. At that point I wished I'd either gotten a doula or had a woman in the delivery room with me. I gave up and asked for the epidural. Within minutes the anesthesiologist was in there and I was explaining to him why I was anxious. During my last labor, the Dr. hit a nerve trying to administer the drugs sending sharp pains down my legs.

I survived the epidural, with minimal nerve pain this time and began to relax a little, unable to ever get comfortable. I could still tell when I was having a contraction.

I got the "shakes" again with this labor. I hate the uncontrollable shaking that happens when your hormones and body changes--probably that transitional period of labor. 

An hour later the nurse came in and told me to roll over--they'd lost the baby's heartbeat AGAIN on the monitor. All the cords and IV's and gowns make it so inconvenient to move while in labor.

Not long after being on that side I began to feel pressure. Upon repeating that fact a few times and acting uncomfortable, the nurse checked me. A 7! Woo hoo. I was finally making progress. She then said, at approx, 3:00 p.m. that we'd have a baby by 7 p.m. which meant, I would not have a 12 hour labor this time. A goal for sure. Check! I continued to feel pressure and tried to work through it.  I did not ever remember this pain/pressure with the other girls.  I don't remember the exact time as I was busy breathing like a mad woman but not long afterward the nurse could tell I was feeling more than I should and we realized the epidural had worn off, despite my efforts to push the button and give myself another dose. I was quickly an 8, and then within 5 minutes, a 10. Upon hearing the word "complete" the whole parade of nurses began to flood my room with tables and instruments, etc. A call goes out to my Dr., who is across town. I know it will take her 8-10 minutes with good traffic to get there, and I'm not sure I can wait that long. My main delivery nurse wasn't either, as we hear her call into the hallway for another doctor.  I begged and pleaded with the nurse to let me push and did a few times anyway. The nurse was holding Ava's head in by the time the doctor got there.  I interrupted my doctors pep talk and said while gasping, "Can I do this now?" 

I was so exhausted after this labor. I'm not sure if the last hour just wore me out so bad but I literally felt like I'd run a marathon. I didn't want to do anything but lay there and hold my baby. I couldn't see straight, I couldn't think--and I was in some pain. And my  uterine contractions afterward this time--oh baby!

Because of the said above, it took us awhile to finalize a name for her. So long the Grandmas were starting to get pretty anxious as it had been over an hour since they got the text that it was time to push.

My parents came up to meet Ava that night, and we opted to FaceTime with the girls while at the hospital instead of having them come visit. They stayed with Jeremy's parents. This worked well most of the time. We sent pictures via email and Grandma would print them for Audrey. Audrey carried around a little photo album of Ava and would later show her friends at preschool. She loved looking at pictures of Ava. Audrey was much more interested in talking with us than Allie.  In the end, I was glad I didn't have the girls visit in the hospital.





Sarah