Ava

Our Baby Girl Was Born!

Ava Lorrene

6 lbs 2 oz

19 inches long

(The following to document for Ava but you are welcome to read or just skip to the pictures.)

Our little girl decided to make a surprise visit on February 14--almost 3 weeks early.  I had been having more contractions over the weekend but nothing that would make me think she would be coming within the next couple of days.  We were totally taken by surprise.

I went to bed Sunday night but couldn't fall asleep because I started having contractions.  I laid there for about an hour and decided to get up and see if that made a difference.  I continued to have contractions.  I then started to freak out because of all of things I needed to get done.  One of the things I was worried about was the Valentine's Day party I was in charge of for Kailyn's class.  I hadn't made frosting for the cookies they were supposed to decorate, so I started on that (OK, I know this sounds crazy to be making frosting at 2 am, but really, it's not like I could sleep).  At this point Ken came downstairs.  He said, "I have 2 questions. 1. Are you in ..."  Before he could finish I said, "Ken, I think I am in labor."  (the second questions was going to be 'Are you crazy?  It's 2 in the morning.  What are you still doing up?).  We then started timing the contractions and getting some things done around the house (frantically cleaning, expecting that we would be calling someone in to watch our kids.  How embarrassing if they came to watch our kids in a semi-messy house).  The contractions continued and we decided to sit down.  After sitting on the couch for awhile they died down to 10-15 minutes apart and less intense.  We decided to go try and get some sleep.  As soon as I laid down, the contractions returned to only a couple of minutes apart.  We tried to figure out to do with the kids, and Ken tried to call some people but couldn't get a hold of anyone (it was 4 in the morning--weird that no one answers their phones at 4 am).  We decided I would go ahead to the hospital, and he would come as soon as he could.  (I was afraid of missing an epidural. My doctor had suggested I try getting it earlier to see if it helped since I have not had good luck in the past.)

I got to the hospital and checked in.  Then the aniethesiogolist came in. He just happened to be someone from church.  He started, "Hey, guys, how are you?  Uhh, where's Ken?"  After hearing the story, he immediately called his wife and told her to get over to our house and take over.  

The epidural started out perfect!  I got perfect relief, in the beginning.  All the nurses who checked in on me saw the contractions on the monitor and said, "You don't feel those?  And you can still move your legs? (It was light enough that I could still move my legs).  You must have the perfect epidural!"  Unfortunately, the contractions slowed, so they started me on pitocin.  As the contractions started up again, my epidural was not as effective against the contractions and eventually didn't seem to be working at all anymore.  A second anesthesiologist came in and gave me a large dose of the epidural medication, but it didn't make any changes AT ALL.  The pain made it my most challenging birth.  Not only did I get the pain from contractions, but I was getting the worst back pains and horrible pains shooting down my legs.  It was unbearable.  Then the OB physician discovered that Ava was facing the wrong way and told me to lay on my side.  She then said she would be right back to try and flip her.  Somehow in the next 10 minutes Ava completed her turn, and suddenly it was time to push.  When it came time to push, I honestly did not think I could do it.  I was SO exhausted (zero sleep the night before), and I was in so much pain that the thought of trying to push was too much.  Luckily, I had this amazing nurse come in.  I truly don't think I could have done it without her.  She helped me get ready to push, helped me focus and told me exactly what to do (which is good since it was hard to focus when I was in so much pain).  After 3 rounds of pushing (11 minutes total), Ava was born at 13:29.  When it was all over, the nurse peeled off the tape on my back and pulled out my epidural.  She noted that the epidural had fallen out almost all the way--perhaps from my constant shifting in bed or an accidental tug.  Anyway, it now makes sense why the epidural worked so splendidly in the beginning but not so well in the end, even with the extra large dose towards the end, which didn't do a thing.  

Ava came out with her cord wrapped once around her neck (she was a little purple but nothing serious).  She has a head of dark hair like all of our others (I'll have to get some pictures).