Our precious little Ava Noel came to join us Friday, September 24 at 8:03 am. We are loving having her with us, and the transition has been simple so far! Nothing like the first or second...I guess from here on out, it's not as difficult to transition with another baby! : ) She weighed 7 lbs. 7 oz. and was 20 3/4 inches long. Black hair, blue eyes, and perfect like the first two! ;) So far, we have a sleeper!!!! I realize she's only 1 week old today, and that could change, but we're hopeful it won't. It's been about 2 years since I've slept through the night, so it really hasn't been a shock to the system.
Getting our story in writing now, please feel free to skip on down to the pics if you're not a detail person. : )
After a week-end of "false labor" the 17th-19th and then contractions coming and going for the couple of weeks to follow, we were so thankful to have labor progressing finally! Labor couldn't have been at a worse time for us though--middle of the night!! Sometime around 2:00 am, I was telling my doula that I hadn't pulled an all nighter since college and really wasn't interested! Oh well, God's timing seems to be a good bit different from mine for the past 10 months. My water started a pretty significant leak just before 6 pm while cooking with Mom. I wasn't having any labor feeling contractions though. I started worrying because I knew the doctors wouldn't let me go long like that before they wanted to intervene. I wasn't sure where that would leave me option wise being a VBAC again, so I e-mailed several people to ask for prayers that things would move along. I'm not sure about times, but we walked to the house for a couple of things after dinner, got the kids ready for bed and to sleep, and then got ready for more walking. At the time, contractions had started but didn't seem very strong or regular. I called our doula, Julie, and updated her. I told her it was not urgent but that we were ready for her to head our way when she could. Right after I hung up, the contractions got much stronger and right at 2 minutes apart. After our walk, I went to check my e-mail to see if ppl had responded because I was curious if the contractions were improving because I had so many wonderful people praying. Not surprisingly, I had a long list of replies from dear friends who were praying. It is amazing and humbling to see the Lord work through people and prayers in our lives! We did more walking, the "birthing ball", and resting while I could. Around 2:30, I went and woke Ben (yes, he was sleeping in the bed while I was laboring with our doula!) and told him it was time to go. He said, "Already?"...obviously we had had very different prior 3 hours! :) It was nice to have "normal" contractions this time--they actually peaked and then came back down a few minutes. I kept telling myself through much of the labor that it was so much better and that I could endure that minute. With Bryson, the contractions never stopped coming...peak after peak...until the Nubane. Though still excruciating, it was much more bearable this time! I have to say that I wouldn't have made it without Julie this time; I was way too tired to be motivated. All I could think (and say a lot) was, "I'm just too tired!!"...and then around 5 am, the hunger kicked in! I whined something about not wanting to miss breakfast, and the nurse told me bfast started at 6:30, so I better get busy! : ) Sometime after that, my water actually broke all the way, and the intensity continued to pick up. Several times I was asking myself why I was doing this and trying to convince myself of why I didn't ask to get some drugs; then my wonderful husband asked, "What was that stuff they gave you last time?"...we were laughing later about Julie biting his head off! She didn't really, but she quickly jumped to encourage me and said I was so close and didn't need anything. She convinced me to get back out of the bed to speed the last two cm, and it worked. With a little help from Dr. Hilton pushing past the last "lip", we were able to get pushing...2 pushes and about 15 minutes later, they were telling me to feel her head and that I could help pull her on out!! Amazing! What a privilege to be a part of another miracle! Her cord was short, so I didn't get to pull her up very far before they were stopping everything to cut the cord. Daddy did a great job cutting the cord again, too. : )
We texted Mom--the kids were just waking, so it was exciting there to be able to tell them Mommy and Daddy were at the hospital waiting to introduce them to Ava. Ben brought them in the room as soon as they got there; they were both speechless and in awe of the baby in my arms for several minutes. Emma quickly jumped into her role as big sister and was in the bed holding and kissing her baby sister! Bryson wasn't too sure what to make of everything, no surprise to us! We couldn't have been happier to have our family of 5 healthy and together!!! I was so happy to get out of the bed and go to the bathroom and shower on my own as soon as Mom and Dad left with the kids. It was then that I reminded myself of why I didn't want to ask for drugs earlier. : ) We've enjoyed introducing our little Ava to more family and friends this past week. My grandmother came over this week and helped with the cooking, cleaning and kids; what a blessing and huge help!
I am about to go stir crazy right now though...I had to go to the bank earlier this week, so I took my girls while Bryson slept. I got out with Ben and Ava for her appt too. Today, I took all 3 to the bank--my first outing with 3!! We only did the drive through though!! : ) Don't know if I can physically carry Bryson and Ava quite yet. I was so worried about life with 3 so young by myself, but I'm so anxious to get out and do it on my own now; must be the hormones! I'm sure my first trip to WalMart will end with a treat for myself for enduring such stress. : )
Bryson has surprised us majorly; he LOVES our baby! We were afraid he'd be jealous and way too rough. Rough he is, but he hasn't seemed jealous. He even asks for his turn to hold her and is trying hard to be gentle. He loves patting her and giving her kisses. He and Emma both look for Ava as soon their eyes see daylight. They both run to check on her when they hear that sweet newborn cry. They both want to help change her diapers. It is just a great experience, and I am loving watching them all love so much!! I know we'll have our moments and days, but that is why I'm here with them.
Our house is almost finished, 2 or 3 weeks left. Moving is going to be hard since I'll be limited physically. I don't know how long I'll be able to take boxes and things without a place, but I'm trying to talk myself into taking things slowly. I know I'll have great help, too if I can "let go" some. : ) I love the house even though it's been very time consuming. Ben has done such a wonderful job with it as well as staying on top of people and his timeline. He constantly amazes me with his talents and vision! We are looking forward to settling in and raising our family there. It has been a huge blessing to be at Mom an Dad's while building, too! Life would have been miserable for us anywhere else as much time as Ben has spent there. It's been nice to take the kids to see him on those long days and very convenient with all the running back and forth Ben has done between work, working on the house and meeting people to go over or price things down there. A few more weeks for yet more transition...
