Ava's Birth Story

The last few weeks have been dragging by! Since my last post, I've had weekly Doctor's appointments and even went back to hospital for (yet another, the third) false alarm when I thought that maybe my water had broken (it hadn't). Until my last appointment on Tuesday, I hadn't progressed any further than my 1.5 cm dilated and 50% effacement. The 13 days early that Addison was born, came and went with no action from Miss Ava other than the nearly constant, irregular, slightly painful, and very annoying (since they didn't do anything to get my baby here) contractions that I'd been having since 35 weeks. Needless to say as my due date got closer and closer, I was getting more and more impatient and antsy to get this baby out to love on!

So, as mentioned, my last office appointment was on Tuesday at 39 weeks 4 days with Dr. Miyazaki (one of my favorites). When he came in the room he asked if I had any questions or concerns. I immediately asked him at what point we could talk about induction. I really didn't think he would entertain the idea since I wasn't past my due date and didn't have any medical need to be induced. I was just uncomfortable and mental exhausted of waiting on baby to come! I did also have a slight concern that Miss Ava was going to be a big baby, much bigger than Addison was, so the thought of going up to or over my due date made me a bit nervous. Anyway, Dr Miyazaki didn't rule out the option of inducing depending on how much progress I was making so he proceeded with the cervical check. I had actually progressed to 3 cm and still 50% effaced, so that meant I was "favorable" for an induction. Then he asked me when I wanted to be induced. Without hesitation I replied, "Today??" I went into the appointment assuming that #1, they wouldn't let me be induced, or at least not anytime soon, #2, expecting to have not made any progress toward labor, and #3, fully expecting to get laughed at for be so impatient. So I was completely taken aback by him pretty much leaving it up to me and when he said he'd go call to see what he could make happen, Jordan and I just looked at each other and laughed giddily! A nurse came back in the room and told us to be at the hospital the next morning at 7:30 to start pitocin! I cannot tell you how excited and slightly nervous that made me. I know I was smiling like a fool when we left the office.

I went back to work, just to sign out for the day and wrap up all my loose ends. Then we came home and I nested and cleaned and basicly didn't sit down for the next 6 hours (which left me in lots of back pain, making me that much more grateful to have my induction appointment the next morning). We told Addison that Ava would be coming out the next day and that she would finally get to meet her baby sister. She was very excited and asked all evening when tomorrow was.

We got to the hospital 15 minutes early (neither Jordan or I really got any sleep) after getting some good Bojangles breakfast. I got in the room, met my wonderful nurse Missy and waited on the doctor (Dr. Helman) to order the pitocin.I had been having lots of contractions all evening and the night before, so I was half expecting to be told that I was in labor and didn't need to pitocin. Missy checked me and I was still at 3 cm and 50% effaced, so we got the Pitocin drip started at about 8:45. They told me that I could get my epidural at any point after that but I wanted to try to wait a bit before getting it, not to be brave or anything, just because I know it could have a tendenacy to slow things down. The pitocin works progressively meaning they start it low and up it every 30 minutes or so and moniter the contractions to make sure they don't get too strong. I could tell the contractions were getting more painful and closer together, but I still wasn't in a ton of pain yet.

Missy checked me to see if any progress had been made around 12. Sadly, I had only moved to a 3.5. I went ahead and asked for the epidural, knowing I didn't want to wait until I was in a ton of pain. Getting an epidural is a somewhat painful process but totally worth it. It kicked in pretty quickly but not to the point that I couldn't feel anything. I could still lift my legs and move them around to an extent. Mom and Kyla were in the room by that point and Jordan and Kyla left to get lunch.

While they were gone Dr. Helman came by (about 1:00) and told me she was going to go ahead and break my water to speed things up. I don't know if this will gross any one out or not but when she broke the membrane sack, there was a TON of water that gushed out. And kept gushing out. She and Missy were just amazed at the amount of liquid that came out of me. It took a full two minutes for the gush to stop and turn into just a trickle whenever I moved or laughed. Before leaving the room Dr. Helman predicted we'd have the baby here by 5 that evening. I think my stomach got noticably smaller after all of that water came out. We made guesses about what we thought Ava would weigh, Jordan said 7 lbs 8 ozs, Kyla: 7 lbs 9 ozs, Mom: 7 lbs 10 ozs and me: 8 lbs 2 ozs. Kyla and Jordan got back and Mom left to get her lunch. I started feeling like I needed to poop but didn't think much about it.

At 2:30 Missy came in to check on me. She inspected the chart that measures my contractions and the baby's heart beat and just said, "Hum, interesting..." Jordan and I were both asking "What exactly does that mean??" She said that I was showing signs of "earlies" which I had no clue what that was so she explained that it was when the baby's heartbeat was slowing with each contraction and that it happens right before the baby is ready to be born. I was thinking, "Umm, well that can't be right because there is no way that I've progressed that quickly..." So she did the internal and said that I was at 9.5 cm. That's right, 9.5!! In just an hour and a half I went from 3.5 to 9.5. She asked if I could feel any pressure or urges to push. I realized that I had indeed been feeling both but I just thought I needed to poop! We decided to move my bed up so that I was sitting and gravity could take care of getting me the rest of the way to 10. I was feeling enormous pressure and big urgesto push with each contraction, which were about 1.5 to 2 minutes apart. she told me that once I felt the pressure and urge constantly than it would be time to push. It did not take long at all.

I had my epidural, of course, but I was feeling lots of discomfort and some pain. I didn't ask to up it though, because with Addison I was so numb that I couldn't feel any thing at all and the pushing lasted a bit longer, probably because I didn't have a clue what I was doing. So Dr. Helman arrived and we started pushing. Even with my epidural it was a pretty painful delivery for me. I could feel myself tearing with each push as she was coming out. But within about 10 minutes, Miss Ava Elizabeth Cline was born at 3:09 PM!!

She weighed 8 lbs 4 oz, 21 inches long. She is a beautiful baby with a dusting of short, straight, medium brown hair and dark blue eyes. We're trying to predict how she will change and what she'll look like as she grows.

I don't really think she looks much like Addison at all, and even being 1.5 pounds bigger, Ava has a much smaller face and head than Addison's. There are moments where I think Ava looks just like Addison did, mainly while she's sleeping. It is amazing to be experiencing the high of being a new mom and holding that sweet little baby for the first time (and trying to figure out what to do with her!).

Ava has been a great baby, nursing wonderfully, sleeping pretty well (and a lot during the day, not quite as much at night), and really doesn't cry a whole lot. She spends lots of her time in laps or arms, and not as much in her little bed. She is taking a paci well, much better than Addison did as a newborn. I'm feeling good and normally not in too much pain.We should be getting discahrged to go home to Big Sister Addison soon!

Addison came to meet her baby sister on Wednesday evening when Ava was just a couple of hours old. As soon as she came into the room, she announced to everyone, "I'm a Big Sister!!!" She was so excited and immediately had to hold her baby sister. From that point on, Addison was very intent on keeping Ava and didn't want anyone else to hold her. Addison was super intrigued with Ava's "itty bitty teeny tiny hands and feet" and kept wanting to kiss them. She is a great and loving big sister and I hope that she stays that way as she realizes that Ava is going to be stealing away quite a bit of her attention.

 

We are so excited that Ava is here and healthy and thriving! I've been waiting for so long to be starting this journey and am just beyond thrilled and super thankful to be here!!

The last 2 weeks

 37 weeks and incredibly tired!

 Jordan and I decided we needed a date night, so we left Addison with her Nana and Papaw and went to eat at Carrabba's! It was so yummy. I started having some painful contractions while we were there (didn't tell Jordan because he would have taken me to the hospital (again)) and thought maybe I was going in to labor, but I wasn't.

March 15- I thought my water had broken (it hadn't) so we packed everything up for the hospital (again) and took what could have been our last picture as a family or 3. We were back home by 10:30 that night. :/

38 weeks (St. Patrick's Day). I wasn't going to post this picture because it is awful, but it's the only one from 38 weeks, and it captures my discomfort (and swollen ankles). It was one of the hottest days that I experienced during my pregnancy and I really didn't care too much about how I looked so I wore a dress and looked like a whale, but I stayed pretty cool! We took Addison to the mall to go to Build-a-Bear as a sort of celebration for what could have been her last weekend as an only child (it wasn't).

We got to Build-a-Bear and out of all the cute pink and purple, girly bears, she chose the camo bear. We talked her into a different green, St. Paddy's Day bear (that was on sale)...

She named her bear "Ava, just like my baby sister!" I almost cried in the store. It was like she knew that Ava would be here soon and that she wouldn't be the only child anymore. I love that kid!!

39 weeks. (Can't believe I'm posting a bare belly shot. And a bad one at that!)

39 weeks (again). I was feeling quite miserable! I think this may have been the morning that I couldn't stop crying sobbing because I was so, so ready to have the baby! It wasn't even that I was so uncomfortable or hurting physically (I was, but I could deal with that). I think it was more of a mental thing. I had in my mind that the baby was going to come early (since I started having contractions at 35 weeks and since Addison came early) and when she didn't, I just couldn't handle it. Weird, I know. Probably a lot of pregnancy hormones involved!

My last Pregnant Belly Picture. 39.5 weeks (March 27, one day before D-day!!)

Pregnancy catch up (weeks 18-36)

So, it's been a while, hasn't it! I've been a bit busy getting ready for out little Ava Elizabeth's arrival! I'm 36 weeks, only 4 more to go! I'm going to try to remember some of my pregnancy from where I've left off...

18 weeks

November 8th at 19 weeks and 4 days we got to see little baby in the 18 week anatomy scan. Everything looked wonderful and Addison even got to tag along and see her little sister! Sadly this is the last ultrasound we got to have. I would have loved to have seen her sweet face again, but now it won't be long!!

19 weeks

19.5 weeks

20 weeks

24 weeks

We picked out the name Ava Elizabeth somewhat early on. We both loved the middle name Elizabeth, but I had to fight a bit for Ava. I love the vintage feel of it and think it sounds great with Addison. We liked other names but this one worked for us. We announced the name around 24 weeks.

25 weeks

27 weeks

I had my gestational diabetes test around 26 weeks, right before Christmas. I got a call while we were vacationing in Disney World saying that I failed my test my 4 points and that I would have to take the longer glucola test when I got home. I wasn't too thrilled. After 3 hours in the doctor's office, 4 blood draws and a couple days, I found out that I did not have gestational diabetes!

28 weeks

29 weeks

31 weeks

All doctors appointments went fine. Blood pressure and weight gain were fine and nothing major to report. Until...

33 weeks

I started having contractions on Feb 15th (33w, 5d) so Jordan and I headed to the hospital around 10:30 that evening. I'd been having the contractions since I got off work at 5:30 and they just weren't letting up. They weren't super strong or painful enough that I couldn't talk through them, but they were coming somewhat regularly, around 10 minutes apart. It was enough to get me concerned so I called the triage nurse and she told me to go ahead and get checked out. When we got there, they hooked me up to the monitors that announce the baby's heartbeat and when contractions happen. They gave me fluids to see if that would stop the contractions. After the first bag of fluids, my contractions did seem to be slowing down, but they seems to intensify after starting the second bag. I wasn't dilated any so the contractions weren't really doing anything other than to make me uncomfortable, but we didn't want them to continue, so the doctor gave me a shot of trebutaline to stop them. I also have the fetal fibronectin test to tell if I would be going into labor in the next 7 to 10 days and it was negative. (It's a test that measures a certain hormone that is released shortly before going into labor. Read more here. Neat test.) I was getting so tired and the contractions started to ease off, so I was thrilled when they told me I could leave! We got home around 2:30am and I was still having contractions through the night but they went away the next day. Poor Jordan was getting so anxious and excited to meet our little girl. I think he really wanted her to come, but I knew that she needed some more time to grow bigger before meeting the world!

35 weeks

The next two weeks went by fine. I had a few contractions but none with any regularity or intensity. Then this past Wednesday February 29th (leap day-which a friend of ours predicted would be Ava's birthday)(35 w, 5d) I started have lots of back pain and several contractions throughout the day at work. I came home and got Addison to eat her dinner then sat on the couch and timed my contractions (with a nifty little app on my smart phone!). They weren't too painful- probably about the same as before, but for the two and a half hours I timed them, they were coming every 5 to 6 minutes and very regular. I didn't think there were strong enough to worry about, but Jordan was concerned (and once again excited for the baby to come, especially since he didn't think they'd try to stop my labor at almost 36 weeks). After we put Addison down for the night, I gave in and called the nurse. I knew she would tell me to come in and sure enough she did. I called Mom and Dad and told them that we were going but not to get excited because I was sure that nothing would come of it. We got there and checked in and went through the same drill as last time. Thankfully they didn't waste time giving me fluids or the fetal fibronectin test. The nurse checked and I was 1 cm dilated (which 6 days before I was still completely closed). My contractions were starting to get more intense as I was laying in the hospital bed. So the doctor ordered for me to have the trebutaline shot again. This time after getting that very painful shot my contractions started coming every 3 minutes and were slightly more painful (though nothing like true labor). After being there for 3 hours the nurse checked me again and said that I was 1.5 cm dilated but that I wasn't anymore effaced. They went ahead and sent me home since, once again, it didn't look like there was any progress being made toward labor.

A neat thing about the night was that the doctor on call was Dr. Lipscomb. Although I've seen all of the 6 doctors with my practice multiple times and I'm fine with any of them delivering a baby, I have a preference for Dr. Lipscomb. He was the doctor that delivered Addison and the doctor that did my D & C and walked us through that difficult time. He's the one that I was for all of my follow-ups and for any of the complications I had. I was surprised to see him since the next day he was leaving my practice to start one of his own. I had already come to terms that he wouldn't be the doctor to deliver Ava (I totally just typed Addison right there...I guess I'm entering the world of sibling name confusion!) since I'm not planning on switching with him. So it was neat to think that he might be delivering Ava on the last night that it could happen. Obviously that didn't happen.

Jordan was a bit disappointed that she didn't make her appearance but it's fine with me. Yes, I am ready for her to come and I am getting to be pretty uncomfortable (though not nearly as much as I was with Addison). But, I also want Ava to be healthy and ready before she makes her grand entrance.

36 weeks

At 36 weeks, I'm still feeling good. I get pretty uncomfortable in the evenings but all my pains and aches and ailments are all pretty mild. I remember how bad I felt when I was at the end of my pregnancy with Addison and how intense the back pain, heartburn, and terrible swelling was. I'm very thankful that I feel so much better this time. I think some of it has to do with knowing its all going end and having a better mindset about it, but also I've had to stay active with Addison and I haven't gained as much weight (27 pounds vs. the 37 pounds I gained with Addison). I am so excited for her to be here!! It's different this time. I don't have all the new mommy anxiety and I am so, so ready to hold my sweet girl and experience a newborn again! We've been waiting a long time for this!!