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
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