Ava's Birth Story
June 4, 2013 was the day our sweet Ava Kate made her debut into the world. Since we had a scheduled induction, we were able to start our day off by waking up at our house and getting all the last minute things together to leave Luke for the next 2-3 days. Honestly, I was not nervous at all about having a baby but nervous that I would be leaving Luke for the first time with someone other than John or myself for several days. Lucky for me, Nana and Papa love Luke so much that it made it a lot easier to leave and be excited about going to meet our baby girl! We left the house around 6:30am and headed for Ft.Sanders Hospital. We pulled into the same parking garage that we did 21 months earlier and parked in almost the same spot. We went inside and filled out our paper work and then we were assigned to the same hospital room that we had Luke in. It was really sweet to think that both Luke and Ava would take their first breath in the same room and the two best days of my life would happen in the exact same spot! It couldn't be any more perfect of a situation for this momma! Well I take that back, maybe it would be a tad better with a view of something else besides that awful UT stadium sitting right outside my window! ha! But just know that your dad thought the view was amazing and was loving every minute of it.
Once we were settled into our room, the nurse came in and handed me my gown and started hooking me up to the machines and putting in my IV. Since this was my second time having a baby, I knew that putting in the IV was one of the worst parts so I was glad to put that part behind me. The nurse then started the first round of Strep B antibiotics and then we began the waiting game. Around 9 am Dr. Saunders came and broke my water and started the pitocin drip. From there John and I just hung out and waited for the contractions to begin. Once they started, they came hard and fast. With that being said, I asked for my epidural and was happy to have a little relief from the contractions. For the next hour, my epidural worked wonderfully, then just like it did with Luke, my epidural stopped working on my right side. Knowing that this happened before, my anesthesiologist came back in and replaced my epidural so that the medicine would flow evenly to both sides of my body. Through this process we realized that my spine may be slightly curved and if I ever need an epidural again the doctor needs to place it a hair to the right in order for it to disperse the medicine evenly. Once he got the epidural fixed, they placed me on my left side because the epidural was messing with my blood pressure a bit and they were trying to fix it without medicine. After a few minutes went by I realized that I was not feeling normal and when John looked up at all the machines, he saw that my blood pressure was dropping and at a rather rapid pace. All of a sudden I felt a wave of sickness and the machines started going crazy! My blood pressure plumited to 80/40 and John went running into the hall for the nurse. Apparently 80/40 is a tad bit scary because several nurses as well as the anesthesiologist came flying in to the room with medicine to put into my IV to bring my blood pressure back up. It worked for a bit and then they had to come back in with more medicine to keep my blood pressure up and at a stable condition.
At around noon, Sheryl and Annie were coming to visit and bring John lunch. Just as they arrived, Dr. Saunders was checking my progress and to our surprise, I was 10 cm and ready to push! This was absolute crazy news for us considering I didn't deliver Luke until 9:40pm and we were thinking it was going to be another long day with Ava. Hearing this, I immediately called my mom (Nana and Papa) and told them to get up to the hospital and fast! I sat quiet and still for about 20 minutes trying to give everyone a chance to get up to the hospital so they could be there ( in the waiting room) when Ava arrived. Once we knew everyone was on their way, I started pushing. It took 3 rounds of contractions and 9 pushes and we had our sweet baby girl! It was such a wonderful experience and sweet Ava was absolutely perfect! She was 8lbs 5oz and 22 inches long with a full head of BROWN hair ha! If I didnt just see her come out, I would have never believed she was mine with all that dark hair! She was beautiful! John cut the umbilical cord and stood right with her the entire time they were cleaning her up and taking her measurements.
Once they were done cleaning Ava, they handed her off to me for some sweet snuggles and her first feeding! It was such a sweet time and I just loved staring at all of her little features. When we finished nursing, the families came in and met her. It was so sweet and everyone was in love! Once she met everyone, the nurses took her back to examine her closely and give her her first vaccines. The nurses were a little concerned at first because her mouth was a bit blue at birth but turns out she was only bruised because of how fast her delivery went. She was checked out and was perfect as can be!
The rest of the day was spent hanging out with a few guests popping in to meet Ava. We knew we wanted to bring Luke up to the hospital to meet his sister but figured that day 2 was probably a better idea so we could do it in the morning and he would be rested and happy to see her.
The following day, Nana and Papa brought Luke up to the hospital to meet his new sister. John went and met them downstairs and they all came up together. It was honestly a moment I will never forget. It was so sweet to see Luke look at his sister for the first time. He was so sweet to her and gave her a kiss on her head! I instantly teared up at the sight of him kissing her and knew that this was the beginning of the best years of my life. I had the perfect family with a sweet little boy and a precious little girl! I was blessed beyond anything I could ever ask for or deserve! After Luke spent some quality time with his new sister, he went to lunch with John and Papa while Nana stayed with me and Ava. It was good for him to get some quality time with his daddy.
The next day, we were given the green light to go home and were packed and on our way by 2pm. We put our sweet baby girl in the car, took a deep breath and headed home to start our new life as a family of four!!
At around noon, Sheryl and Annie were coming to visit and bring John lunch. Just as they arrived, Dr. Saunders was checking my progress and to our surprise, I was 10 cm and ready to push! This was absolute crazy news for us considering I didn't deliver Luke until 9:40pm and we were thinking it was going to be another long day with Ava. Hearing this, I immediately called my mom (Nana and Papa) and told them to get up to the hospital and fast! I sat quiet and still for about 20 minutes trying to give everyone a chance to get up to the hospital so they could be there ( in the waiting room) when Ava arrived. Once we knew everyone was on their way, I started pushing. It took 3 rounds of contractions and 9 pushes and we had our sweet baby girl! It was such a wonderful experience and sweet Ava was absolutely perfect! She was 8lbs 5oz and 22 inches long with a full head of BROWN hair ha! If I didnt just see her come out, I would have never believed she was mine with all that dark hair! She was beautiful! John cut the umbilical cord and stood right with her the entire time they were cleaning her up and taking her measurements.
Once they were done cleaning Ava, they handed her off to me for some sweet snuggles and her first feeding! It was such a sweet time and I just loved staring at all of her little features. When we finished nursing, the families came in and met her. It was so sweet and everyone was in love! Once she met everyone, the nurses took her back to examine her closely and give her her first vaccines. The nurses were a little concerned at first because her mouth was a bit blue at birth but turns out she was only bruised because of how fast her delivery went. She was checked out and was perfect as can be!
The rest of the day was spent hanging out with a few guests popping in to meet Ava. We knew we wanted to bring Luke up to the hospital to meet his sister but figured that day 2 was probably a better idea so we could do it in the morning and he would be rested and happy to see her.
The following day, Nana and Papa brought Luke up to the hospital to meet his new sister. John went and met them downstairs and they all came up together. It was honestly a moment I will never forget. It was so sweet to see Luke look at his sister for the first time. He was so sweet to her and gave her a kiss on her head! I instantly teared up at the sight of him kissing her and knew that this was the beginning of the best years of my life. I had the perfect family with a sweet little boy and a precious little girl! I was blessed beyond anything I could ever ask for or deserve! After Luke spent some quality time with his new sister, he went to lunch with John and Papa while Nana stayed with me and Ava. It was good for him to get some quality time with his daddy.
The next day, we were given the green light to go home and were packed and on our way by 2pm. We put our sweet baby girl in the car, took a deep breath and headed home to start our new life as a family of four!!
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