Note: This is our birth story, if you don't wanna hear the details and have a weak stomach, etc please don't read any further. But, this is our blog and I'm always honest and want to note every detail of this experience.
Last Friday marked 39 weeks for us. I was excited to hit 39 weeks as my Doctor has told me between 39-41 weeks is when most women deliver and I was hoping I would be one in the 39 week mark.
Monday, I had my doctors appointment and I was hoping she'd tell me that I had great progress. She told me I was dilated to 2 cm and still 80% effaced. Not the news I was hoping for but 1 more cm. was good enough for me. We talked about an induction, but I wanted to at least wait until our due date passed before discussing that. I really didn't want to be induced.
Orion and I had decided that we wanted to have one last "date night" before Ava came and we became parents. We decided that Tuesday would be a good day for this since Orion had the day off, and the rest of the week we'd have family coming into town for the birth and it would get crazy.
Tuesday morning we woke up and got ready to see a matinee movie before heading to staff meeting that afternoon. We had a fun time at the movies and then headed to staff. We left staff meeting and came home and chilled for a few hours before we went to dinner that evening.
We went to dinner at a local restaurant here that Orion hadn't been to. At dinner we talked about how everything is going to change, etc and made some plans to get some last minute grocery shopping done before going home. By the end of dinner I wasn't feeling so hot and just wanted to go home. We ended up going home and not running any of our errands. When we got home we watched the tail end of American Idol and then I said I wanted to go to bed. I got ready for bed and had crawled into bed ready to try and sleep.
I headed to bed about 10:30 pm and just a few minutes later at 10:39 pm I felt like I had to pee and thought I was going to pee my pants I quickly got up and ran to the bathroom only to find that I was gushing a liquid and I lost my mucous plug at the same time. I was a little freaked out and then immediately thought, I think I'm going into labor. I quickly called Orion to help me clean up my mess I made all over the bathroom floor.
I started having what I thought were contractions, and had Orion start to write them down and time them. About a half hour into it, I decided that this was the real deal and we'd better start getting ready to go to the hospital. We got all ready, finished packing our things. I changed into some new clothes and Orion started to load the car so we could head to the hospital. It's about a 10 minute drive to the hospital, I continued to have contractions about 4 minutes apart.
We pulled up to the hospital at 11:45 pm and they checked us into OB Triage, and began to monitor me and check me. When we got there they told me I was 3 cm. along, and they wanted me to walk around the hospital to try and get labor going a bit more. I felt like I could barely walk through the contractions but I said ok and Orion and I started walking the halls of the hospital. That lasted about 10 minutes before I was in such pain that I told him we have to go back. When we came back they checked me again and told me that I was 5 cm along, and that they were now going to admit me into the labor/delivery floor. Orion and got all our stuff and they put me into the wheel chair and away we went upstairs.
Finally they got me checked in and I met our labor/delivery nurse Laura. The contractions were coming harder and stronger at this point and I felt like I wanted to push so bad, they told me they were waiting for my doctor to get there and I couldn't and just to breathe at this point. Orion was so great helping me through then entire labor process.
Finally they checked me again since I was in such pain and couldn't handle it, I was trying my best to breathe but the pain was awful I started to hyper ventilate and my blood pressure dropped. They checked me and I was at 7 cm, and at this point the jump from 5 to 7 hurt so bad I opted to have the epidural. Which my doctor said would be best since my blood pressure had just dropped.
They quickly got the epidural in and I began to feel some relief. It was around 3:30 am by this point and I just sat there laboring and feeling much better. Orion made some phone calls to family at this point, and I was Twittering labor progress as well.
An hour later at 4:30 am we started pushing. Ava had dropped a few weeks ago but didn't drop enough so I was pushing to get her farther down the birth canal at this point. The nurse and Orion could both glimpse her head each time I pushed. The nurse set up a mirror so that I could see as I pushed my progress.
We had a great nurse, and her and Orion counted down from ten each time I had to push. We pushed for about an hour like this before we saw real progress of her moving down enough. We were getting closer and closer.
I got a leg cramp really bad, and could feel it through the epidural. I vomited all over the place right after pushing during the cramp. At this point my blood pressure dropped again and they put me on oxygen for the last half hour of pushing.
I got all cleaned up from throwing up, and started pushing again. By this time the nurse was paging the doctor and other nurses to come into the room for the delivery. They were taking their time getting the table ready, and the doctor was getting her smock on and I told my nurse and Orion I have to push, I need to push now........
I pushed for a couple minutes and just like that Ava was born!
March 24th, 2010
6:10 am
6 lbs. 12 oz.
19 1/4 inches long
They right away placed her on my chest and I started crying, Orion was crying, Ava was crying, we were all in tears! They left her there with us while Orion cut the chord and we bonded with our girl.
Orion went with Ava while they weighed her, measured her and did all those things. At one point I looked over and saw Orion leaning over and talking with Miss Ava just minutes after being born.
Giving birth is the hardest thing I think I've ever done in my life. But, I'm so thankful and blessed to have such a loving and supportive Hubby who coached me the entire way through my vomit, hyper ventilating and screaming sometimes.
Seeing our girl in front of us was the most amazing and surreal experience for the both of us.
After being born they stitched me up, and told me they would monitor me there for 2 hours and then I could go up into the post
pardon ward. During this time my blood pressure dropped again and they put me back on oxygen for a bit.
They tried to remove the catheter from the epidural and it was stuck and wouldn't come out. 3 nurses tried to remove it and couldn't, so they got the Doctor. He came down and it wouldn't budge either for him. He told me that 2% of the time they get stuck and won't come out right away and that it would eventually work itself free. So they wrapped it up in gauze and tape and told me they would check again in a few hours. It wasn't medically harmful but very uncomfortable to have stuck in your back.
I stayed in the labor and delivery room for more than two hours being monitors, shortly after 10 am they finally moved me up to post
pardon. Orion and I were able to get some rest. Later that afternoon we had visitors and we able to show off our baby girl to friends and family. My Mom flew into town and came straight to the hospital.
Finally, at 7 pm that day they were able to remove the
catheter from my back and I was able to feel some relief.
She's so amazing already. She has such a little personality already. Some things I've noticed about our girl already is that she's a little stubborn. She doesn't like to have her hands pinned down in a blanket. I've wrapped her in swaddling blankets so tight thinking that she couldn't break free and like a little
Houdini she gets out in a matter of minutes. She's removed the scratch mittens as well, she doesn't like those.
My Mom and Sister are here with us helping us out a ton. I am so happy to have them here, they have helped me more than I thought I needed so I feel really blessed to have them here.
We're all home now happy, healthy and safe adjusting to life with Ava. I'm already amazed at this journey we've been on I can't wait to continue this journey with her and our little family.
Little hands.
Little feet.
In her room.
My fave so far......
With Grandma & Great Grandma
With Great Grandma Hazel, I'm so glad she was able to come out and meet Ava.
Sleepy Girl.
Orion went with Ava while they weighed her, measured her and did all those things. At one point I looked over and saw Orion leaning over and talking with Miss Ava just minutes after being born.
After being born they stitched me up, and told me they would monitor me there for 2 hours and then I could go up into the post pardon ward. During this time my blood pressure dropped again and they put me back on oxygen for a bit. 
I stayed in the labor and delivery room for more than two hours being monitors, shortly after 10 am they finally moved me up to post pardon. Orion and I were able to get some rest. Later that afternoon we had visitors and we able to show off our baby girl to friends and family. My Mom flew into town and came straight to the hospital.
Finally, at 7 pm that day they were able to remove the catheter from my back and I was able to feel some relief.
She's so amazing already. She has such a little personality already. Some things I've noticed about our girl already is that she's a little stubborn. She doesn't like to have her hands pinned down in a blanket. I've wrapped her in swaddling blankets so tight thinking that she couldn't break free and like a little Houdini she gets out in a matter of minutes. She's removed the scratch mittens as well, she doesn't like those.
My Mom and Sister are here with us helping us out a ton. I am so happy to have them here, they have helped me more than I thought I needed so I feel really blessed to have them here. 
Here we are after our matinee movie together......
Us at dinner that evening at Firebirds, little did we know just a few hours later Ava would be making her grand entrance into the world!
