Ava is here!

Wow, it's hard to believe it has been four weeks since I posted last and was so scared about having a baby. As it turns out, I had every right to be scared! After seven hours of intense labor, we made the decision to transfer to the hospital and get an epidural. Now, let me explain myself. First of all I refer to it as "intense" labor because technically it isn't active labor until one is dialated to a four. I was at a two, seven hours later, I was at a two and a half. Yes, ladies and gentelmen, it took me seven hours to dialate one half of a centimeter. Things were not going...at all...

My fabulous nurse was going to start pitocin but my wise mother knew that I could not handle that without help so we made the transfer. Once I got to the hospital, via ambulance (that's a whole other story for a different post), I got into my new room and got the epidural. For those of you who don't know, I am a needle freak!! I hate them, no one is even allowed to touch the part in my arm where blood is drawn from because it bothers me so badly. So one would think that I would have a hard time getting an ENORMOUS needle shoved into my spine would send me over the edge. But I didn't even flinch. I was so tired and worn out from my contractions that I didn't even feel the epidural.

Let me just back up and tell you a little about my contractions. They were very irregular. I was having four or five peaks a contraction. So for those of you who have experienced natural labor, that means that the really painful part in the middle of the contraction...I HAD FOUR OR FIVE EACH CONTRACTION!! This was not fair. Once I was on the monitor at the hospital and they had started pitocin they realized why I kept saying that my contractions weren't going away. They never did regulate either, even with pitocin.

But then I had the epidural, everyone was sent home to rest because I still had so far to go. My amazing Dr. who was so sweet and a Christian, made a bed for my very tired and very wonderful and very supportive husband. And we all settled down to sleep for a few hours. But this was not to be. About an hour later I woke up when my nurse was in the room and told her I was feeling a lot of pressure so she checked me and I was complete! She told me not to move and not to cough and blitzed out of the room to get the doc. I very carefully called out to Jayson that it was time to roll and he made the necessary phone calls. Once I started pushing, it only took about 45 minutes to finally get our beautiful little girl in my arms!

Ava came into the world on September 26, 2008 at 7:42 am weighing in at 7 lbs and 2 oz. and she was 20 inches long. She was the most beautiful angel I had ever seen. The one thing I remember most was how she was crying when they put her up on my chest and I started talking to her and she stopped crying and looked at me. I mean she looked me right in the eyes like she knew who I was. God is so good!

Life after her arrival has been the most wonderful adjustment we have ever had to make. She is such a good baby and has slept through the night from day one. When she cries, it is just the sweetest sound. That is not to say her scream isn't earth shattering...it is. Jayson and I have been blessed beyond what we deserve and we are so thankful to God for this beautiful life He created and deemed us worthy to be apart of.