The Story of Ava, part 2

*Warning, this is a birth story.  It's not at all graphic, but if you don't want to read a birth story, you probably don't want to read ahead. Thanks!*

I was feeling pretty good until a few days before my due date (which was a Wednesday).  The weekend before Ava was due to (hopefully) make her appearance, I was starting to feel quite uncomfortable and wondered if this baby was ever going to make her way out.  It didn't help when Josh came home and mentioned in passing that the Steffens were at the hospital having their baby - especially when she wasn't due for 2 more weeks!  I had my little breakdown and moved on, but I think Josh learned (?maybe?) to be a little more sensitive with important information like that.  Amelia was born Monday (Labor day!), 3 days before Ava...

1 am Thursday morning I woke from a dream that my water had broken - until I realized that it actually hadn't.  Disappointed, I got up to make my middle of the night bathroom run when I realized that I continued to leak.  A work friend had told me the week before that at some point I would become so pregnant that I would have incontinence and have no idea.....so this is exactly what I thought was going on.  Let me tell you, to a very large, uncomfortable, and tired pregnant woman this almost sent me over the edge.  Until I realized that it was my water that had actually broken!  Now THAT is exactly what I needed.  I called to Josh to let him know, but told him to go back to sleep while I took a shower.  I thought we could wait and see what my contractions did and maybe get a little sleep before morning.  Josh was too excited, and couldn't sleep, so by the time I got out of the shower he was dressed with 2 cups of coffee in his hands.  I packed a bag, took the "Before we left for the hospital picture," and left for the hospital. 

Josh dropped me off at L&D, and asked me to carry in his coffee.  Both cups.  I got more than a funny glance showing up in labor with that much coffee in my hands.  They showed us to our room, placed the IV, and hooked me up to some monitors to see what was going on.  Consistent contractions every 5 minutes!  "Oh, that's what those are!"  I thought - I had been having the occasional contraction for a few days but had no idea what they actually were.  We settled in and tried to sleep, but were just too excited.  Plus, Josh had woken everyone we knew up by texting them to let them know we were at the hospital....at 3am. 

By 7 am I was having regular contractions every 3 minutes.  I got up and walked for awhile, jumped in the tub for a bit, and walked some more.  By this time I was only dilated to a 3, but since I had been 0 to start with, I thought that was pretty good!  My doctor, however, didn't agree, and decided to start pitocin, despite the fact that he knew I wanted a natural labor and delivery.  So, the pit started and from there everything changed.  By 9 am I was having hard contractions for 90 seconds that were 90 seconds apart. I continued to roll with it, with the help of Josh's support and the exercise ball.  By 2 pm, however, things looked very different.  I had been doing these contractions for almost 5 hours and had only made it to a 6.  By my calculation, not only was the pitocin not speeding up my labor, but it was going to be another 5 or 6 hours before I would be ready to push.  And doing those contractions for 5 more hours, on 2 hours of sleep, and without being able to eat, and THEN having to push was just not going to happen.  I was just beyond exhausted.  I remember telling Josh, "This isn't fair, this is like transition and I was only supposed to do those contractions for 2 hours. I can't do this for another 5 hours, I have no energy left."  He encouraged me through it, which I think lasted another 30 minutes, when I decided I needed to sleep and the only way to do that was to get the epidural that I had tried so hard to avoid.

The anesthesiologist came in and placed the epidural, half-strength to my request so that I could still move my legs and feel vague contractions, but would be able to rest.  I slept for about 2-3 hours, and when I awoke the contractions felt like they were intensifying again.  Within an hour we all realized that the epidural was no longer working, and although my nurse encouraged me to have it replaced, I refused and was happy to be back to a more natural delivery.

Around 6 pm, I felt like I needed to push.  Let me tell you, pushing when you get to that point feels amazing, like having a huge weight lifted from your shoulders.  Unfortunately, Ava really hadn't descended (she was a -2 station when I started), and after an hour of pushing she never made it past  -1.  The nurse assured me and Josh that I was doing a great job pushing, but at this point she started having decels (unreassuring heart tones).  That was the point that my doctor decided that I would need a c-section, and that I turned into an angry, crying mess.  They came in to replace the epidural (worst moment of the entire day - I won't go into details but trying to curl into a ball and stay still when having contractions and feeling like you need to push is not pleasant), and wheeled me off to the OR for my surgery.

There are very few things I remember about the section, mostly because I was so exhausted at that point and was really frustrated and upset.  I felt like I hadn't done enough, had not been able to do everything that I could have, and had my chances of a normal delivery ruined by the pitocin. 

After a few minutes of feeling some pushing and tugging, my beautiful little girl was born, hoisted over the curtain for a brief moment, and taken to the warmer.  Josh rushed over to see her and I heard him say the most wonderful, precious words: "You are the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.  You are so beautiful" he kept repeating.  This was the most precious, amazing moment of the entire day, and I will cherish it forever.  Everyone kept saying, "What's her name? What's her name?" and Josh said "Honey, I think she is Ava.  I just want to call her Ava."  So Ava it was...

She was a perfect 7 lbs 15 oz and 20 inches long.  They took her away for bathing and such, finished with me (it took over an hour), and I was sent back to recovery.  Josh and my dad came in the recovery room with her, and that was when I was able to hold her for the first time.  It wasn't what I had imagined, holding a naked, screaming, newly born baby for the first time; she was very awake and alert, and quiet and calm.  She nursed right away, without any problems, as if she knew exactly what she was doing.  It was perfect.  And she was absolutely beautiful. 

We moved into our room for the night.  Ava woke regularly every 3 hours to nurse AND to poop; this cracked me up because for months Josh had swore he would never change a poopy diaper and in one night he had changed 4!  Strong work, Ava!

The next day we finally decided that Ava's middle name would be Eloise, after my amazing, very loved grandma Eloise.  We initially had thought we would name her Ava Grace, but I was beyond thrilled to name her after my dear grandmother instead.  After a few more days in the hospital, we were discharged home that Sunday evening.  It was definitely a surreal feeling taking that tiny little bundle home from the hospital, driving away with the carseat filled with a brand new life in it.  But what a beautiful moment it was - I felt like we had officially became a brand new family of 3. 

"For this child I have prayed."  1 Samuel 1:27