Summer Fun in the Sun

So, I just realized that I have a ton of photos to share of all the fun we have been having this summer!  We have been taking frequent trips to the zoo, DeAnna Rose farmstead, the park, Wonderscope Children's Museum, and the pool.  Here are some photos of all the fun we've been having!

We bought a zoo pass this year, and have been going to see the animals at least once, and sometimes twice a week.  Her favorites have been the lions, orangutans, gorillas and monkeys, meerkats, and of course - Nikita the polar bear.

Waiting for the train with daddy.

 Watching the meerkats play - one of Ava's favorites.

First ride on the carousel - she loved it, and took 4 trips before we got her to leave.

Ava LOVES watching Nikita the polar bear swimming.  I think she could literally watch him for hours, we usually have to pull her away.  But who can blame her, he's so fun to watch!

Ava hopping with the blue frogs.

Checking out the monkeys.

Little Diva on the move, in a hurry to see the animals.

 Riding the train...one of Ava's favorite things.

We had a fun playdate at Wonderscope Children's Museum with Ava's friend Violet and her mommy, Shelley.  These girls are two peas in a pod, and so cute together!

All dressed up for her playdate.

And a few trips to the Deanna Rose Farmstead.  Ava has been mesmerized by the cows and goats each time we go.  She initially acts like she wants to see them, but it takes a while for her courage to build up to actually get up close and touch them.  She was even excited about the chickens this time.

Ava was super excited to have a quarter, to buy fishie food.

 Feeding the fishies.  Those goldfish are HUGE!

Checking out the chickens in the coop.

The baby calves....she won't get too close.

Getting up the nerve to feed the calf.

She was in love with this wagon, wouldn't get out of it then wanted to pull it.

I can't wait to see what the fall brings!

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

The Story of Ava, part 1

After months of working on this, I have finally put our story of Ava in writing.  I am so thankful that I have this blog to remember and cherish these memories forever....

When we finally found out that we were having a baby, it had felt like it was a long time coming.  In reality, it was a mere year-and-a-half journey of heartbreak and soul-searching that had lead to this wonderful moment.  I use the word "mere" because I know of so many others whose journey was and is much longer.  When you are going through infertility, every day can hold new hurts, doubts, and fears.  Believing that God has a plan for your life is not always easy, but knowing how much He loves me and wants good things for me sure eased the pain.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord.  "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."  Jeremiah 29:11

We had just finished 6 months of fertility medications, which had failed to allow us to get pregnant.  It was Christmastime when I found out - and this was not the Christmas gift that I had been hoping for.  I felt that I had become overwhelmed and consumed by the last year-and-a-half, and needed some time to try and forget about having a baby for awhile.  Josh agreed, and we decided to take some time off pursuing pregnancy, take some adoption classes, and pray about our next step.  So January 2010 came, and that is exactly what we decided to do.

I was working quite a bit over the New Year's holiday (like 90 hours in 6 days), and on the last day I woke up from my afternoon nap feeling so nauseated that I was unable to go back to sleep.  It continued through the next day, to the point that my team let me take a nap during morning rounds because I was unable to function.  After that day, I felt much better, although the nausea continued on and off for the next several weeks.  One of those weeks, my attending physician brought me a bottle of wine for getting a lumbar puncture (aka, spinal tap) on an infant that no one else (not even the radiologists with their fancy equipment!) were able to get.  I joked with Josh that I was going to buy some Prevacid for my lingering "gastritis" (nausea) to calm my stomach down before I started in on the lovely bottle of wine.  He joked with me that I probably needed to get a pregnancy test instead.

So the next day I set off to Wal-Mart for some Prevacid and a box of pregnancy tests (I felt like I had already spent a small fortune in First Response tests at that point, but hey, what's another $12?).  I really just did it to make Josh happy, since I knew that there was no way I was actually pregnant.  So I took the test, and sat it on the bathroom counter, but as I did, something caught my eye.  Something that I had never seen before....a line before the control line.  "No way," I thought.  It took a minute for it to register, as I stood there staring at the stick.  The stick just like the hundreds I had taken before, but this one was different.  This one was giving me good news.

I fell to my knees and cried, thanking God for this beautiful, amazing, wonderful, perfect blessing.  This surprise blessing, this perfect gift from above.  I was so overwhelmed I can not even begin to fully explain that moment.  But it was perfect.

The next week we met with our church small group, which consisted of 6 married couples.  It was Thursday night, and we all huddled in the small hotel room of our group leaders, the Indellicates.  We were meeting at this unusual location because one week before this, a little boy had been born and they were chosen to be his parents.  So they were staying in a hotel until paperwork could be finalized.  We all oooo'd and aahhh'd over the tiny little bundle, and against Josh's protest I insisted that he hold Will (after all, he was going to be a daddy in about 9 months).  Josh wanted to tell everyone our good news, but I refused, as I wanted the moment to be all about Will.  Until Josh completed outed one of the other couples and made them give up their good news of expecting a baby in the fall!  (Way to go, Josh.  By the way, this couple is our good friends the Steffens and their daughter, Amelia, is 3 days older than Ava.  We'll get to that later.) 

The next week we went to our first doctor's appointment.  We thought I was approximately 5 weeks along, so you can imagine our surprise when we saw a perfect little heart beating and found out that we were actually 8 weeks!  And the due date was set at September 8, 2010.  (Which meant I actually was pregnant on Christmas!  What a great present, thanks Lord!)

So that next Thursday we announced to our group that we were expecting in the fall; and the next Thursday a new couple joined us (taking the Indellicate's place) and announced that they were due just a few days before us; and the next week another couple announced they were due just a few weeks after us!  Four babies due within a few weeks of each other, four mamas meeting each week getting to go through their pregnancy together.  Wow, God is good.

On April 1 we went in to have our ultrasound, the big one where they tell you that all the parts are formed correctly and are in the right place.  We also found out that we were having a girl, which was no surprise to Josh or my dad, both who had thought that it was a girl from the moment they found out I was expecting.  But since it was April Fools day, we couldn't help but play a little prank.  So when I went to call my parents to announce what we were having, we surprised them with TWINS!  They were shocked to say the least, but I quickly owned up to the lie and told them it was just one, a little girl.  They were thrilled.

Through the next few months I was blessed with 3 amazing and beautiful showers.  One gorgeous bash with all my KC friends thrown by Dena, with help and location (she opened up her lovely home to us!) by Amber.  My cousin Candy threw me a wonderful family shower in her home in Joplin, which was so special not only because it given by my beautiful family, but it was also in my grandmother Eloise's previous home, the home that I spent so much of my childhood in.  I missed my Grandma dearly that day, but her presence was felt in every celebratory moment.  My wonderful church friends, Liz and Brooke, also threw me a great baby shower with the wonderful ladies in my past and present small groups.  They were all simply perfect.

The summer came and was sooo hot.  Not that I even had time to notice, as I was working like a mad woman trying to finish my pediatric ICU and neonatal ICU months before baby A came.  We talked endlessly about names, but could never really decide on one, and had it narrowed down to about 10-15 as my due date approached.  A few weeks before my due date my dad and brother arrived to help us set up her room - no painting needed since it was already brown and we just added some pink and white.  But we finally had the crib and changing table up, and I started washing her clothes and blankets and organizing everything.  It was perfect.

Part 2 to continue the Story of Ava....her birth-day story.





  

The First I was Hoping to Skip

Ugh.  I was really hoping we would skip this one.  Hoping that my asthma genes would skip a generation.  Hoping that her first urinary tract infection would be her last.  Well, my sweet Ava wasn't so lucky.

That Saturday evening Josh called while I was at work, letting me know Ava had a fever.  Then a few hours later he called back to let me know he was bringing Ava to the ER because he thought she had another UTI.  I had him bring her up to my workspace and looked her over.  She also sounded like she had some upper airway noise going on, but looked great and ran around the room, playing with the phones and computers.  So I told him that I thought she looked fine and that I thought we could skip the ER that night.

I made it home a few hours later to find a happy little one watching Little Einsteins.  Unfortunately, shortly after she started working harder to breath, and then began crying when she was urinating.  And off to the ER we went.....

The scary part was, by the time we arrived to the ER Ava looked like she was really having a hard time breathing.  They took her back to triage to find that she had oxygen saturations of only 82%!  A little oxygen, an hour of albuterol, and a urine test later, and we were admitted for her first ever asthma exacerbation and kidney infection.

I have to say, she did awesome.  She obviously wasn't thrilled about all of the IVs and tests, but she did great and was pretty cooperative for the rest of her stay.  The first night was a little tough, trying to get used to the nasal cannula and all of the wires attached to her.  But as she got better, she walked the halls and even made it to the play room a few times. 

The last day we were there she walked the halls, waving and say "hi" and "bye-bye" to all the nurses.  We were thrilled to be home after just a few days, and even more happy that Ava was back to her happy, laughing self shortly after going home.  She's finally finished her antibiotics and has only needed her albuterol once since we got home (Ava overdid it a bit during a living room dance party).  Thank you to everyone for all their prayers, we really appreciate them!

Big, Awesome, Wonderful News...by Ava

Ava has something exciting to tell you.....

Not the best video, but after what felt like 100 attempts at filming her, this was the best I was going to get.  What is it about pulling out the camera that makes a toddler completely stop their cute behavior (and intelligible speech)?!


We couldn't be more excited to share our wonderful news with everyone!  Ava will be a big sister sometime in January.  We are feeling very, very blessed to have this new miracle in our lives, and I am super thankful to finally be a lot less sick.  I was pretty sick with Ava until 16 weeks, but with this one it hit harder much earlier.  I knew I was pregnant when I came home one evening to some of my favorite chicken grilled by Josh, and could not even look at it without feeling queasy.  I got our great news the next morning.

Although I am quite sure Ava has no idea what is coming, she has been telling everyone that she is going to be a "big sister."  She has a new book called "I'm a Big Sister," which she carries everywhere and asks me to read almost every night.  She has even been hugging my growing belly and proclaiming "baby!"  I think that Ava is going to be the best big sister!

4th of July Fun

On the 4th we decided to go to the Prairie Village 4th of July Festival.  Oh my goodness, it was HOT!!

Walking to the festival....

They had a great petting zoo with a huge variety of different animals, she had a great time feeding all of them.

We watched Mr. Stinky Feet perform some kids music...

And played some games before the heat took over the day....

And she had to have a "boon" of course...

We debated whether we should try to take Ava to the fireworks that night, which were starting at 9:30.  Ava had been having difficulty with sleeping lately (shocking, right?), so we decided to put Ava to bed at 7:30 like usual....but Ava, of course, had other plans.  She just plain refused to go to sleep, so 2 hours later, we loaded her in the car and drove to the fireworks.  I was so excited for her to see them for the first time!

We set up chairs on a sidewalk and got ready for the show.  Ava was so excited about the moon, it was huge in the sky.  Even after the fireworks had started (which she completely ignored and was completely not interested in!), she kept pointing at the "moon."  About 10 minutes into the show, she finally started to become tired and we headed home for the evening.

Awesome Ava

Just a few moments with Ava that I never want to forget, and some fun new things that she is doing......

A few weeks ago while we were praying before dinner, Ava clasped her hands and bowed her head.  While Josh was praying a blessing over our meal, I had to sneak a peek to see my precious child praying.....and noticed that with her right hand she slowly snuck a piece a food off her plate and into her mouth.  The part that cracked me up was that her left hand stayed in position and her head remained bowed.  She thought she was being sneaky!

Ava was sitting in a chair at my doctor's appointment a few weeks ago, going through her Sesame Street cards.  They have pictures of different shapes and colors.  She picked out a few cards with the color purple and proudly exclaimed "Purple mama!"  She can now pick out and name purple, blue, and pink.

Last night, just after we had started eating dinner, Ava put her precious little hand on my arm and said, "Pay, mama, pay."  She folded her little hands and bowed her head, and reminded me to thank God for our meal.

She is counting to 6, although sometimes she will skip 5.  She will also "sing" her ABCs, although only about half of the letters are actually recognizable.  She actually has quite a few songs that she likes to sing, including a few songs from Sesame Street and "I'm in the Lord's Army."

We have been going to the pool a lot.  She is definitely a water baby.  She runs right into the deep(er) end of the wave pool and sits right down - I am not sure that she realizes that she is almost drowning herself, but when I pick her up she just sputters and laughs.  We finally got her some puddle jumpers (floatation device), which she loves, because now she can lie on her stomach and "swim."  She also enjoys trying to drown her dad and jumping off the side of the pool.  Crazy little daredevil!

A couple of weeks ago we went from being "mama" and "dada" to "mommy" and "daddy."  Wasn't ready for that!  Her vocabulary is taking off and now we're hearing 4-5 word sentences, and saying funny words like "awesome" and "sticky", and "where my daddy go?" whenever he leaves the room for a second.  I love the random things that are coming from her mouth right now.  I think my favorite is her tiny little voice squeaking out "A-va Eyoise!"  She loves to walk around the house and read her books to us....

We are having lots of "fun" at dinner time, which I am sure every parent of a toddler can completely relate too.  We have mostly moved past the "I throw every bite of food on the floor" phase, but are currently in the "I like to explore my food with my hands" phase.  Which typically ends every meal with digging her hands in and squishing whatever foods are left.