Avery's Birthday

Outside of Paradise Cafe, leaving for the hospital

Our amazing nurse Melanie

LOVE my doctor :)

Tuesday morning around 11 I had a regular checkup and was scheduled to be induced sometime on Wednesday.  My appointment went great, I was a 4 and softening and then I asked if she would strip my membranes (I know, crazy) to see if we could get things going before I was induced.  The night before Avery didn't do her nightly routine of squirming around and hadn't moved very much that morning, so I told my dr. my concerns and she decided to monitor me for a little while.   After about an hour and half of being monitored, having nurses and my dr. in and out, and me getting sick because they spiked my blood sugar on juice (and then it crashed)to try to get her to move, she still wasn't moving as much as my dr. wanted her to (though her heartbeat was steady).  So Tracy (my dr. was getting a little repetitive) asked how I felt about being induce that day instead of the next and left to call Labor and Delivery to see if they had room for us.  She left the door open while she made the call, so I heard the whole conversation including the phrase "reduced fetal movement" which totally freaked me out (even more than I already was) and that they had room for me.  She came back in and cheerfully said "They have room for you!  Go get lunch and come back in 20 minutes!  We'll have this baby here before dinner!"  I walked out of the office dazed and anxious as a dialed Ronnie's number to let him know.  I thought I was freaking out, but it was nothing compared to Ronnie's reaction.  He was at work when I called him and I could tell he was totally flustered after I told him he needed to leave work and meet us for lunch before going to have our baby.  I could here him passing people and excitedly telling them "I'm going to have a baby" as I listed off all of the things I needed him to grab from the house for Chloe (packing her bag had been on my to do list for after my appointment).  When he got to the house he called so I could tell him everything one at a time and I could just visualized him running from one end of the house to the other in a chicken with it's head cut off fashion.  It was pretty comical listening to him. Meanwhile I met up with my mom and Chloe and we headed to Paradise Cafe for a little lunch, which was a big mistake because they were slammed (I know you told me so Mom!).  20 minutes turned into 45 (during which time I turned into a nervous wreck) before we were headed to the hospital and Tracy called on the way wondering where in the world we were (she'd shown up to break my water and I wasn't there).   They let us in and we were immediately met by a tiny, cheerful nurse named Melanie who'd been called in just to induce me, which made me feel awful since we were so late.  She got the IV in, all the paperwork out of the way, and checked me and I was a 5 and still soft (not sure what that means, they never used the term effaced).  Tracy came in I want to say around 3 'o clock while fluid was going into my IV to prep for the pitocin and was excited with my progress.  She then got out her little crochet hook and popped my bag of waters, which didn't hurt at all, but I hated the feeling of peeing my (non) pants over and over.  They had to change the little pad under me about 6 times because it just kept gushing out.  My nurse Melanie was amazed at how much water I had in me and she had to keep tightening the monitor around my stomach.  Every time they changed my pad, more would come out and I'd be sitting in a pool again.  After a little while the contractions started to come and before long I was at a 7 and feeling ready for my epidural.  I'm not sure at which point they gave me the pitocin, but I think it wasn't until after my epidural.  The anesthesiologist  came in and gave me the epidural (which was such a different experience than Chloe's since I was at a 9 + with her and only a 7 with Avery) and then shot the breeze with Ronnie while it took affect (he was actually a pretty entertaining guy).  My feet quickly went numb, but I kept feeling the contractions.  I hit my drug button a few more times, but the contractions never  fully went away and there was a spot on the lower left side of my stomach that was especially painful and sharp.  Melanie said it was called a "hot spot" and was actually pretty normal.  She checked me after the pain was more manageable and said that I was at a 9.  I didn't love feeling the pain, but it was kind of cool to be able to feel the pressure of everything working in my body.  Shortly after she left I started feeling A LOT of pressure down below, like she was about to come out.  I told Ronnie that we needed to have the nurse check me again, but we weren't really sure what to do because she'd just been in.  After a few more contractions with that kind of pressure, we called Melanie back in.  She checked me, asked me to push while she felt, and then said "We need to call Tracy," because I was ready!  A few more nurses came in to prep the room and before we knew it, Tracy was there and I was getting into the stirrups.  It all happened so suddenly that when everyone was gathered around me and she told me to push, I started laughing because I couldn't believe it was time!  I pushed through 4 contractions, all of which I could feel (thankfully painlessly) everything that was going on.  It was a really strange sensation to feel her crown, feel Tracy prepping me down there and then feel Avery slip out.  I was bent up so far when I was pushing, that I actually got to watch her come out of me (also a surreal experience).  This whole pregnancy has felt like a dream and I don't think I accepted it as reality until that moment.  She was born at 6:26 and Tracy was quick to say "See!  I told you we'd have her here by dinner!"  I'm not sure of the order, but they place her on me and she wasn't crying at all (which was a little scary) and Ronnie passed the camera off to a nurse so that he could cut her cord.  It took a little while, but she eventually started crying, then all of the routine cleaning, measuring and so on took place.  She was so beautiful and had her own little look about her, though she shared a few similarities with Chloe and all of the nurses kept saying "Oh, she's Daddy's girl!"  There's something a little unfair about carrying your baby for 9 months and then having her come out and look like Dad!  Atleast he's good lookin'!  I was especially interested to find out how much she weighed, since I'd been diagnosed with Gestational Diabetes and was ecstatic when they told be 7 lbs 12 oz (my "goal" (dream, wish, prayer etc...) was to have her under 8 lbs)! After all of the excitement died down, we called my parents and told them to bring Chloe over to meet her sister.  She was SO excited to meet her, but when it came down to it, she was pretty wary.  We sat her on my bed and she said "I want to hold sister" but shortly after we placed her in her arms, Avery started to squirm and Chloe quickly said "Please take her!"  It was so nice this time around to have my family join me in the hospital to share in the special atmosphere there (with Chloe there was the great "swine flu epidemic" so we weren't allowed any visitors beyond my mom).  A little after 8 we said our goodbyes (visiting hours were over) and they wheeled us to recovery, where we quickly ordered from their gourmet menu (not even kidding, it's the best food ever!).  We met our new nurse Andrea' (who kept me well stocked with pain killers and juice) and settled in for the night with our sweet little baby.  Sometime during the night, Avery started choking and actually stopped breathing, but thankfully Ronnie was awake and acted quickly.  It was such a scary experience to be woken up by my husband saying "She's not breathing!" and then having to call the nurses and have them rush in.  I'm so grateful that Ronnie was nearby and kept a cool head.  It turns out that she was having a hard time getting out all of the amniotic fluid out that she'd swallowed, which was also the reason that she didn't cry right away when she was born.

After that, things were pretty calm!  We decided to stay the full two days at the hospital and it was the best decision ever!  It was so nice to be waited on and to not feel any obligations past feeding and changing Avery.  Nursing went really well, besides having my male nurse when shift changed and the intense after pains.  I seriously felt like I was in labor again and had to keep reminding myself that it was my uterus shrinking and I WANTED that!  It was fun to have lots of visitors this time around and especially nice when my Mom brought me some Coldstone!  It was fantastic being able to eat sweets guilt-free again!  Thursday afternoon we packed everything up to go home.  I wasn't feeling very well (besides the whole giving birth thing) and was pretty light headed, so we took our time.  When we eventually made our way down to the car, the tire was low, but we decided to try and make it home anyway.  Ronnie got into the freeway lane and I asked him if he was sure it was safe with a low tire, and he assured me it was.  Uh hu.  Yup.  About halfway home I started to hear a funny noise so we pulled over.  The tire was totally shredded!  Ronnie got everything out to put the spare on, but discovered that the previous owner had put a special lug nut on it to discourage thieves, and we didn't have the tool to take it off.  Thankfully we were close to my parents house, so my Mom came and grabbed me and Avery while Ronnie waited for the tow truck (glad we decided to go with roadside assistance!).  Finally, we made it home!!!  My Mom was fantastic and stayed the night (and the next couple of days) with us, taking care of the girls, cooking and letting me rest while Ronnie went to work and my sweet mother in law came to help too.  I'm so grateful that everything went so well and that we are blessed with such a beautiful family!  Thank you to everyone that stopped by, cooked for us, and has taken Chloe!  We really appreciate the help and support!