That's right! Our precious baby girl was born Dec. 5,2009 at 3:57 pm! I was scheduled to be induced on Monday Dec. 7th but Ava had other plans! She wanted to be born on Saturday apparently while my regular doctor was out of town. Ok so here's the story....
At our last doctor visit on Wednesday Dec. 2nd my doctor, Dr. Friendman, scheduled our induction for the following Monday, the 7th. We had our normal visit of the non stress test and ultrasound. They measured Ava on the ultrasound and said it looked like she was approximately 6lbs 11 oz. Nice size baby, not too big not too small. Well because Dr. Friendman was going to be out of town that weekend he asked if we would mind to meet with the on-call doctor for that weekend so that just in case I was to go into labor we would be familiar with the doctor. We said of course we'd like to meet him. Dr. Shoutko was new to the hospital and practice but not a brand new doctor. We met him and immediately had a great feeling about him. He has a great bedside manner and is a humble Christian man. Dr. Shoutko asked us a few questions and then checked to see if I had dilated any more and I had. He said I was between 3 & 4 cm and that was a good starting point for induction. So we left the doctor's office prepared to come back to the hospital on Monday for our planned induction. Little did we know that our plans would go all to pieces.
So for the next couple of days we made plans and got things ready for the arrival of Miss Ava for Dec 7th. Jason, Addison and I went to West Town Mall Thursday night to get a couple of Christmas gifts and really enjoyed our time there. We just walked around in no big hurry and picked up a few things. I enjoyed the walk and hoped that it would help me dilate so that the induction wouldn't take as long as it did with Addison (16 hours of labor with her from time of induction). While we were walking I did have a contraction that made me stop in my tracks and say "ow that kinda hurt". Which up until that point my contractions had only been strong enough to notice and had never stopped me from what I was doing. Well Friday was just a normal day for us and we went about our normal business friday night. I cooked a big supper so that we could have leftovers for lunch the next couple of days and I managed to get Addison's over night bag packed so that I wouldn't have to wait until last minute Sunday night to do that and chance on forgetting something she might need while she was at Grammy's. Ava's bag had already been packed and ready to go but we decided to wait until Saturday to pack mine and Jason's things for the hospital. Friday night wrapped up like any normal night at our house and we all went to bed.
Sometime between 3 and 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning I was woken up by a contraction. At first I thought I had just moved funny and gotten a side stitch b/c I had done that a few times before. I got up to go potty and then laid back down. Well about 30 mins later another pain hit and this time I knew what it was. The contraction was painful enough to have to breathe through but I didn't wake Jason up yet because I figured it was just a couple sparatic contractions and nothing to really worry about. Well from that point on the contractions got closer and closer and I never was able to go back to sleep. In the 5 o'clock hour I was timing the contractions and they were coming about every 10 minutes. So at about 5 til 6 am. I woke Jason up and said "I think I'm gonna call the doctor because I'm having contractions about every 10 minutes". I don't think I've ever seen Jason wake up so quick LOL! He said "Uh yeah I think that'd be a good idea". So I called the doctor and they said to go on to the hospital and they would check me out to see if I was in labor and if not they would send me home. So here started the phone calls to our moms and some friends and church people and by 630ish we were out the door and on our way to the hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital we went straight to labor and delivery and got set up in their triage room to monitor the baby and my contractions. The pain got worse and worse with every contraction and finally around 8 or so a resident doctor and nurse came to check my cervix and found that I was 6cm dilated and boy were they surprised-and so were Jason and I. So this got the team movin and got me into a room and soon I found relief in my wonderful epidural!
For the next few hours we waited and waited for me to dilate to 10cm. It took a little while longer than expected but around 3:30 pm the nurse checked me and I was ready to push. I started pushing around 3:40 and about 15 minutes later Ava Marie was born weighing 7 pounds and 19 3/4 inches long.
That was the second time I got to experience my child being born and that feeling and experience is like none other. The second time is just as wonderful as the first time! Its one of the most wonderful AMAZING miraculous experiences EVER! How anyone could witness such an amazing event and not see God is beyond me! I will never forget this blessed day! I praise God and thank Him for being with us and giving us another healthy baby girl and for blessing my family so richly!
To view more pictures of Ava's arrival please click on these links:
Part 1 & Part 2.
At our last doctor visit on Wednesday Dec. 2nd my doctor, Dr. Friendman, scheduled our induction for the following Monday, the 7th. We had our normal visit of the non stress test and ultrasound. They measured Ava on the ultrasound and said it looked like she was approximately 6lbs 11 oz. Nice size baby, not too big not too small. Well because Dr. Friendman was going to be out of town that weekend he asked if we would mind to meet with the on-call doctor for that weekend so that just in case I was to go into labor we would be familiar with the doctor. We said of course we'd like to meet him. Dr. Shoutko was new to the hospital and practice but not a brand new doctor. We met him and immediately had a great feeling about him. He has a great bedside manner and is a humble Christian man. Dr. Shoutko asked us a few questions and then checked to see if I had dilated any more and I had. He said I was between 3 & 4 cm and that was a good starting point for induction. So we left the doctor's office prepared to come back to the hospital on Monday for our planned induction. Little did we know that our plans would go all to pieces.
So for the next couple of days we made plans and got things ready for the arrival of Miss Ava for Dec 7th. Jason, Addison and I went to West Town Mall Thursday night to get a couple of Christmas gifts and really enjoyed our time there. We just walked around in no big hurry and picked up a few things. I enjoyed the walk and hoped that it would help me dilate so that the induction wouldn't take as long as it did with Addison (16 hours of labor with her from time of induction). While we were walking I did have a contraction that made me stop in my tracks and say "ow that kinda hurt". Which up until that point my contractions had only been strong enough to notice and had never stopped me from what I was doing. Well Friday was just a normal day for us and we went about our normal business friday night. I cooked a big supper so that we could have leftovers for lunch the next couple of days and I managed to get Addison's over night bag packed so that I wouldn't have to wait until last minute Sunday night to do that and chance on forgetting something she might need while she was at Grammy's. Ava's bag had already been packed and ready to go but we decided to wait until Saturday to pack mine and Jason's things for the hospital. Friday night wrapped up like any normal night at our house and we all went to bed.
Sometime between 3 and 3:30 a.m. Saturday morning I was woken up by a contraction. At first I thought I had just moved funny and gotten a side stitch b/c I had done that a few times before. I got up to go potty and then laid back down. Well about 30 mins later another pain hit and this time I knew what it was. The contraction was painful enough to have to breathe through but I didn't wake Jason up yet because I figured it was just a couple sparatic contractions and nothing to really worry about. Well from that point on the contractions got closer and closer and I never was able to go back to sleep. In the 5 o'clock hour I was timing the contractions and they were coming about every 10 minutes. So at about 5 til 6 am. I woke Jason up and said "I think I'm gonna call the doctor because I'm having contractions about every 10 minutes". I don't think I've ever seen Jason wake up so quick LOL! He said "Uh yeah I think that'd be a good idea". So I called the doctor and they said to go on to the hospital and they would check me out to see if I was in labor and if not they would send me home. So here started the phone calls to our moms and some friends and church people and by 630ish we were out the door and on our way to the hospital.
When we arrived at the hospital we went straight to labor and delivery and got set up in their triage room to monitor the baby and my contractions. The pain got worse and worse with every contraction and finally around 8 or so a resident doctor and nurse came to check my cervix and found that I was 6cm dilated and boy were they surprised-and so were Jason and I. So this got the team movin and got me into a room and soon I found relief in my wonderful epidural!
For the next few hours we waited and waited for me to dilate to 10cm. It took a little while longer than expected but around 3:30 pm the nurse checked me and I was ready to push. I started pushing around 3:40 and about 15 minutes later Ava Marie was born weighing 7 pounds and 19 3/4 inches long.
That was the second time I got to experience my child being born and that feeling and experience is like none other. The second time is just as wonderful as the first time! Its one of the most wonderful AMAZING miraculous experiences EVER! How anyone could witness such an amazing event and not see God is beyond me! I will never forget this blessed day! I praise God and thank Him for being with us and giving us another healthy baby girl and for blessing my family so richly!
To view more pictures of Ava's arrival please click on these links:Part 1 & Part 2.
