1 week old

Our sweet girl is one week old today. This has definitely been a week of excitement and fun, as well as challenges. We've been getting to know Ava and her personality as well as her getting used to us.

Isn't she precious?

We have learned that Ava does not like to have a bath. From the mintue we lay her down, she starts screaming. It doesn't stop until she is wrapped up tightly in a towel and warm again.

We went to the pediatrician on Wednesday. When Ava was discharged from the hospital on Monday, she weighed 7 lbs even. At Wednesday's appointment, she'd gained an ounce and a half. That's not a lot, but it's a start. We will go back on Thursday (her due date!) for her two week appointment and hopefully we will have a good weight gain then. Other than that, she was deemed healthy! On Tuesday, Zach had to get out and go buy some little diapers and some clothes! Since we'd been hearing all along that Ava was going to be a big baby, we didn't buy a whole lot of newborn clothing and we had one outfit that fit her! Luckily, Zach had a shower at his other school on Tuesday (since she wasn't expected so soon) and we got some newborn outfits from there so that was perfect timing! Her diapers were big too - she is wearing preemie diapers and they almost don't fit her either!

She is a generally happy baby. She sleeps a good portion of the time which is nice for Mommy and Daddy. However, that's not always such a good thing, especially when it is feeding time. She's a sweet girl and we just love her to pieces.

These eyes just make us melt!

We got out of the house for a little while today and took Ava to my parent's house. She met one of her uncles for the first time and she got to meet her cousin Caroline who is 4 weeks older than she is! My mom offered to watch Ava while Zach and I went to dinner and we decided to go ahead and go just to have a little time to breathe. What do you think we talked about for most of dinner!? :) Yes, that's right - our sweet baby. I don't think we were even gone an hour and it's amazing how we've only had her a week but it still felt so weird to be without her.

And now just a couple more pictures of Ava.

(Yes, I know how tired I look!)

Introducing Miss Ava Mackenzie!

We are finally home from the hospital! I know everyone has been anxiously awaiting to see pictures and hear about our little girl, so without further ado, here is our beautiful daughter, Miss Ava:

I was very blessed with a labor experience completely out of the oridnary for first time mommies. We got to the hospital around 1:00 am. They checked us in and got us settled in the room. I got my IV started and they started the pitocin around 2:30. I was dilated to a 3 at that point. I felt contractions during the span from the pitocin to the time my doctor came in at 7, but I really wasn't in pain. The nurse kept upping the pitocin trying to cause stronger contractions that hurt but they didn't come. My doctor came in at 7 and at that point I'd dilated to a 6. He broke my water and that started the painful contractions. Since I was already so far along, I was able to get an epidural at that point. Things were moving really quickly and the nurse later told my mom I probably could have had her a few hours earlier if I'd not had the epidural. Either way, the rest of the labor was fairly uneventful. I was ready to push around 11 and that was the hardest/longest part. I pushed for an hour and half before we had her. She was born at 12:28 pm, weighing 7 lbs 11 oz. She was 19 1/4 inches long and has a full head of hair!

I tested positive for group strep B, so we knew we would have to stay in the hospital for 48 hours to make sure that Ava hadn't contracted it during birth. It turns out that was not what kept us from getting to come home. The 24 hour jaundice test came back with a perfect score of 0, but on Sunday morning she was showing slight signs of jaundice. The pediatrician wanted us to take another test yesterday afternoon and that one was right below the threshhold where they usually let patients go home, but for some reason he decided to keep us. Ava had to be hooked up to a billy-blanket all day yesterday. She was glowing in the dark:

Since there were no problems with me, I was discharged on Sunday afternoon while Ava had to be kept as a patient Sunday night. They have rooms called "parent rooms" for parents like us - so we stayed over night in the hospital since I had to be there to feed her every couple of hours. She had another test this morning and the level remained steady. The pediatrician's concern then was that it was a steady number WITH her being on the billy blanket. So he wanted to make sure that if she came off of it, she would be ok. We had to wait around until 3:00 this afternoon for her next test and we finally got the results and news around 4:00 that we could finally go home!!!!!!!!

She apparently wasn't as happy about leaving as we were!

But then she fell asleep and enjoyed the ride home!!

And some random pictures:

She really is a good baby. She is so sweet and I absolutely melt when her big eyes open and just stare at me. Her daddy and I are already completely wrapped around her little finger and she is just the most precious gift we've ever received! I still can't believe she is mine! Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and your prayers! We're so blessed to have so many people who love and care for us and are as excited about Ava's arrival as we are. We look forward to her getting to meet everyone!!!!!

Welcome home, baby girl!!!!! We love you!!!!

Here she comes...

We are scheduled to welcome our little girl into the world tomorrow! We are heading into the hospital in about 6-7 hours and they will start me on pitocin around 2 or 3 am. My doctor will be in around 7:00 to break my weater. We are very excited and hope to get a little rest before leaving for the hospital!! Next time we are able to post we will be excited to introduce Miss Ava!!!!!!!!!

No baby today...

I went to work today fully anticipating it being my last day. (wishful thinking, maybe?) Anyway, I got everything there in order and headed to my appointment about 1:30. When we got there, a nursing student took my BP and it was high. Then the regular nurse came in and took it and it was still high. We waited a few minutes for the dr and he came in and it was still high a third time. He wanted me to go down to labor and delivery to be monitored for a while. At that point, he mentioned that he probably wouldn't let me go past 38 weeks and that he didn't want me working anymore during this pregnancy. That wasn't such hot news - I didn't really want to waste my leave at home without a baby.

So we went down to L&D and got all hooked up to the machines. The nurse set up the machine to take my BP every 15 minutes or so. The first reading was already significantly lower than upstairs in the dr's office. We also got to listen to Ava's heart beating the whole time. We could hear her wiggling around in there - she's a busy little lady. After almost 3 hours, my blood pressure was much, much lower and the nurse came back and told me I could go home. She also told me that the dr said at this point I could keep on working and just to go back for my next appointment on Thursday. I'm supposed to go back to the hospital if I have problems this weekend with dizziness, blurred vision, etc. So, for now, we're back in the waiting game. I'm not sure if the not going past 38 weeks will stand, so I guess we'll have to wait for Thursday for that answer.

We plan on having a nice, quiet weekend. With Hurricane Ike making an appearnace over us at some point, we figure it will be a nice weekend to stay cooped up inside with lots of resting, napping, and taking it easy. I'm just thankful Ava is ok and that there don't seem to be any major risks to her right now. I would have loved meeting her today or tomorrow, but I know the longer she has inside, the better off she will be. So, thank you for all of the prayers. We really appreciate them and all of you praying for us! Have a wonderful weekend and stay dry!!

Sooner than we think?

I had a dr's appointment today and got a little surprising news - we might be having a baby TOMORROW! My blood pressure was up a little bit today - it's been in a really good range and today it was higher than he said he likes to see. I had a bit of a stressful day at work so that could have played a role in it, but he wants to be safe rather than sorry. Sooo... tomorrow afternoon I have to head back up there and have my blood pressue checked again. He told me it wouldn't hurt to have a packed bag in the car just in case. He also said if my blood pressure was still high he'd more than likely send me down to labor and delivery. The good news about that is that he is on call this weekend so he would be the one delivering Ava, not some other doctor, which I've been concerned about. So, tomorrow afternoon we could be on our way to being parents! I totally was NOT expecting that so tonight will be a very busy night packing a bag, cleaning the house, etc. Of course knowing me, I won't be able to sleep so I will have plenty of time to get it all done.

In other baby news, we also had an ultrasound this afternoon to check out Miss Ava's size. She's looking good - everything seemed to be developed well and she weighed somewhere around 6 lbs 15 ounces. She's also head down and in position, so if I am induced tomorrow, as long as the blood pressure is okay, I should at least get a shot to have her naturally. Anyway, I just wanted to post a quick update and let everyone in on what's going on. If we don't stay in the hospital tomorrow, I will update after my appointment so everyone knows. And if you don't see an update, chances are we're having a baby!