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!!!!