Happy Birthday, Sweet Baby!

I cannot believe my baby girl is two years old today!! It literally seems like just yesterday that she was born, and at the same time, it feels like she's always been here. I don't think that I've ever actually written down the "story" of her birth....and since I'm keeping this blog for her to look back on someday...I want to write it down before I forget. This is for Ava Grace, of course, so feel free to skip right over because I'll tell you right now, it's LONG! :)



I remember going to sleep in my hospital bed on Saturday, Nov 4th... after Aaron had already left for the night... thinking that I would be in the hospital FOREVER! I had already been there for six whole weeks...with low amniotic fluid...and there was no sign that anything was going to change, be it my fluid level or our baby deciding that it was time for her to enter this world. Of course, I was still six weeks away from my due date, so as much as I hated being on bedrest in the hospital, her staying put to cook for another couple of weeks would have been the best thing for her. As I drifted off to sleep, I thought to myself, only a couple more weeks...I can do this!


Nov. 2, 2006

I woke up Sunday morning, and called Aaron to place my breakfast order...Whataburger Taquitos, please! Of course, I was pregnant and starving, so I had to eat some oatmeal to hold me over until Aaron got there with the real goods! My weekend nurse and Ava's guardian Angel, Vivian, came in to monitor the baby...something that happened 3 times a day. She hooked me up to the fetal heart rate monitor and the contraction monitor. Vivian and I talked a bit, and then she left to go check on another patient. I loved listening to Ava's heartbeat 3 times a day...and that morning, I just sat there and listened and thought about what she would look like and how much I couldn't wait to meet her. I also called Aaron again to see what was taking so long!! Hungry pregnant woman = danger to others!

Vivian came back about 30 minutes later and said she wasn't really impressed with Ava's strip, so she was going to leave me hooked up for a little while longer. Then, to my complete surprise, about 10 minutes after that, Dr. P {the best obgyn ever!} walked in with a sonogram machine in tow. {AARON, WHERE ARE YOU???} She said Vivian had called her because Ava was having more decelerations than normal, and she just had a feeling that Dr. P needed to come in and do a sonogram to check the fluid. So she did, and lo and behold my fluid had dropped significantly in the last week from 7 to 2! {meaning there was only 2 cm of fluid around the baby...normal range is between 11 and 25.} When Dr. P was done scanning me, she looked at me and said, "Sweetie, we're going to have a baby today." "OMG...what?! Wait...really?!" Holy crap.

So I called Aaron ...again... and *calmly* told him to forget about the taquitos and just come to the hospital, that Dr. P was there. As soon as Dr. P left the room, I called my mom and proceeded to freak out, sob uncontrollably, and tried to tell her what was going on. All she heard was "sonogram, 2, baby, and today." Needless to say, she called my dad at church, told him it was go time, and they headed up to Frisco.

They left me hooked up to the monitors, to make sure Ava was okay. And since I had eaten oatmeal a little while ago, we would have to wait until 4 pm to do the C-section. Aaron got there and I told him what was happening...and surprisingly, he was much more calm than I thought he would be! My mom and dad got there a little while later...complete with Whataburger for themselves and Aaron...you know, since he didn't get those taquitos that morning. And all I could do was sit there and watch them eat it...torture! We turned on the Cowboys game and half watched...mostly we talked about what the crap was happening. And then around 12:30 Vivian came back in. She looked at me and said, "Girl...are you feeling those???" "Huh? Am I feeling what, Viv?" She proceeded to tell me that for the last hour, I had been having steady contractions every 5 minutes or so. Seriously?! We were so busy talking, I didn't even realize I was having contractions. Sure enough, we looked at the monitor, and there they were. Every 5 minutes! Ava was coming today, no matter what!

Proud Daddy-to-be!
It felt like a whirlwind after that. Dr. P came in and talked to me about what the plan was...no idea what she said! At the same time, Vivian was starting an IV, and the anesthesiologist was in there telling me about the spinal and giving me paperwork to sign. Aaron was getting into his scrubs and then taking off his scrubs, and then getting some scrubs that actually fit. And somewhere amongst the organized chaos, I got ahold of my friend Jammi {who had basically spent her maternity leave at the hospital with me!} to let her know what was happening, and she made it to the hospital just in time. And around 1 pm, it was time to go back and have a baby! We said a family prayer, and then I got to actually walk down to the OR...the furthest I had walked in 6 weeks! They got me all set up and Aaron situated, and on Sunday, November 5th at 1:29 pm, Ava Grace was born six weeks early, weighing 4 lbs 5 oz!

2 minutes old

She was teeny tiny, but she was perfect! She would have to stay in the NICU as a "feeder & grower" and other than the normal "preemie stuff", she did great and was able to come home after 2 weeks!

going home day!

It's my belief that God puts certain people in your life for a reason, and I truly believe that Vivian was meant to be my nurse that day! She totally went by her gut feeling, and without her awesome nurse's intuition, we may have had a different and unspeakable outcome. We love Vivian and will always be grateful to her for taking care of us!

Happy Birthday, Ava Grace! I love you more than words could ever express! You are the light of our lives and bring so much happiness to your mommy and daddy! You will always be my baby girl, even when your 85! I'm so glad that God chose me to be your mommy, and you to be my daughter. I love you munchkin pie!

Love,
Mommy