Ava Grace - Photos of Her Birth Day

 Two hours old - getting weighed

 Ava's first bath - she actually seemed to enjoy it!

 Momma and Ava's first picture together - the hat that Ava is wearing is one that the hospital provided. They are knitted by women that donate them to the hospital. I thought it was so cute with the flower!

 Jayden came to the hospital later in the afternoon and wanted to hold Ava right away. He immediately pointed out her "noze" and her "ize" and her ears. And when we told him to hold out his arms so he could hold her, he would hold his arms straight up above his head. All set!

 First family of four photo!

 Ava with Nana Sherry (my mom)

 We got Jayden a gift that he got to open for being a big brother.

 It's a truck! Jayden loves watching the construction trucks work around our neighborhood so we thought this would be the perfect gift.

 "Noze"

 A few more momma and Ava shots before we left the hospital the next day.

 One day old

 All set for her first short car ride home. Notice we made the once boyish car seat as girly as possible without buying a new one. My mom made the car seat cover and then I bought a cover that goes over top the entire seat that is pink and green, which matches the green in the seat.

 Big brother was all set to welcome Ava home!

Another family photo with the shirts that I bought Ava and Jayden off of Etsy.

Ava Grace - Birth Story

My mom decided to come stay with us early last week and I was convinced that she wouldn't have to wait long before Ava would make her appearance. However days went by and I continued feeling about the same - constant contractions but no real signs of anything changing or progressing. On Friday nothing seemed different and if it did, I wouldn't have taken it seriously anyway since there had been so many false alarms up to that point.


On Saturday morning I woke up about 5:30 with my first painful contraction but I wasn't entirely convinced that was what it was so I decided if I had a couple more then it would be reason enough to go to the hospital. Sure enough another wave of pain came and went but I needed to feel one more before I was ready to wake up DJ. After the third one, it was just a little before 6 and I woke up DJ, told him I thought it was probably time and that I was going to shower. I continued to time my contractions and noticed that they were getting stronger. Thankfully they weren't going away as they had in the past and they were anywhere from 2 minutes to 5 minutes apart. I wasn't feeling entirely rushed though because I was still able to function through most of the contractions. Much to DJ and my mom's dismay, I decided I needed to eat something before we headed to the hospital. I think they thought I just needed to get to the hospital as soon as possible! By the time we actually left for the hospital, it was 8:00. Jayden woke up before we left so we were able to get one more family of three photo before we told him that we were headed to the hospital to get Ava. He was more than happy to have a day to spend with Nana.


When we arrived at the hospital, my contractions were strong enough that I had to stop what I was doing and breath through them. Thankfully I had completed most of the paperwork when I had gone in at 38 weeks so there were just a few things to do before they monitored the baby. When the nurse checked how much I was dilated I was 6.5 cm and 100% effaced so we knew this was it! That was about an hour after we first got to the hospital. The contractions were getting very painful and I was seriously doubting my decision of a drug free birth. I decided to get in the tub but first they had to draw some blood for a routine blood screening. I sat on the birthing ball while the lady took my blood and I remember thinking what a ridiculous policy it was to take blood from a laboring lady. They're poking me with needles while I'm doing everything I can do to get through each contraction. It was miserable and I hated the position I was in on the ball. 


Once the lady finally finished taking my blood, I had to get in the bed so the nurse could check my cervix before I got into the tub since my contractions were getting so close together. Just moving into the bed was miserable because each movement made me contract and I ended up in the worst position possible to have a contraction. It was so uncomfortable and I couldn't keep the tears from coming. I felt somewhat like I was losing control and that scared me a little since I knew I wouldn't be able to handle the pain if I couldn't get my mind in the right place. When the nurse checked me at that point I was 7.5cm dilated and that really frustrated me because the pain was so bad and I still had 2.5cm to dilate. I started thinking that I didn't have it in me to keep going without an epidural. The nurse suggested getting into the tub to see if that helped first. As I walked to the bathroom, I was having contraction after contraction and I just broke down. I decided I had to have the epidural; I knew I couldn't handle any more pain. I was at my breaking point. However the nurse said it would be a good 15-20 minutes before that could happen so it would be best to still get in the tub and try that out. The only problem was I could barely move from where I was and I started feeling a lot of pressure. We decided it would be best if we got back to the bed so the nurse could check me again. Easier said than done; I kind of remember thinking I wish someone could just carry me to the bed which was literally like 5 steps away.


When the nurse checked me again I had fully dilated and was really feeling the urge to push. The only problem was they had just called the doctor and he wasn't there yet so they were telling me to not push. I had heard that happen to other women before and although I thought it sounded crazy to tell someone not to push, I didn't realize how horrible it was. Making your body do something that it is quite naturally doing on its own is IMPOSSIBLE. I was practically yelling "how do I not push?!?" because they were really making me think that it would be bad to deliver the baby if the doctor wasn't there. Nothing was being done to prepare the bed or the room to deliver the baby and I just kept thinking that I was going to push the baby out right there on the bed. It was a little terrifying and so miserable all at the same time. When the doctor finally came into the room, I have never been so grateful to see anyone in my entire life. I pushed two times and the head was out and then a couple more times to deliver the shoulders and the rest of the baby. And then the doctor held up the most beautiful baby girl that I had ever seen. I will never forget that moment as long as I live.


At this point everything was different then what I had experienced with Jayden. It was so much better since Jayden had to be taken away immediately. I didn't get to hold him till he was about an hour old. But they laid Ava on my chest right away and I just rubbed on her and talked to her and took in the sight of my precious baby. Before that day, I thought I might be grossed out by having a newly birthed baby put on me but I wasn't disgusted or squeamish in the least. I was so happy she was here and it was just the best moment ever. The doctor continued working on me; he delivered the placenta and then had to do another procedure before stitching me up since I had a minor second degree tear. But that part wasn't nearly as bad as my first delivery either since I had Ava in my arms to distract me. 


I was able to start nursing Ava about 45 minutes after she was born and after a few attempts, she latched on and nursed for a good 30 minutes which is a great first feeding. I was so glad that breastfeeding was off to a great start since I had a lot of issues with Jayden when he was born and that continued for weeks.


Overall the entire delivery was extremely better than my first delivery. I was so grateful for that and the fact that I ended up not getting an epidural after all! The last few days have also been a lot better for me physically and emotionally. My body doesn't feel nearly as traumatized as it did with the first and emotionally I'm not nearly as overwhelmed. I feel almost normal actually and the pain from the stitches has been almost non-existent. I am staying on the Motrin religiously but thankfully I haven't even needed anything stronger. I feel so blessed to have had such a great experience and it truly is an answer to my prayers. I had prayed for the delivery and recovery to be just like they happened and I am so grateful that God chose to bless me with such a wonderful past 3 days!

I am...

• Still pregnant.
• At 39 Weeks, still 4.5 cm dilated, 80% effaced but the baby has now dropped to -1, instead of -2 where she was last weekend.
• Getting horrible leg cramps/nerve "stings" because the baby has again dropped and seems to have "landed" on key leg nerves.
• Highly productive and have made multiple lists that I never thought I'd make it through but alas, I always do so I then have to think up more things to do to make the time tick by.
• Immensely enjoying my last few Momma and Jayden days without other distractions.
• Having constant contractions but, see bullet #2, they are doing nothing.
• Loving the beautiful sunny days that Laramie has been having for the last few days.
• Waiting for my mom to arrive today so we can be "bored" together, i.e. do lots of mundane tasks as we "patiently" wait for Ava to make her appearance.
• Loving the part-time schedule that Jayden has at day care because it gives me some time to get things done around the house and he gets to spend some time with his friends and teachers and yet, I get to spend SO much more time with him each day.
• Surprised that companies haven't capitalized on the nesting period that pregnant women go through and hire them for those few weeks before they give birth; it's unbelievable what one can get done in a day. Liability issues, I guess.
• Spending time reading books and have really enjoyed a few of them.
• Trying not to be annoyed with the question, "Any baby yet?" since I answer it multiple times on a daily basis.
• Attempting to fill my days in other ways besides eating very unhealthy comfort food.
• Wondering what day we are going to get to call Ava Grace's birthday!!

Funny Faces

This isn't the clearest picture but it just cracks me up so much I have to share it. Jayden loves to put stickers on his (and our) faces.

Pregnancy Update - 38 Weeks

We've had a somewhat eventful last few days but as of the moment, baby Ava still has not made her appearance. On Saturday, we went up to the mountains to do a little hiking and have a picnic (we saw two moose!!) and on our drive back, I started having a lot of contractions. As we made it back home, I started thinking that this could be it because the contractions were getting pretty close together and I was having back pain as well. Well this could have been really exciting except that the only two days that we didn't have ANYONE to watch Jayden was Saturday and Sunday so this was actually highly inconvenient! We were just completely baffled about what to do because we really didn't want to have to take Jayden to the hospital with us but we just couldn't think of what else to do. 


Our biggest concern was not leaving him with someone that he wasn't already at least a little familiar with. Most of our friends were either out of town or their husbands were out of town and since they have kids, they wouldn't be able to come watch our kid. Well thankfully we thought of calling Jayden's daycare and told them what was going on and asked them if they could call Jayden's daycare teacher who I really like (and I know is single and doesn't have kids of her own) to see if maybe she could come over and watch Jayden. Blessings of all blessings, she was willing to come and sounded more than happy to be of assistance to us! We ended up going to the hospital about 7pm even though I still felt ok other than just having a lot of contractions that were close together. They weren't hurting but we didn't want to wait any longer and have to call someone in the middle of the night so we felt it would be best to just go and get everything checked out. At this point we had also called DJ's parents and they were headed to Laramie to stay with Jayden but they wouldn't get to our house until well after Jayden was asleep. Jayden's teacher came over and by the time we left to go to the hospital, he was so excited to have her sole attention that he barely even noticed that we left. We felt sooo relieved that his teacher was able to come over and Jayden was so happy to have her there.


When we got to the hospital and got all checked in, including changing into a horrible hospital gown (those are the worst things ever!), they checked me and I had only progressed 1 cm since my appointment on Tuesday, regardless of the fact that I had been having consistent contractions for about 7 hours at that point. The nurse was skeptical that it was active labor since I should have progressed a lot more after having contractions for that long. So at that point I was 4 cm dilated, 80% effaced and it was 8:30pm. The nurse suggested that we walk for a couple of hours and see if that did anything to get things going quicker. And, boy oh boy, it definitely made me have more contractions (read: 2 minutes apart with contractions lasting well over a minute) but it got to be so painful to walk, that I decided to sit on the birthing ball for awhile and the contractions almost immediately slowed down. By the time they checked me again, I had only progressed a half of a centimeter and I was exhausted. I felt like walking was definitely the thing to do to keep things going but I was dead on my feet and could barely keep myself upright, let alone what would happen if I got to the point of having to push. I knew I would never have the energy to do that and I would be miserable. I did not want to remember Ava's birth that way. On the other hand, having contractions so close together and that were painful by that point, it seemed crazy to go home and not know when to come back; we really didn't want to have the baby at home or in the car! So we finally decided that I would stay overnight and that way if the contractions continued to get stronger, we wouldn't need to deliberate about when to come back to the hospital. Unfortunately, even though it was hard to go to sleep initially because of the contractions, I slept in spurts until finally I noticed that I was sleeping pretty good because the contractions had stopped!


The doctor came in the next morning about 6:30am, checked me again, and I had not progressed at all. So we all agreed I should go home and wait it out where I would be much more comfortable. It was so crazy because we went from thinking that we would have a baby by the morning to leaving the hospital still pregnant and completely clueless about when our baby girl would arrive! So it's been two days since I left the hospital, DJ's parents left yesterday and I am still having tons of contractions. Every baby and pregnancy truly is so different. Here I am 4 cm dilated, contracting constantly and having my patience tested because days keep passing and still no baby. Craziness!


I have noticed some additional changes in my body since Sunday so I know she'll be coming soon, but how soon??? NO CLUE! One good thing about our "test run" though is I realized that there were a few things I didn't consider bringing to the hospital that I really wished I would have had so we're just more prepared now then we were before the weekend!

Two Babies

This is probably the easiest I'll ever be able to hold both my babies where both are happy and comfortable!

Pregnancy Update - 37.5 Weeks

Yes, I'm still pregnant although I'm kind of surprised because I have been dilated now for 2 weeks! I thought for sure that meant I would have the baby by now. At 36 weeks, I started having some pretty consistent contractions (read: 5-10 minutes apart for about 3 hours) and we thought we'd be headed to the hospital that night. But since it was late and we were going to have to call someone to come stay with Jayden, it caused us to hesitate and thankfully, we did wait because the contractions stopped and we saved some money by not checking into the ER! But ever since I've been thinking it could happen at any moment.

After that night of contractions, I went to the doctor the next day and I was 2 cm dilated and 75% effaced so it definitely wasn't false labor! A week later, I was another centimeter dilated and DJ and I decided that it was best if he didn't go to Vegas for the week. He was supposed to leave this past Tuesday and be gone until Sunday night for a conference but given that I could go into labor any minute and I am more and more uncomfortable every day, it didn't seem like the best idea.

I am still feeling really good in terms of aches and pains but I am feeling LARGE. I can barely bend over to tie my shoes and picking up dropped items is a lesson in squats (thankfully, I've been doing squats at my workouts for the last few months so these are easier then you would think!). My larger pregnancy clothes are all getting too small or at least, I am filling them out much more. My appetite has reached a new level and although I have managed to only gain about 30 pounds with this pregnancy so far, I may just make up for that in the last 2 weeks!! Yikes! I am having contractions all the time and they are definitely getting more and more uncomfortable. And the baby has dropped so walking has turned into waddling...lovely...

So that's the update! It's funny because although I would love for our baby girl to come early; I also just want her to hold out for a little longer. I haven't had time to get bored yet so I don't feel ready at all! There are still things I'd like to get done but the list is getting very, very small so I may be entering bored status by Monday. It's been great to have DJ around too to help out and we've gotten a lot of little odd jobs done. Love that! 

I have my next appointment on Tuesday and I would be very surprised if the doctor tells me I haven't dilated any further. I'm thinking, if I make it that far, that Tuesday will be my last prenatal appointment!

Jumping Jayden

Jayden has learned a new trick! Or at least he's convinced and I'm not about to convince him otherwise. Enjoy this sweet funny video! I think this is my favorite stage of childhood so far. Ha ha.

Oh, and please excuse the dropping of the phone in the middle of the video.

Unexpected Encounters - Part 2

Yesterday I started telling you about my experience at the GM Dealership, of all places. I told you about Ruth and the amazing example of faith that I found her to be. Today I want to tell you about another person I met. 


While Ruth and I were talking another guy came into the waiting area. Ruth was called out to discuss some things related to her car and the guy next to me started a conversation with me this time. Again, remember I tend to be a bit wary of random people talking to me, especially men, so when this guy asked me what my car was in for, I was ready to shut the conversation down. Can never be too careful with strange men ya know... But for some reason we continued talking; I must have decided I didn't need to shut him down in a rude sort of way (sometimes it's necessary unfortunately because there are those people who ignore basic social cues...). Little by little, I start learning a little about him. I learn that he's married (ok, my walls go down a little bit more, no longer do I feel like I could be getting hit on... granted, I could have probably crossed that one off the list immediately as a given since I am, after all, 37 weeks pregnant, but remember, crazies.... strange men... I am always on guard...). I also learn that he has two young children (my walls go down further...a family man, come on!). I learn that he's an army guy and might possibly transfer to the air force since he's an airplane mechanic. (Funny what we consider "safe", army to me is safe so, combined with the other information I have learned, I pretty much don't consider this guy a threat anymore...not to mention, I can read people pretty well and he wasn't giving me any weird vibes...) He and his wife are now living in Laramie because they moved back to finish their degrees. His wife wants to be a writer and he is finishing his aeronautical studies degree. We talk a bit about the airline industry (seriously, how much random information can a girl learn in one 2 hour waiting area experience??? First Borzoi breeds and now airlines...) and in the course of that conversation, I also learn that this guy is a Christian too! He mentions here and there how they are basically waiting on God to show them where they need to be. Currently the airline industry is taking a big hit and jobs are scarce hence why they decided to finish their degrees. Waiting a year might give them more options. 


Well, what makes this guy so interesting to me is first, the way I just met him and second, the way it appears that him and his wife might be people that DJ and I could really click with. See, I have been praying for friends that share a love for the Lord and I have been praying for a couple that both DJ and I can enjoy spending time with. As I was talking to him, I was struck by a lot of similarities that they shared with us. Currently we don't have friends like this and I feel a big piece is missing from our lives as a result. Well I find out that this couple goes to a church that I attended when DJ was out of town once. I liked the church but I wanted to know a little bit more about the pastor(s) so I was able to talk to this guy about that. I learned about more opportunities for meeting other couples (through small groups, which is what the church calls Bible study groups that meet during the week) and even a women's group. The guy then happened to mention that his wife used to love going to MOPS in the town that they moved from but she hadn't found a group here. (MOPS is Mothers Of PreschoolerS but the group is flexible in their definition of a preschooler since your child can be a little older or younger than that age group.) The crazy thing is that, although I had never attended MOPS before, I have been trying for months to go to the group located here and for various reasons, it's never worked out. I was excited to be able to tell him the details and now, his wife and I are going to attempt to meet up on Thursday to attend MOPS together (after we have gotten to meet each other!)


I should also mention that this couple has lived all over the country too, just like me and DJ, and they just recently moved from Virginia where they had only lived for 8 months and then had to move because various jobs fell through. Sound familiar??? (In case you aren't familiar with our story, DJ and I lived in Tennessee for only 9-10 months before also having to move as a result of a job falling through!) He shared that they had the same concerns we had in being so far from family while trying to raise a family and also felt like they were living in another country living so far east. It was so crazy how similar our stories were in a lot of cases.


Well, we ended up swapping numbers, or rather he gave me his wife's name and number, and hopefully I'll get to meet his wife on Thursday. I am so curious what she will be like and if truly this might be the start of a friendship that I have been praying for. If not, that's ok of course because if anything, it made for a very interesting morning that could have otherwise felt like a lot of wasted hours just waiting. But I'm hopeful that God has something more in store!


What a great way to start my leave yesterday! Today Jayden started a new schedule at day care and I will tell you more about that tomorrow! We're enjoying extended Momma and Jayden time today!