Happy Birthday Ava!

The newest member of our family, Ava Carol, was born on January 17, 2013 at 11:35 am weighing in at 9 lbs, 3.8 oz and 21.75 inches long.  We were starting to wonder if she'd ever arrive since I was 41 weeks and 4 days (11 days past my due date of 1/6), but after over a week of my being dilated 4-5 cm, inconsistent contractions never closer than 5 minutes apart, and trying a couple of natural induction techniques like acupressure/puncture and walking without success, she decided it was time.

 Me at 41 weeks and a couple days pregnant

Warning: The rest of this post is Ava's birth story.  I didn't include ALL the details, but there's still some.  So consider yourselves warned (Bob).  You can skip to the bottom for pictures.  :)

I woke up around 4 am on Thursday, unable to sleep, so I played on the computer for a little bit and then laid down on the recliner.  Sometime around 5 am I noticed that I was having contractions and when I started timing them they were about 5-6 minutes apart.  A little after 6 am I decided that this felt like the real deal so I went to get a shower and tell Sean to not go into work.  While Sean showered, I got some breakfast and called my doctor/midwife and the birth center to let them know.  By then the contractions were about 3-5 minutes apart and getting stronger.  We left the house around 7:30, got to the hospital around 8, and were in our room a little before 8:30 am.

After answering the nurse's questions and getting checked to find I was 5-6 cm dilated, I decided to get in the birthing tub.  It took a little while (about 15 minutes) to fill up, but once I got in the temperature and jets felt wonderful.  I was able to listen to a Hypobirthing relaxation meditation and Sean was very supportive in helping me breathe through the contractions.  Since I didn't have any sort of monitoring for contractions, the nurses checked the baby's heartbeat every 15 minutes, which was a little distracting, but worth it not to have to wear the belt or have an IV.  After about half an hour (or so) I felt like I needed to get up and move around so I sat and rocked on the glider for a bit.  Sean helped me with some relaxation exercises which was just what I needed at the time.  When they checked me again I was 8 cm and getting very close so I got back into the tub.  They had filled it with hot water again and it felt so good with the jets going.  I had a couple of strong contractions close together, but it still didn't feel right to start pushing so I just kept focusing on relaxing and breathing.  After awhile longer I got the sensation that it was time for the baby to come out so I turned to face the midwife and with the next several contractions tried to breathe the baby down, but that wasn't working.  What ended up working was to bear down with my feet up and Sean and/or the nurse behind me to support me while I pushed.  Once I started actively pushing through the contractions the baby started to slowly move down.  We decided to have the midwife break my water and once she did that, things went faster.  It took somewhere around 45 minutes to push the baby out.  They placed her on my chest as soon as she was born and I held her until the cord stopped pulsating.  She was very calm and didn't really cry; she did cough up some gunk and was breathing great.  After they clamped the cord, they took her to the warmer to get weighed and probably some other stuff (which Sean saw, but I didn't) and they got me cleaned up.  I only needed 1 stitch and, while tired, felt alive and alert.  It's very hard to find the right words to describe how I felt, but it was a good feeling.

The hardest part was pushing the body out after the head made it out.  It felt like to took every ounce of my energy to do that.  Everyone was very supportive of not having me rush, but still encouraging.  Up until the point of pushing the relaxation techniques worked wonderfully and I didn't really feel pain, just discomfort.  When I started pushing, and especially after my water was broke, it hurt while I was actively pushing, but in between contractions I was able to refocus.  Sean was a tremendous help.  

We stayed at the hospital until the next afternoon.  Here are some pictures from her first full day at home.

"Smiling"

Me and my girls

Family of four

Snoozy angel

Since it's been a week (plus a few days) since she was born, I'm adding her weight/height/head from her first well baby visit to this post also.  Not that it really matters, but I like numbers and statistics.

At 4 days old:

Weight: 9 lbs

Length: 21.75"

Head: 36 cm

At 8 days old:

Weight: 9 lbs, 6 oz