Today Ava is one month old and I can not believe I’m writing this post!
Before I go any further let me mention: DETAILS are ahead. Do not keep reading if you scare easily! Ha!
Okay lets dive in..
The entire month of January I was so anxious as my due date was February 3rd. Even though everyone (and I mean EVERYONE!) kept telling me that first babies always come after their due date, I had this feeling Ava would come early. So from January 1st my hospital bags were packed! lol! In the last month of pregnancy the doctor had me come in every week to be examined. For the entire month of January I had no change in my exam, 1cm dilated, 50% effaced. every. week.
At my last exam in the end of January my doctor gave me the option to be induced on February 2nd. YAY! I left that appointment SO happy because this felt like the perfect plan! Here was my plan: Andrew and I would go to dinner the night before the induction to celebrate, go to sleep early, do my hair and makeup in the morning, enjoy being in labor with my family there to keep me company, and then Ava would be born sometime that afternoon with all the pretty pictures to prove it..
LOL TO EVERYTHING ABOUT THAT PLAN!!! I guess Ava didn’t like my plan because NONE of that happened.
Around 4pm on January 31st I was sitting exactly where I’m sitting as I’m writing this post, on my couch with my laptop on my lap and most likely online shopping. I started to feel this weird weird leaking feeling. I ignored it for a couple minutes and then thought, “I don’t think thats normal”. I stood up to go to the bathroom to investigate and as I stood up fluid started dripping down my left leg. My phone was in my hand so I quickly googled “what does it look like when your water breaks”. I’m pretty sure I stood there for a full five minutes reading various descriptions of amniotic fluid. At this point I was 99% sure that my water broke so I called Andrew..
“Hi, umm.. theres this weird fluid leaking out of me.” -Me
“What does that mean? Are you ok” -Andrew
“I think my water broke.”-Me
“Are you serious? Did you call the doctor?” -Andrew
“Well no.. This is not the plan!” -Me
Ha! And that is what I kept saying the entire night, “This is not the plan!” Anyway.. I called our doctor and was told to go to the hospital as contractions would probably start soon. So then I did what only I would do.. Started to do some laundry and clean the kitchen. Crazy. Andrew came home shortly after and was ready to leave. However, I was not ready to leave! I was hungry, so I suggested (more like requested) that we have dinner before we go. After Andrew looked at me like I was a crazy person, he went to pick up Chick-fil-A. 🙂 As I sat down to eat my delicious looking wrap, suddenly I lost my appetite and the pain started. The leaking feeling started again except this time it was blood. At this point I started freaking out. We quickly got in the car and I just kept praying that Ava would be okay!
We arrived at the hospital around 8pm and once they hooked me up to the monitors and we could hear Ava’s heartbeat, we were assured that all was well! The nurse examined me and said that I was 1cm dilated. She said that I could let her know anytime I wanted the epidural or pain medication. The contractions were about 2 minutes apart at this point. The pain was pretty uncomfortable but not unbearable, so I decided to hold off on the epidural for the time being. Well 2 hours later (10 pm) the pain had really picked up so the nurse gave me some IV pain medication. This pain medication was INSANE! I have literally never felt anything that weird, I could still feel the pain, but it was like the entire world was moving in slow motion and so was I. Andrew actually has a video on his phone of me talking to him right after I had been given the medication and it’s the funniest thing! I was talking soooo slow. At around 11 pm the contraction pain was much worse, but that IV pain medication made me feel like I couldn’t talk. It was so weird, I remember thinking how much worse the pain was, but for some reason I didn’t have the energy to complain about the pain.
At midnight the pain medication had worn off and the nurse came into to reassess me. I was still at 1 cm dilation. WHAT!! I thought she was kidding. At this point she said that she had orders to start Pitocin to speed up the labor process if that was something I was interested in. I was very interested!! I begged for the epidural before she started the Pitocin because I had heard that Pitocin causes very strong contractions, and I was completely maxed out on my pain tolerance!
An hour later (1 am) the anesthesiologist came into give me the epidural and I had never been happier to see a human! The anesthesiologist told me that in addition to the epidural he was going to give me an additional dose of medication through the spinal cavity to give me some immediate relief. The epidural hurt a little and it was hard to hold still because of the contractions but my very sweet nurse offered to hold my hand which helped a lot actually! (I had the best nurse!! SO grateful for her!) I then felt this warm sensation throughout my entire body and I felt a lot better. Until.. I heard the monitor sound and the inner nurse in me knew that my oxygen dropping. All of a sudden I started seeing purple circles and felt like something was sitting on my chest. I would try and take deep breaths but I couldn’t, it was so scary! I looked up at the monitor and saw that my blood pressure had dropped a lot. The nurse put a face mask on me for oxygen and said that this can happen sometimes with the additional dose of spinal medication that I had been given. Just my luck! One hour and several bags of fluids later my vital signs had stabilized and they finally started the Pitocin. It was around 4 am when she examined me again and I was at 2cm. SO clearly this was going to take all day, I was VERY over this whole process at this moment and at that time I felt like I was going to be in labor for literally ever! She increased the dose of Pitocin and helped me try to relax. I laid there for the next two hours praying a lot and I think I fell asleep. At 6 am she came into examine me again and says, “10 cm! Time to have a baby!”
Wait what?!? How? Already?? YAY! Let’s do this!
An hour or so later my mom and cousin came in (so glad they were there!) with the doctor and everything happened so fast after that! They had me push with the contractions and that was so different than I thought it would be. It kinda feels like everyone in the room is yelling at you during the pushes lol! I pushed for about thirty minutes and then at 7:53 am we heard the sweetest cry!! Total surreal moment, words can not explain it. They put Ava on my chest and I had never felt so much relief! She was finally here and completely perfect!
I fell in love with her the moment I met her. Looking back on my pregnancy I was very “withdrawn” from a lot of it, its almost like I never really could wrap my head around the fact that there was a baby inside of me, but as soon as I met her everything made sense!!
This story is not perfect and definitely didn’t go as I had planned but its our story and I love it. I replay her birth in my head over and over again and it makes me smile every time. I NEVER thought I would say this, but I feel so blessed to have been able to experience pregnancy, labor, and becoming a mom! I feel stronger because of it and I trust God on a completely different level. When I start to feel overwhelmed I remember that HE HAS GOT THIS!! I will treasure Ava’s birthday for the rest of my life!
Ava Vendryes Stout | February 1st, 2019 | 6 lbs 10 oz |18.5 in
Andrew took videos clips throughout the day (I am so glad he did this!) and put together Ava’s Birth Video. Watch below:
All my love,
Alex
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