The Night Before

Tomorrow morning at 6am Nick and I are heading to Wellington Regional Hospital to have our little girl.  I have a variety of emotions running wild through me so I thought it would do me some good to jot them down. 

First and foremost I am so grateful that I was able to experience the joys of pregnancy.  Its not all sunshine and rainbows but overall one of the best experiences I have ever had.  I cannot imagine never feeling our little girl kick for the first time inside my belly.  Seeing Nick every night kiss my belly and tell Ava goodnight warms my heart!  This is all very bittersweet for me.  I'm not saying this will never happen again, because if I didn't believe in miracles Ava wouldn't exist, but I know that this could be the one and only.  I am  so excited to meet her, hold her, and love her that I am ready for the next phase.  Everything is set up!  The swing, bouncy seat, and play mat are already overcrowding our townhouse.  I love it! 

Thank you to all of our friends and family that have helped us through this process.  There is no way we could have done this without you.  We hope that you continue to be such a precious part of our little girls life.  We know that she will love y'all as much as we do.  It's time to say goodnight to one chapter, but stayed tuned for the next! 

P.S. Everyone has told me to get lots of rest...are they kidding?!?!?! 

38 Weeks

The past week has been very interesting to say the least.  Sunday night at around 8 pm I started getting contractions.  After about an hour I decided to start timing them.  The contractions were happening about every ten minutes.  Since there was no need to go to the hospital yet I decided to try and get some sleep since Monday was the first day of school.  However, that plan didn't work out very well.  By about 10:30 Monday morning the contractions were getting more intense and more frequent.  Nick and I went to the hospital so that they could monitor me and the baby.  After being hooked up to all the machines my contractions starting increasing.  The doctor decided to try and give me fluids to stop the contractions.  After three bags of fluids and 6 hours in the hospital Dr. Brown-Graham  came to check me out.  She ordered an ultrasound for a stress test to make sure Ava was handling all of this okay.  Ava seemed to be doing fine so the doctor was not concerned.  Dr. Brown-Graham did seem puzzled that I was having such frequent contractions since I was not dilating more than 2 cm.  She let Nick and I decide whether to stay at the hospital and let them continue to monitor or go home and wait it out.  Nick and I thought it would be best to go home and see what happens.  On Tuesday morning I went back to the doctors office so they could see if there was any change.  Since there was no change I decided to go back to work.  Well, that didn't help and the contractions kept coming.  Now I'm at home on bed rest hoping I get to 4 cm soon.  I go back to the doctor Thursday so they can continue to monitor me and we are hoping for some progress!  Stay tuned...

36 Weeks

Happy birthday to me!  We are officially 9 months pregnant!  At the end of this week Ava will be considered full term.  Since I am in my last month of pregnancy I get to go to the doctor once a week until the big debut.  Last Friday they doctor gave me my strep B test as well as did my first internal exam.  She was able to touch her head, but said we weren't dilated yet.  Today we went back to the doctors office for our weekly appointment.  Dr. Brown-Graham measured my belly and checked internally.  She said Ava was measuring a week ahead size wise and I was 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced.  Any progress is good news to me!  She also informed us that my strep B test results came back negative.  We go back to the doctor next Thursday morning so hopefully I will have more news to share!

35 weeks

Since the ninth month is quickly approaching Nick and I are doing our final preparations for our little girls arrival.  Nick's Aunt Cookie bought us our pack n' play so we decided to put it in our room for Ava to sleep in until we are ready to put her in her crib in her room.  Haven't worked out that timeline just yet but we'll see. 

We also got the car seat installed in my brand new Mom car, the Nissan Pathfinder!  Ever since becoming pregnant I have told Nick that we needed a car with third row seats.  I hate going places with friends or family and having to drive two or three separate cars.  Well, now we can all ride in ours! 

My diaper bag is prepped and ready to go!  The hospital bag is packed except for a few toiletry items I will pack when its time.  I even have outfits for Ava to wear including matching hair bows and headbands for her hospital picture and going home outfit!  I contacted our fabulous photographer about Ava's newborn photos and they are penciled in tentatively depending on her arrival.  If you know anything about me then you know all this preparation and finalizing of plans and details get me super excited and yet calm with what is yet to come.  The last few weeks of pregnancy are agonizing!  We want to meet her so much, yet want her to be healthy and stay in as long as possible.

Stay tuned!