Practice Run #2!

Well Thursday morning after talking to a friend about a couple of concerns I was having I decided to call my doctor just to see if they thought things sounded okay. I thought if anything they might have me come in the office so they could monitor me and the baby but had no idea what was really about to happen. The receptionist told me she would have the nurse call me back. When JJ called me back she said Dr. Mascarro wanted me to go to the hospital to be monitored because if anything was concerning I was far enough along that she could just go ahead and do something. Well this sort of sent me into a panic but I really panicked when I couldn't get hold of Justin or my mom for a while. I finally got hold of my mom and she said she would meet me at our house so we could load up the bags. We got everything loaded and mom finally got hold of Justin's school and he met us at the hospital. When we arrived Caroline, a friend from church, was my nurse and already had a room ready for me. Seeing a familiar face helped calm my nerves. She got me all hooked up to the monitors and as soon as she put those monitors on Ava Kate started wiggling around which was so reassuring. She said her heartrate looked great and I was still just dilated to a 1. She kept me for a while to monitor me and Dr. Mascarro wanted me to wait until she got to the hospital so she could come in and check on me too. We waited a couple of hours and Dr. Mascarro came in and said everything looks just perfect with your baby but if anything had looked even slightly concerning I would have just gone ahead and done a c-section. She said 37 weeks is a little early to jump the gun though but had it been next week she would have just gone ahead and taken her. She told us she just wanted to be extremely cautious with us after all we had been through which is very comforting to me. I am a little nervous though because she is going to be out of town part of next week so I'm hoping Ava Kate either decides to come in the next few days before she leaves or she hangs out until she returns in fact if you want to pray specifically about that I would very much appreciate your prayers! I know the other doctors there are fabulous but Dr. Mascarro has been with us through this entire journey and I just really want her to be there at the end. So we have now had two practice runs of getting all the bags in the car and hurrying up to the hospital. I'm really hoping the next time is the last one! Stay tuned until next time!

A Breakfast Shower!

Wednesday morning my coworkers threw a shower for Justin, Ava Kate and myself. It was a breakfast shower and the spread of food was unbelievable! I ate so much I had to force myself to eat lunch at 1pm because I still was not hungry. We came home with many more goodies for Ava Kate! Again we were overwhelmed at everyones generosity and at how blessed we are to know such thoughtful people. This last year I have realized how blessed I am to work at such a wonderful place. My supervisor and coworkers have all been so supportive of us through this journey. As I told all of them this past week I know leaving Ava Kate in June to go back to work will be very difficult but knowing what a wonderful place I am going back to with such kind people will make the transition easier. I not only count my blessings that I have a job in this economy but that I have such a great job and get the privilege of working with such amazing people! Three years ago when God started opening doors to bring us back here I know He put me in this wonderful place for a reason.

A Practice Run!

Well after our already exciting day yesterday with the news of Ava Kate's induction on the 17th, the excited just continued. We got home from our appointments and after many calls, emails and blog updating to spread the news we decided to go for our daily walk. We were pretty close to home when I started having contractions which isn't all that abnormal except these seemed to be somewhat regular. We got home about 5pm and had to get a casserole made for a couple from church that just had their baby girl a couple of weeks ago. The contractions were continuing so after much pleading from Justin I sat down to see if they would stop. After 30 minutes of sitting they still had not stopped so I started timing them. They appeared to be 3 minutes apart and lasting 1 minute each which seemed pretty close together. I finally called the on call doctor and he said I could wait a while longer and see if they got stronger but that if I wanted an epidural I shouldn't wait too long. Needless to say we started getting the rest of our bags packed. We got to the hospital about 7:15pm and the contractions were still coming. They hooked me up to the monitors and confirmed that I was having contractions every few minutes. The nurse checked me though and I was still only dilated to a 1 so they decided to keep me and watch me for a few hours. The contractions began to get much more intense to the point that Justin was having to help me breathe through some of them. Our families were on call and just waiting for us to tell them to head that way but we wanted to wait to see if I was really in labor or not. In the meantime the nurse began to ask me about what I had eaten and had to drink that day and I realized amidst all the excitement of our two appointments I had managed to only have a few drinks all day. She came back in close to 10pm and checked me again and I was still only dilated to a 1 and my contractions had spread out over the last half hour so she said they would send me on home. She gave me two Ambien sleeping pills before I left though and told me to go home and eat something and go to bed. By the time we got to the house my speech was slurred and I could barely stumble into the house. I managed to get some dinner down quickly and my head hit the pillow. I think I was hallucinating when I first laid down. I have never taken sleeping pills so taking two at once really knocked me out. I slept better than I have in months. My contractions must have stopped sometime in my sleep. Justin helped me stumble to the bathroom about 6:30am this morning and I went right back to sleep and didn't wake up until after 9am which is really late for me. After waking up and getting my feet under me I did manage to get to work late this morning for a meeting which I was awake for but I'm not sure I remember much of. My body is really soar and achy from the contractions and dehydration I guess. It was such a strange night and I just kept thinking things just didn't feel like I thought they should when it was time for her to come. I am glad she has decided to stay in there at least for a while longer but after yesterday's events I can't help but wonder if we will make it to the 17th. At least for now we already got to answer the 5 million questions at the hospital so maybe when it is really happening we won't have to do that again and I experienced some pretty intense contractions and realized I can survive them. Justin was a champ- reminding me to breath, rubbing my back and feet. He was so funny. He said I just want to climb in the bed with you so I can be close to you because I don't like to see you this way! So sweet! I did have to tell him I wasn't sure we could both fit in that bed though. At least now we have a little practice under our belts for the real deal!

A Little Irish Princess!

Today we saw the specialist and my OB. First we had a sonogram with the specialist and got to see our sweet Ava Kate for the last time before we see her in person! Everything looked great and he said she is about 6lbs 13ozs and 19 to 20 inches long. He said he thought she would be around 7 to 7.5lbs when she arrives. Then we had a little lunch and went to see my OB. She said I am dilated to a 1 and about 50% effaced and she has dropped quite a bit although not completely. She said I had progressed far enough for us to go ahead and schedule an induction. We are scheduled for March 17th so unless she decides to arrive sooner we may have a little Irish Princess! Other than being St. Patrick's Day March 17th is really special to us because it is the day we got engaged! What a perfect day for our dream come true to arrive on the same day our dream of spending a life together came true! It is also kind of sweet because my mom had bought this crown for a Bunco party a long time ago and she saved it in hopes of having a granddaughter that could play with it one day. Little did she know she will likely get to meet her granddaughter for the first time on that day! Please pray with us for a smooth and safe delivery and a healthy baby girl. It is hard to believe we are so close to meeting our sweet little bird!

Beginning of a Month of Celebrations!

Well we started off our month of birthday celebrations Sunday night when we celebrated soon to be Aunt Natalie's 25th birthday! Natalie, Keller, me and now Ava Kate all have birthdays in March. Our family tradition is that on the night we celebrate your birthday you get to select what you want for dinner and what type of cake you want so Natalie chose stir fry and Sher's cake which is a family recipe and quite delicious! Ethan and Keller were happy to help mommy celebrate and we got some pretty cute pictures of them helping her blow out her candles. My nephews are such precious boys and have brought so much joy to our lives with their funny little ways. Keller is all boy and a very busy one at that! He is also very smart and witty and sometimes will just blow you away with the things his little 3 almost 4 year old brain can come up with. Ethan is a little explorer and likes to pretend to be shy at first but he warms up quickly. He is also a cuddler and a momma's boy. He was fascinated with my belly particularly my belly button Sunday night and kept lifting my shirt so he could rub on my belly and poke his little finger in my belly button. Ava Kate is going to have a lot of fun with her two cousins and I'm sure they will help make her tough but at the same time be quite protective of her. And I have a feeling her Aunt Natalie is going to spoil her rotten- she is pretty excited about this baby girl!
Helping their pretty mommy blow out her candles!
I love the looks on their faces here. You can see how much they love their mommy!
A curious little finger.

Nesting!

So today I woke up and immediately started nesting. I never knew doing a load of laundry could make me so happy or bring such a huge smile to my face but I couldn't help but smile as I pulled each sweet, tiny little outfit out of the dryer. I am so my mother's daughter! I could just imagine our sweet baby girl wearing them all and how sweet she will look and how warm and cuddly she will feel. I just had to share these sweet photos of my first load of baby girl laundry.



Her bag is all packed and her nursery is all ready so now all we need is our sweet Ava Kate!

Our Dream Come True!

My dear friend Kimberly is a very creative and gifted photographer. Last week when she was in town she took some more maternity photos of us at Erinshire. Kimberly is also expecting a blessing this August!
I love this one because I also took my bridal portraits at Erinshire and have one sitting in my wedding dress in this same doorway to the chapel.
Loving our littles!
It won't just be the two of us much longer.
If you know me you know that I really do wish this for Ava Kate because there isn't much I love more than dancing!
I love how she captured the true joy I feel in my heart about my dream come true!
We are still in awe of God's miracle!
Our pitiful attempt at humor!