Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Who's That Photographer?
We have gotten quite a response to the black and white photo that is shown on our blog. Just to let you know, it was taken by Jackie of JacquelinePhotography.net. She is great to work with and is a talented photographer. Look for more of her work on our blog in the future!
Ava's Birth Story
As promised, here is the story behind the baby :) Enjoy!!
Ava’s birth story begins a few days before her actual birthday, on Wednesday, July 2nd. Ana had her weekly Doctor’s appointment to see how things were moving along. Much to our surprise, the Doctor told us that Ana was dilated to 2cm and Ava had dropped to a pelvic station of zero; which basically means that Ava’s head had dropped and was resting at Ana’s cervix. We thought Wow! That is exciting. I asked our Doctor if she could tell us when Ava would actually arrive. The answer was less exciting, “Could be tomorrow, could be in two weeks.”
So with that we settled into our regular routine of walking every night, doing Ana’s pregnancy work out DVD and hanging out waiting for a twitch. Wednesday afternoon…..nothing. Wednesday night….nada. Thursday morning….wait….contraction time! I came home from work ready to play coach. It was not long before we realized that it was a false alarm. Thursday afternoon….nope. Thursday night…..you guessed it, no contractions.
Friday we decided to take a long walk, go for a bike ride, walk some more. Still nothing. Saturday came, more walking, we bought a desk and put it together. Anything to get this baby moving! Finally by Saturday afternoon Ana decided to go to the gym and lift some weights. (Don’t worry; she had been lifting all pregnancy) Apparently Ava did not like that, because about an hour after Ana got home, around 7pm, the contractions started!
Being that this was our first time at this baby stuff, we still did not know if this was the real thing or not, but just to be on the safe side we proceeded to shower and get ready as if a trip to the hospital was imminent. By 8:30 pm it was obvious Ana was in labor. So we started working together doing breathing exercises, and birth positions while I rubbed her back. By 11pm her contractions were pretty intense. She was sweating profusely and was having trouble talking through the contractions. We decided that the pain was bad enough to go to the hospital.
We took off, Dale Earnhart style. You know: red light….um what red light? We got a baby on the way! After arriving at the hospital in a smokin’ 7 minutes (a law abiding drive from our house is around 20 minutes) I loaded up Ana in a wheelchair; by now I am really concerned. She isn’t saying much, is curled up in a fetal position and drenched in sweat. After a mad dash to the maternity ward, the intake nurse checks Ana and finds that she is fully dilated to 10 centimeters and is at a +2 pelvic station! After checking Ana out, the nurse screams for help, turns to Ana and me and says with urgency, “Honey, whatever you do, try not to push yet; because this baby is coming RIGHT NOW and we still need to call your doctor and get you set up in a delivery room!” With that the nurse rushes Ana into a delivery room. Our doctor showed up in 15 minutes and 5 pushes later at 12:01 am on Sunday, July 6th, Ava was born!
I am thankful for such a wonderful wife. She is strong mentally, physically and spiritually. I am constantly amazed by her! The doctor said that in 30 years of practice she has never had a patient with as much muscle control as Ana. Ana achieved her goal of a natural pregnancy and as a result, she was fully alert and calm after the delivery. According to Ana enduring the pain and working through the cascade of contractions, is empowering and moving. She feels that she can tackle anything after working through the pain and discomfort of delivering a baby.
Ava came into the world in a very peaceful, non-medicated manner. She arrived with her eyes wide open and was very alert. She had a serene, puzzled look on her face and was content to lay on Mommy’s chest and bond. Ava was born a healthy 6 pounds 4 ounces and was 18 ½ inches long.
Ava’s birth story begins a few days before her actual birthday, on Wednesday, July 2nd. Ana had her weekly Doctor’s appointment to see how things were moving along. Much to our surprise, the Doctor told us that Ana was dilated to 2cm and Ava had dropped to a pelvic station of zero; which basically means that Ava’s head had dropped and was resting at Ana’s cervix. We thought Wow! That is exciting. I asked our Doctor if she could tell us when Ava would actually arrive. The answer was less exciting, “Could be tomorrow, could be in two weeks.”
So with that we settled into our regular routine of walking every night, doing Ana’s pregnancy work out DVD and hanging out waiting for a twitch. Wednesday afternoon…..nothing. Wednesday night….nada. Thursday morning….wait….contraction time! I came home from work ready to play coach. It was not long before we realized that it was a false alarm. Thursday afternoon….nope. Thursday night…..you guessed it, no contractions.
Friday we decided to take a long walk, go for a bike ride, walk some more. Still nothing. Saturday came, more walking, we bought a desk and put it together. Anything to get this baby moving! Finally by Saturday afternoon Ana decided to go to the gym and lift some weights. (Don’t worry; she had been lifting all pregnancy) Apparently Ava did not like that, because about an hour after Ana got home, around 7pm, the contractions started!
Being that this was our first time at this baby stuff, we still did not know if this was the real thing or not, but just to be on the safe side we proceeded to shower and get ready as if a trip to the hospital was imminent. By 8:30 pm it was obvious Ana was in labor. So we started working together doing breathing exercises, and birth positions while I rubbed her back. By 11pm her contractions were pretty intense. She was sweating profusely and was having trouble talking through the contractions. We decided that the pain was bad enough to go to the hospital.
We took off, Dale Earnhart style. You know: red light….um what red light? We got a baby on the way! After arriving at the hospital in a smokin’ 7 minutes (a law abiding drive from our house is around 20 minutes) I loaded up Ana in a wheelchair; by now I am really concerned. She isn’t saying much, is curled up in a fetal position and drenched in sweat. After a mad dash to the maternity ward, the intake nurse checks Ana and finds that she is fully dilated to 10 centimeters and is at a +2 pelvic station! After checking Ana out, the nurse screams for help, turns to Ana and me and says with urgency, “Honey, whatever you do, try not to push yet; because this baby is coming RIGHT NOW and we still need to call your doctor and get you set up in a delivery room!” With that the nurse rushes Ana into a delivery room. Our doctor showed up in 15 minutes and 5 pushes later at 12:01 am on Sunday, July 6th, Ava was born!
I am thankful for such a wonderful wife. She is strong mentally, physically and spiritually. I am constantly amazed by her! The doctor said that in 30 years of practice she has never had a patient with as much muscle control as Ana. Ana achieved her goal of a natural pregnancy and as a result, she was fully alert and calm after the delivery. According to Ana enduring the pain and working through the cascade of contractions, is empowering and moving. She feels that she can tackle anything after working through the pain and discomfort of delivering a baby.
Ava came into the world in a very peaceful, non-medicated manner. She arrived with her eyes wide open and was very alert. She had a serene, puzzled look on her face and was content to lay on Mommy’s chest and bond. Ava was born a healthy 6 pounds 4 ounces and was 18 ½ inches long.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
First Visit with my Grandparents!
Abuelito and Grammie
Grandma Mom, Cousins Alexa and Mayson, and Daddy
Papa Tom and Grandma Marce
Saturday, July 12, 2008
More pictures
Hey everyone. Is it ok if we're a little camera crazy? Oh, we're supposed to be? Ok good! You can see more of Ava by clicking on the flickr icon just below our portrait image.
Oh oh, baby's crying, gotta go :)
Oh oh, baby's crying, gotta go :)
Monday, July 7, 2008
Ava has Arrived!
Beloved friends. Ava has graced us with an early arrival. Ana and Ava are doing great. We will post the whole birth story later, but in the meantime we wanted to share some pictures with you!
Thanks for all the love and phone calls. Bear with us, both our cell phone batteries have died and the hospital doesn't allow anything but hospital equipment to be plugged in, we will get back to you as soon as we can!
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