I have wanted to write Ava's story for a while now and I figured, what better place to do it? I love reading birth stories and I've realized that each are so wonderfully different and special in their own way. Ava's story is no exception. I still cannot believe how it all happened. So, here it is! It's long, so I've written it in parts. Here is part one:
Thursday, May 30th, 2013:
My husband, Travis, was working and my grandparents came into town to keep me company while we waited for Ava's arrival. I had been feeling pretty down because Ava was already four days late and I felt like she was never going to come out. I would sigh and tell Travis, "She is never going to come out of me!" and he would sarcastically reply, "Nope. She's going to stay in there until she's one and she's probably going to have teeth!" Anyways, my grandparents came up to stay a while and my aunt was flying in the next day. I was not having any contractions and I felt like I was going to be pregnant forever, which would not even be a little bit fun.
Friday, May 31, 2013:
I had my 41 week appointment with my midwife. My grandparents came along with us since Travis was going to have to leave early to go to work. When we arrived I peed in my last cup, was weighed, and asked the same old questions. My midwife measured my belly and listened to the heartbeat like she had for every other appointment. She then asked how everything was going and I told her that I hadn't really felt Ava move that day. She was a little concerned and told me I needed to get an ultra sound just to make sure Ava was ok. So, off we went across the hall, where we waited for half an hour to be seen. By then, Travis had to leave to get to work so my Grandma came in with me to get the ultra sound done. Ava looked great! She was breathing and everything looked fine, but she still wasn't moving much. My grandparents and I went back to my midwife and gave her the results and she still wasn't satisfied. She told me to go downstairs and eat and drink something sugary and then head over to Labor and Delivery to be hooked up to monitors and see what the issue was.
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| One of the last pictures of me pregnant. |
When we got home, everyone wanted to go shopping but I was so tired from the days somewhat unnerving adventure, that I took a nap. They came back around 5:00 pm and I heard them come in so I grunted and moaned out of bed and I felt something go POP!POP! but nothing came out so I thought it might have been more of my mucus plug. So, I hobbled down the stairs to meet them. We talked for a bit and I needed to do some laundry, so I hobbled back up the stairs! When I leaned over to put the clothes in the washer, I felt a horrible cramp. I went back downstairs and told them what I felt and both my Grandma and Aunt thought I was having contractions but said to wait a little while and see if I had another one. Sure enough, I had another cramp that was twice as painful as the first. I believe I have a pretty high pain tolerance, and when I had that second contraction I was in tears. It was BAD. I started timing the contractions and they were about 7 minutes apart, so I called the doctor I had just seen earlier that day. She told me to wait to go to the hospital until the contractions were 3-5 minutes apart. Not even ten minutes after I hung up with the doctor, my contractions were two minutes apart. By this time, I was in the bathroom, on the toilet because I was leaking fluid, crying my eyes out. My Aunt was telling me, through the door, "Madison, we need to go. Come out, we need to go to the hospital. Come on!" I was so scared and in SO MUCH pain, it was unbelievable. My body was pushing Ava out and I could NOT stop it! In my sudden insanity, caused by the pain, I rushed upstairs to get my last minute items (which I never used) and my Aunt followed me wondering what the heck I was doing. She still makes fun of me for doing this! Ha!
Off we went! We all piled into my grandparents car. Lucky for me, I was the only one who knew how to get to the hospital, so I had to give my Grandma directions while having contractions every minute, trying not to push, and trying to call Travis to tell him what was happening. Let me tell you, it was not easy! We eventually made it and my Aunt helped wheel me up to Labor and Delivery, where they greeted me with, "Weren't you just here?" (By the way, the elevator ride up was about as awkward as could be. Just imagine me having contractions in a full elevator with people trying not to stare at me while I was crying and trying to keep the baby in.) The nurses could see that I was in a lot of pain and took me to the triage room to check my cervix. A nurse brought me into the bathroom to change into my not-so-lovely gown, but I couldn't even get out of my clothes before Ava was trying to push out of me again. She was visibly shocked when I told her I was pushing and rushed to get me changed and onto the bed. Another nurse checked me and exclaimed, "Oh, you're already at an 8 or 9!" I immediately knew what this meant....I was NOT getting an epidural. I was devastated. I was in SO much pain and just wanted it to go away. Before this day, I didn't even really want an epidural. I wanted to try for a natural delivery, but I was still open minded and knew I would get an epidural if I needed it. Well, I was out of luck. I still proceeded to beg the nurses for any kind of medication, but they refused because I was already so far along and it could hurt the baby. Tons of nurses flew into the room as soon as they heard I was so far along.
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