Family Picture

Family Picture

Saturday, May 20, 2017

Ava Lynn, Your Birth Story

Our first girl and last baby is finally here!  This pregnancy went by so fast.  Here is the story of our sweet little Ava’s arrival.  Dr. Fenoughty told me at one point that because she was measuring big she would probably come earlier.  I had Lucas at 38 weeks so the finish line was 38 weeks at the latest.  Not that I wanted her to be early but I was just over the pregnancy part.  By 35 weeks I was 2 cm and 50% effaced.  Dr. Fenoughty made it sound like she could come at any time.  She didn’t seem concerned at all.  At 36 weeks I woke up one morning with some contractions.  I felt like I should probably start timing them and they were every 5 minutes.  I let that go on for about an hour.  I called the Dr on the way to drop Lucas off and they told me I needed to come in.  One of my friends took Eli and I went in.  On the monitor I was having them every 3-5 minutes!! I was thinking this was it but so nervous because I was only 36 weeks.  The Dr checked me and said I was 2.5 cm / 75%.  I had made some progress but not enough.  Dr Fenoughty was actually out that day and the other Dr decided to give me the steroid shots to help mature the baby’s lungs.  She gave me the option to go to the hospital to be monitored or come back later if the contractions continued.  I went home and the contractions continued but weren’t getting worse.  I went back in to get checked and nothing changed.  I was kind of relieved because I was still 36 weeks, but I was thinking she was coming any day.  The contractions eventually slowed down.

Days went by and nothing!! I was getting so uncomfortable and mentally I was ready.  I had contractions off and on.  Went to my 37 week appointment and had no changes.  Made it to 38 weeks and still nothing.  I made it to my mental finish line, but she just wasn’t ready.  I was so uncomfortable!  My 38 week appointment was at 38 weeks and 3 days.  I went in and still hadn’t made any changes!! I was so upset. Dr. Fenoughty offered to strip my membranes so I went ahead with that because that helped Lucas come.  The only problem was the baby wasn’t really engaged anymore so she said it probably wouldn’t work.  I went ahead and scheduled an induction for the following week.  I left that appointment and cried.  It is so hard at the end.  I just wanted her here!!

That night I went home and started having a ton of contractions.  They were painful but nothing unbearable.   Dr. Fenoughty had also told me that this baby would probably come fast once she was ready so she wanted me to call anytime I had contractions every 5 minutes for an hour.  Well, that was happening.  I called and they wanted me to come in.  I went in and no changes.  I was so embarrassed, so back home again.  The next day, May 11, I was still having a lot of contractions.  I had decided I wasn’t calling until I couldn’t stand them.  You would think with baby #4 you would know, but I was afraid to wait it out too long because I didn’t want to have the baby in car. The contractions actually slowed down as the day went on but were still painful when I had one.  We all went to Andrew’s baseball game.  I went on a walk with Eli before the game to try and get something started, but nothing really changed.  We watched his game and then grabbed dinner at Culvers.  At dinner I had a few painful contractions.

That night we put the boys to bed and got ready for bed.  I was still having painful contractions but nothing different from the day before.  I laid in bed and they were so strong I couldn’t sleep.  They were about every 5-8 minutes.  I didn’t want to call because some were still 8 minutes apart.  Finally around 2:00 am I decided to get up and straighten my hair because I couldn’t sleep through these.  I was feeling like this was it but didn’t know what to do because it was the middle of the night.  I couldn’t wake everybody up for a false alarm!!  I stood in the bathroom and they got so bad.  I was in so much pain, but still felt so bad waking anyone. Mark knew I was having contractions, but he was sleeping.  I finally woke him around 3:00 am and called the Dr around 3:30 am.  As I waited for the Dr to call back they were getting pretty intense.  She finally called back like 30 minutes later and told us to come in.  We called our neighbor to come over to stay with the boys.  Everything felt like it was taking forever because I was not feeling good.  We finally got to hospital and got checked in around 4:45 am.  It was the same nurse as the night before!!  I was so embarrassed!!  This time Mark was with me and they were much more painful so I was praying I had moved to at least 4cm.  She checked me and I was 7cm!!! I was so excited!  It was finally time to meet my sweet girl!! 








I decided I wanted the epidural right away because I was in so much pain.  First I had to get a whole bag of fluid in!!  Not fun waiting that out.  After they did the epidural, then they would send Dr Fenoughty in to break my water.  Got all of that out of the way and I felt so much better!!  Best part of it all is when Dr. Fenoughty walked in to break my water around 6:00 in a black dress and black high heel shoes!!  By 8:00 it was baby time!!  I started pushing around 8:15 and our sweet Ava Lynn was born at 8:22 am!! 







Ava Lynn Creason was born on May 12, 2017 at 8:22 am.  She was 8lbs 11oz and 21.5in long!  Our biggest baby!! I can’t even describe how I felt seeing her face for the first time!!  Everything about her was perfect!! I instantly loved her more than I ever thought possible.  She was beautiful!!  It was a moment I want to stay fresh in my mind forever!! Her sweet chubby cheeks, double chin, smooth perfect skin, and dark hair.  She has so much hair and a little streak of silver.  I feel so incredibly blessed with these four healthy kids!! I never thought I would have a daughter!  I truly thought I was a boy mom for life, which I still am, but now I get to have a girl!!  I am so thankful for that and still just stare at her in total disbelief!   


The boys came to meet her later that day.  It was one of those Mommy moments where I felt like my heart was so full.  The boys were so excited! They were all so gentle and loving.  I know that they will always look out for her.  They are so proud and want to love on her every chance they get.  It is so amazing how God’s plan is written so much better than anything we could ever dream up for ourselves.  It is so perfect and I am blown away by the moments when that shines through.  I never imagined 4 kids, 3 boys in a row, or a sweet baby girl at the end.  There were days I thought we would never get pregnant with baby #2, we would never have more than 2 kids, and I would never have a girl.  Here we are in our perfect story! 


Love Andrew's face



Our first family pic as 6!




Our sweet little girl!! 

Wednesday, May 10, 2017

We Are Having Another Baby, It's A Girl, The Pregnancy



We found out about our little surprise baby mid September.  We were totally shocked, but happy!!  The first trimester was a little rough!! I was tired and nauseous for sure.  I was nauseous all day and a lot of times worse in the afternoon and evening.  I never threw up, so that's a plus!  When we first found out we were a little worried because I had some bleeding but everything worked out!  I had a subchorionic hemorrhage with this baby, but it didn't worry me too much because I had the same thing with Eli.  The up side was more ultrasounds in the beginning, which is always nice!  The baby measured pretty average in the beginning.  They also saw a cyst in the brain that they were keeping an eye on, but everything turned out to be fine!  Thank God!

Our little peanut at 12 weeks

12 weeks


One of the first bump pics! 13 weeks


We decided we wanted to find out the gender this time!! We ended up having the ultrasound tech put the picture in a sealed envelope and then we had a box filled with balloons.  That way the boys could open the box and reveal the gender.  We were so excited to find out and that is when we all found out together that #4 is a girl!! Andrew was not ok with the news at first, but he came around!  I was totally shocked!  I thought it was going to be another boy.



The morning sickness went away by the second trimester.  I was pretty tired by the end of the day most days.  Things were so much more uncomfortable with this pregnancy, but I survived.  I think I gained about 45lbs with this pregnancy! Oops!!  I guess that's ok considering it is the last baby for sure.  I also had more swelling with this one.  After long days my feet and ankles would swell pretty bad.  This pregnancy definitely came with some worry!  Andrew had fifth's disease.  Fifth's disease is dangerous for pregnant women and can spread to the unborn baby.  I had multiple blood tests to make sure I didn't catch it from him.  Those were hard days but I knew we would deal with whatever happened.  That is why I love Dr Fenoughty, she always has a plan.  I never ended up catching it!  I was also in two minor car accidents.  No fun when pregnant!  I also fell down the steps carrying Eli.  I was just accident prone with this one.  Towards the end our little lady started measuring big!  I was very anxious to see how big she was going to be.

18 weeks
24 weeks
Had to post this one because it was so fun being pregnant with friends! Obviously Grandma Helen is not pregnant. :)

28 weeks

32 weeks


A few weeks before she was born I was surprised with a few showers!!  I was completely overwhelmed by all of these special ladies in my life!! I am forever thankful for each and every one of them. The showers were so special to me and it meant the world to celebrate this sweet little girl.  The first one was at a restaurant.  I thought I was just meeting my friend Bev for dinner but I was surprised by a few other friends!! It was so much fun to see these girls that I don't get to see very often.  I love these girls so much and it was so fun doing the early stages of being a mom with them. I am not sure I would have made it through the early days with them.



The next one was at Kelly's house.  It was so fun to sit with all of these girls and celebrate.  These friends get me through the day to day grind! I would be lost without them!I am not sure I would have made it through this pregnancy without them.  They watched my boys with a minutes notice, they prayed for us, and gave me encouraging words/actions when I needed it.  I love them all so much!! I loved opening all of the fun girly things. The shower was perfect!!




The final shower was later that same day with my mom, friends from Cincy, and a few of my favorite ladies from church.  These girls know way too much about me and made me into the person I am today.  The ladies from church are women that I look up to and are always there for me.  I love them all so much!!





I am so thankful that we made it through this pregnancy.  It truly is such a miracle to see your healthy baby born!! There is so much that can go wrong and I am so thankful that we got to experience this miracle again! I am not the type of person that loves the pregnancy part.  I want the baby here and healthy.  I did love feeling those sweet kicks and hiccups!  Now looking back it really did seem to fly by.

35 weeks

37 weeks

Two days before you were born! 38 weeks 

Wednesday, January 11, 2017

Back At It

Soooo after a very long break I am going to try and get back to our little family updates!!  I just love looking back at the old posts.  I am going to do a few catch up posts and then try to update as much as possible!! I am really hoping to keep up this time!!


Tuesday, January 3, 2017

Eli is 2

Our little Eli has turned 2!  Oh Eli we love you so much!  Eli has been such a blessing to our family and has taught me so many things about myself!! This little boy is our first to stay overnight in the hospital, have a scare with ITP, and get his head glued!  He has taught me to be a strong Momma when I need to be.  He has taught me to trust in God when things feel out of control.  I have learned to have faith and peace when I feel like everything may come crashing down.  Watching your baby hurting and wondering what is wrong with him when he is covered in bruises is NO FUN!!  I am SOOOOO THANKFUL that none of this turned out to be anything serious.  I hesitate even talking about it because I know that people go through much more serious things but this was part of his second year.



Along with our accident prone boy comes so much energy and love!! He is such a loving boy and adores his big brothers.  He always wants to be doing what they are doing.  He is daring and has no fear!!  He is all boy!!  Eli is also very tough. Most of the time he just shakes things off.  He loves dancing and music.  We have a kids guitar and that may be one of his favorite things.  He also loves Daniel Tiger.  At his well check he was 26lb 4oz (28th%) and 33 1/2in (25th%).  He is our little guy for now.  I will say that he is next up potty training and that is my least favorite thing.  Here is to hoping that goes well.  He sometimes cries when we drop him off at church but now has a friend that will cuddle him until he is ready to play.

Here are a few pictures from his birthday celebrations!  We love you Eli James!!






Thursday, December 29, 2016

Andrew is 7!!

So when I went to update my blog about Ava I found this unfinished post so I thought I would go ahead and post it. :) 



Our sweet Andrew turned seven!! How has it been 7 years since I became a Mom?!  I feel like it was just yesterday that we were reading books and going to child birth classes.  Now I have a first grader that is pretty independent.  I had to ask him the annual questions because they are so fun to look back on.  Even he likes to read the old ones.

1. What is your favorite color? red
2. What is your favorite toy? Legos
3. What is your favorite food? tortelini
4. What is your favorite TV show? Clone Wars
5. What is your favorite outfit? Nike clothes
6. What is your favorite sport? football
7. What is your favorite snack? chips
8. What is your favorite animal? monkey
9. What is your favorite song? 7 Years
10. What is your favorite book? Legos Awesome Ideas
11. Who is your best friend? Kason
12. What is your favorite thing to do outside? football
13. What is your favorite drink? fruit punch
14. What is your favorite holiday? Christmas
15. What do you want to be when you grow up? Wildlife Biologist

At Andrew's well check he was 46lbs (23rd%) and 47in (30th%).  He is a pretty healthy kid, but has kind of slowed down on the growing for now.  He loves to watch football with Daddy and talk all things sports.  He also loves playing with his legos and watching movies!  He is such an awesome big brother and is very protective!  He seems to be doing very well in school but also loves to talk.  I think that gets him in trouble sometimes.  He loves to be the funny guy and loves to be with his friends.

This year he wanted a birthday party at Skyzone again.  I was totally fine with that because they do all of the work!!  That always works great for me and especially this year with being pregnant!  He had a blast with his friends!! Here are a few pictures from the party!




His actual birthday was on a Sunday.  We celebrated with gifts and going out to dinner with friends.  Andrew picked Olive Garden for his birthday dinner,  He loves Olive Garden because they give you Andes Mints!! One special thing about having your birthday close to Christmas is that Buddy the elf gives you a special gift too.  Andrew always looks forward to that!








Love him so much!  It was so fun celebrating him!  He is so special to us and brings our family so much joy!!