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!!