Hospital

Here are some more pictures from the hospital. The picture of Sienna holding Ava melts my heart. While the kids were visiting, the pediatrician came in and informed us about Ava's white blood count and that he wanted Ava back down in the NICU. Sienna and Sadie didn't take the news well and instantly started to tear up. I knew she would be okay, but it really worried me too. I sat down in the NICU with her (without Matt) and feared the worst. The only thing I could think of that was associated with white blood count was leukemia and I was terrified. They kept telling me that it is a sign of infection but her vitals were all good. I knew it would all be okay and looked forward to taking my baby home. 

While in the NICU, I saw a lot of families in a lot harder situation than myself. All extreme NICU cases are moved to another hospital, but it was still hard to see these parents not being able to hold and feed their babies. Since Matt was home with the kids, I spent a lot of time in the NICU holding Ava or even just watching her sleep. During my time down there, I got to know a couple different families and when we were allowed to go home, Ava left them a little note and teddy bear.

We finally got the okay to go home. I was thrilled. I took Ava upstairs, bathed her for the first time. This was such a special moment for me. It was just me and Ava and I was full of joy. Matt has done the first baths for our kids (right after they were born... but Australia insists on not bathing them for a day and then the NICU caused the further delay). We got cleaned, waited around to be discharged, and went home to be with the family and Grandma.

Ava LaRae

Ava LaRae came 11 days early and was born on April 2, 2015 at 9:36AM. She weighed 8lbs even. I had an induction scheduled twice but decided to cancel them. I had decided it was best to go when my body and baby were ready. At the same time, I was getting so impatient and huge. Wednesday night I felt uncomfortable and was having contractions pretty regularly. I decided to go into the hospital. I wasn't progressing or in active labor but they decided to keep me over night. Looking back, I wish I wouldn't have gone in because my body wasn't ready. In the morning, my doctor came in to check me and while checking me she broke my water. She was very much keen on the idea of inducing me and said that with my past labors and deliveries everything would go quick and smoothly. Everything did go well and she was born a couple of hours after my water breaking, but I am kind of wishing I would have waited. With that said, I also thought I was in labor. Overall, it worked out and we have our crazy beautiful and happy girl here. Everyone is smitten and loves her so much.

My mom got in town two days after Ava was born. I thought we would be going home the day she got here, but Ava ended up going down to the NICU because she was choking on some mucus. Although she quickly coughed up the mucus in her tummy and was able to come back up to my room with me, routine blood tests came back with really high white blood count levels. Because of this, she went back down to the NICU for a couple more nights. She had great vitals and looked great, but because of the high count, they put her on antibiotics for two days. Matt was home with the kids and so I spent the night by myself each night. It wasn't the best, especially when Ava wasn't able to stay with me either, but Matt and the kids were so sweet and came to visit often. I loved when they would come in because they were all so excited to see Ava. It was really sad when they would come to visit her and she was downstairs, but thankfully she was healthy and we went home after a couple more nights.

My mom was here to save the day though. She made Easter extra special for the kids and everyone came and visited us often.