Ava's Birth Story

On the night of Sunday July 26 around 10:30pm I started having bad contractions again. Similar to the time before. I wasn't really timing the contractions this time. I just knew that they were a little more painful and they were pretty consistent. Around 1:30am I woke Phil up, because they really hurt. Phil had a busy day ahead of him and he was convinced that this was just like the last time, and the contractions weren't real, but were Braxton Hicks. I had to say, it was pretty similar to the last time and I was so nervous about going down to the hospital and getting sent home again, so I tried to lay down in our bed and watch TV. Around 2:30am the contractions were about 2-3 minutes apart. They hurt pretty bad, actually, they hurt really bad. I couldn't find a comfortable spot. I walked around, I took a shower, I tried bending over on the floor, leaning forward, laying down (which was NOT comfortable at all!). Finally around 5:15am I couldn't take it any more. Phil woke up and we drove down to the hospital. We got there at about 6am. In about 20 minutes (the time it takes to drive from our house to the hospital) I had about 5 contractions. We parked the car, got our things and we walked through the hospital, and up stairs. I was checked in, and sent to Triage. I undressed, and laid in the bed. I was hooked up to the monitors. We could hear Ava's heart beating strong. And we could see the contractions. Phil and I have this awesome thing going, when I have a contraction, he holds out his two fingers for me to hold on to and squeeze until the contraction is over. So he held out his fingers, and I grabed on hard. He was surprised at the grip I had, so he looked over at the machine monitoring my contractions. The contractions were off the chart and they lasted quite a while. He looked at me, and said, Oh my gosh I can only imagine what you are going through.

The nurse finally got around to checking me she asked me how far dilated I was. I told her the last time they checked I was at 3.5cm. She checked, and looked at me, then said "Really? Are you sure?" I started freaking out. In my mind this meant that I was going back home and all the pain that was happening, was again, for no reason. I looked at Phil. The nurse said to hang on and she would check me during my next contraction to see if she could tell how far dilated I was. I had another contraction, and the nurse began checking. She looks at me and said "whoa". She then told me I was between 6 and 7 cm. Around 6:45am I was admitted to the hospital. I got set up in the labor and delivery room. I was checked out by my awesome nurse. She began setting up the room. She got a hold of the on call doctor from my doctors office. I had also asked for an epidural so we were waiting for the guy (not sure if he was a doctor or nurse or what...) to come and give me the epidural.

Around 7:10am the guy came to give me the epidural. He went over all the precautions (which sort of made me nervous). I sat up at the edge of the bed and prepared for the epidural. It was everything he said it would be. It hurt, then it felt funny and I could feel my spine and I could feel weird things. I told him before he started that I was nervous. My legs were shaking. He ran a test shot through and asked me if I was feeling of the symptoms he described. I said no, and he ran a second test. On the second test I told him I felt funny. Then I told him my ears felt funny like being in a tunnel or something. I don't remember much after that. I passed out. I remember hearing voices asking if I was ok and if I could hear anything but everything felt so far away and I noticed my breathing was very labored. It was very very scary. I also heard someone say "we can't find the baby's heart beat". Once they got be back up and running they asked if I would like to try again and I said no way. I didn't want to black out again and my baby's safety was most important to me. So I got my wish and I was about to go into labor ALL NATURAL (except for the hospital setting of course).

So everyone cleared out except for the nurse and Phil. Phil stood by me, I guess I gave him a pretty good scare.

I started having major contractions close to 8am. They were pretty close together and Phil was standing by my bed holding out his fingers. At 8:20am I gave my first push. The nurse gave Phil a few coaching tips and he ran with them. He did most of my laboring with me! The pushing was few and far between in the beginning. I didn't like pushing because I had the feeling of pooping. I didn't like that feeling. Eventually I couldn't help but push. We tried to do three sets of 10. Push for 10 seconds 3 times. Phil got in my face and coached me to push. He was very encouraging, telling me I could do this and that I was doing a wonderful job. He actually looked at things, in the below area, and when he started seeing the head he got really excited. He kept saying he could see the head and he wanted me to push more and push harder.

At 10:02 our beautiful baby girl Ava Kai arrived into this world. I got to see her right after. I was amazed at how tiny my baby girl was! I thought something that kicked me that much would be so much bigger than she was! She looked sort of purple. I got to hold her right after. It was so amazing! She is so beautiful!

She weighed 6.5lbs and was 19 inches long. She is so small for being born at 40 weeks and 4 days. She was perfectly healthy and scored really well on all of the tests they gave her at the hospital. She is our little miracle baby.

Ava Kai Wozniak

Phil and I are proud to announce that our daughter, Ava Kai Wozniak, was born on Monday July 27, 2009 at 10:02am. She came out at the healthy weight of 6.5lbs and is 19 inches long. She is very healthy. She scored well on all of her tests.

Phil and I are proud to call her our daughter, she is the most beautiful thing we've ever seen. We love her with all of our hearts.

I will post another blog about the birth when I get a few more minutes.

Over due 40 weeks and 3 days

I'm now 40 weeks and 3 days pregnant.

I am beginning to think we either have the most laid back child or we have the most stubborn child. It just kind of bothers me that I had contractions and am now dilated but nothing more has seemed to happen.

Phil has been amazing. I'm not sure if just hitting my due date has sent me over the edge or maybe I have had a surge of hormones lately but I've been irrational, irate, sad, depressed, not a whole lot of happy. Phil has been understanding and by my side the whole time.

I am hoping that with the birth of Ava, my hormones go back to normal.

I have a doctors appointment tomorrow. I will write and keep everyone updated on what's going on.

D-Day July 23

Yesterday was the due date for Ava Kai Wozniak.

Unfortunately I don't think she got the memo. So she is still baking and actually kicking more than ever (well, more than I've felt in the last week or so).

I went to work yesterday. It was depressing but I felt so much better than I had the day before.

So I went to work, I worked all day, I got more done yesterday than I did all week. It actually wasn't such a bad day.

On the way home from work, I decided to have a chat with Ava. I sang Happy Birthday to her several times. She didn't take to it. She gave me a few kicks, and several contractions but the fun and excitement stopped after that. I guess that was her way of telling me who's boss.

So now we are at 40 weeks and 1 day. I went to work again today. Good thing today was a half day for the students. The first half of the day was a regular day with classes and such. Then lunch was a BBQ outside (pretty good stuff, either a hamburger or hot dog, chips, potato salad, fruit, corn salad, and baked beans which were super yummy!). The second half of the day, after the BBQ was a field day. The students got to do several fun things. There was music, there was a dunk tank, a velcro wall, and a blow up bouncy thing where students could combat each other (while wearing protective gear of course!). There was an egg toss, and watermelon eating contest and they had caricatures. It was very hot, so several (ok...like half) of the students decided it would be super fun to go around throwing water on other people. Security was there so it was ok I guess.

I was let off work at 3pm today so I went straight home and went to bed. I woke up this morning with a sore throat, but it feels better now.

Almost D-Day

D-Day (Due Date) is almost here. In fact, its only hours away.
I ended up changing my doctors appointment. I was scheduled to go in tomorrow (my actual due date) but due to irregular, painful contractions, I thought it would be best to at least call the doctors office. I received a call back to come in and get checked out.
I got checked out. Instead of making progress, it seems as though things are not progressing, or at least staying the same. I've lost 8lbs this week, which according to the nurse practitioner (NP), is a good sign that I'll give birth (obviously!), my cervix moved, and is not really in the right position, Ava is no longer engaged (Phil says thank goodness because he would have to kill the boy she's engaged too. Sorry I thought it was funny), she moved back up apparently. Needless to say, my appointment was disappointing. The NP said probably another week, but it could happen at any time. At this point there is no discussion of inducing labor. They will discuss that at 41 1/2 weeks if we still do not have Ava whom I'm thinking about renaming to PIMA (Pain In My...um you know what).
After my appointment I was pretty disappointed. I called Phil, and although I didn't realize it, I had a hormone surge (I had one of those on Sunday too) and I burst into tears while talking with Phil. And this continued for two hours. I drove around after my appointment thinking that this surge of hormones would subside and I would be perfectly fine and capable of returning back to work like a normal human being. I drove and drove, then I finally stopped to get lunch, which I was planning to take back to my office but decided on the park instead. I ate my lunch and read a book (which is what I normally do at lunch) and I was feeling better. I had diverted my attention, and seemed to be dealing with everything pretty well. I decided to call my boss and let her know that I was on my way. I called, and I was ok. Then I was driving down the road and the tears wouldn't stop coming. I called Phil and he told me to go home. I called my mom and she said the same thing. So I called my boss back, but I could barely get through the message, but I asked for the rest of the day off. I couldn't make it.
I stopped over at my parents house because I wanted to see their backyard. I went to go outside and I didn't realize the step was a little lower than I had expected (plus all the hormones and everything) I almost fell to the ground, and in front of everyone (the workers who did a beautiful job on the back yard by the way!) I burst into tears! It was awful. Everything was making me cry. Hugs, no hugs, just talking about Ava. I wanted to go home, but I ended up staying for about a 1/2 hour talking with my parents. I did eventually go home, where Phil was at home waiting for me and working on his T-shirt machine. He gave me a big hug (he had the unfortunate experience of going through this hormonal surge on Sunday with me) and I sat down for most of the afternoon while he worked on his machine. Around 3pm I decided to take a nap. I slept for a while. I guess I didn't realize how tired I was (which could also explain why I was so emotional today).
I think the thing that threw me over the edge today (so to speak), was that I've been having these contractions for the last two months. With in the last month they have been getting steady, closer together and stronger. And the last two times that I've had these, they are painful, awful, and nothing happens when I get them now. I think if I wasn't in so much pain, or if wasn't having contractions it wouldn't be so bad. But having contractions, expecting something to happen, to get a miracle out of it, is really frustrating. And I think that's whats making it hard to deal with.

I dedicate this to Phil

I want to dedicate this entire blog entry to my loving husband.
He has been absolutely incredible! His true colors have come through in the past few weeks. He is full of compassion, and understanding. He comes through for me at my weakest moments. He is there for me when my emotions run amok. He tries his best to be compassionate when I become irrational and irate over silly little things. He stands by my side, and he holds my hand. He hugs me when I need it most and he rubs my back when he is dead tired. He puts my needs before his own, and he thinks about me often.
Without him by my side, I don't know what I would do. I'm not very good at this pregnancy thing. I'm a weenie, and I complain, and all the while Phil has been there by my side.
I hope that when this is all over, I can be a great wife, and loving mother. I hope that I can put myself aside and put my husband and child ahead of my own needs. I hope that my obsessive thoughts will subside and I can focus on whats really important. My family. Life. And accepting whatever comes up next and taking it all in stride.
I feel so fortunate to have married such a wonderful person. He has been an amazing supporter, and he has been my rock and foundation throughout this entire ordeal. I love him with all my heart and I wouldn't change what we have for anything in the world.

39 Week Practice Run

Well the past 36 hours have been a run for our money.

I had my second to last appointment yesterday. I started having a few contractions before my appointment started. I found out that I had dilated a little bit more. I was at 3.5 cm. It was a pretty good appointment. My doctor said that I probably would not make it to my next appointment but I am still scheduled anyways. We did not talk about any other alternative plans for inducing.

So after my appointment I went to work. It was hard to concentrate. The contractions were becoming more frequent. I stayed at work until about 3pm. I just couldn't handle it anymore and I was able to concentrate to get anything done at work.

I went to my parents house, because my mom had just gotten back from being in the hospital in Sacramento for the second time. I also wanted to pass the time.

I went home and watched TV for a little while. Then Phil and I went to dinner, and came home. I had started timing my contractions at 6pm. I had been having them all day but they became more frequent and consistent at 6pm and I decided it would be a good idea to start timing. I decided to lay down in our bed. The contractions were about 5 minutes apart. They were consistently 5 minutes apart until 2am. Around 10pm I started having back labor pain. It was so uncomfortable. There wasn't any comfortable position. I tried sitting, laying down, bending forward, squatting, sitting up, sitting back, laying on pillows. Nothing helped. There wasn't any comfortable position. It still was just uncomfortable and not excruciatingly painful. At 2am the contractions starting coming every 3 minutes. At 2:30am they were coming every 2 minutes. Phil helped me with some breathing techniques and around 4am I was able to sort of get the back pain under some sort of control. I was able to lay down (which I hadn't been able to do for about 4 hours). And I was able to get some sleep. I slept from 4am to 6:30am.

I woke up, and had a few contractions, nothing like I had during the night and early morning, and they were further apart. I still decided to call my doctor to see if it was time to go to the hospital. I got a call back about 20 minutes after I called. The nurse told me that I should go to the hospital since I was already dilated 3.5cm when I went in for my appointment and since I had 10 hours of contractions the nurse told me that I would be at least 4cm and I would be admitted. So around 10am we checked into the hospital. I was admitted to triage. They hooked me up to some monitors. I was checked and unfortunately I wasn't dilated anymore but I was thinned out at about 80 percent which is good. So after getting hooked up, and getting monitored the nurse sent me on my way to start walking. My contractions were there but they weren't consistent so she sent me walking (and drinking lots and lots of ice water) to get my contractions more regular and to hopefully do something to change my cervix. So after an hour of walking I got back in the bed and the nurse checked me again. No change!!! So she sent me home.

It was so disappointing....Phil and I went home and took a nap since we only got about 2 hours of sleep the night before. So we slept all after noon. I finally took a shower this evening. I felt much better. No contractions....so I was kind of sad because the nurse said that I'd probably go into real labor tonight or tomorrow. But so far...I don't have any consistent contractions so I'm guessing that it won't be tonight.

38 weeks

This has been one of the longest weeks...full of emotion, pain, and waiting..lots and lots of waiting.

I'm not sure if its the extra pounds that I'm carrying on my body, or maybe the extra surge of hormones, but I've definitely been a little more emotional lately. Everything from crying at movies and TV shows to yelling at poor Phil, who isn't actually the object of my anger.

Last Friday I couldn't take it anymore, I went on a walk. I was just mad in general. So I get to the end of the street and I hear this heavy panting behind me. I turn around and there is Phil racing up the street on a tiny razor scooter barefoot. The whole sight of him on a tiny little razor scooter, plus chasing up the street to catch up with me on my walk to check on me and see if I was alright, was pretty funny. We walked back to the house together. Phil on the razor scooter, me walking on the side walk. It was pretty funny. It certainly put me in a better mood than I was in before. Phil has been such a trooper.

Saturday Phil went over to help his brother work on his condo. They are getting it ready to rent out. I dropped Phil off then went over to see Billie and Luka. We hung out for a while then the boys came over. Steve had to go to work so Billie, Luka, Phil and I decided we'd go and walk around the new Legends. We walked around for a while. Billie and I went in a few shops while Phil took Luka to the several of the water feature spots. After we went and ate at Scheels. Then Phil went riding on his motor cycle and I went along (not on the motorcycle) and took some pictures. It had gotten pretty cloudy and the wind really picked up.

Sunday Phil went on a motorcycle ride with his friend and I stayed home and relaxed and did some laundry. When Phil came home we decided to go to go Fuddruckers (which just opened about two weeks ago). It was good but I got really full and I had a kids meal.

The students came back Monday night and they started back to school Tuesday.

I have my next doctors appointment tomorrow. My second to last appointment. Hopefully I'll find out something good tomorrow, like that I'm going to have a baby soon!

37 weeks

Well this has been an exciting week! I had one of my last weekly doctors appointments last Thursday. It was a pretty exciting appointment. I found out that baby Ava had dropped (one of the signs that the end of pregnancy is near, Thank Goodness!!!) and that I was thinned out but not dilated yet. I felt like I achieved something so fantastic! The night before my appointment, I had gone over to my sister-in-law's house and she gave me a back rub and foot massage thinking that it would move things along. I'm pretty sure that the massages had something to do with the success of Ava moving down in the correct position. The doctor also said that she is face down and that she probably weighed (at the time) 6.5 lbs! Things are moving along swimmingly.

Friday Phil and I spent the day together. We didn't go far. Phil has been a little nervous lately. He doesn't like me doing much (but I have tons of energy!). Saturday we had a garage sale. Because it was the 4th of July we didn't think too many people would show up, but they did! And boy did they keep coming! We made a little bit of money too which was nice! After the garage sale my dad took us out to lunch at Sparky's. After lunch we did some shopping, we went to the mall and walked around, then we went to Costco and pretty much went home. Sunday was a pretty mellow day as well...sort of. Phil and I went to Best Buy to buy our favorite show on DVD (because, again, Phil didn't want me to do ANYTHING except sit in a chair because I have a tendency to clean or do large projects when I'm bored). After watching a little bit of the DVD and taking a short nap, Phil got a little cabin feverish so we decided to go over and see my parents. We visited a short while then my dad asked if we wanted to go and check out some bike races about 5 miles east of Sparks. So my dad, Phil and I hopped in the car and went to check out the bike races. We stayed out for almost 2 hours. It was pretty hot but I made sure that I had enough water and we didn't stay too long.

I went to work this week. The students are still on vacation which has been a blessing.

On Monday I went to work. We got out early. So I went and got something to eat then headed over to my brother in law's condo where Steve (my brother in law) and Phil were working and remodeling. I had wanted to go to Fuddruckers for lunch, but my dad took my mom back to the doctor and she had her staples removed. So I mentioned that I had wanted to go to Fuddruckers and Steve said that we should all go so Billie came over with Luka and her sister Drew. We went and walked around Legends while the boys finished up on the condo. Then we went to Fuddruckers. I was also having pretty steady contractions all day. Lasting about 2-3 minutes apart.

On Tuesday I had another doctors appointment. It took forever but the wait was sure worth it! I found out that I am now 2 cm dilated! I was so excited. The doctor said that the next time I have contractions like I did on Monday to go into the hospital. I don't want to miss my window of opportunity for the epidural in case I change my mind and actually want medication. I had pretty bad contractions last night but they weren't consistent.

Today I had training at work. I am all caught up. I have labeled everything. I wrote out job desciptions. I'm all ready for my maternity leave. Now I'm just waiting (as patiently as I can) for the little princess to get here.

This is probably not the right time to think about this, but I also can't wait to get back into my regular clothes! I want to wear my cute summer time clothes. But I'll try my best to just think about Ava and getting her healthy and into a good routine. I have my next appointment next week. I'll keep updates coming!