Arrival of Baby "E"

This week I was able to be by the side of my Bestie of 12 years during her 2nd and final labor for the birth of her GIRL.


The baby's name was left a secret until her arrival. Now, I LOVE my Bestie and really did not need to know the name but others were really prying to get it out of her so I might as well too, lol.

I was totally thrown off from the clues she gave us, but she also wasn't completely in her brain either (can we say Pregnancy Brain!) when giving out the clues.


We was told it starts with a vowel, and is 2 syllables. OK, I think I know what it is: Ava. THEN we were at a Birthday get-together for her husband. We was discussing the name issue and she says "Well...maybe it's 3...or 4?" and I was like "DO WHAT?!" I said "You don't know how many syllables?! Don't you know how to clap it out?" Lol, all in fun as she says "Well I was never good in English." Omg, she is going to kill me with this!

So I assume it's one of those names that depending on how you say it depends on how many syllables are sounded out. Like: Isabelle, Elizabeth, Alexa if you say them fast it changes the syllables. Lol, yes lame I know but THE NAME WAS A SECRET AND HER AND I DO NOT KEEP SECRETS!!

We was out doing some last minute shopping aka:walking the baby out last week and she sees some storage baskets that have initials on them as the accent. Well since on display they all have "A" showing. I SWEAR I hear her say "Why do they only have "A"?" " Oh wait there are the other letters inside so you can change it." So I jumped on it and said "So it doesn't start with an "A"?!" " It's not an "A" is it?!" She blushes and just walks away. The clues are dwindling down: A long syllable name and either an "E" or an "I"!! I am leaning towards "E", so many pretty names that start with "E".

Well, she had me fooled. Completely fooled!!

This past week she has had some "end of pregnancy" issue come about. So Monday her husband stayed home from work and made her go see her Dr's nurse (she had a weekly appt the next morning, so her and I thought it's just best to wait till then, since she wouldn't be seeing the Dr.). Well apparently the husband was doing the right thing cause she was sent over for monitoring at the hospital.

The news comes that she wasn't leaving the hospital this time around 5:00pm Jan. 31st!

:) this was going to be it, her little girl was going to be in her arms within the next 48hrs AT LEAST!

I arrived at the hospital around 9pm Jan. 31st, to a room full of visitors and a Momma-To-Be sitting up laughing and chatting away. I said "Your not supposed to be laughing, they gave you Petocin! Did you already get an epidural?" Lol,I was a little mixed up.

I am then informed that the Petocin was just on a small drip and they were going to wait till morning when HER Dr would be in to decide what the next step would be.

Excellent that means we will all get a nice rest before the labor and delivery!

We then settle in, the visitors all head home with anticipation for the phone call that baby girl is here and her name is __________!

11:00pm Jan. 31st, the Momma-To-Be, her sister, her Mom and I sit around the bed to play some Euchre with PINK poker cards.

I mean what other time is perfect for PINK poker cards?! :)

The Daddy-To-Be on his laptop playing some Chess.

The Momma is having contractions but she is able to work through them very easily!





11:15pm a nurse comes in and ask if we are aware of when they are going to restart the Petocin? "Restart? No, it is ON! It is doing a small drip." The nurse then informs us all that it has not been on and they are going to start the drip back up at 3am. (She thought it wouldn't be started until after her Dr arrived in the morning around 7:00am Feb.1st) SURPRISE



The nurse suggest for her to try and get some rest. We finish out Euchre game and we all try to relax and find a spot that is kinda comfy. Which is NOT possible when there are 2 stools, 1 stationary chair and 1 reclining chair (that sounds like your making balloon animals every time you move).



The Daddy-to-be chills on 1 of the stools with my headphones (yes, I am the most prepared person to have during labor) to watch some stuff online, her mom finds a spot to lay on the floor after the stationary chair became uncomfortable and her sister takes the "balloon animal" chair. That leaves me with the other stool. That was fine cause I had every intention of finishing my Week 4 Project 52 post!
I was too exhausted to focus on why it wasn't letting me link the names of the others to my post so I called it quits around 12:30am Feb 1st. Got my blanky and used the hospital bed table as my pillow. I never really slept as I was trying to make sure everyone else was taken care of. I then hear snoring, lol, the Momma-to-be could NOT sleep through that either. You wake them up but they go right back to snoring, lol. The Momma-to-be didn't find it funny at the time. ;)






So for the remainder of the time before they start the Petocin, her and I stay up in the middle of the night just like we used to as teens just talking and passing some time. Our subjects have changed since then but all the talks are always great.




3:10am Feb. 1st, it is now time to restart the Petocin and get things set for the arrival of Baby "E"! 5 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced to start.


Contractions took NO TIME to start doing there job very efficiently. They came in every 30 minutes to bump up the amount she was given. From here it kinda becomes a blur.The nurse came in and dropped the drip down cause it was causing them to come too close at some point.






At probably 5:00am she requested some pain relief but did not want the "Big Dog" yet. Stadol (?) was administered to give her some relief. She really wasn't happy with this med cause it didn't help her feel them any less. She still was uncomfortable and feeling them like before and having to breathe through them. But during the 3-4 minutes between the contractions she was able to relax and take herself away for just a moment, but she was still telling us that it was a joke and wasn't doing squat for her, lol. She was really wanting to hold out till she couldn't handle them any longer before the epidural. Around 6:15am she had 1 good contraction and said she was DONE! She didn't want to feel them anymore! So the request was made for an Epidural.

Nurse comes in and tells us he has been called and is on his way in BUT he was at home. (They have to live no longer than 30 mins away in order to be allowed to go home.) She wasn't thrilled to hear that :( It really didn't take too long for him to come in the room though. Seemed like as soon as things were getting anxious in our room he came in the door!

A Knight in Shining Armour :D

No one was allowed in the room while the Epidural was placed, we all go to the waiting room for what seemed to be a while. Her husband was pacing some and saying he didn't remember it taking this long the 1st time. Come to find out he was right!

The 1st try the needle went to far (EWWW, I don't do needles!), so he had to place a 2nd one to give her the correct relief.

We were welcomed back into the room around 6:45am. To learn that they checked her cervix AFTER the Epidural was placed and she was: 9 centimeters and some and completely effaced!!! Her Dr has been called, and said she would be there at 7:15am, she is not to push till her Dr gets there!

It is tough to not push when you have the pressure on your bottom and your body slowly pushing on its own. She becomes completely ready in no time! Her Dr arrived in the room at EXACTLY 7:15am, she is good with her timing!!

Out of the room her sister and I go. We sit in the waiting room all by ourselves just waiting for that door to open and be told that she is here. I tried to lay out and get some sleep but I just knew she wouldn't take long pushing so I just couldn't sleep. Plus, I really would have liked to have stayed in the room just in a corner. There is nothing like witnessing a new person into this world! So I may have been exhausted but too excited to actually sleep.

7:45am (roughly) the daddy walks in the waiting room and says "She is here." :) YAY!! I knew it wouldn't take long!!

Now we get to find out what Baby "E" name is. She had a blanket monogrammed as the way to announce her name to those that came to the hospital. I was happy that the baby was here and everyone was doing well. THEN I saw the name on the blanket and well....I was tricked!!!

I KNEW she would like Ava if she would just not think about every ones opinion, but she told me she really didn't like it. LIAR!! AND she was telling me the syllables for her 1st AND middle name, I was just trying to figure out her 1st name! OH you trickster ;)

Ava Grace arrived at 7:20am on Feb. 1, 2011 weighing 8lbs 15ozs and was 21ins long with a

HEAD FULL OF HAIR!

Welcome to the world Ava and I can't wait to watch how you grow and turn into a lovely Lady!