{welcome home}

Ava Lynn Fantasia
Monday, May 4th, 2009
12:57am
Methodist Willowbrook Hospital
6lbs 12oz
20 inches long
Dark brown hair

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Sunday morning ~ I woke up and said to Devin, "Just so you know, I think I may go into labor today" because I was feeling continuously nauseous and different than normal and my back was suddenly achy. Strangely, I was having LESS contractions than normal throughout the entire day.

Sunday night 10pm ~ Starting to really ponder our scheduled induction for 5am Tuesday morning and knowing Devin had school and work all day on Monday I suggested the following: "Well, we should just hang out together tonight since it's our last night to spend any time together before we have a new baby on Tuesday." Immediately (Dev didn't even have time to respond) after finishing that sentence I felt a swift, hard kick and my water broke. We stayed at home a while longer making phone calls and preparations for our sleeping boys.

Sunday night 11:20pm ~ We arrived to the hospital and I was dilated to a 6. The nurses offered the epidural immediately but I said "no thanks, I want to have her naturally." I was actually not in too much pain and confident that I could handle labor without anesthesia.

Monday morning 12:35am ~ I finally had a contraction so painful that I was sure I couldn't handle another without drugs. I was measured again and was now 8.5 cm dilated. The nurse told me that I just had to get one bag of fluids into my IV before they could administer the epidural and estimated that it would only take about 30 minutes. I wasn't happy but actually managed the next few contractions fairly well.

Monday morning 12:50am ~ All of a sudden I was all-but-screaming in pain and still had about 15 minutes to go before I could get my epidural. I told Devin, "I'm tearing, I'm tearing! I feel her head!" I pressed the nurse's call-button and mustered a shout/moan and someone responded with an "I'm on my way". A gaggle of nurses flooded my room and I was checked again, meanwhile writhing in agony (literally, I was twisting everywhere trying to rid the sensation of a head in my, well, you know). I was already a 10! The nurses called the doc up from somewhere else in the hospital and started pleading with me not to push (yeah right!). The doc came in and passed the box of gloves and started introducing himself to me and the nurses all started shouting, "Get down there, there's no time! She's complete!" (I have no idea what that means.)

Monday morning 12:57am ~ The doctor couldn't get his gloves on fast enough and one of the nurses caught Ava in the nick of time. She was healthy and crying and I was still wanting an epidural (LOL).

What a way for our sweet girl to enter the world (lightning fast, that is)! Her face was quite bruised from all the pressure of descending so fast. The nurse said she probably crashed her face into my pelvis when I was repeatedly told not to push (which I couldn't really be obedient to, no matter how much I tried). For the record, I don't recommend to anyone turning down the epidural when you still have a chance to get it. And, also for the record, it should be outlawed to tell someone NOT to push when there's already a head coming out. OUCH! I'm SO grateful it was so quick because I don't know how much more I could've handled.

My doc told me about this (http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/laborbasics/a/pushing.htm) when I mentioned I honestly couldn't help but push. I'm glad he believed me - I knew I always liked him for a reason.