Welcome Ava!

Our Sweet Bundle of Joy - Already Posing!
















Mom and Baby Both Crying
















Daddy Holds Ava So Mommy Can Meet Her...















The Proud Dad















Already Despising the Scale
















Ever-so-alert!
















What a Sweetie Pie!
















Wrapped-Up Looking Like Mother Theresa
















Ava in Her "Bili" Bed - She Hated It!















Mom Holding Baby
















Bright-Eyed and Bushy-Tailed




















Our Little Peanut




















So Sweet!




















Grandma Pam and Ava
















Ava Wanting Some Snuggles From Grandma Pam
















A Proud Momma




















Sleeping Like a Baby















She's An Angel!
















The "Thinker"
















Dad Needing Some Rest
















Our Sweet Angel, Ava Elise Carey

Welcome Baby Ava Elise Carey!!!

Ava was born on Tuesday, March 28th at 2:46 p.m. at Northside Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia. She is as sweet as a Georgia peach!

When we went to the Ob/Gyn appointment on Monday morning, the doctor said our “fluid level” was low, as the baby had been hanging around for so long in Mommy’s tummy. So, the doctor said it was time to induce, and that we should leisurely make our way to the hospital after gathering our things at home.

When we got to the hospital, we checked-in uneventfully. The staff at Northside Hospital is the best! The place looks like a hotel, with an atrium, a McDonald’s and a Starbucks all within the hospital walls. Schwanky!

They started us on the Pitocin (a contraction-encouraging drug) around 5:00 p.m. on Monday afternoon. They planned to up the Pitocin dosage as the night wore on, and give Mommy a dose of Ambien so she could sleep through the rough contractions. The baby didn’t seem to be tolerating the contractions very well, as her heart rate would drop after every contraction. At that point, we were alerted that a c-section might be in our near future, if the baby’s heart rate continued to drop with minimal contractions. We made it through the night comfortably, dialating to 3 or 4 centimeters. The baby seemed to tolerate the contractions well through the night, without her heart rate dipping.

The next morning, the Pitocin was increased to see how the baby would handle the contractions. Unfortunately the baby didn’t seem to like labor too well. She’s already finicky, I guess? As we were kind of waiting through mild contractions at that point, I told Doug and Mom that they should head to lunch before things got too crazy. They went to a local deli and got some grubbage and headed back to the hospital around 1:30.

I thought at that point we would opt for the epidural to see if it would make my body relax and in turn keep Ava’s heart rate constant and healthy. We spoke with the nurse midwife who said that the time was right for administering the epidural. It was a very nice feeling!!! Being that I am a happy person when my feet are warm, the epidural made me nice and cozy. I was relaxed and didn’t feel contractions, but felt pressure. It wasn’t too bad!

Around 2:00 the nurse (Wendy) came in and told me to switch sides as soon as possible, that the baby didn’t like that side. So, we switched sides. The baby then didn’t like the other side. So, she had me switch sides again. The baby STILL didn’t like that side. She then handed me an oxygen mask to put on, and told me to get on “all fours” in hopes that changing to that position would encourage the baby’s heart rate to go up to a healthy level. She started tapping on my stomach to get the baby to move, while I was on "all-fours". Not good.

At that time, an ENTOURAGE of doctors, nurses, etc, stormed into Room F2 to let us know that the baby needed to be born, and born soon… I heard the nurse ask if the doctor had been paged. When no one answered her, she got panicky and told someone the doctor needed to be paged immediately. I got freaked-out by the reaction of the hospital staff, but knew we were in the right place. They administered a full epidural at that point to numb me from the waist down, while Doug suited up into his ever-so-cute blue suit of scrubs.

I am freaking-out in the meantime, not caring less about the epidural or c-section, but about the safety of our unborn little girl. Never did I think I would need a c-section. They wheeled me into the operating room, where they prepped me (almost dropped me off the hospital bed, accidentally, although I caught myself with my arm on another gurney within arm's length) and cut into me before Doug even got into the room. Doug was waiting outside (very nervously) until allowed into the operating room.

The whole surgery seemed to take under ten minutes from start to finish. They told us it wasn’t an emergency / stat situation but that the baby needed to be born within the next 20 minutes. (And the difference is?) I was laughing and crying at the same time when I heard Ava cry, just knowing she was healthy.

Doug was a great Dad and husband, sticking right by me while in surgery. He was multi-tasking, filming the entire event and holding my hand at the same time. He got GREAT footage of the c-section (it’s not too graphic, except for some blood), where they show that the cord was indeed wrapped around Ava’s neck. We tease now that she already liked to accessorize with jewelry, just the wrong kind (umbilical cords don’t count as necklaces). Doug is the best husband, for being so sweet and kind during this whole ordeal (including pregnancy).

She’s a whopper, weighing in at 6 lbs 15 ounces. She is 20 inches tall, and has a bigger head than most babies her size (Einstein brain). She has little legs that are wrinkled like a “pug”! I was very surprised to find that she has a FULL head of brown hair. (Whose kid is this? ;-)) I completely thought she would be either bald or a blondie, with both of her parents being “toeheads” as kids.

We found out she has A negative blood. I have O positive and Doug has A positive (ever the over-achiever, going for the A+). Because her blood type was “incompatible” with mine, she obtained antibodies against my blood type. This in turn caused her “bilirubin” level to increase (not the best thing), which causes jaundice in newborns. She had to stay in a “billy-bed” while in the hospital, in our room, which provided her with light therapy, to decrease her bilirubin level. She stayed in the bed a day and a half, hating every minute of it (they can’t “swaddle” in this bed, as the light needs to be in contact with their skin). After she was through with the photo-therapy (billy-bed), we made sure to spoil her by holding her and giving extra kisses to her!

We were up and walking around after the c-section at 4:00 a.m., walking short distances. Amazing how much you use your abdominal muscles to walk, and even sit! Fortunately they considered Mommy and baby well enough to go home on Thursday at 3:00, and discharged us from the hospital. So, we stayed from Monday afternoon, gave birth on Tuesday afternoon and were discharged on Thursday. A short stay, from what I understand (thankfully!).

Ava is sleeping well. She nursed well from the get-go. Last night was her first night home, and she downed some formula and is quite the bottle-feeder.

We’re home now, and trying to rest and heal from the c-section. We’re so glad that we have her to hold in our arms now. She is the sweetest little thing in the world to us. She gave us quite the scare coming into the world, but she is very healthy, and quite the charmer.

If you would like to view her picture taken at the hospital:
-Go to www.Northside.com,
-Click on on-line nursery, on the left.
-Click on “click here to go straight to the nursery.
-Click on “Show me the baby” (in the middle of the screen).
-Type our personal access code of 101-83704.
-Click on “Show me the baby”.
-Click on View under “Guest View”
There she is!!!

We also attached pictures of the sweet pea.

We love you all, and thank you for stopping by to check on us.

Love,
Doug, Shelly and Ava (finally :-))