Well, after a quick 40(ish) weeks, finally our little Ava was born! Here I am mid contraction around 2am on the 27th. They started around 6pm and finally were 5 minutes apart for a few hours by 2am. We later went to the hospital only to be sent home and told to come back when contractions were stronger and closer together. I thought these were bad enough.
We went back to the hospital around 2pm on the 28th after I had not slept the night of the 27th and contractions had not stopped since they had originally started. I was almost not admitted to the hospital on the 28th, but luckily during the nurse's last check before sending me home, my water broke. Yay!
I went straight upstairs and had the first of 3 epidurals. The first 2 didn't work. Because the baby's heartrate kept dropping and then popping back up, there was talk of a c-section during the entire labor. This meant no popsicles or crushed ice-really disappointing (Lisa, you know how I love crushed ice).
I made it to 9cm dilated by around 7am on the 29th, but the dr. didn't think baby would be coming anytime soon, so we made the call to go with the c-section. At that point I really didn't care. At least I didn't have to push AND have a c-section. Once we made the call, we were in the operating room within 30 minutes and had Ava about 10 minutes later!
Everything since then has been a blur. I finally feel back on my feet after the c-section, and like I have life with a newborn a little bit more figured out (for today, things are different everyday).
Since so many of my readers are pregnant, I thought I would let you know about some of my favorite baby products so far. These are the things we use everyday and love.
Ava was 7.4lbs when she was born. She really only fits into onesies. She has this collection below and wears 1-3 of them a day-no pants. Don't worry, she has others too but she looks extra sweet in these.
Burp Cloths-we have some cute ones, but for everyday we use Gerber Flat Fold Birdseye Cloth Diapers. At anytime in our house you can see at least 3 of these laying around. Of course, when Ava decides to spit up an entire feeding there's never one handy.
I did a lot of research on all of the bigger items below and am happy with all of them. Maybe this will save some of you a few hours of reading product reviews.
1. Pump-Medela Pump in Style. It's really good and I use it all the time. Definitely not a place you want to save money.
2. Car Seat-We have this one and I think it's good. It's really heavy and hard for me to carry. The good thing is that it goes up to 35 lbs so you don't have to buy a new one for awhile.
3. Swing-MamaRoo-I like it because it isn't primary colors, it's small, and connects to an iPod. Ava likes it because it has like 8 different motions to choose from. It's still a little big for her, but she sits in it sometimes.
4. Bouncer-My Little Lamb-I was going to get a small bouncer but ended up getting this one. I'm glad I did since she doesn't fit in her swing quite yet. Ava takes all of her naps in it for now. It vibrates and plays music but we usually just keep it off. It's really light so it gets carried upstairs and downstairs on a daily basis.
This also comes in a swing version. I probably could have just gotten just this swing instead of the swing I have and this bouncer. I like having both though since usually one is upstairs and one is downstairs.
5. Glass Bottles-Lifefactory-Ava usually nurses, but sometimes gets a bottle. Her daddy loves to feed her. I researched bottles forever. I knew I wanted glass and then started reading reviews on all sorts of different bottles. In the end, I got these because they're cute and don't have 15 pieces like the popular Dr. Brown bottles. They are a bottle and a nipple and I think that's really all you need. I'm happy with them. We have 4 small and 4 large.
Look at this little face. We cannot get enough.
This was probably a week and a half ago but seems like much longer. Her little newborn rash is all cleared up now. We think she's just the prettiest and sweetest baby.
This is a daddy who LOVES his baby girl. You see the construction pencil behind his ear? We've got a little project going on in the basement...
The old bathroom has been ripped out, new bathroom framed, and since this picture was taken the new bathroom has also been dry walled. Marc works on it in all of his "spare" time (he has about as much as I have).
On Mother's Day we had Ava's dedication. It was a nice service and mom and dad came out for it! Marc's parents and Matt were there too. We've been joking that by dedicating her we're giving her to Jesus to take raise (sort of joking, sort of serious). In this picture, I think she's asking the pastor if it will be Jesus who picks her up from daycare everyday. She rewore her Easter dress, she's not a celebrity you know. Sometimes she has to repeat an outfit.
Here we are on Mother's Day. 
We grilled fajitas and had a gorgeous day in the back yard.
All of the fun made this little puddin' tired so she took a nap in what I thought was the shade. I loved how she was sleeping-her little hand on her forehead like "it's all too much, life is exhausting".
She wore her new sunglasses like a good girl.
She was not in the shade for her nap and she got a little sun :(. It really wasn't that bad, not as bad as it looks in this picture. 4 months old, unbelievable. She discovered her voice this weekend and she's having a great time learning how to use it. Probably the sweetest little noises I've ever heard.
Do or Don't: Tom's. I really hated Toms when they first made their way to the non-coastal states (I'm betting people on the coasts have been wearing them for 2 years by now). Now they're starting to grow on me, especially since they've started using pretty fabrics like shiny grosgrain. 
Do or Don't: Giant baby hair bows. This is the most extreme example I could find. I have to tell you that I'm not on the fence about this. I'm into it. I even think the one below isn't that bad. I also love Derby hats and the hats the British Royals proudly wear. I think of this bow as more of a baby spectator hat than a bow. What do you think? Do or Don't?
Do or Don't: Giant flower on baby. I want to think this is ridiculous and do most of the time, but somehow as I was getting ready to write snide remarks about the baby below I started thinking she looked really cute. Again though, I'm thinking of the flower as more of a spectator than a headband. The thing I usually hate about these giant flowers is that they look really cheap like they came out of the Hobby Lobby clearance bin. If I found one in nice fabrics, I'm fairly confident it would end up on Ava's head (poor girl). Maybe you would all think she looked silly, I'm sure her daddy would :). What do you think? Do or Don't?
Please leave your answers in the comments. Do you have something I should poll the audience about? Let me know!
Tell me this isn't the sweetest face. Pardon the drool, runny nose, spit up on cheek. I always think it's gross on other people's kids, but somehow on mine it isn't. I just see those big, happy eyes and want to kiss those chubby little cheeks.
Bath time, girl loves her bath! 
Is it weird that this is one of my favorite pictures? I was trying to take a pretty picture of her and this was her reaction. It's kind of like a "this is reality" moment.
Well, that's half way gone now. She's a little old man, totally bald in the front but still lots of hair in the back. I hope the rest falls out soon. (She HATED her one month photo shoot I did with her.) She really did not like being in this basket.
My birthday is coming up and I've decided that I want the LV Neverfull in the largest size and in the print below. I have decent justification...I need a bag big enough to be a purse/diaper bag for quick trips. I just need to be able to throw a few diapers, wipes, change of clothes and a bottle in a bag real quick for short trips like Target, dinner, the mall. I've quickly learned a big diaper bag is unnecessary in most cases, so this seems like a logical solution. Ok, maybe buying a LV diaper bag isn't a LOGICAL solution, but it actually would do the trick for what I need. 
When she's not out being social she enjoys evenings at home just hanging out with mom and dad...especially dad (I think).
We've started the cloth diapers and they're going great so far! She had one potty leak out the leg, but that is due to the diapers still being big on her. I was really worried about poop stains, and after washing my first load there were some stains. However, today I dried a load outside in the sun for a few hours and all of the stains completely disappeared. 
