Day 23

I cannot believe that is has only been 23 days since Ava was born.  After having some more family members visit, I have spent the last two days trying to get Ava back on a schedule.  I know that she is still young and will not stick to the schedule every time, but the last couple of nights we have gotten her to sleep five and a half hours between feedings and I am trying to get her to take a three hour nap in the afternoon so that I can have some much needed mommy time.

Last weekend Ava met her Grandpa and Grandma K as well as her Great Aunt Karen and Uncle George.  It was great having everyone in town and is always nice to have extra pairs of hands to help out.  I did not have any problems finding someone to hold Ava when I wanted to take a nap and each night a home cooked meal was put on the table by my Aunt Karen.  Family has always been important to me, and now that I am a mother, it is even more important and I wish that I had more family members living close by.

I feel like Ava's appearance has changed so much already and I am trying to cherish each moment that I spend with her.  We are so lucky that she sleeps well in the night and she is also great at nursing.  She tends to be fussy in the afternoon and evening but it is nothing that a little holding will not take care of.  As tired as I feel most days, I am loving every minute of being a mother to this sweet baby girl.

 

Ava meeting Ashley and Nathan

Ava loves her Daddy

First time in her bath tub

Ava meeting her Grandma K and Grandpa

Great Uncle George

Afternoon at Cheekwood

Great Aunt Karen

Ava loved spending time with Grandpa

Ava Marie Swearingen

Ava Marie Swearingen blessed our lives on Tuesday, September 20th at 4:06 pm.  She was 21 inches long and weighed 7 lbs .03 ounces.

After going to see my doctor on Monday, September 19th I was not dilated and with Ava's due date in four days, it did not look like she would be arriving anytime soon.  Disappointed that I had not made any progress, we scheduled two appointments for the following week and talked about inducing labor the week after that.  I went home that evening swollen, tired, and sore and prayed that Ava would arrive on her own without having to induce labor.

Several hours later my prayer was answered and I awoke at 12:30 am with contractions that started at 6 minutes apart.  I woke up Travis and together we timed my contractions and he helped to comfort me as I labored at home for the next eight hours.  Once at the hospital and was examined, I was happy to hear that I was three centimeters dilated, however my doctor wanted to ensure that I was in labor so I was told to walk around the hospital and to come back in an hour.  After the longest hour of my life and walking around in a  gown on the main floor of the hospital, I was examined again and had progressed to four centimeters.  By 11:45 am I was in my labor room with my epidural and it was an easy labor after that.  After eleven minutes of pushing, Ava Marie was born into the world and was welcomed with tears, happiness, and love at 4:06 pm.

Fourteen days later I feel like this time has flown by and I also cannot imagine my life without our daughter.  We have had sleepless nights, and we both find that we do not have anytime to do anything except to care for Ava, but it is worth it.  Ava loves to smile and you can tell that she is very curious by the way that she looks at everything through her big blue eyes.  She has a lot of blonde hair and it is soft and fluffy like a baby duckling.  We are currently taking it an hour at a time and sometimes she is peaceful and happy and other times she just the opposite.

Her day is like any typical baby and she eats, sleeps, and poops.  We have had several accidents where I find myself washing her changing pad several times a day, and yesterday Travis put her in an infant carrier that he wore and this shifted her diaper and caused her to have an accident which resulted in her pooping on Travis.  Surprisingly she enjoys her sponge baths that I give her every other day and yesterday she lost her umbilical cord so now we can give her baths in her baby bath tub.

Today we went back to the pediatrician and at two weeks not only is Ava back to her birth weight, she has succeeded it and is now 7 lbs 9 ounces!   Our pediatrician was happy about her weight gain and everything else checks out great!

We are so fortunate to have a healthy baby girl and are touched by all of the love and support that we have received from our family and friends.  Ava is one lucky little girl to be loved by so many.  Thank you God for this amazing gift.

Meeting her daddy and mommy

Mimi

Aunt Mandy

Papa

Nana

Aunt Alissa

Uncle Chace

Nanny

Joc and Kaitlin

Going Home

Uncle Christopher

Aunt Emilie

Calle

Cousin Joseph

First game weekend.  Vols vs. Buffalo

Awaiting Ava's Arrival

Most days I am ready for this pregnancy to be over but on the same hand I cannot believe how fast it has gone.  It seems like yesterday that I found out that I was expecting and now I am in the last weeks of my pregnancy.  I   feel that we are as ready as we can be to become parents and I cannot wait to meet our daughter.

I find it harder and harder to get around and I definitely have the wobble walk down and by the end of day my ankles and feet are so swollen that they do not look like they belong with the rest of my body. Travis has been a supportive husband during this time and is taking care of me more as I am finding it harder to take care of myself.  We have also had great support from my friends and family and am so blessed that we have so many people in our lives that love us and are excited to meet Ava. 

I am three weeks from my due date and I feel that Ava is going to come close to her due date but we shall see.  We have our Nursery almost finished, Ava's clothes washed, and the car seat installed in the car so all that we can do now is wait.

Below are some picture of the shower that our family had for Ava and Ava's Nursery.

Let the count down begin

Before I had a chance to blog, my 10 week count down came and went and now I am at 8 weeks and 5 days before Ava Marie arrives!  I am beyond excited but nervous about all that I have left to do before her arrival!  Travis and I have four different new parenting classes starting in August that will include Labor of Love, Breast Feeding Basics, and Infant CPR, so this will hopefully make me feel more prepared.  My staff hosted a baby shower for me at work last week, and we also have a couple of showers in August that is being thrown by our family and co-workers that we are looking forward to.  I have a feeling if I am ready or not, Ava will still come regardless.

I had a checkup last week, and Ava is continuing to do well and has a healthy heart beat and is measuring where she should be.  She becomes more and more active everyday and I have a feeling that she is going to be leggy because it feels like she is continuing to try and kick her way out of me.

I almost have her nursery complete and thanks to her second cousin, Jared, she has a nice mattress to sleep on, and her Mimi has provided her with all of her beautiful, antique nursery furniture.  I picked up the chandelier for her nursery and next weekend we will go and pick up her glider that I ordered last month.  I do not have any recent belly shots to post, but I will tell you that she is growing and I am not sure if I will be able walk if she grows much bigger =)

Below are some pictures of her nursery, and I will continue to post more of the nursery and my growing belly in the upcoming weeks!

Remember, this is how Ava's nursery looked last year before we renovated it.

And now the after

All of the beautiful furniture that Mimi refinished for Ava

Ava has some friends waiting to welcome her!

Mimi also finished the window seat cushion, I love how well it goes with the shower curtain!