Switching over....

Our journey to welcome another child into our family has finally been completed and we are so blessed to have Ava in our lives. Since this blog was intended to update our family and friends on our progress through trying to conceive, conception, and pregnancy, we will continue our updates on our family blog. Please follow this link if you don't already have it... http://brookresonfamily.blogspot.com/
I will keep this blog up for a while to reflect on though.
Thanks for following our journey!

Ava Ryane

October 24th
9:47 pm
7 lbs. 18 1/2 inches long

Dressed and ready to leave the hospital.

Finally home to meet the big brother!
He LOVES her so much. J is really not a kissing kind of kid, but he has been kissing her forehead and saying how cute she is. Awww...he's so amazing!

She has the most beautiful nails! It's a shame they have to be trimmed but she is scratching her face up pretty good.

We are so thankful to have her in our family and feel even more blessed to be given the opportunity to love two amazing children!

38 weeks 6 days

Ava Ryane
decided to arrive a little early!

Our birth story:

I woke up at 7:17 on Saturday morning and to my surprise my water had broke. Not quite what I had expected! My midwife suggested we should just go the hospital since J's delivery was so fast. That's what we did!
My contractions were very irregular and not very strong so we tried walking around to make some progress. It didn't really work though. Since my amniotic fluid was still a little on the low side of normal, my midwife decided after 10 hours of NOTHING, that we should start Pitocin. This was not the outcome I had hoped for and I felt a little discouraged, but we had to do it. So at 5:30pm the Pitocin was started and shortly after my contractions began too. I was thankful that something was happening finally. After about 1 1/2 hours I was changing my tune though! My contractions were really painful and I was sure that it couldn't be much longer. So, finally the midwife checked my progress and I was dilated to a four. What?! A FOUR! That cannot be right! They offered the IV pain medication and I felt much better after that. I could handle the contractions and toward the end they were still pretty painful, but more what I was expecting. About 1 1/2 hours after the pain medication I was ready to push. After about 5 or 6 painful pushes, Ava arrived. She was less than happy but she was healthy and that's all that mattered!

Pumpkin painting

Since Ava is/was due so close to Halloween, we thought it would be fun to paint the baby bump like a pumpkin. J really wanted to show his belly off too, so we painted a pumpkin on his not so round belly.



Happy Halloween!

37 and 38 weeks pictures

37 weeks

38 weeks...a little bigger.

Everything is going well and we are anxiously waiting for her to arrive. I have had some contractions this week, but they aren't sticking around long enough for me to go to the hospital. I am making a little progress though. At last weeks midwife appointment, I was dilated to a 2 and 50-75% effaced. It's not much but it is that much less work I'll have to do when labor does start. She is still moving around quite a bit and seems pretty comfortable in there. I'm in no hurry to force her out yet, but I may think differently in the next week or two. c:

36 weeks

Oops! We neglected to take a photo of the baby bump at 36 weeks since we were both tired and starting to get sick. We will just have to do it at 37 weeks instead.

• Not much new baby news. We did a follow up ultrasound to check the amniotic fluid and it did increase a little, so that is great! The midwife even did a peek at her girl parts to make sure nothing grew since our 20 week ultrasound. She is still a GIRL!

• We started a weekly schedule for our OB appointments this month. I'm sure it will feel like time is flying now that we are going so frequently.

• I am still gaining weight, which is starting to get a little more frustrating now. I started this pregnancy 20-25 lbs. lighter than I started my first pregnancy and have gained more weight this time than I did the first time. UGH! I feel huge and cannot wait to get back to the gym (never thought I'd say that) to feel normal again. It is also getting pretty difficult to bend over. I'm convinced that I spend 1/3 of my day bending over to pick up toys or clean other various messes. c:

• I got the infant car seat installed today...woohoo! This was no easy task to accomplish at 36.5 weeks pregnant. If I weren't so picky about carseat installation I would have let Will do it. The carseat we chose was actually more difficult to install than I thought it would be. I'm glad to have it crossed off the to-do list though.

• Her room is still not ready, not even close. Considering she will be sleeping in our room at first, I'm trying not to make a big deal about it. It would be nice to have it done soon though.

• I have my first Biology test this week, so lets hope she doesn't decide to come early! I knew what I was up against before starting this class, but reality set it rather quickly once the class started. I hope I can successfully complete this class and manage to earn an A. Ava is due to arrive right in the middle of the quarter and adjusting to a newborn while going to school is sure to be quite the challenge. Thank goodness I have such a helpful, caring, and supportive husband!
  

Last month

Only one month left to enjoy being pregnant! I'm excited and little sad that it has gone by so quickly. It has been so great to experience pregnancy again and the differences between the two pregnancies. This time has been filled with much more worry, but still amazing! It has been so fun to have J to experience this pregnancy with us and see his reactions to my changing abdomen. Not all of his comments are flattering, but have been interesting for sure!
At times it feels as though she may push her way right through my abdomen, but I love every minute of it. It is wonderful to know she is healthy and strong in there. We cannot wait to meet this girl who seems to have so much attitude already.

These are a few of the pictures we had taken earlier this week. It was a fun experience and a great way to hold on to the memories of our pregnancy.