Birth Date: December 03, 2007
Weight: 7 pounds, 0.6 ounces
Height: 19 1/2 inches
Harrisburg, PA
She was the healthiest, with an exception of a little jaundice. It is a great feeling for us as parents just to feel normal like all moms and dads that get to take their babys home. My other two pregnancies were complicated with preterm labor and preeclampsia. I delivered both boys exactly at 36 weeks gestation, they were both preemies, and had to stay in the NICU for about three weeks with breathing problems and jaundice, and the youngest was born with pneumonia, (he was a little worse). I was in the anti-partum unit for two months stalling my labor with him. His birth was very special also because he was born on Christmas December 25, 2004. He was the first baby in the state of Pennsylvania (also in Harrisburg hospital) to be born on Christmas … I was on the news. It's a special keepsake that even if I didn't get to take him home, I had a great memory of him on the video tape.”
“With Avaliece my pregnancy was great I had about three contraction episodes early on that had to be stopped with terbutaline. Then around 35 weeks I started to have high blood pressure and headaches, so the doctors thought that it could be preeclampsia, so I was tested and all the tests came back normal, but my blood pressure was still high so I was told to be on bed rest.”
“On Saturday the 1st of December, I had to go to Labor and Delivery and have a fetal non stress test (NST) done and a blood pressure check. My blood pressure was still high and I was contracting. I was told to go home and take it easy and schedule another NST on Monday the 3rd. So I went home and rested. I was still having contractions so I was just going to wait till they got stronger. I was blessed enough that I had passed 36 weeks this time around. So we were waiting for the real thing.”
“They started to pick up slowly so since I am known to contract all the time I decided to hold off till Monday. On Sunday I went to church at 5:30 p.m. (my parents are the pastors) with contractions and all, I was just timing them. I couldn't take the pain anymore so I called the doctor on call and they told me to come in. I was contracting of course, and blood pressure was high. They checked my blood again for preeclampsia, and everything was normal. So during this time I was still contracting, but my cervix was changing slowly; I had been one centimeter dilated, 70 % effaced when I got there, then I changed to two centimeters. They decided to leave me overnight since it was my third baby and all. I barely got any rest that night, still contracting.”
“That morning the midwife came and checked me and said I was three centimeters and she said she would give my doctor a call and ask what he wanted to do. Finally my doctor came in and let me know I was going to be induced with Pitocin to move my labor along because it was stalling. So at that point I got excited, scared and nervous because I was only 37 weeks and 5 days. I thought to myself, ‘will the same thing happen again?’ Is she going to the NICU?’ But I had faith and trust in God that he would do his will. So they gave me my IV with Pitocin, and got things started. The pains became terrible, I wanted to have an unmedicated birth, but I caved in and got the epidural just because I was to exhausted from contracting for days. The epidural worked for like 15 min then I started to feel all the pain again. so he came back to give me a bolus, but something went wrong and my blood pressure sky rocked and I couldn't breathe, so they had to take it out and put a new one in. Wow ... I was in a lot of pain. When he did it, it only took effect on the right side and right after I was ready to push. I pushed about three times before the doctor had to use the vacuum, because the baby's heartbeat was going down. When her head came out the cord was wrapped really tight around the neck, so dad cut it quickly and they took her away; I heard her crying and was so excited. She was pale, and had some vernix on her. They wanted to asses her better so they let me hold her just a couple of minutes. I will never forget when I looked into her eyes; it's a moment I will cherish forever. I never had a chance to hold my other boys till weeks later.”
“They took her to the regular nursery to watch her closely, and then in a couple hours they brought me her … it was the best feeling ever. I was overwhelmed with emotion, in tears ... excited; from that day on she stayed in the room with me, with the exception of a hearing test, and blood work for jaundice, etc.”
“My hospital stay was good, the food was a little better than before. When I got the green light from the doctors for me and Ava, to be discharged together … OMG! I was in all shock, blessed that God had answered my prayers, and we were going home together. We took her to the doctors two days later she was 6lb 14oz 19 1/2 in. She got blood work for jaundice, then we went back on Monday and she weighed 7lb 2oz.”
“She is very healthy and growing strong and her jaundice is now gone. I am recovering nicely. We are all happy and her big brothers want to hold and kiss her all the time. That is my Labor Day Story … the Blessings that God gave me. He does answer prayers. God Bless Ya!”