July 17th was my set induction date. That morning at 6:30am, I called the hospital to see if we could come in. With Aubrey, I called in the morning and they weren't ready for me. I kind of just expected it would be the same way, and left my vacuuming for the morning. To my surprise, they told me to have a shower and some breakfast, and head in to the hospital. My floors would remain dirty until we got home from the hospital...
By the time they got the IV fluids and oxytocin, it was 10am. With Aubrey, I was stuck in bed on the monitors the entire time, but this time they let me walk around the hospital until I was in active labour. This made things so much better and less painful in the beginning for me!
Active labour didn't start until around 12:30pm. This was the point where I was struggling to talk through contractions, and walking was getting harder. Contractions were coming every 2 minutes.
At 1:15pm, my OB broke my water to try to get things moving faster. She checked me and I was only 4cm dilated. This was discouraging as I was already 3cm dilated the Thursday before when she checked me in clinic. Around 3:15pm, things were getting really intense. I had decided to not go in with a plan for the epidural. I had gotten it during my previous two labours, but wanted to try to go without. At 3:15, I decided to see if they would check me again. I told myself that if I was 7cm or more, I would keep going without the epidural. Unfortunately I was still 4cm. My cervix had thinned and softened but I was still 4cm. I asked for the epidural.
I'm glad that I did, because I didn't fully dilate until 2:10am on the 18th...
Backing up a bit - by 11:40pm I was 8cm and came to the conclusion that Aveline wasn't coming until the next day.
Derek and I spent the evening trying to narrow down baby names, as we still hadn't decided on a name for this lady. This was so very different than with Brooklyn and Aubrey who were named shortly after the anatomy scan when we found out they were girls.
Around 12:20am, I started feeling a bit of pressure, but not enough to push. At 2:10am, the nurse came in to empty my bladder with the catheter and said "do you feel any pressure, because your baby's head is RIGHT here. She has lots of hair!" She quickly called for the OB to come, and my midwife quickly got into her scrubs too. This baby was coming fast.
I hadn't been pushing very long and the nurse said "your baby is right here, a few more pushes and she will be out." "Do you promise?" I said. I didn't believe her and thought she was just trying to encourage me. With Brooklyn and Aubrey, I pushed for 20 minutes. I thought given my track record, it would be the same this time around. Avy had other plans... They told me to stop pushing, and I heard a loud "pop" (sorry for the graphic description), and Avy came out. She literally pushed herself out the rest of the way.
The induction took quite a while but once Avy, decided she was coming, she came very quickly.
8 minutes after the nurse saw her head, out sweet Aveline Quinn was in my arms.
When Aubrey was born, her cord was too short for her to go right on my chest. This time, Aveline was able to come right on me after they let me pull her up as she was coming into the world.
I will never ever forget that moment. The first thing I said to her was "You look like Aubrey!" And then I cried. A lot.
The whole labour and birth process this time around was so relaxed compared to the previous two. I felt so much less anxious, and felt nothing but joy when she was born. I felt a little disconnected when Aubrey came out (for many reasons), and will always feel guilty for that. This time, no guilty - just joy. I can't say enough how great this third labour experience was for me. The delivery I have always wanted.
Much to our surprise, she was a whopping 7lbs 11oz and 20inches long at just 37+4! I don't want to know how big she would have been at 40+ weeks... She was also the exact same weight and height as me when I was born! And it seems we make very consistently size babies at 7lbs 12oz, 7lbs 9oz and 7lbs 11oz.
So far Aveline has been such an easy going baby. We are so thankful for that because she entered an already very busy household!
When Avy was 3 weeks old, we spent 4 days in the hospital as she was diagnosed with a viral infection. This was a really scary time for our family, and brought up a lot of emotions for me. When you've lost a child before, and another one gets very sick, it's very scary. Scary for any parent, I'm sure, but it forced me to go through some emotions I hadn't in a while.
I continue to think of Brooklyn often. It's hard because there are many times I think about her, or want to talk about her. Sometimes I feel like if I do bring her up, other people will think I'm dwelling on the past or haven't dealt with things. The truth is, talking about her helps me process and heal.
When we sing songs about Heaven in church, I always get a little teary-eyed (sometimes I even full out cry.) Heaven was always going to be such an amazing place, but somehow has been made even sweeter knowing I have a little girl who is there to show me around. I often picture what that reunion will be like. Will she look like a baby still or a big girl? Will I recognize her? Will she recognize me? Will she call me "mama" or "mommy" or "mom" (Aubrey has just started doing this and it hurts my heart to be mom and not mommy!!!). So many questions, and while I don't want to rush it, I so look forward to that day.
Two babies under 18 months has kept me very busy. But it's not as chaotic as I envisioned. I'm actually quite proud of myself for the little routines we've established to make our household run smoother. And I'm so very thankful for the amazing husband I have, who has picked up where I have fallen short. Especially with Aubrey. Since I'm nursing Avy, often times Aubrey gets my leftover attention. There's a lot of guilt that comes with that, but her and Derek have become even closer than they were before, and it makes my heart so happy to see their relationship.
Avy fits into our family so very well, and I really can't remember our lives without her. I so look forward to watching her grow into her own little person, and especially watching her and Aubrey grow up together.
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