Baby Ava Lynn Holley

(Thanks Jer & Rach for taking these...and letting me steal them from your blog!!)

She is here!! Where did the time go? I cannot believe that we actually have a little baby now. The realization is still setting in for David and I. She is precious beyond all belief. Her temperament is just adorable, and her pouty lip just melts her daddy and I's hearts! Ava came into this world Thursday November 24, 2011 at 1:09 a.m. We went in to be induced on Wednesday at 12:30. They started me on pitocin around 1:00 and then we waited for the doctor to come and break my water. Well, that didn't exactly happen right away! Since it is Rexburg, there are a million pregnant women out there, and since my inducement was optional the timing of my birth was the first thing to get pushed back. So after waiting 3 hours for the doctor to break my water he finally did around 4:30 p.m. the contractions started right away but didn't seem all too bad for the first 3 hours. I just sat on an exercise ball and enjoyed the company of Dave. Well around the 4th hour the contractions were ridiculous!! Seriously, I have NO CLUE why anyone would do this whole birth thing all natural! I requested to get the epidural and by 8:30  p.m. I felt like I was on cloud nine! I could no longer feel the pain, and decided to tell Dave to go get himself something to eat (I needed a fully fed David to help me through labor). So after the BEST nap i have ever taken in my life the doctor came in and told me that I went from being dilated 3 cm to 10cm in just 2.5 hours!! I was pretty proud of myself, and once again felt no pain :) (I LOVED birth because of the meds)... The worst part of birth for me actually was getting the IV stuck into my hand at the beginning...it hurt worse than getting the epidural! I then pushed for 1 hour and 30 minutes and our little angel was here!! She swallowed fluids on the way out and so she was automatically admitted to the NICU to have her stomach pumped, IV's put into her belly (she wasn't oxygenating her own blood for some reason), and then they hooked her up to oxygen. So I didn't get to hold or see my baby for about 5 hours!! By that times they wheeled me down to the NICU to see her! IT BROKE MY HEART to see her with all the tubes but I knew it was only temporary until she would be off of them and home with us. She was admitted for about 5 days, four of them were because she had to have antibiotics to make sure that the liquids she swallowed did not cause an infection in her lungs, and then the last couple days she had sever jaundice. After a long week, we finally got to bring her home with a billy blanket for a couple of days, and then we finally had a baby with no cords attached!! She is now home and growing bigger and bigger each day. She is such a well tempered baby, and only gives out a short cry when she has reached her last string of patience with me! We love her to pieces (and so did all of her family who has come to see her, especially her grandparents), and are so blessed to have her sweet spirit in our home. We are still very tired, but thanks to family coming to town and helping us adjust, we are do much better! She truly is our little princess who has stolen our hearts...