Ava's Birth Story

Funny to even say after all of this that I had an uncomplicated delivery with Ava. By any means that didn't mean an uncomplicated pregnancy. After going into preterm labor at 27 weeks and staying in the hospital for 4 days hooked up to Magnesium (ugh!), I thought that would be the end of it. But THEN to go into labor again at 34 weeks, thank goodness magnesium was never mentioned and they were able to stop the contractions this time with Procardia. Finally my doctors thought I could go back to work at 35 weeks full time. No one thought I would last long at all. Sure enough, 35 turned into 36, 37, 38 and almost 39! Everyone at work kept saying "You're still here?". It was nice to be back at work though after being off on bedrest, which is fun for maybe a day, but then you get bored and restless and start doing everything they told you NOT to do.

I had contractions all the time it seemed over the past few weeks. There were many instances in which I lay awake at night, timing and counting contractions convinced I should shower and wake up Jason. Of course those nights turned into disappointments as the contractions slowly would dissipate. Monday I got up and went to work and did my usual morning rounding. Right before lunch I had a half an hour to go up to the 5th floor of Lacks and do some laps. I decided to take the stairs to give myself an extra boost of exercise. Later that day, I grabbed a friend and went back up to walk again. Regardless if that was going to help my labor, it sure felt good to be getting any type of exercise, I miss being healthy in that way.

That night, I was contracting as usual. I even texted my Mom to let her know that I was having irregular contractions but that I had hoped they would just get stronger already so I could meet Ava. Going to bed that night, the contractions started to become regular and as usual, I couldn't sleep. This time, I decided to get up and walk around the house to just make them go away if they weren't going to be real. They decided to get stronger for once! I finally woke up Jason around 2am to let him know I was going to call my Mom over. I think my parents arrived somewhere around 2:45 and by that time, I just wanted to drive to the hospital. Around 3:30 we were in OB triage and the contractions were definitely putting tears in my eyes. I had been 2 cm at my 38 week appt so I was happy to hear I was 4 cm at least. I asked for the epidural since with Austin it took way longer than expected for the anesthesiologist to become available. He came right away though and of course we knew each other from the hospital so he told me he'd give me a perfect one since with Austin it only worked on one side. This time it was a little more than perfect and I had to keep sitting up since it felt like the epidural was taking over my ability to breath.

I stayed at 4 cm for what seemed like forever and was starting to get worried I wouldn't progress and would need Pitocin. Thankfully the resident broke my water and shortly thereafter I was 7cm. Even though I had just been checked at 9am, I was feeling tons of pressure and asked to be checked again at 9:30. I was fully dilated and ready to go. The resident told me that if I could hold out on pushing for one more hour, that my delivery would be that much easier. I couldn't help but feel the urge to push and SO much pressure for the next 40 minutes or so. Finally, I just called the nurse around 10:15 and asked her to make sure my doctor was here. I just had a feeling that this wasn't going to take long but little did I know it would take less than 3 minutes! My doctor arrived and as she was getting ready the nurse wanted me to do a practice push. Right away, I was told NOT to push since I guess she was barreling out of there. A total of 2 1/2 pushes and out she came! I barely remember how that all happened so fast and have to keep asking my mom and Jason about how it all happened.

Ava Jayne Rogers born at 10:36 am weighing 7 lb 1 oz and measuring 21 in.

Just smitten with our little Ava.

Austin is not entirely sure what to think of his baby sister just yet. I am just glad he was a lot more gentle with her than he is with Lily!

More pictures to come of course as I have the time but for now, I just couldn't wait to share her story!

The Build: Some Inside Details

This weekend I got a chance to stop by the house and make some decisions regarding the layout. I haven't taken many photos of what's going on inside the house, since so much was changing on the outside.

Here Jason is creating the mantel for the fireplace and television.

Jason knows that sometimes I can't quite visualize what he is talking about, so he made some faux columns so that we could move them around deciding their best location. He also made a faux kitchen island and countertops so I could really get an idea of where I'd be standing and talking to people who are sitting in the living room.

Walking up to the second floor, it's nice to see the plumbing is in! This room to the left of the stairs is the laundry/my craft room.

Turning around, this is the look down the stair case

To the right of the stairway, the first room is Ava's. I just had to take a picture of her closet since Jason spoiled this little girl already......she shouldn't have a problem filling it up with clothes, but it's laughably large for someone not even born yet!

Here is the Jack n' Jill bath that I just HAD to have. Once again Jason thought of the fact that they may not always be ok with sharing a bathroom, so he gave each child a vanity with sink that tucked away in their rooms with a door to the bathroom. This way, someone can be showering and someone can still be getting ready without being in each other's way.

Continuing on down the hallway towards the back of the house, is the master bedroom with windows facing the lake. And no, we won't keep the microwave in the bedroom once we move in!

Turning around, this is looking into the master bath, with an archway built extending into the toilet room on the right and shower straight ahead

More details to come as Jason is currently buidling a barrel ceiling between the kitchen and mudroom as well as an archway in the foyer.....

The Build: Windows

Windows are in!!! We are using a temporary front door until our special order door is in and also until we have less traffic of heavy duty things going in and out of the house.

 Love that roofline

 My favorite are those three windows bunched together facing the lake. Those are looking out from the dining room and it's such a beautiful view.

Plumbing went in on Monday so we had to pick out some fixtures for bathrooms. I also got to walk through the house this past weekend with all the interior walls up. I loved walking through the 2nd floor and seeing the bedrooms but the best was walking into the master closet!! He loves me!

15 month stats

Height- 30 3/4 " 45th percentile
Weight- 24lbs 7 oz 50th percentile
Head- 18 1/4" - 30th percentile

He loves to pull shoes by their strings and drag them around the house. He's also making sure to take off his socks at every moment! Poor little guy has a fever so I had to pick him up early from school. He had to have three shots yesterday at his 15 month appt. so that doesn't help. He was so cute at his appt though making sure to show the doctor all of his tricks. The pediatrician would ask, "does he know how to wave bye-bye?" and of course Austin would say bye bye and wave! Such a stinker!

15 months

Hard to be thinking about all the things going on with Austin when honestly I feel like a ticking time bomb. Austin would have been born already if this were the same pregnancy, so this just feels odd to me. I have been enjoying every minute of Austin becoming a pro at walking. Sometimes we practice walking hand in hand in hopes that I won't have to carry him AND a carseat into daycare when I drop him off on my maternity leave, but it's a work in progress.

He really enjoys sitting on or near my lap lately, I just love it.

He gets in lots of good quality time with my family on the weekends since Jason is either working on the build or in this case at national guard. Here he is clapping away with Uncle Jarred.

Austin may not have many outer appearance features that come from me but he sure does carry on my sweet tooth. We made Valentine cookies this weekend and he practically just licked the frosting off of all the ones we gave him. He isn't eating all the same meals as us yet, but he certainly has a taste for italian food. Pizza is by far one of his favorites but anything like pasta or lasagna is good in his book. He loves his dog Scout that sings a song about all of his favorites. I just changed the song to sing pancakes instead of yogurt but he still does love his yogurt in the morning.

He is definitely a brave little boy. He doesn't mind leaving me behind and not looking back wherever we go. He also loves to stick his face in the water in the bathtub and he comes up smiling! He loves to be chased by anybody but of course Grandpa can't resist whenever we are over at his house. He even enjoys being scared when Grandpa is hiding around the corner. It's hilarious to watch Austin's face as it changes so quickly from scared to smiling.

Austin is learning things at such a fast rate which is so much fun. He understands what items are so at least you can say "Austin go get your jacket" and he will say some two syllable jibberish that sounds like jacket and will find it and hand it over. He understands grandma and grandpa are also two syllable words but it sounds like he is calling them both da-da still. He loves to play with blocks and stack them up together. His sense of touching things are at their highest as everytime he is picked up in someones arms, he points his finger at anything and everything that someone will let him touch. Clocks, picture frames, windows, chandeliers, ceiling fans.....anything within his reach in your arms.

Glad that Ava has decided to stay in my belly for the time being so I can enjoy these last moments of giving Austin my undivided attention. It definitely would have been hard having our children be even closer in age but at least now they are 15 months apart.

Birdie Mobile

Here is the inspiration from Pinterest. It's a picture I found of some cute birdies and immediately my Mom pictured in her mind of making Ava a mobile.

We of course still have Austin's but not on his crib anymore. So we decided to take Austin's mobile apart......

and change out the fabric and the animals..... Ta-Da!

Here is some of those cute little birdies up close. They are each so unique with different fabric, ribbon, and a bead on top

What an adorable addition to Ava's Owl and Bird themed nursery!

Just Austin

We are rounding the corner on 36 weeks this week, which means only a few more weeks (or possibly days) with just Austin. We had such a beautiful Saturday at my parents that even though I had all these activities or places to go with Austin, it was nice to stick around home and enjoy the sun.

How many blogs have I posted now with Austin eating something fun at Grandma's?
Here he enjoys a pumpkin muffin with frosting....mmmmmm

We were lucky enough to get outside.....odd to be using his car and not a sled in February but hey, I am not complaining!

He couldn't love his car more....

And now since he's a big walker, he loves to push the car himself

He's not entirely used to wearing shoes yet and I just love watching him walk with them on...

My buddy

The Build: Roof Almost Complete

I was sent back to work full time this week since I am 35 weeks along now. This has prevented me from getting to the site to take photos. It was kinda exciting when I went to visit today knowing that it would be a big difference for me, and it sure was. I love seeing the shingles being put on!

Love that little birdhouse at the top right where the roof guy is standing......gives the front of the house so much character!

And look who I found at the top of the stairs! Jason was busy working on the walls going up on the 2nd floor.

Sounds like they'll be working on the entry to the front door early this week, so I can't wait to see how that turns out!