The beginning of our journey

I should have done this a long time ago to keep everybody updated about our little Ava, but better late than never, right?

I found out almost exactly 1 year ago that I was pregnant and that is when this crazy journey began. We were so excited and the first time we heard that little heartbeat, we were so overjoyed. I even had to schedule a 3-D ultrasound so I could find out the gender

as early as possible. Once we found out we were having a girl we began getting the nursery ready for her. We couldn't wait until we could meet our little baby girl...But Ava decided not to make us wait too much longer.

After 29 weeks of a great and uneventful pregnancy, I started having some weird back pains. When it didn't go away after a day or two we called the doctor. The doctor said that it was probably nothing, but sent us to the hospital anyway just to be safe. When we got there we found that I was experiencing preterm labor and was having contractions... that was when the real excitement started.

I was admitted to the hospital and given a shot of terbutaline to help stop the contractions and a shot of steroids to help develop the baby's lungs in case I ended up having to deliver her early. Throughout the first night I was given several other injections and hooked up to many different types of monitors. The second night, the baby's heart rate dropped several times and I was put on complete bed rest. I wasn't even allowed to walk to the bathroom. The doctors were hoping that I would be able to make it to at least 32 weeks.

But our baby had other plans. Luckily, my family was amazing. They knew how difficult it would be if I was alone with my thoughts, so my parents and sister dropped everything so that they could be with me all the time. We had some ups and downs over the next few days and my mind was put somewhat at ease by the lead neonatologist who came to talk to us and let us know exactly what to expect if I had the baby right then. Of course I was terrified, but I knew the baby would be in great hands.

Things were going pretty smoothly and I thought that maybe we would make it to 32 weeks. After a night with no problems, my doctor finally agreed to let me stand up for a few minutes, which was amazing! Later that day, everyone had left except for my sister. My parents had gone home for the first time all week and Matt was at work.

While Erin and I were playing a game, my nurse ran in and said that the baby was in distress. Erin and I hadn't even noticed, so of course we were panicked. The nurse had me change positions and put an oxygen mask on me in hopes of getting the heart rate back to normal. After about 15 minutes of this, the house doctor came in and said, 'I just talked to your doctor and he's doing a c-section at 4:00.' I couldn't believe it. I was in such shock. I immediately started crying because I was so scared for our baby. Erin comforted me and then called everybody to let them know what was going on. Matt left work right away and rushed to the hospital. My parents, who had left that morning to attend my mom's graduation ceremony, left as the national anthem was being sung to come back to the hospital. Matt's parents just so happened to be coming down to watch after our dog, so they were en route to the hospital as well.

They ended up having to move the c-section back an hour and after waiting possibly the longest 2.5 hours of my life, I was finally being prepped for surgery. I was really nervous for the spinal, but it actually wasn't bad at all. After only 10 minutes or so, we heard the most amazing sound, our baby's tiny scream! Ava Elise was born weighing 3 lbs. 13 oz. and 16.75" at 5:25 p.m. on April 19, 10 weeks earlier than my due date. The NICU team moved fast and cleaned her off and wrapped her up. They let me give her a little kiss and then whisked her away to the NICU where they could assess her. We finally had our baby, but now the real work began.