Ava Louise Ball

I know this is a bit over due but we welcomed Ava Louise Ball into the world on Saturday the 4th of July at 9:21am weighing 7lbs and 6oz.

The delivery was a little bit of a nightmare... but she's here safe and sound now and that's what matters. :)

I started having really mild contractions on Tuesday the 30th late at night and figured that it meant baby was going to be here by Wedneday but unfortunately it just continued much the same throughout Wednesday and Thursday. By early Friday (1am) they were stronger and we decided to go to the hospital to find out what was going on. They said I was 2cm and sent me home where I'd be more comfortable because it was going to be a while before anything happened.

We ended up going back to the hospital around 6pm and they said I was 5cm and I should stick around because Baby was on her way.

After that it really started to get painful. By around 10 I was in agony and decided to take an epidural. Unfortunately they couldn't give me one for another hour and a half so they offered some pethadine which didn't seem to do anything for the pain but sent me off to la-la land and I really don't remember much that happened between then and the morning.

I do remember that the epidural didn't work completely though and I could still feel pain on the right side so they had to come in and do a second one which thankfully worked.

Unfortunately when it came time to push, the baby got stuck because she had her head facing up rather than her chin being tucked into her chest. They then took us into the opperating room where they tried to use the suction cup thing but it popped right off her head so they had to do an emergency c-section.

Since then I've just been recovering and trying to look after Ava. Graham was home most of the first week but he's been very busy this last week and hasn't been home much during the day. We've had his sister Jenni and mom here for the first week and the past week my parent have been here. It's been nice having the help, especially when it comes to making meals and changing the baby's diaper. My stomach is still quite sore so it's not very easy to move around the house yet. Hopefully soon though.