Ava Elizabeth Medina

as most of you know by now, our little girl made her arrival! she was born on 02/08/2012 at 1:30 am. She was 8 lbs 11 ounces and 20 inches long. despite my fears, our baby girl has a full head of hair! (i was afraid she would be bald because i didn't have heartburn during my pregnancy.

for those of you who want the full story:

my water broke at 9 am on tuesday 2/7. gabe left work right away and we went to the hospital. i didn't eat anything or have anything to drink (mistake!) the contractions were coming pretty fast as they checked to make sure i was actually in labor. they admitted me and i was already ready for the epidural. it took them a while to get things going for the epidural and the contractions were getting closer and closer. there were about 1:30 - 2 minutes apart before they did the epidural. it seemed that things were going super fast! unfortunately, the epidural significantly slowed things down. i was so thirsty all day and all i could have were ice chips (not satisfying in the least). i had some naps, i was high as a kite, and the day moved really slow! our families waited patiently but little Ava was taking her time.

all of the sudden, i started feeling things... epidural is off, time to work! i only had to push for about 30- 40 minutes. it was so scary!! when she was born, i was in a daze. i couldn't believe i just had a person come out of me. i was exhausted and so thirsty. the hospital pudding that they brought me was just about the most delicious thing i've ever had. and ice water had never tasted so good.

they moved me up to the maternity floor and i swear it was the hospital's policy to keep us from sleeping. (maybe they were trying to give us a glimpse of life with our newborn...)

since we've been home, we've been doing our best to adjust to our new life. sleeping when we can and helping each other out. the best couple of nights have been when Gabe stayed up with her and let me sleep the whole night. it's amazing what sleeping through the night can do. i regret having taken it for granted for all those years.