8 days with Ava

Sorry I haven't taken the time to update lately. We've been spending the last week getting used to being parents of three little ones (2 years old and under, might I add). Things are going really well. Grace and Caleb have adjusted really well, thankfully. Both of them love their baby sister. They like to hold her and pat her head and give her toys. It's fun.

So, jump back eight days, and I'll give you the short version of our labor story...

Luke had been praying for a good night's sleep before labor began, and God delivered! I woke up around 6:15am (right before Luke's alarm went off for work), and contractions began. They were fairly light, so I hesitated to even time them at first. But we did start timing them, and they were about 30 seconds long and 3-4 minutes apart. So, the doctor told us to come in to the hospital.

We dropped the kids off at the Burrs' house, and headed to the hospital. By that time, I was sure it was labor. When we arrived at triage at 8am, I was dilated to 4cm. Things were going well. They took me to my room, got me an IV, gave me an epidural, and broke my water. The epidural helped but didn't take away the feeling of contractions altogether.

We waited a little bit, and at 12:10pm, my doctor arrived and checked me. I was dilated to 10cm - ready to go! I pushed for six minutes - and Ava was born at 12:16pm! It was painful, of course, but all in all a very good delivery. Recovery has gone very well, too.

So, there it is! Ava Joy is a sweet little girl. We're working on getting her nights and days worked out, so I'm not getting the best sleep yet. But she's nursing really well, and she's very healthy.

Today she did have to go to the doctor to get her umbilical cord cauterized, like Caleb did. It was nasty. I won't go into detail - just trust me. It was nasty. So, the doctor cleaned it, trimmed it, and cauterized it. I hope the rest of it falls off soon! EWWW.

Anyway, Luke's back at work, and my parents will go home tomorrow. So we'll be back in the swing of things starting Thursday. Yikes! Pray for us! : - )

It's a Girl!

Ava Joy Rumley

• 10lbs, 1oz
• 22.5" long
• Born at 12:16pm, October 8, 2007

Mom and baby are doing well; Caleb and Grace love their new sister.

She's In Labor!

Please pray; we should have a baby today!

No Baby

Sorry, no baby yet, but hey, there were 6 calves born today at the dairy farm up the road.

For all of you who may have babies still (or who have too much time on their hands), this contraction timer is something I made for fun.

It doesn't time the length of the contraction like some other timers do, but it gets the job done.

There's your nerdery for the night...

Lateness runs in the family

We were able to go to a football game on Friday night - Lowell vs. Forest Hills Central (FHC). We live in the Lowell school district, but our church is in the FHC school district. We weren't sure who to cheer for! But since we met the Sheridans (Kay, Shannon, Shane, and Molly) there, we sat on the FHC side. This is the first football game the kids have ever attended, and they did great!


Our great friends Rusty, Kisha, and Tayler also came to the game. They're from Lowell, too, but sat with us on the FHC side. Kisha's baby is due on October 9 - coming soon! I want her to have a boy, but my guess is it's a girl. (Then again, I'm not a very good guesser, so who knows!)

I was going to post a whole bunch more pictures, but Blogger is being dumb. So, that's all you get for now.

Other events - Luke spent the rest of the weekend fighting with the front left rotor on his car. Lots of banging / hammering / frustration. He won. Pictures to come.

Also, since I am 1 day past my due date (if you didn't notice), I had a doctor appointment today. Things are slowly progressing. I'm dilated to 2 and 50% effaced. Who knows what will happen? I could have this baby tomorrow, or it could be stubborn and stay in there until next week sometime. I'm kinda rooting for sooner than next week, but I don't have a whole lot of control over these things...If you want gorier details that aren't meant for the Internet, you can call or email me. Otherwise, we're just waiting. I have another appointment (including a non-stress test to make sure baby's okay) scheduled for next Monday, and I'm hoping I won't need it after all.

Hope everybody's doing well. I'm looking forward to seeing our families soon, when baby arrives. And we'd love to have other visitors in the hospital, too, since it tends to get boring just sitting there all day. Come see us!

Okay, bye for now.