The birth of Ava

In retrospect the two best things I did before Ava's arrival was relax and prepare for having a little baby living in our house. I had everything ready in the house by the time I was 36 weeks pregnant and then just put my feet up and dreamed about meeting my baby.

From the complete relaxation of my maternity leave to anxious uncertainty happened in just one Saturday afternoon. I ended up in hospital all of a sudden, and stayed there for the rest of my pregnancy... luckily it was only 4 days! With my blood pressure through the roof the doctors decided to induce me as both Ava and I were at greater risk the longer the pregnancy went on. We had a scan the day before Ava was born to check everything was ok and we found out that we were having a girl... we were so excited and I laughed out aloud for several minutes in the scan room when we were told as EVERYONE had been telling me for months that I was having a boy. I'd had no feelings either way but it didn't surprise me that Ava didn't want to follow the crowd; I knew she was strong willed from the 20 week scan when she had very much been the boss much to the sonographer's dismay!

In the end I was very happy that we had found out that we were having a girl ... it actually got me through the induction process, which was horrible. Ava didn't much like the induction process either and went into distress when they ramped up the contraction strength. It was at this point that the doctors decided on a cesarean and within half an hour Ava was with us. I had already had an epidural so fortunately John was able to be in the surgery with me and could be with Ava and I the whole time.

The first thing I remember of Ava was her very loud cry as they lifted her out of me. Then they carried her past me to do all the initial checks ... all I saw was a little bundle blurring past with the midwife. John went with her and her first photos were taken as she had her checks and got weighed. We were all surprised how tiny she was! My midwife had estimated her to be 6-7 lbs, the scan the day before she was born estimated her to be 5 lbs 6 oz and in the end she

was only a tiny 4 lbs 10 oz!

But she was healthy and strong and most importantly... she was all ours! They lay her next to my head with John as they finished the rest of the operation. For that half an hour I just stared at her in sheer joy; and the most beautiful thing was she just stared back. It was so calm, it was

as though we were mesmerised with each other. When John and I talked about this half an hour of 'meeting' our daughter he remarked that he had been so spellbound by the calm between the three of us; he had imagined the moment differently, Ava crying and perhaps the whole thing being a 'shock' into parenthood. But it was so much more than either of us could have anticpated; it's almost impossible to describe in words what that half an hour was like. The three of us were just so amazed by each other and in love!

Ava & I spent 5 days in hospital after her birth and the support from the midwives to help us learn to care for such a tiny baby was invaluable. They helped us crack breast feeding and when we walked out of the hospital with Ava we were as confident as any first time parents taking their child home can be.