The Herrins from Scratch: June 2012

Hello World!

Ava Jane Herrin made her arrival into the world on June 14, 2012 @ 10:05 p.m. She was 4 1/2 weeks early, but weighed 6 1b. 15 oz. and was 21 inches long! Like Ella, the NICU team was there for Ava's delivery, and fortunately, Ava did not need their help just like her big sis. Her lungs were strong and she was beautiful and perfect and ready to greet the world. We instantly fell in love with her the moment we laid eyes on her. It is amazing to feel your love double in a matter of moments and it certainly did when we met our Ava Jane.

The road to Ava's delivery was bumpy. In the beginning, I had that subchorionic hemorrhage where I had to take it easy. Then things seemed to go pretty smoothly until 33 weeks when I started itching like a crazy person and we found out I had cholestatis of pregnancy...a.k.a. elevated liver enzymes. A couple of days after that we found out my platelet count was steadily dropping...which can lead to delivery without an epidural, but even worse, can cause the mother to hemorrhage more easily. With all the iffy blood work, it looked like I was going into a systematic HELLP crisis...you can look it up if you want details...so they admitted me to hospital. My blood work hovered around "sick" as the doctor put it, and they couldn't induce me unless my blood work said I was "really sick" before 36 wks. So, we waited a few days feeling like we were just waiting for the bottom to fall out, fearful that I would become "really sick" and Ava would be delivered in a fury of chaos and uncertainty. It wasn't a good feeling as there were some very serious risks associated with HELLPs. But we tried stay positive and trust that we had the right doctors who knew how to do the right things to make sure both Ava and I were okay in the end.

We spent a few days worrying about the unknown and praying for a positive ending. Once again, Brent was with me every step of the way sleeping on the little hospital bench they call a bed. I know I say it all the time, but God has truly truly blessed me with a husband that is a TRUE partner and my other half. I don't know what I'd do without him! My mom sat with me during the days while Brent was at work (I insisted he go) and kept me company...I'm so lucky she's been able to be there for me during all my pregnancy craziness and am very fortunate to have her. Julie watched Ella at home which was a tremendous help because I knew Ella was happy and well loved with her Mimi and I didn't need to worry about her while I was away. I am very grateful for Julie's support, positive energy, and love! Night time and lunch time was filled with visits from my awesome Brother and my dear sweet friends. My brother was so super considerate and helpful throughout this process. He is such a caring person and made me feel so loved during this up and down roller coaster ride. On top of that-- we knew the prayers were pouring in from all over and I promise you, we could FEEL THEM every step of the way. Through God's grace, I was given the gift of calmness during this difficult time which is what I believe kept my blood pressure down. Had my blood pressure gone up, I would have had the 3rd component of the HELLPs crisis and things would have turned very serious...I was very lucky.

On Tuesday night, the doctor on call came by to check on me. We discussed my current status and as he was leaving he said, "You know, the best thing that could happen is that this baby decides to come on her own. Sometimes the body has an amazing way of working things out. Your baby is strong and will be okay even though she is early." And with that, he left. The next evening, while my Mom, Dad, and Brother were visiting, I started having contractions in a regular pattern. The contractions continued through the night, into the morning. Ava knew what we both needed and was trying to come! It just so happened that my doctor was on call at the hospital that day. She came by to check on my contractions. After checking me out, she said that I MAY be starting labor and that we had two choices. 1.) Wait and see if labor progressed on it's own over the next couple of days... or 2.) Go ahead and induce and bring Ava into the world that day. This was a tricky decision and here is why. I had daily blood work to check my liver and platelet count. My platelets were at 124,000 which meant that my platelets were over 100,000 and I could deliver that day with an epidural. If they are lower than 100,000 you cannot have an epidural. It also meant I was at less risk for hemorrhaging. On the flip side, we had no idea how Ava would respond to the early delivery. I didn't want to decide. So Brent stepped in and made an executive decision and I'm so grateful that he did, because I was like a deer in the headlights at this point. He said, "I think we need to go ahead and have the baby today when we know Kristen's body can handle it according to the blood work. I don't like the idea of keeping waiting for things to get worse to make a decision. The perinatologist says Ava looks great, so I think we need to go for it while everyone is still okay especially since the baby has attempted to start the labor process on her own." The Doctor agreed and I agreed. I had wanted to say that same thing, but would it make me selfish to say it's time for her to come now? I felt in my heart it needed to happen, but what if my decision hurt her? Luckily, Brent stepped up and made a very levelheaded decision and for that I will be forever grateful BECAUSE...Ava came out healthy and the next day my platelets dropped to 94,000. It would have been an immediate delivery without an epidural with possible hemorrhaging issues. So so grateful things went like they did. We were ecstatic and thrilled that everything turned out so amazing!

Happy Mommy

At that point, I was moved to labor and deliver, given some pitocin, and waited a few hours before taking my epidural. I can honestly say I CANNOT imagine delivering without an epidural. For me, it makes the process so enjoyable and easy that you can actually feel excited when the you finally meet your little one!! I was glad that my platelets had stayed high enough to be able to get one. It took awhile to go into real "labor" since I was partially being induced. Brent stayed by my side and we chatted and laughed just like we did when Ella was born. He's the perfect labor and delivery partner,

excited parents!

calming and funny. My mom came by to visit, followed by my brother, then dad. It was very chill...don't worry I was not in "hard" labor when they came by...just resting in the hospital bed waiting for the contractions to pick up. We passed the time talking and they all had gone by the time I went into active labor. At that point things moved really quickly Dr. Grogan came in and said it was time and 10 minutes later, Ava Jane made her debut into the world. Sweet little thing let out a HUGE cry, the NICU team checked her out and said she was great, and before I knew it, I was holding her again in my arms. She was GORGEOUS and WONDERFUL and all the craziness before her birth just seemed to disappear in an instant. Dr. Grogan complimented Brent and I on being an awesome Labor and Delivery partners. She said we were so incredibly calm and pleasant. It made us feel really good because we like to think that the having our children should be a really positive, happy experience AND both Ava and Ella's births certainly were for us! Dr. Grogan was awesome and I feel so blessed that Nicole Dennis recommended her to me. She was just the doctor I needed with the right expertise when things started to go wrong and I know it was a great team that brought Ava into the world safe and sound! Additionally, we cannot say enough about the amazing nurses at Northside Hospital. They were so kind and accommodating during this entire process...what a great place to deliver! **And a special thanks to you, Erin for watching Ella so the grandmothers could be there! You're the best!

little bundle

So, Ava was here. She was healthy and she was able to feed right away. Ella had a really hard time feeding because she was 4 weeks early and I was afraid Ava would have the same difficulties. Fortunately for Ava, it really came easily! As for me, by Saturday, my levels had started to go towards normal. I go back to the doctor mid-July to have blood work again just to make sure all my complications were pregnancy related and not something more serious. The doctors, however, believe it is directly pregnancy related and that my body just went kind of wacko at 33 weeks. I guess it just happens sometimes to some people. They say they don't know why. SO...in the end Ava Jane was here and healthy! We enjoyed all the family that stopped by to see her. Papa made a special trip from Dublin to meet Ava Saturday morning, so that was special to see her meet him too! I was still feeling kind of crummy from being sick, so we didn't have any friends to the hospital...plus Ava also had to have some extra blood work to make sure me being sick hadn't affected her and was out of the room a lot. Luckily all her levels were great!

Proud Big Sissy

Ella LOVED her baby sister and was the sweetest thing ever when she met her. We had REALLY REALLY hyped up babies to Ella and she is obsessed with them. We had her come to the hospital to meet "Her Baby" and she couldn't have done better. She hugged on Ava, kissed her, patted her, and made sure she had a pacifier. I believe we got a tiny glimpse that day of the lifetime of love and bond these two sisters will have. What an amazing gift to have a sister only 18 months apart from you...they will only be one grade difference in school. I hope and pray they love each other so much and are best friends!

So we are a family of four now! God has been so good to us. Thank you for all the congratulations, visits, prayers, texts, phone calls, cards and facebook comments. We really appreciate them. Ava is a sweetheart and we couldn't be more pleased or proud to be the mommy and daddy of two sweet girls! Enjoy the pictures below. They are totally out of order because I can never figure out how to format pictures right!