Avery's first month

Today, Avery is 4 weeks old. We cannot believe how fast the past month has gone and we are so lucky to have such a beautiful baby girl! Avery has made leaps and bounds in the past month. When we first brought her home, she was screaming from 9pm-6am and had her nights and days confused. fast forward to last night, Avery slept from 10-2am, woke up and ate, went back to bed from 3-6:30am and then ate again and napped throughout the day! We are able to, on most nights, get at least 3 solid hours of sleep at a time-if you have not yet had a baby, you will one day understand how amazing 3 hours of sleep can be!

Avery is a very strong, alert baby. She enjoys being held and rocked, she loves her swing, hates her crib and pac n play, and does not like being changed at all! Her favorite thing in the world in our family room fan...there is a domed light that she enjoys staring at. Any time we need to calm her down, we just tell her to "look at the light" and it works like a charm! Avery does not really like tummy time, however she has been able to turn her head in both directions when lying on her tummy. She can also lift her head and hold it in place for about 15 seconds at a time.

Avery is currently trying to find her thumb to suck on, but in the meanwhile she likes her nuk after she eats and while she is trying to fall asleep. She seems to be very interested in all of the new things around her because she really fights falling asleep. As long as we rock her, dance with her and sing to her, she seems to settle down. We have also started playing a game with her where we stick our tongue out at her and she will stick hers back out at us. If we open our mouth really wide, she will do the same. It is amazing how many things babies can pick up so early on!

At her last appointment, two weeks ago, Avery weighed in at 8lbs 12oz, she goes for her one month check up on Tuesday, November 24th. I am excited to see how much she has grown in this past month!

Avery Kae is here!

I will start at the beginning...

On Wednesday, October 21st Jake and I went into labor and delivery around 10pm because Avery had been unusually quiet all day. We were hooked up to a non stress test and were told that due to fetal heart rate decelerations, they wanted to keep us over night. Clearly, I did not sleep a wink because I was worried about Avery and anticipating what would happen the next morning. Around 6:45am our doctor came in and I was around 3cm, with out much progress even though I had been contracting every 2-5 minutes since 10pm the night before. The doctor told us that she believed we should induce, although it might raise the risk of a C-section. We decided to go ahead with it, because due to Avery's size there was a good chance we would need a C-section anyway.

Around 7:00am, they broke my water and started pitocin. I was contracting every 2-4 minutes and mostly all of the contractions were "coupling" meaning I would get two strong contractions back to back, each lasting over a minute. Well, Avery did not like this and her heart rate continued to decelerate. The nurses placed me on my side and for the next two hours I was not allowed to move at all, because if I moved, Avery would begin to show signs of distress. Around 10:45am the doctor came back and told me that Avery was not handling the pitocin or the contractions very well and since she was not moving down and I was not dilating, they would need to do a C-section.

Jake and I were ready to meet Avery and we wanted her to be here safe and sound, so we signed off on the C-section. Around 11:15 they stopped the pitocin and began prepping us for surgery. Jake was not allowed in the operating room until the surgery had begun. Within 10 minutes, (and a lot of pulling, tugging, pushing and manipulating...she was so big and so high up that they had trouble getting her out even with the C-section) she was finally here and we heard her cry at 12:03pm. Words cannot express how beautiful of a moment this was.

Jake was allowed to meet Avery and bond with her right away as I was finishing up the surgery for the next 50 minutes and was in recovery for the next hour. I was finally able to hold my daughter around 2pm.

My recovery could not have gone any smoother. I was able to refuse all pain medications post-surgery, I think I was just on a high from finally having Avery here. I was out of bed and walking the halls within 24 hours and everything is healing perfectly. I think the hardest part was the fact that I had to go over 42 hours without eating because of the induction and surgery. My first meal (chicken broth) was amazing:)

After 4 days and 5 nights in the hospital we were able to come home on Sunday, October 25th. We are adjusting to life as a family of three and could not be any happier. Avery is actually just waking up, so I will post pictures and more details on her first week of life later on today!

40 weeks!

Today is officially our due date, we are so happy to have made it all the way to 40 weeks, but we are ready to finally meet Avery. We had an interesting appointment yesterday. Ashley is dilated to 2cm and things are progressing nicely. We had a non stress test to check Avery's heart rate in reaction to the contractions. Ashley is contracting regularly every 8-10 minutes and although Avery looked good on the NST, her heart rate was not accelerating- this is something they like to see happen every so often for about 10 seconds at a time. They sent us immediately over to the hospital for continued monitoring. On the way there, we grabbed something to eat because the doctor said it was possible Avery was just sleepy and needed some sugar. So when we got to the hospital, they monitored Avery for about 2 hours and everything looked good, she was more awake, having accelerations and only had a few decelerations (something they do not like seeing). They released us around 3pm and the nurse said that she expects to see us back by the end of the week because things are moving as they should.

Ashley is officially off of work, so she is just running errands and relaxing around the house...waiting for the signs of labor! With having so many contractions, the doctor told us not to even call until Ashley is unable to talk or move through the contractions, since she is pretty used to them at this point. We are hoping to have Avery in our arms by the weekend, so we will keep you posted.

We have another doctors appointment on Thursday. They will be doing another NST and an ultrasound to measure Avery's size. If she is as big as they expect, they will more than likely induce on Thursday or Friday. However, if she is measuring "normal" then they will not induce until Oct. 29th (a day after our 3 year anniversary)! However, everyone is thinking she will come on her own before next week, but only time will tell!

Thank you for all of your continued support and prayers!!

38 and 39 week appointments

Well, we do not have too much to report. At last week's appointment, we were told that Ashley was 50% effaced and at -1 station. This week things looked much the same, so not too much progress from last week. Avery is nice a cozy and it seems like she might fool all of us and come after her due date (which is next Tuesday by the way). The good thing is that Avery's growth has finally slowed down and she is now measuring as she should, although she is still probably going to be about a 8.5lb baby.

Ashley is doing great, although we are both pretty anxious and ready to finally meet our daughter! We were told that if things do not progress by our 41 week apt (Oct 26) we will be induced that week. So, there is a chance we could have an anniversary baby....although we are not exactly hoping for that to happen :) Keep your fingers crossed that everything progresses as it should and that we have a baby sometime this week!! We'll keep you all posted!

37 Week Appointment

Well, there is no real news to share this week! Avery is still "floating around" and has yet to "drop". She is officially considered full term today, so anytime between now and October 20th it's fair game so to speak. Jake thinks she will be coming this weekend and Ashley is still thinking closer to October 10th, only time will tell!

Ashley is feeling great, we are walking about 2 miles everyday and she'll continue to work until Avery decides to make her grand entrance! We have everything ready to go, the car seat is installed, her room is ready, everything is put together, now all we need is a baby! We will keep you all posted. Our next appointment is on Tuesday, October 6th, so we will post next Wednesday. Hopefully by then we see some progress!

36 week appointment

Yesterday was our 36 week appointment and everything looks good. Nothing is going on yet and Avery is still hanging out up in Ashley's rib cage, but sometime within the next week or two she will drop into position for delivery. Her heartbeat is a strong 155bpm and she is a very busy baby. The doctor said (once again) that she is measuring about a week and a half ahead, so she is currently measuring at about 37.5 weeks. Our next appointment is on Monday, Sept 28th, so we will see if there is any progress at that point. We will be considered full term on Tuesday, September 29th, so she is more than welcome to make her appearance at any point thereafter. We'll post again next week!!

34 week ultrasound

Avery looked perfect at her ultrasound this morning. Her kidney is no longer dilated and everything looked exactly as it should. She seemed to be enjoying breakfast during the ultrasound because she kept opening and closing her mouth and swallowing the amniotic fluid. We were able to get some really nice pictures of her face and we will post those later this week. Her cheeks are so chubby, and it looks like she actually has Jake's nose! We were told that she weighs around 6 pounds and to expect about a 9 pound baby if we go all the way to 40 weeks....but again we think we will have a baby by the 10th of October, but who knows:) Avery has also moved positions again, her head is down and she is facing the world, with her back against Ashley's spine. So if that back pain starts up again for Ashley, we'll know why. Our next appointment is on September 21st, and from then on out we will be seeing the doctor every week.

We are getting ready for Avery's arrival bit by bit. We (with the help of of Grandma Kathy) washed all of her clothes, bedding and toys and finished setting up the nursery. Only 42 days to go!

Baby Shower

On Saturday, we had our first baby shower at Biaggi's in Deer Park. It was so great to see all of our family and friends and everyone was SO generous, we could not believe how many amazing things we got. As soon as we got home, we set up the nursery and organized everything. We are slowly getting ready for Avery's arrival! We have another shower in Wisconsin on September 12th and we plan on dedicating the 13th to finishing setting everything up. Thank you to everyone that attended the shower and we are looking to seeing everyone in Wisconsin in a few weeks! We will post some pictures of the nursery once it is complete, it looks so beautiful!

Ashley continues to feel well. The pain in her lower back has completely diminished, Avery must have changed positions. We are both getting more and more excited by the day and cannot wait to meet our little girl:) We'll update everyone after our next ultrasound, which is scheduled for September 8th.

32 Week Apt. and Baby Classes

Yesterday we had out 32 week appointment. Grandma Ahern went with Ashley to her appointment since Jake was tied up with CDW trainings all day. The appointment was fairly quick, but the doctor did mention again that Avery is a big girl and is "much above" the 75th percentile in size right now. She also said that the dilation in her kidney will hopefully resolve itself by our next ultrasound and even if it doesn't there is a chance it will by birth. We have our last ultrasound in two weeks, so I guess we will know a little bit more at that point in time.

The betting has begun on when Avery will be making her grand apperance. We think that she will be here around the first week of October. Check out our poll and let us know when you think!

We have officially "graduated" from baby school as well. We finished up all of our classes on newborn basics and childbirth education...so I guess we are ready for Avery's arrival. Today marks the start of our 8th month of pregnancy, it is hard to believe that in just about 6-8 weeks Avery will be here and we will finally be able to hold her and see what she looks like! We are getting very excited!

30 Week Ultrasound

Yesterday we had our 30 week 3D ultrasound and it was so amazing! Avery was moving nonstop and we could not even get a good picture of her face to show everyone. We will be posting some pictures of her arms and legs later this week. She seemed to really like playing with her feet, grabbing her toes and pulling her legs over her head...I see a future cheerleader in our future whether we like it or not! We were also able to watch her yawn and stretch, oh and she even gave her mommy and daddy the finger- so it seems like she has a little bit of an attitude:). The ultrasound lasted about 45 minutes and they did another full anatomy scan.

Everything looked great, the only thing of concern was that her right kidney was slighted dilated. Normal range is up to 5mm and hers measured at about 6mm. The doctor said that this is nothing to be concerned about, but she did order another ultrasound in 4 weeks to see if it has dilated any more. If so, then more follow up will be needed, but if it stays at 6mm then we are good to go. Essentially, it is dilated due to a back up of urine in that kidney. If the dilation continues, then it means that her kidney is not excreting urine properly and since her urine makes up the amniotic fluid right now, and she practices breathing by swallowing the amniotic fluid, it could potentially become a major issue. However, since it was only 1mm above the norm, the doctor did not seem too concerned. We will find out more on September 8th at our next (and hopefully last) ultrasound.

Ashley is feeling good, although lately she has been having some severe pain in her right lower back. It is believed to be an issue with her sacroiliac joint, which is common in late pregnancy. So, she will probably just be limping around for the next two months and hopefully things will get back to normal for her once Avery is here! Aside from that, everything is going great!

We thank you all for your continued support and prayers!

28 Week Follow-up Appointment

We had a very quick follow up appointment yesterday. The doctor was pleased to hear that the braxton hicks contractions have slowed down since Ashley has been easing up on the exercise. Our next appointment is in two weeks.

We have had a lot of exciting things going on in our lives lately. Jake recently accepted a job at CDW to be their corporate recruiter. He begins his new position on August 3rd and will be working out of their Chicago location. We are so excited for this opportunity, as it has been in the works for over a year and a half! Ashley has also taken on a new role at work, moving into the manager position for the community. Essentially, she is managing both the activities/events and the overall property of Cambridge Lakes. 2009 has been a very blessed year so far!

Glucose Screening/26 Week appointment

On Monday we had out 26 appointment and Ashley had her glucose screening for gestational diabetes. The results came back normal and everything looks great! The doctor did say that Avery is measuring a little big bigger than average, but that is to be expected seeing that both mom and dad are a little taller. Ashley continues to feel awesome, although her energy levels are slowly creeping back down as we round the corner for our third trimester.

Over the past month, Ashley has been experiencing a lot of braxton hicks contractions. Although they are not at all painful, we did mention it to the doctor. For now, the doctor is having Ashley cut back on some of her exercise to see if that helps in slowing down the contractions. It is nothing to be concerned about, but obviously the less contractions the better!

From here on out, we will be seeing the doctor every two weeks and our next ultrasound is scheduled for August 10th. This ultrasound will be in 3D so hopefully we will have some great pictures to post at that time!

22 Week Anatomy Scan

Yesterday we had our 22 week anatomy scan and ultrasound. The two pictures we received are posted to the right, the quality is not that great but it was very cool to see how much Avery has grown since our last ultrasound a few weeks ago. The doctor said she is in the breech position, which does not mean anything at this point, just that she likes to stand upright...and Ashley can tell that she is trying to walk around seeing that Avery is directly on top of Ashley's bladder as she practices:)

The anatomy scan showed that everything is developing properly. We were able to see all four chambers of her heart, they measured the length of her femur, tiba, fibula, humerus and they checked to make sure that all of her organs are in the right place. They checked out her brain and skull as well. So far, so good!

At this point in the pregnancy, all of the books say that we can determine wake and sleep patterns. Avery is pretty active around 8am, 3pm, 10pm and 4am. So, if that is her sleeping pattern now, we'll have to find out what happens once she enters the real world!

Avery weighs about 1lb right now and is almost 1 foot long. Her sense of taste is developing, she is practicing her acrobatics and breathing techniques, growing hair on her head, and is even sucking her thumb already...she has been bee pretty busy in the past few weeks!

Our next appointment is mid-July and our next ultrasound is scheduled at 30 weeks, so in about 8 more weeks we will see her again!

Avery the Tumbler (or soccer player- depending on who you ask)

The past few weeks, Avery has been making her presence known by moving, kicking, and working on some tumbling passes. Jake finally felt her for the first time on memorial day! She is still pretty gentle, but I am sure in about a month or two those kicks and punches will be knocking the wind out of Ashley, especially if she was blessed with Jake's strong legs:)

It's a GIRL!!!!!!!!

So, seeing that Ashley is pretty impatient and Jake just couldn't wait any longer....we scheduled an extra ultrasound at a 4D imaging place near our house. They offer a 2D gender screen for those parents who cannot wait until their next appointment to find out what they are having. We called them and had an appointment the very next day! We found out yesterday, May 14th, that we are expecting a little girl. Her name will be Avery Grace Ebenhoch and we could not be any more excited! Jake is pretty nervous about raising a girl, his first words out of his mouth is, " I am going to need to hire her a body guard!". Not only were we excited, but Avery's Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Second Cousins, pseudo-aunts and uncles, etc. were so happy to hear that she is on her way! As Grandma Ahern would say, " It's time to go shopping!!"

17 Week Doctor's Appointment

Yesterday Ashley had her 17 week appointment. It was mostly a routine appointment, just some blood work, weight (so far she has gained about 8 pounds), blood pressure and listening to the baby's heartbeat (a strong 156bpm). Everything looked great and we are waiting for our next appointment on June 15th!

Ashley is still feeling great and Jake is doing well, too. We are coming up to our halfway point of the pregnancy and we have to admit that the time has just flown by! Only about 22 more weeks until we meet Baby Ebenhoch. Thank you all for your continued support and offered prayers, we are so thankful to each of you.

13 week ultrasound

Yesterday we had our 13 week ultrasound and everything looks great! We did part one of our first trimester screenings and the doctor said that so so far, the baby looks perfect! He/She (we find out in 8 weeks which it is) defintitely looks like it has Jake's legs and feet and Ashley's nose- so far. The baby was moving and kicking around and we also got to listen to the heartbeat again, which is always an amazing experience.

We tried to scan the ultrasound pictures onto our computer last night, but failed. So hopefully in the next few days we will be able to post pictures so you can all see what we are talking about. Our due date has been changed to October 20th, so we officially 13 weeks and 1 day long! Very exciting. Our nerves have calmed a bit and now we are looking forward to the next 26 weeks!

Welcome Friends and Family!

Well, this is the Ebenhoch's first attempt the world of "blogging". We thought that this would be the perfect way to share our lives with our friends and family! As you all know by now, we are expecting our first baby on October 23rd and we could not be more thrilled. We had a rocky start and we are still a little anxious, but each day that passes brings us closer and closer to that second trimester mark! Our next Dr's appointment is on Tuesday, April 14th at 4pm, hopefully we will have more good news to share with everyone at that point, plus a few new pictures of Baby E.

Ashley is doing great; no morning sickness, no headaches, just exhausted and ready for bed every night by 7pm, but aside from that...things are great! Jake is very excited and has been reading up fatherhood every night (while Ashley sleeps).

We are so thankful to have such supportive friends and family and are truly blessed in every sense of the word. We appreciate your extra prayers and stay tuned for updates!