Mom and Ava

A pic of Ava holding her nose. When she did this, mom couldn't stop laughing. I guess she thinks that daddy stinks.

Baby's first bath. As you can see, she wasn't very happy.

Cute little Ava

Changing the baby

That's one clean baby!

This pic was taken right after her bath.

Dad and Ava

Ava getting her check-up 24 hours after she was born.

Ava sure has a lot of hair. It's almost long enough to curl at the back.

Labor and Delivery Story

Wow! It’s hard to find the words to describe the last few days. Here’s a highlight of the events:

Thursday night: Tara starts experiencing mild contractions every 10-20 minutes
Friday morning: Appointment with our doctor. Tara is 1cm dilated.
Friday night: Contractions occur throughout the night and are growing in intensity
Saturday 11am: Get checked out at Moose Jaw hospital before heading to Regina for a family Christmas. Things are progressing, but we decide to go ahead to Regina to see the family.
Saturday 7pm: Contractions are intensifying in her back, and we decide to go the Regina General Hospital. After getting checked-out and given the ok, we leave for the MJ Hospital
Saturday 11pm: Check-in at hospital. The pain is intensifying and Tara is given a shot of demurral to num the pain (she got another shot at 5am). Tara spends all night trying to manage from contraction to contraction, and Mike tries his best to support her.
Sunday 12 pm: The doctor decides that we need to speed up the process, as well as help Tara with the pain. He orders an epidural and makes plans to induce labor.
Sunday 1:30pm: Tara gets an intravenous and gives blood to the lab. In the process of being prepped for the epidural, her water breaks – just a few minutes before the doctor was going to break it.
Sunday 3pm: Tara gets an epidural.
Sunday 3:30pm: The baby’s heart beat slows down considerably and because of the stress, the baby actually released milconium inside the womb. The doctor gets concerned and calls for a specialists to come in. Dad paces the room.
Sunday at 4pm: The specialist decides that Tara needs an emergency c-section. Due to other concerns, they decide to transfer her to the Regina General Hospital where a team of specialists are available.
Sunday at 5pm: Mike speeds down the Trans Canada at 140km/hr, while Tara is rushed to the Regina via ambulance.
Sunday 6:30pm: After coveting the prayers of family and friends, the baby appears to have regained normal vital signs. Several specialists assess the situation and decide to hold-off on the c-section for now.
Sunday 9pm: Because of the baby’s strong heart beat and the progressing labor, they call-off the c-section. Tara and Mike are thrilled!
Sunday 10:15pm: The nurse tells Tara that she is ready to start pushing.
Sunday 10:50pm: Aviana is born. They spend about 10-15 minutes assessing her breathing (due to inhalation of miconium) and decide to send her to ICU. After a few more minutes, they change their minds.
Monday 4:00 am: Bed time for Mike and Tara. They slept for about 3 hours.

Mommy and Ava

Getting to know each other

First glimpse by grandma

First family picture

Daddy and Ava

Mommy's touch

Mommy's touch. We weren't able to hold her for about 15 minutes.

Cute little Christmas hat.

Ava with the doctor. They were a little worried about her breathing at first.

Ava's first picture. This was taken about 1 minute after birth.

Tara at the Regina General Hospital. This was taken shortly after she arrived by ambulance from MJ. She is smillings because of the epidoral.

Here we are at the MJ Hospital. This was taken at 12:30am on Christmas day. I got Tara to smile between contractions.

The latest news

For those of you have been checking this website everyday to find out the latest news on the baby situation, I thought I better give you a quick update. Tara is now 3 days overdue and we continue to wait for this baby. There was a slight change in plans since my last posting and we had to go to the Moose Jaw Hospital on Wednesay (not Friday) for the ultrasound and another stress-test. On Thursday, in an effort to induce labour, Tara walked for 30 minutes in the morning, climbed stairs for about 5 minutes, and walked another 30 minutes in the evening. Throughout the night on Thursday, Tara was experiencing mild contractions and we thought that she may be in labour. We went to the doctor on Friday morning and learned that she was experiencing false labour and therefore, it could still be another few more days. Then again, the baby could be here by tonight.

I’ll keep you posted.

Tara (and Mike) at the Moose Jaw hospital having a stress test for the baby -- see journal entry below for details

Tara at the Moose Jaw hospital having a stress test for the baby -- see journal entry below for details

Today is the big day… or is it?

Despite today being the big “due date” for the baby, it doesn’t look that he/she will be making an appearance. Tara and I went to the doctors this afternoon and basically, things are progressing slowly but steadily. Following the appointment, he sent us over to the MJ Hospital for a stress test on the baby – I guess it’s a routine procedure to monitor the baby’s heart and fetal movements. They actually had Tara do this test in one of the delivery rooms which was actually nice because we got to familiarize ourselves with the room. Anyway, the results of the stress test were fine. What’s the next step? Well, we wait and if nothing happens before Friday, we have a scheduled ultra-sound and another stress test. If those results are fine and things still haven’t progressed by next Tuesday (Dec 27), they plan to induce. We’re hoping it doesn’t come to that.

Right now, our real concern is Christmas day. Yes, it would be unfortunate for the baby to have his/her birthday on Christmas, but that is only half the story. Our doctor informed us that he’ll be out of town that day, so we’ll have to see one of the on-call doctors. Also, the nurse at the hospital said that getting an epidural on Christmas day will be somewhat hit-and-miss. Apparently, if they don’t have enough nursing staff, they won’t even give Tara the option of an epidural. So as you guessed it, we’re kind of praying the baby doesn’t come on the 25th but we’ll take it as it comes.

I’ll continue to keep you posted on all the exciting developments.

Continuing to wait,

Mike and Tara

Like a kid on Christmas Eve

I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve—but instead of waiting for one night, I’ve been waiting several months—and instead of receiving presents, we’ll be having a baby! Yes, one week from today is December 20, the due date. Tara and I are experiencing a mixture of excitement and anxiousness as the big day approaches. Tara thinks the baby “dropped” yesterday and as a result, she has been feeling a little sick today (although she does enjoy being able to breath again). I guess it could be any day now. I’m kind of hoping that the baby doesn’t come tonight since we’re currently experiencing a snow storm. We’ll take it as it comes!

So, that is where we are at right now. Hopefully by the next time I post my next entry on this blog, I’ll be including some pictures of our new baby. In the meanwhile, I’ll post a picture of the baby’s current home: mommy.

Tara at 38 weeks

More momies and their tummies (Tara's first time mom's group)

Momies and their tummies (Tara and Kandis)

Still waiting

Hi everyone,
With only 16 more days to go until the due date, Tara and I have been looking after some last minute details. I actually installed the baby seat in our car last night. I think we’re basically ready to go. Now… we wait! Tara is hoping that the baby comes early, but according to what Dr. Braun told us on Thursday’s check-up, the baby should arrive close to the due date. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

Counting down the days,

Mike