Life as a Davis

Well, it's been a little over 7 weeks since our little one arrived.  Hard to believe the time is going by so fast!  We've had lots and lots of visitors, visited with lots of family and even made a few road trips (including to North Carolina!).  Molly is doing great and growing fast!  At her one month appointment she had grown to 9 lbs. 12 oz. and 22 inches (she was born at 7 lbs 7 oz and 19 inches).  So we're looking forward to seeing how much she's grown at her 2 month check up. 

We are LOVING being parents, it's better than we even anticipated.  We just stare at her sometimes, hard to believe that she's ours!  We are so blessed!!  Here's some recent pics...

On Saturday July 17, 2010 at 7:58 AM our baby girl entered the world at 7 lbs, 7 oz and 19 inches.  We are told that only about 1% of babies actually arrive on their expected due date!  Here's some of the details leading up to her arrival, and her "birth story".  The story is kind of detailed so if you just want to scroll down through to see pictures that's cool - enjoy!

On Thursday July 15 we had an appointment with the doctor and discussed our options since I still wasn't dilated, but was just a few days from being 40 weeks along.  We also had a special circumstance, as John's step dad has been very ill in hospice and we wanted to be sure that he and Molly would get a chance to meet.  The doctor made a phone call to the attending OB at the hospital, and arranged for us to be at the hospital that night at 6 PM to start inducing me.  We took the couple of hours we had to pack our things and make some phone calls, and arrived at the hospital right at 6.  About 8 PM that night they started a medication called Cervidil which prepares the cervix for induction of labor.  This stays in for 12 hours, so once it was in place we waited and tried to get some sleep.  At about noon on Friday the 16th they started the medication Pitosin to start contractions.  I did start to get contractions, and they continued to get more intense and closer together.  During that time I did a lot of walking the halls, sitting on the exercise ball, and just waiting for something to happen.  That evening they checked me and there had been no progress, so they were going to take me off the Pitosin and send us home.  We were so disappointed, but God had another plan...

The nurse said that the Pitosin should take about 10 minutes to get out of my system, and to let them know when the contractions stopped.  After about 20 minutes I was still having contractions...then 30 min, 40 min, 1 hour passed and still contracting at a good rate and intensity.  They decided to give it another hour to see.  I did more walking and sitting on the ball.  After about 2 and a half hours off of the Pitosin, I was 3 cm dilated and 70% effaced!  All this happened without the Pitosin.  We were in for the long haul now! 

Once the contractions got pretty intense, I elected for the epidural.  It really didn't hurt going in at all, and took away all the pain, woo hoo!  After a bit the doctor came in and said he was going to break my water.  Once he did that things moved along really nicely.  Family members started to place their "bets" on what time Molly would arrive.  By about 4:30 AM I was 10 cm and 100%...time to start pushing!  Honestly I thought that it would take like 3 pushes and she'd be out.  Well, almost 3 hours of pushing later, the doctor discussed some options with us.  We could continue pushing, could do a C section, or could use the vacuum assist.  I was too exhausted to make a decision at this point, so John gave the OK to try the vacuum assist.  Within minutes a whole team of nurses were in the room, the doctor had a coat and mask on, and we were ready to go.  It only took one contraction (3 pushes) and she was out, praise God! 

The overwhelming feeling of emotion I had when they laid her on my chest can't even be put into words.  The 40 weeks of pregnancy and all the hours of waiting and pushing had brought us to that miracle moment, and I will remember it forever.  John was amazing through the whole thing, and was a champion leg holder.  Seeing him cut the cord was another emotional moment.  Another blessing was my mom was in the room too (another leg holder) so we got lots of great pictures and movies of Molly's birth.  I felt good having her in there, too, since I knew the nurse in her would keep an eye on everything :0) 

As soon as we were discharged from the hospital on Monday we made our first road trip over to Sandusky to visit Grandpa Chuck in hospice.  She slept the whole way there!  Chuck was emotional as he saw Molly, "precious angel", for the first time. 

It was truely an amazing experience from start to finish.  Thank you to all our family and friends for your prayers, messages, visits to the hospital, and phone calls!  Molly has joined our little family to make 3 and we are so in love with her already.  We feel blessed beyond measure for this little miracle, God has been so good to us.  She is so beautiful and we are enjoying being her parents!  Here's some pictures, stay tuned we'll try to update often!

Well, we're at 39 weeks and the nursery is ALMOST done!  There's just a few more details, a couple things we want to put on the wall, but that's about it.  We love how it turned out!

Well, today we officially reached 37 weeks - considered full term!  Right now our little one is gaining weight and building strength each day for her grand entrance into the world.  My body has definately been feeling it these last couple weeks...amazing how exhausting it is "growing" a baby! :0)  As of right now little Molly is in a Breech position, so it looks like we'll be scheduling a C-section at 39 weeks.  We are totally fine with this, as we just want her to be born healthy and safe!  We'll have an ultrasound this coming week to confirm her position and schedule a C-section...that means we're only 2 weeks away from meeting our little girl!!

Last weekend we spent Sunday at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens in Akron (built on 70 acres, it ranks sixth on the list of Largest Historic Homes in the United States.  The estate was built between 1912 and 1915 for the founder of the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company - such a beautiful place!).  We have a good friend (www.cindynicholsphotography.com) that took some (and when I say some, I mean like 250 shots!) pictures for us...she did a BEAUTIFUL job, and we had so much fun!  Here's some of our favorites...