A Baby Story

Ava Noel is five days old. Basically in college. I think we have all learned a lot from each other already.

I have some pictures of her. But before we get to those pictures, it is important to preserve, for memory's sake, some photographs of what happened the day leading up to her birth. One day she might ask what we were doing that day. Well, I went to work and Kelsey had a job interview.

You might ask how the job interview went. It did not. Instead she spent the morning doubled over in pain every three to seven minutes and kept track of her contractions using an app. There's an app for everything.

"This contraction is not fun, but it brings us one step closer to meeting Ava." I said that sentence between ten and fifty times during Kelsey's labor, but I did not actually believe it. I knew that it was factually correct (unlike when I told Kelsey, often, that her contractions were almost over, and was flat out lying), but that didn't make it real for me. 

Kelsey did stay in good spirits most of the day. She stayed hydrated, warm, and as comfortable as possible. I was home from work in anticipation of going to the hospital at any moment, so I took pictures. Most of the pictures are of an unhappy Kelsey in pain, so I don't really see a point in putting up more of those. You get the idea. 

There is also one of Kelsey making me a smoothie. I am sure she is very glad that she asked me to stay home so that I could document everything.

Around 6:00PM, the contractions got to the point that it no longer seemed reasonable to stay in the relative comfort of our apartment. The car was already loaded up with everything we needed, so it was an easy five minute drive to the hospital. When we arrived we learned that our doctor was on call that night, so we were pretty excited about that.

After we arrived at the hospital, Kelsey's contractions quickly went from one every three minutes to one every minute. This took the labor from something that was intermittently painful to nonstop torture. It was difficult to see Kelsey in that kind of pain, so I was relieved when she eventually asked for some medication. Her exact words were "I don't need to be a hero." She already had done heroic work, of course.

Another quick (endless) six hours after that, and the nurse called the doctor and let Kelsey know that it was time to start pushing. Kels was initially resistant to the doctor's instructions (she insisted on letting her breath out instead of holding it) but once she worked through her mental haze it only took three or four more contractions for Ava to get here. I was surprised by how much of a baby she looked like when she popped out. I was expecting something more like an alien, with a cone-shaped head and all that extra stuff you normally see on newborns that needs to be cleaned off. After cutting the umbilical cord, I grabbed my camera since everyone else had specific jobs to do and that was the only thing left to me.

I call this one "I had a long night too." It is the first picture that I took of her that was not blurry. The nurse was busy doing initial measurements. 20.5 inches long with a 14 inch head, if anyone was curious.

And it was over like that. Ava was here! The doctor and nurses left us alone in the room for an hour for us to get to know her, and then we moved to another room down the hall for the next two nights.

She was extremely well behaved for someone who was less than a day old, and just wanted to rest or eat for a while.

We love her chubby cheeks. That means she was getting good nutrition from Kelsey and Kelsey's decision to not eat anything fun (sushi, deli meats, soft cheese, and any meat not burned to a crisp) for nine months paid off.

Ava loved being swaddled. Now that she's a big girl of five days old she likes it less. She has become so independent in such a short amount of time. She might change her mind again.

This is one of the last pictures I took at the hospital before we were discharged. Ava and Kelsey had to spend an extra night because Ava had to sit under the anti-jaundice lights. She recovered well from that.

On Sunday, October 15th, we were able to take Ava home and show her around. In between feedings and diaper changes there has also been time for more photo shoots- a trend that hopefully will continue even after I go back to work.

Did I intentionally model her like this? No, that would be silly. Did I sit for fifteen minutes snapping hundreds of pictures waiting for her to naturally happen upon a cute pose? Yes, several times.

Rupert has reacted predictably, given his dichotomy of nerves and curiosity. We have kept him out of the room where Ava is sleeping, but while supervised we let him come in and take a look. He keeps a safe distance because he senses that the bassinet is not for him, and he stares at her through the mesh (the white square on the right of the picture). He will be a good big brother once he figures things out. 

She is only five days old, so she hasn't made up her mind what she wants to be when she grows up and I am not pressuring her into anything. If she wants to be an astronaut, then fine, I won't stop her. But she can be anything she wants: astrophysicist, aerospace engineer, astronomer, space lawyer, whatever.

Ava has been showered in love both from near and far in her short time, and I anticipate this will continue because she is very lovable. Kelsey and I are so grateful that she arrived in good health and are committed to doing the best job that we can for her even though we have no idea what we are doing.