Ava at 1 week

Ava's 1 Week Photos

by Samantha Huddleston

I can hardly believe that Ava is already over 2 weeks old and that these photos were taken when she was a week old! Time has been flying by ever since we got home but we've been having a lot of fun watching Ava grow and learning more and more about her personality every day. When she was first born and still when she's really sleepy she'll only open one eye but has been opening both eyes more and more which we love! She has the prettiest dark grey eyes right now but it will be fun to see what color they end up being. She always has her cute little hands up by her face just like in her ultrasound pictures. When she's upset she gets these things we call "crazy hands" and she waves them all around like she's trying to grab something. This is how I know she's about to get really upset and is my cue to figure out what she's upset about. She is such a calm baby and is very relaxed most of the time... especially if someone is holding her against their chest, she'll be content for hours. She loves holding hands... especially with her Daddy (he was the first person she ever held hands with - about a minute or so after she was born and he held her hand through all of the procedures they do). She is unusually strong for being 2 weeks old and is already able to lift her head up and move it around all on her own. Our schedule has become pretty regular and has become a lot easier since I know what to expect more and more. She usually wakes up at 1 am, 4:30 am and sometimes 6 am. She's actually very regular about the times that she wakes up, I think this is great considering she's only 2 weeks old :) I love all the funny little things about her that only we know about. She is so amazing and we're loving every minute with her... I'm so glad she's finally here with us :) I will update again soon!

Love <3,

Ash

Ava is Here!!!

Ava Marie Collinsworth

Born March 5th - 8:27 AM
7 lbs 10 oz


She's finally here and I can't begin to tell you how amazing she is :) I have so much to share with you guys but will save Ava's birth story for a later post. But I will let you know that the c-section went very smoothly and Ava made it safely into the world and was greeted right away by her Dad and I got to meet her soon after. In the recovery room she was surrounded by her family including my Mom, Step Dad and little brother Connor - this was a very special time seeing them all get to meet her for the first time. She is doing great and spends her days eating, sleeping, hanging out with Dad in his Ava backpack, napping in her Boppy chair and taking in her new surroundings every chance she gets - well when her eyes are open that is :) She's been sleeping great and is such a peaceful little girl. Her fur brother and sister (Rico and Marely) have loved getting to know her and I'm sure they are excited for when she's older so they can play with her. It is so great to be home and to have Ava here with us... we love you Ava bean and can't imagine our lives without you! Will give a more detailed update soon :) Thanks to everyone for the congrats and support - we love you guys!!

Early Morning Birth Day Post

Hey Everyone!

Here I am at 12:15 AM the morning of Ava's birth... still puttering around the house finishing up some last minute hospital packing and such :) I feel like my mind is all over the place with thoughts of today and what it's going to be like to finally meet Ava face to face! We got home from having dinner with my mom, step dad and brother around 9:30 and Dan has been passed out ever since hehe I know I should be asleep too but I am just too excited, anxious, nervous and happy all at once to be able to sleep. Even the dogs are asleep... I know I'm up too late when even the dogs are asleep before me :) Since we are having a c-section I had to stop eating at 12 so Ava and I just had our last snack of milk, grapes and chocolate covered graham crackers... I figured we might as well go out with a bang - hence the chocolate covered graham crackers. I won't be able to eat or drink anything till Ava is here... crazy to think about :) For tomorrow we don't have our c-section time yet since it's all happening kind of last minute so we will be calling at 5 am to find out when our scheduled time will be. I'm not too nervous about the c-section itself but more anxious than anything wondering what it's going to be like to meet Ava. I am planning on bringing my headphones along to listen to my Hypnobirthing tracks at least during the initial part of the c-section when they are putting in the epidural to help me stay calm and to keep myself from getting worked up. Especially with Dan not being able to be with me during that part I am going to need something to get my mind off of what's going on. I think once we're past the epidural and Dan can come into the room with me I should be good :) So for now I am going to go make a list of last minute things we need to pack in the morning, enjoy some more Ava kicks from the inside while I still can and then get a couple hours of sleep. So hard to believe these 9 months are over already... but this adventure of ours has only just begun :) Thanks everyone for the prayers and positive thoughts. We'll keep you posted on how everything goes tomorrow and of course with pictures of Ava once we get a chance :) Time to try and get some sleep.

Love <3

Ash and Ava

Dan is Home!!

Dan is home from Haiti!!

Saying hi to Rico for the first time in a month or so :) I know a month isn't long at all as far as deployments go but it felt like a year for some reason.

Our date night :)

Hi Everyone!

Something else that I haven't talked about a lot on here was that Dan got deployed a little over a month ago to Haiti to help with the relief efforts over there. I thought this was so great that he had the chance to help the people of Haiti but with the time of deployment being so close to Ava's due date I was nervous to say the least. At one point while he was over there it didn't look like he would be making it back for Ava's birth... the thought of this was unbearable for both of us. Luckily his commander really pushed to get him sent home and it worked!!! He arrived back home last Wednesday night. I drove down to Cherry Point, NC to pick him up and we got home around 5:30 AM the next day... long day but it was definitely worth it :) The entire time since I found out he would be deploying I've been planning as if Dan wasn't going to be here for Ava's birth just in case he wasn't able to be here so I would be prepared for the worst case scenario... I can't tell you what a relief it is to have him home and know for sure that he's going to be here to meet his daughter! Things were tough there for a little bit but everything is calming down now and we're getting very excited to meet Ava in a couple of days! The day after Dan got home we had our doctor's appointment which I was so grateful that he was able to be there for. This appointment was considered a pre-op appointment which the doctors never told me directly but I heard in passing when they were scheduling my appointment. We were sent upstairs to the labor and delivery unit where I met with the doctor. I was very nervous about being in labor and delivery because I know how quickly they try and push things along and I knew we did not want to be scheduled for a c-section or anything like that at least until her due date. Dan helped to calm me down though and the appointment actually went very well. Ava is still in the frank breech position with her feet tucked up by her face and her bottom down near my pelvis. My step-dad was joking the other day that Ava must be stubborn just like her mother hehe I'm thinking this might be true :) That's ok though... I trust that she'll turn if she's able to. So we went over the procedure, recovery and all of those kinds of things. Dan and I both felt very good about the amount of information we received from the doctor and that we were able to schedule the c-section for Ava's due date. Generally this hospital schedules c-sections at 39 weeks for breech babies... the reason has to do with a higher rate of complications, etc, etc. I still knew going in that I would only feel somewhat ok with the c-section if we could have it on her due date or later so that we could give Ava the most amount of time possible to continue growing and to turn if that's what she wants to do. At first the doctor told us we could not have the c-section near her due date and that we needed to have it earlier. So by the end of the appointment when he scheduled it for March 5th I was very excited and feeling somewhat better about the whole thing. We would still love so much to have the experience of a natural birth, for us and more importantly for Ava but if that's not in the cards for us because of hospital policies and such I feel good about the decisions we've made given the circumstances. We are just so happy and grateful to be together, that we're all healthy and looking forward to Ava's arrival at the end of this week :) It's going to be a good week!!

Love <3

Ash and Ava