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Avia's birth was the experience that every pregnant woman hopes for, or as close as you can get to a perfect scenario. It began imperceptibly and
advanced slowly and uneventfully. In fact, Avia's mom did not realize she was in labor at all for days, over a week actually. On December 13th Mom
received her first internal check at 38 weeks gestation. Both doctor and mother were surprised to discover that Mom was already 3 cm dilated. The
doctor was fairly confident that Avia would be born before Mom returned for her next weekly appointment. Grandma PJ didn't want to miss the big moment
so she came in early but the week continued on and there was no sign that Avia would make her appearance. Mom had some minor back pain and a few
random, weak contractions. On Friday the contractions persisted for 4 hours but finally halted. Avia was not quite ready to make an appearance. Mom
returned to the doctor on Monday. Though not in active labor, she had progressed over the week to 5 cm dilated. Knowing that Mom hoped to be home
for Christmas, the doctor offered that she would get Mom admitted on Wednesday and induce labor if things had not progressed on their own.
That afternoon Mom had a few more contractions but nothing painful or consistent. Nevertheless, she decided to take a chance and call the doctor on-call
at the hospital. After explaining the situation, the on-call doctor advised that Mom should come on in and they would break her water that evening.
After taking Big Brother Caeden up to stay with Aunt Jean for the night, Mom, Dad, and Grandma PJ headed for the hospital. Mom was admitted at 10pm.
Still no real pain. Mom was smiling and joking with the nurse and doctor.
Shortly after being admitted, the doctor checked Mom and determined that she was now dilated to 7 cm! Everyone was very glad Mom had decided to go to
the hospital that evening. Dr. Tan broke Mom's water bag and left Mom to labor and hopefully progress quickly to a 10. While the pain increased, progress
continued to be slow. After 2 hours Mom still had not reached a full 8 cm. Dr. Tan felt it would be best to administer pitocin to strengthen the
contractions and make them more frequent. By this point, Mom was pretty uncomfortable and didn't want to do pitocin without pain medicine so an epidural
was ordered. Mom was a little afraid of the procedure but everything went smoothly and soon Mom was feeling no pain at all. YAH! Mom was happy. She
chatted excitedly with Dad and Grandma for about an hour and then fell asleep around 2am. Dr. Tan returned to check Mom again at 2:30am. Finally,
dilation was complete! Avia was ready to enter the world. Mom was amazed that she had made it through the transition phase with no pain at all. Dr. Tan
had Mom try one push to make sure she could feel to push effectively. On this first push Avia began to crown. Mom's bladder was full, so Dr. Tan asked
her to stop pushing while she inserted a catheter and relieved the bladder. Once that was complete, pushing resumed and Avia was born after only 2
contractions! It was 2:46am on Tuesday, December 21, 2004. Avia was perfectly healthy. Her coloring was good and she got perfect 10's on her apgars.
That is nearly unheard of! She weighed 8lbs 1oz and was 19 1/4". Mom, Dad, and Grandma PJ were so happy to meet this new little miracle: Avia Noelle.