Avery Anne Jones
Hello Eveyone! I know you don't like mass emails, but this one is worth it. I was born yesterday (July 26) morning at 2:50 AM after a looong day and night of excitement. The short version is that I'm a healthy gift from God, 7lbs 11 oz, 20.5". The longer version is below.
Daddy and his dumb camera have been driving me nuts for my first two days, and he put a bunch of pictures for you to see in two places, (http://picasaweb.google.com/highwayjustice/ and http://slojrsvolleyball.com/ - both have same pictures, use Picasa if you want to order my pictures!). I also attached a couple, so if you like what's attached, you'll love the rest.
So the long version goes like this… I'll let my dad tell it:
Ashley and I went to her Doctor's appointment on Wednesday morning at 8:45 AM, knowing that she was a week overdue, but still not expecting much since she wasn't feeling anything major. At the appointment, Dr. Stanislaus, did put Ashley on the monitor and she was having consistent contractions, but couldn't feel them. She was dilated to a 3 at that time. She also did an ultrasound and didn't like the lack of amniotic fluid around Avery, so basically she told us we that this was the day, and we were going right over to the hospital. Bummer since Ashley only had a bowl of cereal and banana for breakfast!
We arrived at the hospital, pretty much in disbelief, at 11:00, checked in, and were put in a birthing room. There were two other women in labor, both of who eventually gave birth before us later in the afternoon, so we pretty much settled into our little room and watched ESPN and the Angels game (her choice--I love my wife) until 1:00 in the afternoon when they started the Petocin drip. We watched the monitor and steady contractions, and Ashley didn't really start feeling them until about 3 PM. From that time until about 8:30, there was a steady routine of back labor- Ashley sitting on the exercise ball bouncing along to Avery's heartbeat on the monitor until a contraction came along, then she would lean over the bed and tough it out. My job was to stand next to her and press on her lower back during the contraction, and she let me know if I wasn't doing it in the right spot! My other job was to eat her meals, since she couldn't, after all… we wouldn't want to waste Blue Cross' money! The food was surprisingly good, though, I probably would have eaten newspaper if I had to.
Ashley's water broke, on its own, about 4 in the afternoon. She was measured and had progressed to around 4-5 cm, but was increasingly uncomfortable. She stayed on that ball for 5 hours, only got into bed once for the exam, which she did not enjoy. We all quickly learned to obey Ashley's one rule during this time, which was basically "keep your mouth shut during a contraction, not even a whisper." Our good friend from church is a respiratory therapist at TCCH, Cort Thompson, and made the mistake of poking his head in during a contraction at the beginning of his shift. Oops! He felt bad, but understood completely. More to come on Cort later… I tried to send text message updates along the way, which may have been too often, because each time I sent one, a bunch of well-intentioned friends would send a reply back encouraging us and reminding us that they were praying for the three of us. Ashley didn't like hearing my phone vibrate, but we certainly appreciated the replies and prayers (after the fact). Thank God I called AT&T and bumped up the plan!
After much pain and discomfort, along with persistent recommendations from Tery (Ashley's Mom), Ashley ordered up an epidural. Relief came almost instantly. Her quote, jokingly, was that the epidural was "a miracle from God." It was true in more ways than one, foremost, the pain immediately subsided. She was able to rest up for pushing, and she even got her sense of humor back (I was cracking jokes all along which she did NOT find any humor in). Her nurse Patricia, who just "happened" to be a very-good-friend-of-some-very-good-friends, (we really hoped she would be working that night- and were VERY blessed to have her assigned to us) stayed late after her shift, even as the next nurse, Lindsey, also awesome, showed up. They pretty much had to make Patricia go home around 1 AM. We had awesome nurses throughout, and those nurses are awesome at a very tough job. I don't remember all of their names, but that doesn't reflect on anything other than my poor memory!
About 30 minutes after the epidural came, Patricia examined Ashley and she was completely dilated to 10 cm. We suspect the leg tremors Ashley was having before the epidural were actually because she was transitioning into the final stages of labor… at the time she just thought they were due to exhaustion – which was also true. Whatever the case, it was now time to start pushing. Contractions came about 1-2 minutes apart, and I stood on one side of the bed with Hayley (Ashley's sister) on the other side, each of us holding a foot or leg. Ashley held onto a sheet draped around a bar which was over the bed, and pretty much did three to four one- minute-long crunches during each contraction. Hayley and the nurse would count to 10 as she pushed, and we'd feed Ash ice chunks (fortunately the hospital has "turd" style ice – a volleyball coach's preferred style of ice) during the breaks. Ashley had an unquenchable thirst because of the labor, and also because Hayley and I had a great game of "pass the Vomit Cup" going for most of the pushing. Depending on which side Ashley was facing, she would puke into the first cup (the catcher), which would then be passed to the open player (receiver), and occasionally handed off to the washer, and returned, all the while puking into the other cup! They should televise THAT in Jr. High and High schools to teach abstinence!
About an hour into the pushing, Patricia coaxed me into looking "down there" during a contraction, and we could see the top of Avery's head (about the size of a quarter at first). After much more pushing, we eventually could see about a tennis-ball sized portion of the top of Avery's head, but she just couldn't get past Ashley's pubic bone. Dr. Monroy (the on-call OB for the night) came after Ashley had pushed for about three hours. A little bummed that Ashley's OB wasn't working for the delivery, Patricia assured us of how good Monroy was because most of the nurses there on a Wednesday night did so because he was on call every Wed., and they loved working with him. They were right, he was a stud. He didn't mind that we packed 5 family members into the room while he was working on her with two nurses. He probably would have let Rudy come in too, but I didn't want to press my luck. Fortunately, the room was about the size of a Chinese take-out box, so we all got REALLY friendly.
Dr. Monroy presented us with two options; first we could try using suction to help deliver Avery, or go straight to a C-Section. After explaining the suction procedure (which was nothing like the Shop-Vac procedure I had envisioned in my head), we set up to do the suction. By this time Ashley was physically and emotionally exhausted, but she still wanted to try and avoid the recovery from a C-Section. Dr. Monroy assured us that he would only try the suction as Ashley pushed a maximum of three times, but stopped after the second try and told us a C-Section was in our immediate future. I had a hard time watching the suction part, and picked a nice spot on the wall/floor to sit before I nearly passed out. That near-miss would be my only "catch" of the day. By now, about 14 hours in, we were very confident that we had tried as hard as we could, and just wanted Avery to come out healthy, and for Ashley to be done dealing with the pain.
It was about this time that Ashley became very, VERY, uncomfortable. The epidural stopped working for some reason, and she had excruciating pressure on her left side. The wait for the O.R. to be ready and for all of the surgery team to arrive seemed to last forever, though it was probably only a half-hour. I was given a set of scrubs, hat, and booties to put on so I could go into the surgery. I crammed down a leftover sandwich so I wouldn't pass out in the O.R. (I have a tendency to be a sissy for that kind of stuff- I know, I know—wrong line of work…). Anyway, they wheeled Ashley over to the O.R. and I stayed behind as they prepped her. I was escorted to the O.R. by another nurse, but right before going in I was told that I couldn't go in because they couldn't get her epidural to numb the incision site and were going to have to put her completely under general anesthesia for the procedure. A little defeated, I walked back to the OB section where the family was in the waiting room.
No sooner after telling the family why I was back so soon, a nurse came in and told me that they were waiting for me in the O.R. I told her that I had just been sent back, and she walked me over there again. A second time, just as I was about to go in, they told me again that I couldn't go in. I was not very happy, to say the least, and sarcastically told the nurse that I would wait outside the door in case they changed their mind (again). They were apologetic, and I wouldn't know their reason (a very good reason, mind you) until later. Shorlty after Ashley went in, Cort walked up and talked with me for a while before going into Ashley's procedure (he is in the room for C-Sections just in case there is a problem with the baby after delivery). It was very encouraging knowing that I had a brother in the Lord on the "inside," looking out for my girls. I sat down on the floor and waited (prayed and pouted and prayed… but mostly pouted!) for about a half-hour, and was eventually joined by Ashley's family until the doors we were staring at finally flew open.
Nurse Lindsey came out holding the most precious little girl I have ever laid eyes on. She said sternly, "come with me, we're going to the nursery" and we quickly jumped up and followed her to the nursery. I asked how the baby was, still not believing she was really here, and she said she was fine but "had a rough start." She said Ashley was also doing well, and would be in recovery for a couple hours until she woke up. We got to the nursery (fishbowl) and they put her under the warming lights and quickly put a tube down her mouth and suctioned some nasty stuff out from her stomach. She had ingested some meconium (fancy word for baby poop) while she was in the birth canal, and was also running a little bit of a fever.
I noticed that the nurses seemed to be working pretty intensely, hurriedly but not frantically. I overheard one of the nurses make a call to some sort of on-call person to let them know that they had a "full-resuscitation" birth. I don't know much, but I know Avery was the only baby being born at that time, and I know what full-resuscitation means… it means CPR. Lindsey explained Avery's "rough start" as needing help with breathing and some chest compressions. I asked her how long, and she told me it was for about two minutes. I don't remember saying anything much after that, but watched as the other nurse worked on Avery. They put an oxygen saturation sensor on her foot, and I watched in terror as the nurse had to flick Avery's feet to startle her when the reading dropped down and her breathing seemed to slow. I'm pretty sure my heart stopped for those few seconds, but it only happened once and she bounced right back and began crying regularly and getting a nice pink color to her. I asked someone who did the resuscitating in the O.R., and pretty much found out that it was Cort and Lindsey.
They cleaned her up, took the tube out pretty quickly, and gave her a bath. I stood there watching with my arms crossed and mouth hanging open, trying to figure out what in the world I was looking at. The nurses took a picture of me holding her and printed it right there so Ashley would have a picture to see when she woke up in recovery (it's on the Picasa site). Cort came into the nursery and I asked him what happened (after I got done with my crying strangle-hug). He explained very courteously, just like Lindsey did, that she had a rough start. Because of the general anesthetic they had to use on Ashley to knock her out, Avery got some of the meds, and when she came out and they cut the cord, she needed a bit of a "jump-start" to get going. Cort said it doesn't happen all that often; but it's not extremely rare, and that's why he (resp.therapist) is there for C-Sections. He gave a humble, "no-biggie, just-doing-my-job" kind of explanation (albeit very heartfelt), and I went back to watching Avery make noises and cry.
With Avery doing well, the mood in the nursery lightened considerably, and the nurses joked about how blood from the cord sprayed when it was cut, and how other nurses had "meck" (poop) on their uniforms from the melee. Dr. Monroy came in and told me what happened, and basically Avery was not coming out the old-fashioned way. Her head (13 ¾") just wasn't didn't fit through little Ashley's hips, and she was so stuck in the birth canal that they had to pull from the top and push from the bottom to get her out. They measured the oxygen level in the cord blood after the delivery, and it was normal, so she wasn't without oxygen for long, the slow start was a result of the anesthesia. He was very gracious and professional, and told me that future babies in our household would be scheduled ahead of time via C-Section.
In an instant I went from dumbfounded-dad to tecno-geek-dad and thought the world would end if I didn't start taking pictures of everything, especially since Ashley still hadn't met Avery. They swaddled her up and I carried her into the hallway and took some pictures of Avery with the nurses, doctor, then with Grandma Tery and Cathy (Tery's sister, Ashley's Aunt). We put her in the bassinet and took her to the room, she was pretty awake and alert most of the time. Ashley was wheeled in shortly thereafter, and got a kiss from her mommy for the first time. Ashley was a little groggy from the meds, but looked great, and was telling me I did a good job – as if I had anything to do with it!?! They got her settled and I gave Avery to her mom. She held Avery for a little while and she immediately latched on and began breastfeeding (whew! Have you seen the price of formula lately!?!).
I've been able to stay in the room with Ashley since there's an open bed, and it's looking like we'll be there until Sunday morning. Both are doing fine, and Avery's first night went great. Not sleep-all-night-and-let my-parents-rest great, but very good indeed. She's a poopin and a peein' and a eatin' and a sleepin'. And there's a little cryin' mixed in there, but it could be way worse (as it is across the hall!). Ashley has been doing great, she was up and walking later in the evening on the day Avery was born. Avery looks just like her mommy, she has a nicely rounded jaw and cute little cheeks. Her hair is brown (light at the ends), and we're betting on a toe-head blond within a month or two, just like her folks.
Thanks to everybody that has been praying and supporting us. I am extremely grateful to the staff at TCCH, especially the nurses (who we all know do the REAL work in and after a delivery), even for not letting me into the O.R. (I can't imagine what I would have done). Also, Ashley's sister "Hay" and my "Twin Brutha Steeb" and Avery's cousin "Co-Co Bean" for being here and taking care of us; and the rest of our family who was been here or called often, texted, and prayed their buns off. And above all, thanks to our Lord and Savior Christ Jesus, who gave life to my little girl and has already fashioned every moment of her life. In that short amount of time two nights ago, I couldn't imagine losing my little girl, yet, we have a God who willingly gave His Son to die on our behalf. My prayer is that He will call Avery His own at a young age and save her again; that also is our prayer for those of you who do not know the saving grace of our Lord Jesus. A well known and comforting verse, James 1:17, reminds us that "Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow…"and Avery Anne is proof of that. It breaks my heart to know that some who we know and love are hopelessly perishing apart from the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ alone. We pray continually that you would have the faith to believe, to be called sons and daughters of God.
As I finish, so I can get cleaned up and go back to hang out with my loved ones, thank you again. My heart overflows with thanksgiving for all that everyone has done for us. Please feel free to stop by the hospital, by the house, or give us a call any time. We are here for you.
Our Thanks, Love, and Prayers,
Justice, Ashley, Alexandria, Rudy, and Avery Anne (yes, like Green Gables) Jones
Did you happen to notice the postmark on our Christmas card this year? No, we haven't moved to Yosemite, but we did just take a mini-vacation there, and there was plenty of snow falling for Avery's first time in the snow.
Ashley is doing a great job as a mommy, which is a full time job with four "kids" to take care of at the house (Justice, Alexandria, Rudy, and Avery). She missed coaching volleyball at Cuesta for the first time since she finished playing there 10 years ago. She is continuing to help out with the book-keeping for SLO JRS, and is taking the year off of coaching there as well. Ashley is looking forward to spending some time with her sister Hayley next month as she gets ready to have their second baby, a little girl named ___ (we have been sworn to secrecy as to the name).
I am still working at Coastal Division as a network administrator (uh, computer geek with a gun, as I am so fondly named), and still spoiled by a normal work schedule and plenty of work to do. Ashley and I are still working with the high-school youth group at PRBC, it's been fun to see those kids change over the last 2 years as well.
And yes, Rudy, the man of the house, is doing just fine. He is great around the baby, and would rather play with her toys than his own. Rumor has it that his 3rd calendar is in the works, though a little behind schedule due to some computer problems.
On a rather heavy note, my father Jack passed away in June. Though the circumstances surrounding his death were difficult to comprehend, we have peace in knowing that all things are under the control of a just and loving God. There was a very nice memorial at the coast in Cambria, and his remains were spread offshore. Our family is very thankful for the thoughts and prayers received during the time after his passing.
Though the saying has become cliche, it is our prayer that we all would remember the reason for the season. So often, we find ourselves running around like crazy, taking less and less time to reflect on why it is that we give gifts in the first place. Christmas is a celebration of the birth of the Savior of the world; that all who believe in him would be forgiven for their sins have eternal life. Without faith it is impossible to please Him; our prayer is that many would have faith to believe in him, to experience the gift of life which only the Lord, Jesus Christ, can provide.
