Swingin'

Swingin', originally uploaded by Ava's Antics.

Home Sweet Home.

Doni's sisters are visiting for the weekend with their children and we're having a great time. Last night Ava kept waking Doni up at all hours. I kind of feel bad because I only noticed that Ava was crying once (other than the time I got up for the morning). It was her first night in a new place though, so we'll let it slide.

In answer to a question in the comments: YES - feel free to ask questions that may provide inspiration for future posts. It may take a little while to get them worked in, but I'll keep a list. Also, someone brought to my attention that you had to have a Blogger login to post comments. I have changed this so anyone can post comments now without having to register with this website. Thanks to the person that brought this to my attention.

Not a lot of new pics lately because yesterday I finally wore down the batteries on our digital camera. We do have a roll of 35mm that we're also working on, so when we finish that and get it developed I'll put them up also.

Since we have visitors I'm going to keep this short, but there are two new pictures (including the one with this post).

News

This probably won't make any difference for many of you since you've already been to this blog if you're reading this, but there is now a easier way to remember how to get here. Instead of typing out "www.avafisk.blogspot.com", you can now go to www.avafisk.com and it will automatically take you to this blog. Like I said... not big news, but news is news.

Here's looking at you kid

Here's looking at you kid, originally uploaded by Ava's Antics.

Today we came home from the hospital. It's been nice there, but we were really ready to be back in our own house, sleeping in our own bed, and sitting on our own couch. Besides, I like our satellite TV better than the cable TV the hospital gets.

For those of you that don't know this, for the first few days a baby's poop is black and tarry. Its called meconium, but I call it NASTY. Doni has her breastfeeding bonding time and has told me that my bonding time can be when I change her diaper...... Lucky me. Ava seems to have this game where she drops a deuce in her diaper and waits apprehensively for me to change her. As I'm cleaning her up (always at the worst possible moment mind you) she decides it would be a great time for her to empty her bladder. This usually happens right after I pull out the dirty diaper from under her and right before I put a clean diaper under her. On the bright side, its better than the squirt in the eye I would likely get if Ava had been a boy.

The last few days have been days of firsts. The first time I become a father, the first time I changed my child's dirty diaper, the first time I lovingly tell Ava to shut-up..... Sometimes I may sound like I'm complaining with regards to our lives' recent changes, but I wouldn't trade any day from April 26th, 2006 on for anything. Having a child is the most amazing, surreal, scary, and satisfying experience of my life. In the "Highlight Reel" of my life, there are a few REALLY significant days:

-The day I married Doni
-The day I got accepted to medical school, and
-April 26th, 2006.... The day I became a daddy.

You take the good with the bad

Day 2 schedule, originally uploaded by Ava's Antics.

I almost didn't post this picture. Not that its due to Ava by any means! If you look close you can see her scratching her head while she ponders whether String Theory is a feasible basis for Intergalactic Hyperspace Translocation (IHT for short). Meanwhile, I am in the unfortunate position such that I am directly underneath a light and it makes me look even balder than I am. Seriously..... It's the light.

Ava had a busy schedule today. It was as follows:

7:30 AM - Eat breakfast
7:45 AM - Sleep
11:30 AM - Eat lunch
11:45 AM - Sleep
4:00 PM - Eat Linner
4:20 PM - Sleep
7:20 PM - Eat dinner
....... I bet you can't guess what she's doing now.

She's making this baby-raisin' stuff look easy! She even let us sleep for FIVE HOURS IN A ROW last night before she needed to interrupt her sleeping with a brief jaunt at soothing her appetite. I'm thinking I should call the Guinness people to see if this might be a record for a baby's first night.

Tomorrow we are going home. Tomorrow we are also picking the dogs up from the kennel (where they have been staying throughout this experience). I think they'll resent the fact that Ava gets to lay on our new couch and they don't get to. On our old couch they used to wedge their way in-between our outstretched bodies, ESPECIALLY is there was a blanket involved. They picked up pretty quick on the fact that they were no longer allowed up there, but I think they still hold a grudge. You know what? Too bad! My baby deserves the best!

Got Milk?

Got Milk?, originally uploaded by Ava's Antics.

Ava's been trying to breastfeed lately, but apparently she has a one-sided preference (you know what I mean right?). Last night we had her stay in the nursery so we could catch up on some sleep. They did bring her in at around 4 AM last night so she could get some mammary-minutes and I burped her when we tired of getting her to grasp the impossible task of breastfeeding. She's been working on it some more today though and she's getting better.

Some of the 2nd graders from Doni's school had a tour of the maternity ward today coincidently. They wanted to see Ava, but she was busy working on her "skills" at the time.

*Late breaking news*......

There are more than one group of 2nd graders coming through at different times, so Ava is making a trip to the nursery to be the source of many ooh's and ah's.

*Back to your regularly scheduled programming*

We'll be staying at the hospital until tomorrow sometime. Hopefully we'll get lots of visitors before then!

Sleepy

Sleepy, originally uploaded by Ava's Antics.

Well, it has been a LONG day. My ladies are currently getting a little well deserved sleep. Here's the facts:

Ava Nicole Fisk
Born 4/26/06 at 6:12 pm (that's 1812 in military time.... like the overture)
7 lbs 10 oz
19 3/4 in long
Immeasurable amount of joy

Click on the picture to see more........

Epidural

Epidural, originally uploaded by Ava's Antics.

Doni's fighting hard and its wearing her out! She's dilated to 8 cm and is 100% effaced. To help the pain of the contractions she had an epidural put in place around 3 pm. Now, they want her to nap for a while to get some of her strength back up before she needs to start pushing.

We finished watching the whole first season of The Office and have been watching Animal Planet ever since. It was good to see her laugh in-between contractions. I'm pretty sure that's a good test of whether a comedy is funny.... Can it make someone in labor laugh? If so, then you know it will be REALLY funny when your body isn't causing you pain and stealing all your energy!

Yesterday during our ultrasound we were able to see Ava's face, hands, and feet like we have never been able to before. No, unfortunately, it wasn't a 4D ultrasound (although I hear they're great), but it was amazing how we could make out the details of her toes, see how she has long hair (for a baby), watch as she was practicing breathing, and see her open her eyes the slightest bit. It makes you wonder what she's thinking. Especially now! Getting a little cramped in there isn't it Ava?

Labor and Delivery

Labor and Delivery, originally uploaded by Ava's Antics.

Well, we're moving right along. Doni is having contractions and I'm realizing how little I can do to help her. The best method I've found to help is to just leave her alone. Her OB doctor has said that she'll probably break Doni's water around noon. Time to get this baby OUT!

Flickr Account

We have a Flickr.com account where we're keeping all of our photos. Feel free to browse them at your leisure. You can get to our pictures a couple of ways:

• Click a picture that is included with an entry
• Click on the Flickr box in the right sidebar that our pictures in miniature form
• Go to: Flickr.com and search for Ava's Antics

Also, if you enter your email address in the field at the lower right corner, you'll get an email whenever this blog is updated. That way you won't miss anything!

Little Fisk

little Fisk, originally uploaded by Ava's Antics.

Doni and I are going to be chronicling our adventures in parenting very shortly. We found out today that Doni is going to be induced tomorrow morning! To get this page started I've included a ultrasound picture from what seems like forever and a day ago. She was 8 weeks old then, and now she is 38 weeks and 1 day. It's gone so fast, but at the same time it seems like Doni's been pregnant for a LONG time now. To think... in less than 24 hours I'm going to be a daddy!