13 Days Old

Today is my first day home alone with Ava. It has been a very good day so far. We woke up around 7:00 and then napped for majority of the morning. We took a walk to the grocery store to get a few things for dinner. Now we are just hanging out at home waiting for Curt to get done with work. We had a rough day yesterday with Ava not wanting to sleep at all! I think she got a total of about 3 hours of sleep in 36 hours. She was tired!!! She finally went to sleep and did not want to wake up after that.

Here is a picture of Curt with Ava and then another picture of Ava in her first mini-skirt. We received this outfit (and a purple one just like it) from our neighbors. She looks so adorable in it.

I am also including a video I took of her yesterday when she had the hiccups. She gets a little fussy at the end but she is so cute when she has the hiccups.

Our Little Angel

Here are some recent pictures of our little angel. We are all doing great! We are getting into a schedule. Ava loves to sleep which we are taking advantage of. She normally eats around 10-11, 2-3 and then again when we wake up at about 6. We are told that we are very lucky and are hoping that this doesn't change too much in the next few weeks/months.






Shadow is doing great with Ava. She is still getting attention...mostly from Curt. She will lick and smell her but never gets closer.

Curt goes back to work on Tuesday. We aren't looking forward to that but I think Curt is getting a little bored at home. Luckily it's a short week because of Memorial Day so it shouldn't be too bad of a transition. We go back to the doctor on Friday. I'll let you know how that goes on Friday afternoon. Until then, I will keep posting more pictures. :-) Enjoy!

Doctor's Appointments

We can't believe how fast this first week has gone. Ava is now 8 days old! On Monday, Ava had her first visit to the pediatrician. We really like our pediatrician and she actually did her residency in Marshfield, WI where we are from. She couldn't believe that we were from Marshfield and that someone even knew where it was located. :-) She thought Ava was doing great. She weighed 6 lbs. 12 oz.. She wasn't too happy with her weight but since she was extremely sleepy from the antibiotic she could understand why her weight went down from her birth weight. She wanted to see her back on Wednesday to recheck her weight to make sure that she wasn't still losing weight. We went back yesterday for that appointment and she now weighs 7 lbs. 1 oz!!! Our doctor was very pleased as she only expects her to gain 1/2-1 oz. per day. She gained 5 oz. in only 2 days!!! Good Job Ava! She has been doing great and loves to eat!

My parents have been here since the beginning of May. It was great to have them here and to share in the joy of the birth of Ava. They were a huge help and we really appreciate everything they did for us. They took care of Shadow while we were in the hospital, decorated the house with "It's a Girl" decorations, went grocery shopping, made food, and helped Curt with many projects around the house. They started their journey back to WI today and they will be greatly missed. We aren't sure when they will get to see Ava again but hopefully it won't be too long. Thank you Dad and Mom for everything!!! We love you!

My cousin Abby also lives here in Orlando. She was able to come to the hospital to meet Ava and then come over for dinner on Monday. It was great to have her over and get to know her new cousin. We had a great time!

Pictures from the Last Few Days

Sorry about no updates for the past few days. We have been very busy trying to get settled at home and things are finally slowing down and we are getting into a routine. We got home at about 11pm on Friday night. Discharge from the hospital took about 4 hours and we were extremely tired by the time we got home. We made it through our first night with a success. Last night was a bit of a struggle as she refused to eat even though she was starving. Ava has struggled the past few days as she has been extremely sleepy due to the antibiotic she was on and the medicine I was given from the doctor. We believe she has turned a corner this afternoon as she has been more awake and willing to eat on a regular basis. Ava has her first doctor's appointment tomorrow morning. I will give you an update after her appointment and let you know what her pediatrician says. Here are some pictures that we have taken over the past several days.

A visit from our friend Corrine! She brought Ava a little gift to snuggle up next to. As you can see in the next picture, she loves it! Thanks Corrine! :-)
A visit from our friend Stephanie. Unfortunately, Ava's visit with her was cut short because of the next antibiotic schedule. Thanks for coming to visit!
Ava's getting ready for her first ride in the carseat. She was a little fussy getting in but we figured it out and she was happy in the end.
The happy family getting ready to leave the hosptial! :-)

Day 2 with Ava Claire

We made it through our first night! It was an interesting night but we all got some rest. Because I had lost so much amniotic fluid before Ava was born, I was given an antibiotic before delivery to prevent any possible infections for myself and Ava. Last night, Ava had blood drawn to check for any possible infections. Everything came back normal except her white blood cell count was slightly elevated. For precautions, they started her on an antibiotic just in case she would have an infection starting. They will retest her tonight and then again tomorrow evening before we head home.


We are having so much fun getting to know our new little girl. She has been sleeping most of the time and is a very good baby so far. Hopefully it will stay that way! :-)

Ava had her first visitor yesterday! My friend/coworker Nicole came by to meet Ava. Ava has gotten used to hearing Nicole's voice all year and she loved finally meeting her!




Here are just a few pictures that we have taken. Enjoy and we'll keep posting pictures. :-)

Welcome to Ava Claire Cattanach

Ava Claire was born at 1:08pm, weighing 7 lbs. 7 oz., and 20-3/4" long. She has a full head of dark hair and beautiful dark eyes. The delivery went well and we are so thankful to God and to each of you for your prayers. The picture on the right is with our doctor, who was sensational during the past 9 months.

Baby Almost Here -

It's 10:30am and the nurse just left with great news that the baby will soon be here. Curt & I came in late last night because my water had broken. At 2am we were admitted and things have speeded up in the last few hours. We're lucky as our ob/gyn doctor is on-call today and will deliver our baby. More news and "pictures" coming in a few hours. . .

The Missing Pieces of the Nursery

Curt's Grandfather Ray passed away in March. The family generously donated his old rocking chair to us. It fits perfectly in the nursery and even matches the nursery colors. Thank you so much!









My Aunt Faith made the quilt for the nursery. Over Christmas, we picked out all of the fabric and made all of the plans. She finished the quilt just in time and I love the way it turned out. She is very talented at quilting and really enjoys doing as well. Thank you so much!

The Crib

The crib is all put together and ready for the baby. Here are some pictures for you to enjoy. :-) The picture on the left is what the headboard looked like when UPS dropped it off. It took my Dad 2 hours to get it ready for shipping. He wrapped it in bubble wrap, then put plywood on each side. Then topped that off with cardboard so that UPS would ship it. WOW!!! Thankfully, it didn't take us that long to take it apart.


Here is a picture of my Dad and I putting the crib together. Well, I guess I didn't help too much but I held all of the tools and gave them to him and Curt when they asked. :-)








This is a picture of the final product! I absolutely love it and can't wait to have the baby use it!

Doctor's Appointment

Well, I'm a day late on posting what happened at my doctor's appointment. I was planning on posting some pictures of the nursery but we started a project in the nursery and I didn't get to take pictures before we started. We are currently working on putting a ceiling fan in and had to run back to Lowe's because the switch was broken. So, as soon as we get the new switch installed, I'll take some pictures and post them.

About my appointment. My doctor was surprised to see me and asked me "What are you doing here? I was supposed to see you in the hospital!" I told him all about my big contraction day on Saturday and that they suddenly stopped. I am currently at least 50% effaced and am still only dilated to 1 cm. But, he did a procedure to hopefully speed up the process. He said that it should cause more cramping which in turn should start contractions within a few days. The cramping has started so now we are just waiting patiently for the contractions to follow. My doctor is on-call on Monday and Wednesday so he wants me to wait until then. I would prefer to go NOW but we'll have to wait on God's timing. :-)

To keep busy, we took a trip to the beach today. It was a beautiful day with a high of 90. I am now exhausted but have a few projects to finish up around the house just in case this little one would decide to come. I'll let you know if anything happens! :-)