Resemblance of Jacob and Ava

Shannon and I definitely see the resemblance between Jacob and Ava and others have said so as well. Here are some pictures of both of them from their first week of life in similar poses.

Slideshow of Ava Lauren's Homecoming

Here are the pictures of the day we brought Ava Lauren home. We threw her a birthday party and let Jacob give her presents. He has been a very good brother.

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Slideshow of Ava Lauren's Hospital Stay

Here are the pictures from the hospital, post delivery. My parents, Shannon's brother Erik and his family, the Leavell children, intern Jenni and ones with the proud parents are included.

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Slideshow of Ava Lauren's Birth

Below is a picture slideshow of Ava Lauren's birth. These are ALL the pictures we snapped while we were in delivery so be aware there is more than a few bloody photos.

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Ava Lauren Meadors - First 24 hours

I have come home for a quick breakfast and shower. Ava Lauren is a day old. She is the best looking 1 day old around! It may have been hard to see in the pictures yesterday, but she is very pretty for a newborn baby. She a very nice skin tone without any blotches or discoloration. She opens her eyes very often for some one who has just recently departure from the womb. She is just so precious and beautiful.

We had pretty good night. Ava Lauren is latching and nursing well. Not much milk comes in the first 24 hours or so, but you do get colostrum which is great for the baby. She is getting milk as she had a spit up last night and several wet diapers/bowel moements. Jacob did not have a good suckling reflex so those first days in the hospital were quite tramatic. So far, this has been a easier hospital stay even if my pull out bed is not fit for prison use. Shannon has not slept much but really has not be tired. Given that she got up at 4:30 AM yesterday, had a baby but just about 6 hours sleep since then, I expect she will crash hard today.

We plan on coming home on Sunday. Mom and Dad are taking Jacob back to their house through Monday. I am off next week to help with the family so I should get several more photos up on the site.

I have also added a new poll. Ava Lauren Meadors is her name, but we are still not sure on what to call her. Do we call her by her first name, her middle name or both? Do we pronounce Lauren like "Lor-en" or "Lau-ren"? Shannon and I are still deciding, but I would love for you to weigh in.

Thank you all for your prayers. We are so blessed.

Ava Lauren Meadors

Born at 8:20 AM on Thursday, March 6th in Northcrest Medical Center in Springfield, Tennessee. She weighed 7lbs 2ozs and was 20 1/4 inches long. She is beautiful like her mother, and both her and Mommy are doing well. Jacob was very intrigued with his new sister and very sweet with her. Grandparents are tickled. It was a blessed day.

Below are some pictures of Ava Lauren and us. The last picture is hyperlinked to and not shown as it is the very first picture of her as she was pulled from her Mother's stomach (Shannon has a Caesarean section) so it is quite bloody. Some may find it squeamish so this allows them not to see it. But if you are inclined, please do. I am still amazed when I look at that photo.





First Picture (kind of bloody)

What a last few weeks and what a week to come!

In the last 3 weeks, I have traveled to DC for a day meeting but been stranded in Detroit because of a delayed flight due to inclement weather, I have taken some vacation and upgraded (i.e. spent money and moved furniture) Jacob's room to a "big boy's room", got rid of naps (most days) for Jacob and gone to an earlier bedtime, I got a stomach bug and was out sick for 2 days, passed that same bug on to Shannon, Jacob got a different virus and actually got sick (Jacob is a very healthy boy), got Ava Lauren's room "mostly" finished, worked feverishly to get some work for DGI done before I take off for a 7 days after my daughter is born and had Jacob go through a major rebellious/defiant period to test our patience/discipline/wisdom to the limit.

I am worn out typing it.

But it is a good life and I am blessed. I believe my rededication to daily Bible readings had helped my spiritual life and helped me through this time. I am eagerly awaiting Ava Lauren's birth. She should be here around 8:30 AM this Thursday, March 6. I can't wait to hold my daughter. Wow. A daughter. It truly won't be real until I hold her in my arms and call her my little girl.

As noted above, Jacob is in some transition. We moved our day bed downstairs and he now has it in his room with his old crib in Ava's room. It has worked well and I believe he is sleeping better with the more room and better mattress. We decided this was a good time to go away from naps which he had begun to tremendously fight us on, much more than he use to. Now we have an earlier bed time and he generally sleeps 11 hours at night. We still do a nap every 3 or 4 days to help him catch up on any missed sleep.

In lieu of naps, we do make him do a "quiet time" where he is to stay quietly in his room and play or read books or even sleep if he wants for about an hour. We believe this is a good idea but it is a work in progress. He often comes out of his room and wants to play with us. At the end of the hour, his room is typically a mess. Yesterday, he was having a rough time and kept coming out and I had to get on to him. After about the 4th time, I scolded him pretty hard about leaving his room and sent him back. The hour was up about 10 minutes later and I went down to tell him. Below are the pictures I snapped when I came into his room. It was such a sweet picture. I love him so much.