Ava Lynn Rollins

Ava Lynn Rollins was born on February 28, 2009 at 2:10 AM. Dalynn's water broke around 9 PM. Christi Jones, our doula, met us at our house and we all drove to the hospital. We arrived at the hospital around 10 PM.

Dalynn was amazing during this labor, even though she said it was her hardest by far. Ava was posterior which made the labor all the more difficult. Thankfully, though, Dalynn didn't have any back labor like she did with Cole (who was also posterior).

This being my 3rd child, I felt much more confident in my ability to help Dalynn labor, and Christi and I made a wonderful team, even receiving a compliment from our midwife, Nel. Christi and I were able to coach Dalynn to a delivery in which she did not tear at all.

Now, lest you think I'm taking any credit here, when I say "coached" we told Dalynn what to do, but Dalynn was the one that actually did it, and she did it with such control it was truly amazing. At the end, when she was pushing and Nel would tell her to stop, Dalynn would immediately stop pushing, no matter where she was in her contraction. It's this control that I believe allowed Dalynn to deliver her second child without a tear.

One of the amazing things about this delivery (besides the sheer amazement inherent in birth itself) is that Dalynn progressed from 5 CM to 10 CM in 20 minutes. After 4 hours of hard labor, Dalynn was only 5 CM dilated and was despairing. She told Christi and I that she didn't think she could do it, as she assumed that the labor would be hours more.

Lo and behold, Dalynn had what amounted to a 20 minute contraction that resulted in Dalynn almost fully dilating and Ava crowning. Ava was born shortly thereafter. I guess the Lord does know what we can and can't endure, huh?

In case you haven't picked up on it, I am truly amazed at my wife and am in a little bit of awe of her. She was truly amazing and I felt blessed to be a part of this birth.

So, what's it like being a girl's Dad? She's certainly prettier than my sons, that's for sure! She looks like a feminine version of Cole when Cole was born. I do feel more protective of her than I do my boys, too, though not by much. However, if you stop to put it in perspective, I feel a little more protective of her as she is now, when I've only known her for a few days, whereas I've known one of my boys for over 3 years. I think that says something... It's more important to me that people find her beautiful than it was for either of my boys, too. It's probably a lot of cultural baggage, but it's what I have to work with and I don't regret having it in the first place.

The boys have reacted very differently to her. Cole thinks she is amazing. Last night he sat on the couch, holding her, giving her lots of kisses and telling us how much he loves her. He talks a lot about how he likes being an older brother, too, all of the sudden. Since Ava has arrived, he's begun to act more favorably to Logan, too, and has even become a little more protective of him. It's quite wonderful to watch.

Logan, on the other hand, would probably prefer that we send Ava back to the hospital! He started throwing these massive temper tantrums when she came home. He's never thrown big temper tantrums before. Now, he'll throw himself on the ground wailing or stomp his feet and scream. It's actually quite funny once you get over your horror.

If I'm holding Ava, Logan will give me about 10 minutes and then he starts demanding that I hold him. He's also become much more of a daddy's boy. He's always been pretty partial to me, but now it's soaring to new heights. I find the extra attention from him to be a bit overwhelming!

He's also refusing to go to Dalynn on occasion. When Dalynn and I first got home, he wouldn't go to her at all. Now, he'll get her to hold him for a minute or two, then he wants me to hold him. Bless his heart, but he's having a hard time of it.

We've had almost 3 weeks of family help, and it's been wonderful. However, next week marks the start of when we'll have all 3 all to ourselves. When I'm home, it's not that hard, but I can only imagine how hard it's going to be for Dalynn for a while as she gets used to managing 3, with one nursing. I don't know why, but 3 seems like such a larger number than 2!

I'm sure it's all a matter of perspective.