February 17th, 2004

Dear Sweet Pea!
You're here!! I can not even begin to explain how much your Daddy and I love you. You are such a joy to have in our new little family. Let me tell you how it happened.
Feb. 12 your Daddy and I woke up bright and early. We knew that the hospital would be calling us as soon as they had room for us. At 9:00 they still hadn't called so I called them. They told me that they were full of mommies that had come in on their own and when they had an open room they would let us know. So,... we sat around. (Your Daddy played Tiger Woods Pro Golf on his X BOX to pass the time and I paced back and forth!) At 1:00 pm we got the call! We were going to have a baby! We grabbed our stuff and were on our way. As soon as we got to the hospital they took us to our room and started me on pitosin. That's the stuff that starts you into labor. Things went very slowly from then. At about 6:00 pm my contractions were getting pretty strong so they called Tracy and the anesthesiologist. Dr. Tracy came in and broke my water and then Dr. Chandler came and gave me my epidural. The epidural seemed to slow things down a bit but I was still progressing. At first I was a 4 then went to a 4+. The next time they checked me it was 12:00 am Friday the 13th!! I was dilated to a 6 and 100% effaced. The nurse Sabrina told me to get some rest, it would probably a long night. So your Daddy and I fell asleep and at 1:00 Sabrina came in and checked me. I was at a 9+! She told me to keep sleeping and she would be back to check me at 1:30. When she came back I was fully dilated so she called Tracy and we started pushing. When Tracy got there we all got excited because one of the nurses thought that you hadn't turned yet, but when Tracy checked, you had. So we pushed some more. They ended up turning off my epidural because I couldn't feel where I was supposed to be pushing. Then they brought in a nurse named Kim and told me to watch out! Kim was the expert at helping to bring out a baby. She got a receiving blanket and tied knots on both ends. I held on to one end and she held on to the other and put all of her weight into it. I had to hold her up off the floor. That is what did it. At around 4:00 am the biggest part of your head popped through and in about 2 more contractions and 6 more pushes we finally had our little girl!
You were born at 4:38 am on Friday the 13th. You weighed 9 lbs 3 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. You were so beautiful, with the biggest cheeks ever!
They took you away to clean you and brought you back all wrapped up and pink. You have very good coloring. After your Daddy and I held you, we tried nursing you. You latched on like an old pro! The rest of the day was a blur. People came and said hi, and brought you presents. We moved into our new room. You were just so beautiful and fun to hold and cuddle. Daddy was hooked from look one. We both were.
We had some troubles with breastfeeding that next morning and our new nurse Jeanie came in and taught us how to re-teach you to latch on. Daddy was such a big help. I definitely could never have done it without him. He was so encouraging and reminded me that it was okay because neither you or I had ever breastfed before. Even with his bad back he would sit over the bed and hold your head up so that you could latch on properly. Later (Saturday afternoon) we decided that we would stay one more day. I needed the help with breastfeeding and told Daddy that I didn't want him to help hold you up any more. I needed to learn to do it on my own. By Sunday Morning you were eating wonderfully and i had the confidence to go home and do it on my own. So on Sunday we went home around 2:00 pm. Sunday night was rough. You seemed to have your days and nights mixed up. It's not that you were noisy or crying or anything, you just wanted to be up and playing. I think I only got about 4 hours of sleep. Monday morning Daddy got up and went to work. Grandpa and Grandma Mackley came and visited you so that Mommy could take a show. When the left you slept all day until Daddy came home. Then we played with you and kept you up until 10:00 and we all went to bed. You woke up at 3:00 am to eat and stayed awake until 4:00 am and went back to bed until 7:30. Mommy and Daddy were very happy. You let us get our rest! Today you've been sleeping a lot but you did wake up for about 2 hours to play and then went back to sleep. Hopefully we'll have another good night, if we can only keep you up till 10:00 again.
Ashlynn, I just want you to know how much I love you and how much your Daddy Loves you. We are so happy to have you. I honestly don't know what we'd do without you. Till Later, Mommy