Alright faithful but few readers...I have been challenged by my fellow blogger friends to make a blog entry every day in the month of November. I have decided to accept this challenge, so starting tomorrow, things should be pretty active around here!
I have been so infrequent that it should not be hard to come up with fun stories or pictures to share with you! Whoever is still out there, keep reading, hopefully things are about to get interesting!
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
Ashley Marie Hawley's Birth Story
Wow, what an incredible week it has been! Ashley turned 1 week old today and it already feels like ages ago that I was pregnant and miserable. Life with this little girl is definitely interesting, especially when you add two little boys in the mix!
On Monday night Adam and I, following tradition, dropped off the kido's at my parents house to spend the night and then we went off for our last date night as parents of two children. We went to downtown Brea and went to Carnitas for some yummy mexican food for dinner. After that we headed over to the movies and saw The Borne Ultimatum. We had a wonderful night together and then headed home for a good night's sleep...course I was a bit nervous so sleep did not go so well for me, but I had to get used to that anyway, right?
The next morning we got up and got ready for the hospital. We stopped on the way in for some bagels and arrived at St. Jude around 8:00 a.m. Nurse Carol and Nurse Jean (she was being trained) were waiting for me and got me right into a room. Apparently it was not too busy that day so we got lots of nice attention from the staff. By the time they started my IV, got a baseline on the baby's heartbeat (strong) and contractions (none) then finally started the group B strep meds and pitosin it was around 9:30. They checked me to see where I was starting and I was at 2 cm and about 80% effaced. Not much change from the Friday before.
Contractions started up pretty much right away with the pitosin but were not really that strong. They kept uping my dosage about every 1/2 hour and asking if I wanted my epidural yet. When I had Aaron I was encouraged to get the epidural early and never really felt any contractions. This seemed to make the epidural much more painful. This time I wanted to wait until I was really feeling the pain before they got the epidural in. Around 1:00 p.m. Dr. Henderson came in to check on me. At that point I was about 4 cm so he decided to break my water. Soon after that the contractions got rolling even more so I decided it was time to throw in the flag and get the epidural. The anesteseologist, Dr. Wu, came in almost right away and we started. Adam was brave and stayed in the room, but we made him sit in a chair in the corner this time. My plan worked, and because of the stronger contractions the epidural did not seem as bad and it was a nice relief to have the pain go away. The nurses placed me on my side and left me alone for a while.
All afternoon my contractions were all over the place and they kept playing with the amount of pitosin they were giving me trying to make the contractions last longer without having them too close together. Around 5:00 Nurse Carol came in and checked me for dilation again...only 5 cm...ARGH!! I really had hoped to be up close to 6 or 7 at that point. The epidural had worked great on my left leg but did not really take much on my right side. I let Carol know of my discomfort (I was having to breathe through contractions) and she said she would send Dr. Wu back in. Soon after Dr. Wu came in and gave me a bolster shot on my epidural and that made me COMPLETELY numb in both legs. What a relief!!
By this time we had gathered quite a crowd down in the waiting room. Since it was dinner time I told Adam to go downstairs to the cafeteria with the family and get some dinner. I promised him I would call him if anything happened. When he left I snoozed for a little bit and read a little. It was so nice to have a quiet room after having visitors in and out all day. Around 6:30, about a 1/2 hour after Adam went down for dinner I started noticing some pressure in my bum. I was so numb from the bolster shot of epidural that I was not sure exactly what I was feeling. Adam came back shortly after and I told him what I was feeling and about the same time Carol came in. I told her I was feeling pressure and she said she would check me. Sure enough, I was at 10 cm and the head was right there.
At 7:00 p.m. Carol had me do a practice push to see how close I was. She quickly told me to stop pushing and called to the nurses station to send Dr. Henderson over. Things moved so quickly from there. They got the room set up and got me ready to have the baby. I was so numb still that they had to tell me when I was having a contraction so that I could push. It only took a few pushes and by 7:16 Ashley Marie made her entrance into the world!
Once the cord was cut (Adam actually did cut it!) they placed her immediately on my chest and that is where she stayed for about the next hour. She nursed and we took some pictures with her and bonded together. Finally around 8:30 Adam headed downstairs to get Alec and Aaron. They were both enthralled with their little sister and were very pleased with the gifts that she brought for them (Alec got a Thomas watch, and Aaron a new train.) The rest of the family came up after that and all got the chance to meet the sweet girl.
It's funny, by the third child you would think that some things would be "old hat" by now and not mean as much. This birth was just as amazing as when I gave birth to both of my boys, and I will cherish the memory always. Even though Ashley was a surprise pregnancy for me, I could not imagine having anything different in my life. I truly believe that God knew in my heart that I wanted a little girl to share my life with, and gave this gift to me. I could not be more honored that I have been given this opportunity to raise Ashley and give her the start to what I hope is an amazing, God centered life. I pray that our relationship always stays strong and that I have the same amount of friendship, love, and respect with her that I have with my own Mom.
Proud Mommy and Daddy.
On Monday night Adam and I, following tradition, dropped off the kido's at my parents house to spend the night and then we went off for our last date night as parents of two children. We went to downtown Brea and went to Carnitas for some yummy mexican food for dinner. After that we headed over to the movies and saw The Borne Ultimatum. We had a wonderful night together and then headed home for a good night's sleep...course I was a bit nervous so sleep did not go so well for me, but I had to get used to that anyway, right?
The next morning we got up and got ready for the hospital. We stopped on the way in for some bagels and arrived at St. Jude around 8:00 a.m. Nurse Carol and Nurse Jean (she was being trained) were waiting for me and got me right into a room. Apparently it was not too busy that day so we got lots of nice attention from the staff. By the time they started my IV, got a baseline on the baby's heartbeat (strong) and contractions (none) then finally started the group B strep meds and pitosin it was around 9:30. They checked me to see where I was starting and I was at 2 cm and about 80% effaced. Not much change from the Friday before.
Contractions started up pretty much right away with the pitosin but were not really that strong. They kept uping my dosage about every 1/2 hour and asking if I wanted my epidural yet. When I had Aaron I was encouraged to get the epidural early and never really felt any contractions. This seemed to make the epidural much more painful. This time I wanted to wait until I was really feeling the pain before they got the epidural in. Around 1:00 p.m. Dr. Henderson came in to check on me. At that point I was about 4 cm so he decided to break my water. Soon after that the contractions got rolling even more so I decided it was time to throw in the flag and get the epidural. The anesteseologist, Dr. Wu, came in almost right away and we started. Adam was brave and stayed in the room, but we made him sit in a chair in the corner this time. My plan worked, and because of the stronger contractions the epidural did not seem as bad and it was a nice relief to have the pain go away. The nurses placed me on my side and left me alone for a while.
All afternoon my contractions were all over the place and they kept playing with the amount of pitosin they were giving me trying to make the contractions last longer without having them too close together. Around 5:00 Nurse Carol came in and checked me for dilation again...only 5 cm...ARGH!! I really had hoped to be up close to 6 or 7 at that point. The epidural had worked great on my left leg but did not really take much on my right side. I let Carol know of my discomfort (I was having to breathe through contractions) and she said she would send Dr. Wu back in. Soon after Dr. Wu came in and gave me a bolster shot on my epidural and that made me COMPLETELY numb in both legs. What a relief!!
By this time we had gathered quite a crowd down in the waiting room. Since it was dinner time I told Adam to go downstairs to the cafeteria with the family and get some dinner. I promised him I would call him if anything happened. When he left I snoozed for a little bit and read a little. It was so nice to have a quiet room after having visitors in and out all day. Around 6:30, about a 1/2 hour after Adam went down for dinner I started noticing some pressure in my bum. I was so numb from the bolster shot of epidural that I was not sure exactly what I was feeling. Adam came back shortly after and I told him what I was feeling and about the same time Carol came in. I told her I was feeling pressure and she said she would check me. Sure enough, I was at 10 cm and the head was right there.
At 7:00 p.m. Carol had me do a practice push to see how close I was. She quickly told me to stop pushing and called to the nurses station to send Dr. Henderson over. Things moved so quickly from there. They got the room set up and got me ready to have the baby. I was so numb still that they had to tell me when I was having a contraction so that I could push. It only took a few pushes and by 7:16 Ashley Marie made her entrance into the world!
Once the cord was cut (Adam actually did cut it!) they placed her immediately on my chest and that is where she stayed for about the next hour. She nursed and we took some pictures with her and bonded together. Finally around 8:30 Adam headed downstairs to get Alec and Aaron. They were both enthralled with their little sister and were very pleased with the gifts that she brought for them (Alec got a Thomas watch, and Aaron a new train.) The rest of the family came up after that and all got the chance to meet the sweet girl.
It's funny, by the third child you would think that some things would be "old hat" by now and not mean as much. This birth was just as amazing as when I gave birth to both of my boys, and I will cherish the memory always. Even though Ashley was a surprise pregnancy for me, I could not imagine having anything different in my life. I truly believe that God knew in my heart that I wanted a little girl to share my life with, and gave this gift to me. I could not be more honored that I have been given this opportunity to raise Ashley and give her the start to what I hope is an amazing, God centered life. I pray that our relationship always stays strong and that I have the same amount of friendship, love, and respect with her that I have with my own Mom.
It really is a girl!! Not that 4 ultrasounds could be wrong, but I did want to see her in person first just to be sure! Ashley was completely covered in in that white sticky vernix and the baby nurse guessed that based on the vernix as well as the lines on the bottom of her feet (?) she was closer to around 37 weeks rather than 39 weeks. At 7 lbs. 13 oz. and 18 1/2 inches long I am glad I did not carry her another 3 weeks, she would have been HUGE!!
Proud Mommy and Daddy.Alec and Aaron meeting their sister for the first time. Alec was a little apprehensive about her and did not want to touch her. Aaron was VERY interested in her and kept looking at her, pointing, and saying, "Baby Ashley!!" over and over again. SO cute!
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