She's Here!

Our little Ashlyn Marie is finally here!! She arrived on October 14th at 1:21 in the morning. She weighed 6 lbs. 15 oz. and was 20 inches long. She took her sweet time and nothing went according to plan but that was ok. It all started with our doctor's appointment on October 12th, her actual due date. We had the doctor strip my membranes to see if labor would start. Sure enough contractions started immediately and lasted the whole night. I cleaned the whole house and David knew then that I was in labor. I went to bed and woke up on the 13th to use the bathroom and the contractions were stronger and lasting longer. I got up at 5 and couldn't go back to sleep, so I just timed my contractions. They were getting pretty close together around 8 when I decided to take a bath. Once in the bath tub the contractions stopped and I started back at square one. I got out and walked around and contractions started up again! By 11:30 they were 4 minutes apart for 2 hours and we decided to go to the hospital. They told me I was 5-6 cm. but baby was still high. We walked and used the birthing ball and we were told I was a 7 around 4 pm. I was so excited that I kept moving around and thought this isn't too bad! Then my "birthing crew (Kristyn, Mom, Dad, Tami, David) started to show up. I stayed at a 7 for about 3.5 hours before deciding to have my water broken. Once this happened contractions started to get stronger and closer together. Around 9:30 I decided after being at a 9 for 3 hours I would get an epidural to help my body relax so I could finish dilating and baby would move down. That was a lifesaver! Once that was done I dilated within an hour and a half and started pushing at 11:30. It was so neat to see her head crown in the mirror and David helped deliver her! It was such a great experience to watch her be born and to feel her head once it came out. I never thought I would be so happy but it is also surreal that I have a baby that will be going home with me! Once out she didn't cry but just looked around and made some noise. We finally got to sleep around 5 am after 24 hours of labor and we couldn't be happier to have our little girl with us!