birthstory

Kelly Ashton came from God to be with us on March 15, 2001 at 5:43pm weighing in at 7lbs 13.5 ounces and 20 inches long.   I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions since March 11th, but on Tuesday, March 13th at around 4pm, I noticed that they were much stronger and starting to come in regular intervals. Brian and I were in the car about this time, and so we quickly got home and started timing them. At about 11pm that night, we thought we were getting close�we got the bags packed, and both of us got dressed to go to the hospital. At this point, they were about 10 minutes apart and a minute to a minute and a half long. Unfortunately, the night passed without the contractions hitting the magical 5 minutes apart.
     For a good 45 minutes, the contractions were 6 minutes apart, and we both reasoned that 6 was pretty close, but the midwife disagreed and said we needed to stay home for a little bit. About two hours later some contractions were 7 or 8 minutes apart and some were 2 or 3. My mathematical brain said that was good enough, and plus I was getting tired of these contractions, so we called our midwife back and she told us to come into the hospital to get checked. This was about 5am Wednesday morning. We found out that I was not dilated much at all (only � a centimeter) even after an hour of walking around, so they gave me a shot to help me sleep and we were sent home. I slept for about 4 hours once we got home, but once I woke up, the contractions were back, but not quite as close together.
     At about 11pm Wednesday night, the contractions were now down to about 15 � 20 minutes apart, but I noticed that the pain was now more in my front than in my back. I even remember thinking, �boy, I�m glad these are only 20 minutes apart because they really hurt!� Well, within about an hour, they were back to being 7 � 10 minutes apart! We labored through the night until 8:30 the next morning when we called the midwife�s office to see if we could reschedule that afternoon�s appointment for the morning. I was really in quite a bit of pain, and I didn�t see how I could make it through another day. We got to the office and found out that I was 5cm dilated! We were so happy to be on the way to the hospital!!
     We got to the hospital at around 9:30 on Thursday morning, and I was quickly brought into a labor and delivery room. The contractions finally had reached the 5 minutes apart mark, but I�m glad we didn�t wait for that to call. Within 2 hours, I had an epidural, and I felt much, much better. Brian was so amazed to see me now chatting through a contraction level on the monitor that just a few hours ago had knocked me to the floor! They broke my water and there was some meconium staining in it, and so I was told that when Kelly was born she�d be given directly to a respirational therapist, instead of to me. I was disappointed, but I was glad to have the care that she needed.
     At this point, I should have tried to sleep, but I was too excited. We have wonderful friends who stopped by to lend their support. At about 4:30, I had reached 10cm dilation, and so the midwife, nurse, Brian, my mom, and I got set to start pushing. After some pushing, the midwife told me that it looked like I�d be able to deliver without any cutting or tearing, so I was very excited about that�but at this point I think I remember screaming (you can ask my friends who were standing outside the room eavesdropping :) ) �I don�t care, just GET HER OUT!�. Unfortunately, for a while, Kelly was in some distress while I was pushing, and so they had to put a monitor on her head to track her heartrate. It dropped quite low, but they were just keeping an eye on it. Even with all the wonderful support and encouraging words from the midwife, Brian, and my mom, it looked as if there was just too much distress for Kelly, so the midwife gave me a small cut, and Kelly came out shortly afterwards. While the midwife was doing all her stuff to me, Brian and I couldn�t take our eyes off the beautiful gift that God had given us.
     She is gorgeous! They cleaned her up and got her lungs nice and clear and Brian and I got to spend some time alone with her. We stayed in the hospital with family and friends visiting and lending support until Saturday morning. She is a wonderful baby, she is a great eater and a wonderful sleeper. We couldn�t be more blessed.