Ashley Kyle Gillespie

Feb 24, 2012

8 lbs 5 ounces

19 1/2 inches

This pregnancy has been a whole different ball game. Toward the end I was very anxious for baby Ashley to get here. Besides being in continuous false labor I just felt like she wanted out.

Anyway, we showed up at 7:00 for our scheduled C-section. The nurses were all waiting for us in the prep room. It only took a few minutes to get us into the operating room and ready to go.

Within a few minutes the baby was out, and although she made a little yelp she did not cry like the rest of our kids had. It turns out the u-cord was wrapped around her neck a couple of times and while they were undoing it they think she swallowed fluid. Needless to say when they put her on the table next to me she was blue.

Soon pretty much everyone had left me and was over working on her. I could see the nurses tapping each other and whispering and working on her like crazy. Kyle came over and told me she wasn’t breathing. I just closed my eyes and started praying.

Thankfully, her heart rate was strong and within two minutes she had made a little sound and they had her breathing. It was amazing when they put the oxygen on her how she instantly turned bright pink. I will take a bright pink baby over a blue one any day.

Anyway, they took her for most of the day after that. She was born at 8:35 but I didn’t get her until 4 that afternoon. Luckily, Kyle was able to stay with her most of the time. I was by myself in the recovery room for the most of the day and used the quiet time to let all the love of the special day sink in.

I was so relieved to have the surgery over and so relieved she was healthy and okay that pretty much everything related to the recovery since has been in perspective of those two things. Modern medicine is amazing. It saves lives. It is the reason my babies and I are alive and not buried under some mount of dirt.

In addition, here are a few other things I want to remember about our stay in the hospital:

-The amazing special care nurses that were assigned to Ashley while we there
-Kyle and I spending quiet time with Ashley and getting to know her and shower her with love
-Ella telling me, "I have Ashley's first day home all planned out."
-Dash asking me if I am all better now and snuggling with me in the hospital bed
-Kyle and I walking the maternity floor with the pink bassinet and him pretending it was supercross saturday (baby girls love dirt bikes too I'm told)
-Kyle riding in a 25 mile headwind to the hospital on his bike and bringing us a celebration dinner
-Kate saying "Baby Ashley is so ADORABLE. Just like a fuzzy caterpillar!"
-The kids being so excited to pick up Ashley from the hospital and bring her home
-The way she was instantly part of the Ella, Kate, Dash club

-The way grandma anne is there for us every time we need her, no matter where we live.