Ashton

Well, Ashton was born on Sept. 12th, 2009! She weighed 7lbs 7oz and was 19 inches long! I had been contracting since Wednesday and Britton asked me to call my physician Saturday morning to see if they just wanted to check me to make sure I hadn't dilated too much since he didn't want to be delivering our daughter in the back of our car. I called and they told me to go into the hospital and have a labor evaluation. So I took a nice long shower, packed some extra stuff into our hospital bags on the long-shot that we ended up staying, and then we all piled in the car and I drove us to the hospital (30 mins away). The nurse said I was dilated to 3cm (which is what I was on Wednesday) and so the physician and I discussed our options and I decided to stay and walk the halls until Alexis woke up from her nap on the hospital lounger, and then get checked again before leaving.

Not wanting to be bored, I called my mom and talked as I walked. After I got off the phone, I realized my contractions were 2-5 mins apart, and a little more intense than I'd remembered them. My physician got out of her other delivery and rechecked me. She said I was 5cm and in true labor! I was so convinced I was going to be going home, I asked her if it was a joke. She said she doesn't joke about things like that and started laughing.

We called the people who had volunteered to take Alexis when I went into labor, but no one answered, so we started calling other people we knew. My Dr. came in and broke my water at 5:30 and we still hadn't gotten ahold of anyone! We went through every single person in the ward that we knew and NO ONE picked up their phones! Lexi and Britton went down to grab some food from the cafeteria before it closed, and then Britton continued to call people. Still, no one picked up! In desperation, Britton called the church building (since there was an activity going on there) and finally got ahold of our friend Josh Price. Britton told him our dilemma and he said he'd work something out and call him back. 10 minutes later, he called and told us his wife Kelli was on the way and they would take Alexis for however long we needed. Kelli picked up Alexis around 7:10 and Britton got back to the room by 7:20. It was a good thing too because I started pushing at 7:55 and at 8:16 Ashton was born!

After all the cord cutting, weighing, and repairing, Britton left to pick Lexi up from the Price's house. He came back, and the two of them only had eyes for Ashton! Lexi was especially entranced! She just doted on her new little sister and kept wanting to hold and love on her! It was a great, though stressful night. I'm glad this delivery went a little slower than my first, otherwise Lexi would have been there for the traumatic part, and I can't express enough gratitude to the Price's who stepped in like family when we needed it and were such kind and helpful friends! We could not have made it through without them!

The Harkers are another family to whom we are forever indebted to for helping us manage the hard week between delivery and my mother arriving! Lexi spent every morning for the rest of the week at the Harker's with their twins who are about a year older than she, and she had so much fun that she hardly wanted to come home every day. We feel so blessed with such a wonderful ward who treated us like family; bringing us meals, watching Lexi, and driving 30 minutes away to pick her up! We also feel so grateful we were inspired to call the office that morning and ask for a labor evaluation....by the time I felt my contractions were "bad enough" to go into the hospital, I was at an 8 and if we had been at home when I felt they were "bad enough", Britton would have been delivering in the car! What an amazing experience, what a wonderful ward, what wonderful friends, and what a beautiful family we are blessed with!