A total Mommy Post: Happy Birthday Ashlynn

Happy seventh birthday to my beautiful Ashlynn! I cannot believe it has already been seven years! I distinctively remember sitting in a classroom on the ATU campus dreaming of baby names. One of my friends had written down on her doddle list of girl names Ashlyn and I fell in love with it with, but had to add an extra n because I like the way it looks better.  No worries I am not a name stealer. She loved many other names more and ended up naming her daughter Macey. Now today I have a seven year old. It truly doesn't seem possible.  The funny thing is, that college friend, I originally got the name from, had Macey eight days before Ashlynn was born.

Dress up outfit she got from Benjamin. I love her sassy pose!

I know I have told the story of Ashlynn's birth to many of you probably several times. You are going to have to just bare with me though; the older I get the more need I have to have a record of things. Ashlynn was born March 16, 2005, after being pregnant for what seemed like an eternity. I had been told from my first check, when I was already dilated to a 2, that I could and probably would have her anytime. That made for a very long wait. Each week I went in and was another centimeter dilated. Then one night I woke up with water everywhere. Marshal and I went to the hospital and got checked in. I was a 4 and 90%. They checked everything out and it didn't appear that I was in active labor so they sent me home. That was on Thursday night. I was not a happy pregnant girl at that moment in time. None the less I carried on went to work and everything as normal. When I went in for my scheduled doctors appointment on Tuesday the nurse took my blood pressure and was shocked. She kept taking it and taking it. She called over another nurse and used another blood pressure cuff. They all freaked out and sent me straight downstairs to the hospital because my blood pressure was so high. They couldn't believe I wasn't having a stroke. I felt absolutely fine though. Well as long as I laid on my left side my blood pressure went back down within normal limits. So yep they sent me home again! That night I couldn't sleep. My stomach just felt so heavy and I was just so uncomfortable. I kept getting up to go to the bathroom to see if that helped. Then all the sudden around 4 a.m. it hit me like a ton of bricks. I was holding on to the door frame and wow, but I really didn't want to go to the hospital and get sent home for a third time. If it wouldn't have been Marshal insisting that we go I wouldn't have. By the time we get to the hospital Ashlynn was already coming out. I could feel her crowning. No one believed me and everyone just kept telling me to calm down and they would be with me in a minute. I finally told Marshal to go get a nurse because I was going to start pushing. The nurse moseyed on in there and finally agreed to check me. Well the second she did she flipped out, pushed the help button, which happens to be right next to the t.v. button, the television comes on and she is screaming that I am having this baby right now. You think maybe that's what I meant when I said the baby is coming out? Ok sorry. Any way Dr. Bailey comes in, in time to catch Ashlynn and lucky for him the morning recap of the basketball games were on so as I was looking at him to get some reassurance that everything was going ok; all I saw was the back of his head. Very comforting to a first time mom. Ha!

The way Ashlynn came into the world should have been my first clue. She is independent, will do things in her own way, and when she wants something to happen she will make it happen right then. I love every bit of that spicy little girl!