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Week by Week

Ashlyn's Birth

First of all, I would like to say that this is a really great thing to have. I have really enjoyed reading everyone's stories, and by doing this I have found out two things: 1, I am not the only wimp in the world, ( I have NO tolerence for pain), and 2, I have the greatest Dr. in the world.!

My first pregnancy started off awful. The first clue I had that I was pregnant was the extremely abrupt stop that My husband had to make in front of a tractor dealership so that I could throw up. I'm sure the tractor people loved that. For the next three months I was as sicker that I have ever been in my life.. I couldn't even hold water down. I had to be hospitalized for dehydration. But once that was over with the rest of the pregnancy was pretty well uneventfull. I am one of those weird people that have periods about every 3 months or so, if that often, and I ovulate whenever my body gets around to it, so it was impossible to tell how pregnant I was until I had a sonogram, which was an experience. We live in a small town, with a small hospital, that at this time did not offer sonograms, they sent you an hour away. This was awful, because of the full bladder thing. We came upon an accident on the highway and ended up being late by 5 minutes to the appt., and the receptionist was very mad about it, she didn't want to hear any excuses, and it was too bad, she had let someone else have our appt. and she would call this other place and see if they could get us in soon. And NO, I could not go to the bathroom. Thank goodness, we saw our baby girls first picture not long after that.

My husband an I were really excited, we were hoping for a girl. The sonogram set the due date at February 16th. My Dr. was still a little unsure though because I was measuring 6 weeks bigger than that. By the time I was 7 1/2 months I was measuring full term, and felt like it too. My doctor decided that he would go ahead and start seeing me once a week just in case the sonogram measurments were wrong. On February 12th, I had my 7th weekly visit. I love my Dr, but I sure wanted to shoot him everytime I heard, "See Ya Next Week.". By this time, I was huge, and miserable. Dr. Bill decided to do a stress test the next day (his day off).

I was really suprised to see him the next morning at the hospital. He wanted to be there to make sure everything was ok, even though the nurses could have handled it ok. After what seemed like forever, They told me that the baby was fine. Dr. Bill asked me what I thought about trying to induce right then, so I said YES! But durn it!, It didn't work, I was sent home with another "see ya next week.". At this point, I hated everyone. Nobody wanted to be around me because I was such a grouch. I didn't blame them I knew I was being grouvhy, but I didn't care. My due date came and went. I had decided that I would be pregnant forever. My next appointment was on February 22nd. No Change!!!!!! No dialated a bit!!!!!! No change in the cervix!!!!! This cant be happening!!!!! He said that if there was still no change by next week, we would talk about inducing. I left in a very bad mood, needless to say. As I was leaving I ran into a friend of mine who said that I should walk alot, and that might help. I was willing to try castor oil at this point.

So, my mom and I went to Wal Mart, and looked at everthing in the store twice, just so that I could be walking (too cold outside). Guess what! I started having contractions, nothing regular, but I was ecstatic. I went on home, and they got more regular. Late that evening, my husband decided to call his parents who were visiting relatives in Louisiana just in case. They decided to come on home. Next, he called my Dr., but he said that he was sure that it was just BH, but to call if they got really regular. The contractions died off about bed time, but the next morning, they were back, regular and getting stronger. We called the Dr., he said to come into the clinic and would check me. I was dialated to a 2!!!!!!! I was in labor!! I think he was in shock since he had just seen me the day before. He told me to go back home, take a long bath, relax, and to go to the hospital when the contractions got unbearable. He thought that would be a while from then, since this was my first baby, He told us that it would probably be the next day before I delivered.

This was about 10:00 am. By 3:00 that afternoon, I THOUGHT that my contractions were unbearable, I told my husband to call the Dr. we were going to the hospital. He met us there, (so did everyone else in my family) Dr. Bill told them they should all go home for a while because he didn't think this baby would be here any time soon. They all stayed anyway. At 4:00, I was in the labor room and the contractions were really getting tough. My husband watched the monitor and would tell me everytime one would get close, like I didn't know. I was ready for drugs! I got my one and only dose of demerol, which immediatley made me throw up. Dr. Bill never left my side. He held one hand and my husband held the other. I think I hurt them both pretty bad. by 4:30 I had had enough of this pain, I was begging for more demerol, but they wouldn't give me any. I was ready to start screming. Which I did. Around 5:20, the Dr. checked me I was only a 5. This was pretty depressing, I felt like all this pain was getting me nowhere.

I started to feel the urge to push, Dr. Bill said, Go ahead, that it could help me dialate. So I did. And I felt the baby move down, I screamed that the baby was coming, Dr. Bill lifted up the sheet, and said, "Bryan, do you want to se your baby's head?". THE RACE WAS ON! I was told not to push, which was nearly impossible. The Dr. took Bryan and they went to get dressed, the nurses were taking me to the Delivery room across the hall, and I was willing my body not to push. This all happened really fast, When we got to the delivery room, I had an episiotomy, and after just one push, Ashlyn Lucille was born at 5:40 pm. It was the most incredible feeling. I can't really explain the joy and releif that I felt. I got to hold her for a few minutes before they took her to be weighed and all that stuff. I had this unbeleivable euphoric feeling. Ashlyn weighed 9lbs 4ozs and was 22 1/2 inches long. She is now 6 years old, and about to start the first grade. She has a 3 year old brother Austin, and will have a new brother in 2 more months. I hope you enjoyed reading her birth storu as much as I enjoyed writing it. Look for her brother's stories, I will be sending them in the near future.

Jo Ann