Ashlyn Mae Johnson

I am happy to announce that baby girl Ashlyn Mae Johnson is finally here. She made her appearance on April 9, 2010 @ 9:19 pm. All day Friday I was having contractions and feeling a little off. So when Philip came home from work, we decided to head to Labor and Delivery and see what was going on. We both thought that it was either false labor or that if I was in labor the doctor would decide to stop it until I was 37 weeks. Well, we arrived at the hospital, they hooked me up and I was contracting every 3-5 mins and when they checked me I was 2-3 cm dilated. So they decided to admit me. Once we got settled into our room, we were frantically looking for a sitter for the boys until our dear friend Jennifer could pick them up, we were happy when our neighbors volunteered to watch them for us. Once we got the boys taken care of, it was time to concentrate on this labor.....which was kicking my butt since I opted for no epidural. The doctor came in checked me after an hour of labor and decided to break my water to speed things up.....and boy did he speed things up. I went from 3 cm to 6 cm within half an hour. The contractions were getting stronger and stronger and next thing I know, it is time to start pushing. Let me tell you that the contractions are nothing compared to the pain of pushing....but after 4 pushes Ashlyn Mae was born :o) She was 6 lbs 4 oz and was 18 inches long. She was not breathing right away which scared me to death. I got to see her for 2 mins, and then they had to rush her back to the NICU and Phil went along with her. I was left with the nurses to get cleaned up and to switch rooms and once I ate something and rested for 20 mins, I was allowed to go back and see my little princess. She was so precious. They had her hooked up to an IV for fluids and they had her hooked up to Oxygen to help her breath. She needed help breathing and her respiratory rate was too high.

Looking back at my labor experience, there are lots of things I would change. First, I would have requested they either stop labor or give me a steroid shot to mature her lungs. Second, I would not have allowed the doctor to break my water only after an hour of labor. But.....you can't change the past....but I will know better next time ;o)