more photos

Putting Justin's All Black's hoodie to good use as a back drop. Who says you need fancy props and settings? The natural sunlight was beautiful today.

Ashlynn at 2 weeks old

Birth: 7 lbs 11 ounces 20 inches long
Day 2: 7 lbs 2 ounces
Day 5: 7 lbs 11 ounces
Day 14: 8 lbs 9 ounces 21.5 inches long

She's definitely growing!

sleeping angel

Ashlynn sleeps like and angel during the day. Not so much at night. She's only 9 days old so I keep telling myself that hopefully I can nudge her schedule in the right direction soon. Right now she likes to sleep on or next to her Mommy at night and if I lay her down to sleep in her bassinet she starts squirming and wakes herself up. We had one night where she slept for three, two hour blocks in her bassinet and I had high hopes it would turn into a trend but so far it's just the exception to the rule (if you can have a rule in just 9 days). Right now I should be researching miracle under-eye concealer for the dark circles that are taking root by my eyes.

It's hard to complain (unless it's 3 AM-then it's easy) when my little angel is this sweet.

Ashlynn's first bath

week one

Day 1Day 2Day 3Day 4Day 5Day 6Day 7

Ashlynn's welcome party

Our little girl is loved by many.

Our baby is born!

Ashlynn Olivia was born on October 15th at 8:10 AM. She weighed 7lbs 11 ounces and was 20 inches long. The labor and delivery was a breeze compared to my other two girls. I'm secretly hoping Ashlynn's smooth and calm entry in the the world is an indicator of her temperament.

As you read in my last post the wait for her arrival was excruciating. Every day I felt more and more uncomfortable. In the middle of the night on Friday something just didn't feel right. I felt the first real contraction at about 12:45 AM on October 15. I came downstairs, ate a bowl of cereal and tracked the contractions on the computer. Immediately, intense contractions hit every two minutes about a minute long. I threw a load of laundry in the washer, made sure I had my camera bag by the door and went upstairs to wake Justin to get ready to go. We called the doctor and she told us to come to the hospital. I took a quick shower, realizing once I got in the water that I probably didn't have time to be taking a shower.

We waited for Brienne to arrive at the house to watch Addie and Bella and then we drove the few miles to Virginia Hospital center. We arrived around 2:30 AM. It was strangely reminiscent of Addie's birth, the nice thing was that we were veterans the third time around not first time parents.My water broke walking to the hospital room and my biting down on a kitchen towel during the contractions must have been an indicator to the nurses how far along this labor already was. The nurse confirmed I was 7 centimeters dilated. We were ushered into our labor and delivery room where they quickly got my IV going for the Group B strep antibiotics and fluids. The epidural was administered around 4AM. Thank the Lord! I tried to sleep some but as I reached 10 centimeters I could feel the pressure of the baby and it was tough to ignore the sensation to push. Even with the epidural I breathed deeply through the contractions. I was fully dilated at 7AM. We had to wait a bit for the antibiotics to have more time in my system and for the doctor to arrive.Dr. Amy Porter walked in the room at 8AM and grabbed the delivery table as the nurse got everything else ready. Justin and I were thrilled that the doctor very straight forwardly reminded me of my pushing techniques and gave me the green light to push at the next contraction. We'd been waiting for this moment for 10 months and it was so great to finally be meeting our daughter. Three pushes and 10 minutes later our beautiful little girl was placed on my chest. She didn't scream like her sisters but squeaked and squealed. After the nurses weighed and measured Ashlynn they brought her back to me. She immediately latched on to nurse. It was wonderful.Everything was a breeze. Ashlynn got a healthy apgar score of 8/9 and passed all her screens and tests. She nursed all day and night frantically trying to fill her belly. We requested an early release from the hospital to get our baby girl home so we only had to stay in the hospital for one night. My breast milk came in fast and once Ashlynn filled her belly she immediately started sleeping better. At her two day check-up with the pediatrician she was 7 lbs 2 ounces. At her five day check-up she was already back to her birth weight of 7 lbs 11 ounces which is wonderful. I have no doubt Ash will be covered in baby rolls in a few weeks.We are thrilled to have little Ashlynn Olivia home with us. It's wonderful to be a family of five. The 10 months of pregnancy was challenging, but the end result is that much sweeter. Ashlynn was definitely worth the wait.