Baby Halle

Our new sweet baby girl is finally here! I am just posting the story quick from an email my mom sent my family, and a few pictures... we think she is the cutest little baby ever!!! :)

Ashley went to the hospital on Wednesday, August 26 at about noon only to discover she was only dilated to 2 so they sent her home disappointed.When I got her phone call I jumped on the first plane I could and arrived just in time to find out she was on her way home. We went out for some spicy Chinese food and walked around the mall. By 9:00pm she was hurting pretty bad. We went home and waited... more contractions... only 4-5 minutes apart. At 11:30pm we went back to the hospital. Unfortunately, after monitoring her for an hour she was still only dilated to a 2! Once again she went home disappointed.

After a pretty sleepless night for everyone her contractions were quite strong. But we didn't want to go to the hospital too soon again. We went for a long walk. Poor Ashley had to stop about every 4 minutes, grab Mike's arm, bend over and almost cry from the pain. But we kept walking. Finally she couldn't stand it anymore. We came home, showered, and now her contractions were just 3 minutes apart and she was in tears.

Back to the hospital… Thursday at 1:00pm in the afternoon. Good news: she was dilated to 4. They admitted her, hooked up her I.V. & epidural, and broke her water.

By 4:00pm we were told she had dilated to 7

By 6:30pm we were told she had dilated to 9 and it was about time to push! We were so excited. At 7:00 a new nurse came on shift, checked Ashley and said “She’s not a 9! She’s only dilated to 6, maybe a 7. I don’t know who told you she was at a 9.”

We were disappointed, devastated… confused. How could that happen? We told the nurse we wanted the doctor to come check her. No offense, but someone was obviously wrong.

7:30 The Doctor came to check and said she was about a 7½ or 8. He said "I’ll be back in about 2 hours to check you again and you’ll probably be ready to push then."

He came back at 9:30 to check and Ashley had not changed. She was still dilated to an 8.

He was concerned that she was “stalled”. You don’t want to be stuck and under the pressure of labor for too long. It’s dangerous for the baby and mother. The doctor said we should consider a C-Section. Ashley was still having lots of hard labor, but it seemed it wasn’t forcing her to dilate anymore. He said we could wait another hour and see if there was a change.

We waited for a little over another hour. Doctor came back and checked again. She hadn’t changed at all. He was very concerned and recommended we do the C-Section.

After lots of serious thought, contemplation, prayer and a sweet blessing from Mike & his Dad they decided to do the C-Section.

At 11:00pm they rolled her away to the O.R. I found the doors to the O.R. and could see part of them through the windows. I watched: as much as I could see anyway. At 11:27pm Halle was born! She was so adorable, despite a serious conehead. “That’s the head of a baby that was really trying to get out!” The doctor said. She was stuck in that canal for 8 hours! That produces quite the conehead. But she was beautiful! Thankfully coneheads go down after just 12 hours.

Ashley and Halle did great. They are doing great. Halle is so sweet and so beautiful. Did I say that already? She is nursing well. Ashley is feeling good. I’m so proud of her. It has been quite an emotional and exhausting 3 days. But we are so thankful that Halle is here and safe and healthy. And we are so thankful Ashley is well and healthy.