Ashlock Family: June 2013

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Saturday: 2 Days New

During her first night, Elise did great! It's hard to be in the hospital though...the nurse decided to take vitals at 2:30 AM and since Elise was "awake," they decided it was a good idea to draw blood for the newborn screenings too. Ugh. So she was awake for awhile in the middle of the night, but the rest of the night she slept and nursed really well. With Jeremy, we really enjoyed the hospital stay and being taken care of...but this time, we were ready to go home and spend some time together as a new family with Jeremy. Fortunately, we got discharged around 11:30. Then we were off on our new adventure :)

MiMi and Pops were at our house watching Jeremy, so they were there to welcome us all home. Uncle Drew and Jana were able to stop by later and meet Elise too. And then, Grie and Papa flew in late at night--Elise was awake enough to greet them when they got here. When Jeremy woke up Sunday morning, he was excited to find Grie and Papa here!

All snuggled with Dada!

Love, love, love this sweet girl!

Pretty in pink and ready to go home! Thanks GA for the outfit.

Ready to go with the balloon that Jeremy brought for me!

Riding home in the car! She slept the whole way home.

Jeremy lining up his new stamps. Getting a baby sister = Christmas in June!

MiMi is happy to have some snuggles too!

Pops with Elise

Meeting Uncle Drew for the first time.

Gazing up at Jana

Uncle Drew and Jeremy clowning around. Jeremy needs some attention too!

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Friday: 1 Day New

On Friday morning, Joyce and Larry brought Jeremy to the hospital to visit with us and meet Elise.

MiMi and her 2nd grandchild, Elise.

We bought Jeremy a few presents that he could open whenever he came to the hospital (or whenever we felt he might need some special attention). So, he was playing with a space colorform set on the bed with Christian and me, while MiMi and Pops got to snuggle with Elise. All of a sudden, he looked up and said "That's my sister, and I love her. And when I am done with rocket stickers, I can hold her." No prompting from us! Oh! My heart just soared!

Jeremy holding Elise for the very first time.

He likes her! We can keep her :)

Our new family. Everyone is smiling at something different...

Jeremy and MiMi came back around dinner time to visit again. Here is Jeremy working on a rocket mosaic. Notice a pattern? Rockets and space occupy Jeremy's mind at all times of the day right now!

Making the mosaic with Dadda

And getting to hold Elise again!

Tuesday, June 18, 2013

Welcome Baby Elise!

All the Gory Details and Some Slimy Photos too!
On Thursday, June 13, 2013, we welcomed Elise Anne Ashlock into our family!
Not expecting to go into labor this early, we were diligently trying to complete a few household projects, get haircuts, etc, but Elise had other plans. She was ready to join us, and we are so happy to have her here!
My labor was surprisingly similar to my labor with Jeremy. My water broke around 9:15 in the morning, and I called Christian at work. He came directly home from work and started packing our bags for the hospital (which we were planning to do...) and making arrangements with his parents to come and take care of Jeremy. I, on the other hand, was sure that I needed to empty and load the dishwasher and make our bed. After almost 9 years of marriage, he knew better than to try to stop me! :) So, between phone calls to my doctor and all of our parents, we prepared for the arrival of Baby Girl.
Thankfully, Jana was able to take care of Jeremy until Christian's parents could come down from Benicia. It was wonderful and reassuring to know that Jeremy was well cared for while we were at the hospital!
We arrived at the hospital around 11:30 AM, checked in, and waited for my doctor to arrive.

Contractions were very weak but were coming about every 4 minutes, according to the monitor, even though I couldn't really feel them. We were instructed to go for a walk around the hospital and come back "huffing and puffing" in order to help get the contractions going. However, by the time we got back from our walk, my contractions had completely stopped. So, I was put on pitocin. Throughout my pregnancy, I had hoped to stay off of pitocin with this birth, but in the moment, I was just excited to get things moving!
Christian and I hung out all afternoon. He was an amazing husband (as always!) and coached me through the contractions as they got stronger and stronger. Around 7:15 PM, the nurse checked me and said that I was only 3 cm dilated...ugh...After hearing that, I was ready for some pain relief. About an hour later, my doctor arrived, and aha! labor was progressing very quickly--I was 8 cm dilated.
Around 10:00, my doctor announced that I was complete and would be ready to push really soon! She went to prepare and when she came back, we were all very excited. She reminded me of the plan for pushing--on the first push, she said, "ok stop!" My response? "No stop!" She put on the drape and the nurse called for an additional nurse. On the very next push, Elise Anne Ashlock was born!