Ashley's arrival story

I thought I would update everyone on how Ashley arrived early!

On Saturday morning, I was scheduled to have my maternity pictures taken at 10 am. On the way down there, I started to feel a few contractions. But since I was so determined to have these done before she arrived, I ignored them! Probably not the best idea I ever had, but it worked out ok in the end.

We got the photographers house a little after 10 am. My mom met us there to help with Madison while Rob and I got the pictures done. The pictures are going to be so cute, I cannot wait to share them once I get to, but that is another posting!

Towards the end of the session, they were coming more and more frequent, but I was still not timing them, as I was still hoping they would end by themselves. When I realized that they might not end by themselves, I thought to myself "Where do I want to have my 'last meal' before I have a baby?" That's right, I knew it was about that time.

If you know me at all, you know I LOVE mexican food. One of the best places in Atlanta is Jalisco's Mexican Restaurant, and we happened to be so close!

I most certainly over ate, but that thought of not eating real food again until Sunday night made me very sad. Once we got home, we put Madison down for her nap and Rob and I rested while I watched the KU basketball game. I started to really time them, and they were 8 minutes apart. 8 minutes apart isn't bad for a normal delivery. But since I was a scheduled c-section, 8 minutes was a little too close. However, I was stubborn and waited for them to get to 5 minutes apart, which they did!

At about 6-7 minutes apart, I called my mom and told her she needed to come on up to stay with Madison because I think we are having this baby today. She was very excited to hear those words, and was excited to get to spend some more time with Madison. Once my mom got there and confirmed that I was having contractions, we called the doctor and started to pack our hospital bag. The on-call doctor called back and told us to head to Labor and Delivery.

I started to feel nervous at this point. This was for real, we were going to have a new baby by the end of the day.

We got to the hospital around 5 pm; they got us in a room very quickly and started to monitor me and the baby. They examined me, and once they talked to the doctor again, we were scheduled to go into the operating room at 8...things were happening very quickly! I had my epidural put in about 7:30, and once I was numb, we headed to the operating room.

We arrived in the operating room at 8:05; she joined the world at 8:15 pm. I was wheeled into the recovery room at about 8:45 pm; it was a very quick delivery, which was great!

We had to wait in the recovery room much longer than we anticipated because the transport team took forever to get there! Which may have been ok because I was quite sick to my stomach while we were in there.

Once we got into our assigned room, NaiNai was waiting to meet her new grand-daughter! This was made possible by my best friend Amanda! She went over to sit at my mom's house while Madison was sleeping so that NaiNai could be here! That meant the world to me! Thanks so much Amanda, I love you!

We could not be any happier to welcome this sweet little princess into our family! We now feel complete, thanks to Ashley!

Ashley McIntyre Russo

7 pounds 6.3 ounces 19 inches

Saturday January 28 2012 at 8:15 pm