What a week this has been.

It is amazing what can happen in 60 hours. We went from our regular routine to finding out Ashley is pregnant and then witnessing the most intense, scary, happy event we could have ever imagined....the arrival of our baby, Skylar Marie. She was born at 11:57 p.m. on August 30th and the craziest thing is that she was delivered by my OB/GYN, Dr. O'Connell, who delivered Evyn and Reed and just happened to be on call. We are unsure of her stats at this point but think she is right about 2 pounds.

Ashley started with an infection yesterday afternoon and by 5 p.m. she was started on a labor-inducing drug and was already 3 cm and 80% effaced (BEFORE the drug). Things went smoothly at first, then came the really painful contractions. She was encouraged to get the epidural and then things took a turn and there was talk of an emergency C-section. Her cervix was not fully cooperating and did not want to open all of the way. At this point, Holly, Gary and I were left alone with Ashley for 15 minutes. These were the longest, most critical 15 minutes. The room was silent for most of that except for an occasional moan from Ashley as she lay there in bed with her head tilted towards the floor (last ditch effort to get her cervix open enough). In comes Dr. O'Connell to do her final cervical check which would determine everything. Thank goodness her cervix was ready and it was time to push. This is when things got crazy. The NICU team stormed in after 2 very urgent calls warning them of Skylar's arrival, and after a few pushes she was here. It was amazing.

The best part is that she was actually making noise (they warned us that she would probably not be able to do this due to her prematurity). She gave us about half of a newborn cry and then sounded like a puppy, making the sweetest noises. I swear she was trying to assure her mommy that she was okay. She was breathing on her own, was thrashing around and had great color. The NICU team worked on her for about 20 minutes right there in the room. I was overhearing them talk about how great she looked and how well she was doing, and that is when the excitement set in. What a relief! They held her up for Ash to see, let me get close with my camera and even let Ash hold her for a very brief moment before they took her to the NICU. The NICU doc initially thought her eyelids were still fused but when Skylar was placed on her mommy's chest, those eyes cracked open. Thank goodness I got a picture of that magical moment.

Ashley is doing great and she and Gary are on top of the world, knowing that their baby is fighting and doing so well so far. We are all well aware of the fact that Skylar could hit some roadblocks along the way and have been told to take a day-by-day approach, but a 15 year veteran in the NICU told Ashley and Gary this morning that Skylar is the closest thing to a miracle that she has seen. They are even talking about starting on feedings in the next 24-48 hours (huge news!)

I will update as things happen and Blogger is being difficult and not allowing me to post pictures at the moment. I will keep trying, so check back later.