Ashlin Joyce Raymond

Our beautiful baby girl finally made her grand entrance into the world on Thursday, February 3, 2011. Here are the stats:

Name: Ashlin Joyce Raymond (-lin for Randall's mom--- Cheri Lin, and Joyce for my Grandma Schneiter who passed away a few months ago)
Time of birth: 6:18 pm
Weight: 6 pounds 11 1/2 ounces
Length: 20 1/2 inches
Hair: Dark brown and lots of it!

We have quite the birth story to tell our little Ashlin. I had a doctor appointment Thursday morning. When the doctor checked me, she said I was easily dilated to a 5. Since I wasn't having that many contractions she told me to maybe stay in Boise for a few hours and see if anything happens, but ultimately to use my judgement. Randall had come with me, so we went to Cabelas to kill some time--- but mostly 'cause Randall wanted to look at guns. Then we picked up a few groceries, and since I still was only having a few contractions per hour (not any more than I'd been having for the past month), we decided to head for home. Randall went back to work and I put Carson and Lainee down for a nap. I tried to rest on the couch, but about the same time my contractions started to come a little more frequently. It was about 2:00 pm. By 3:30 the contractions were coming about every 6 minutes. I waited until Cooper got home from school at 4:00, and then I decided it was time to call Randall. But he didn't answer his phone. I called his office- no answer. Called his cell phone 3 more times. No answer. By this time the contractions were getting harder and were coming every 4-5 minutes. So, I got desperate. I called his office again and told the receptionist I needed to find Randall. Fortunately, Randall's research assistant Will was there and told me he'd find my husband. I called a friend to come get the kids and had my bags in the car when Randall arrived at 4:45.

We made it to the hospital with a few more minutes to spare than we did with Lainee. (Given that we only had 15 minutes at the hospital before Lainee was born, that isn't saying much.) Ashlin was born 35 minutes after we arrived at the hospital, and once again, no time for any kind of pain killers.

You'd think that was enough adventure for one day. But, no... the story gets better. A few hours after they had moved us up to the recovery floor, I heard a lot of commotion and what sounded like a fire alarm out in the hallway. A few minutes later I overheard a nurse say, "The fire department is here." Huh? It wasn't long before my nurse came in told us we had to move to another floor (we were currently on the 8th floor). There was a fire in the supply closet and the entire floor was being evacuated. The scene was just a bit chaotic. It was 2:30 am---29 women pushing (or being pushed in wheelchairs) their bassinets with their newborn babies. The fire chief, in an effort to add some humor to the situation said, "If any of you ladies haven't named your baby yet, Terry the fireman is a great name. Or if he's really good looking, Alberto is also a great name." Unfortunately, our camera got left behind with all of our belongings. I really wish I could have captured the moment with a photo.

The fire had been extinguished, but because of the smoke, fumes and water damage (the sprinklers had come on in the hallway) they moved us all back down to the labor and delivery floor (2nd floor). We ended up in a room with 5 other post-partum women and their babies. Not the most comfortable situation. We all tried to make the best of it by chit-chatting and making jokes. I really felt bad for those poor ladies who had just had c-sections. At 5 am the hospital decided it was going to be couple of days before they could use the 8th floor again, so they began moving us up to the 9th floor, where we stayed the remainder of our time at the hospital. That next day they kept sending around their patient relations employees to give us gift cards and flowers. Randall asked her if, since we had to share our room with 4 other people if we'd only be responsible for 20% of the bill. I guess we'll see when our bill comes!