February 23, 1999

Seven years ago today my water broke and Scott and I went to the hospital for the birth of our first child. 16 hours later Ashlyn was born at Bassett Army Community Hospital in Fairbanks, Alaska. She weighed 8 lb 10 oz. 2 hours later she was moved via ambulance to Fairbanks Memorial Hospital because the Army hospital did not have the facilities/equipment needed to keep her alive. She spent the next few days in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) suffering from meconium aspiration. On Thursday, two days after she was born, Scott and I got to hold her for the first time, and on Saturday, February 27th we got to bring her home. We approached her as if she were made of glass, and before anybody touched her we scrubbed ourselves like we were doctors preparing for surgery.
By the ripe old age of 4 weeks she was sleeping through the night. She was also an excellent eater. On her 9 month birthday she started walking. By the time she was 2 we were convinced she was the perfect child and without a doubt a genius. She is now in 1st grade, and she is doing things that are amazing. She can read extremely well, she writes stories, puts out great artwork, and can add and subtract fractions. She is pretty, witty, intelligent, and an excellent older sister. I see Haley constantly trying to immitate her and I think how lucky I am to have such a good role model for my two younger children. She helps cook and clean and she is just a good person in general. I watch her motherly instincts and see her making morally upstanding decisions and burst with pride as she tells me she wants to be exactly like me when she grows up. I think Wow, we did such a good job with her...she is so good to Haley and Owen...maybe we should have one more baby...
And then I look over at Owen, happily squeezing toothpaste into the toilet and I think There's not a snowball's chance in hell!