Ashley Turned 5!!!!

Even as I typed the title for this post, I still can't believe it....my tiny, little Ashley Paige is Five.Years.Old! Where, oh, where did the time go? I know it's so cliche to say that, but really....where did it go? Those years flew by. Especially since September 11th is such a memorable day, it really is a milestone marker for how far things have come. I remember reading the front page of the newspaper the day that Ashley was born, the title read "9-11, have we healed yet?" From that day on, I realized we have healed. The wound that was made on that horrible day back in 2001 was healed because new life was born. A special little life. She helped all of us see a bright light on a day where it was once dark and scary.  I knew that God Blessed Us even more that day so that Ashley could be that little beam of hope. And she is. She is such a brilliant, artistic and beautiful child. She has so much love inside her ready to burst at the seams! She is affectionate, kind, warm and sincere. She is a friendly, happy child who is very independent and full of energy. She is funny and so silly (just like her Daddy!), but she can also be stubborn, and overly dramatic at times, but aren't we all?

Ashley Paige Remmert....our beautiful, sweet Ashley, is one of those kids that you just want to be around. She lights up a room and I can't help but get excited about the future and see the young woman that she becomes.  In another breath, I can't stand the fact that she is growing so fast in front of our eyes and want to keep her small forever. Paul and I couldn't be happier to have been blessed with her. She was meant to be be born two weeks early so that we could see the silver lining on 9-11 and remember that there is hope and life does go on.

Since 5 years is a pretty big milestone, I have copied the email that Paul sent to our family and friends after she was born. It captures all the emotion and excitement we felt that day and continue to feel while raising Ashley. It is a long email, so don't feel as though you need to read the whole thing; however, if you you read nothing else but the 5th paragraph than you've read enough. :)

Hey Everyone,

Ashley Paige Remmert was born September 11th at 8:37AM.  She weighed 6 pounds, 5 ounces and was 19.75 inches long.  She’s perfect.  We were so glad she was a girl after all since we have a room full of girl’s clothes!!

We had our last doctors appointment the Wednesday before she was born and Sarah showed no signs of delivering early.  So we made an appointment for Sarah to be induced on September 20th.  We woke up at 2:00AM September 10th and rushed to the hospital but were reassured by the nurse that Sarah was nowhere close to giving birth and they sent us home at 5:00AM.  Shortly after falling asleep, Sarah started getting stronger pains at 6:00AM, just an hour after we were sent home.  Thinking that it wasn’t labor, Sarah worked through the pains.  However, by about 5:00 PM, the “pains” (which we later found out were contractions) were starting to come 5-6 minutes apart.  This is almost 12 hours after we were sent home from the hospital!  Not wanting to take any chances, we made our way back to the hospital totally expecting to be sent home again.  But this time it was the real deal!

The delivery went well, but at the very end, Sarah’s cervix tore causing a lot of blood loss.  The initial minute of joy when she was born was quickly shifted towards concern for Sarah when her doctor was calling for immediate assistance from other staff.  For about an hour, Sarah was in surgery to repair the cervix and stop the blood loss.  We have an amazing doctor and felt confident the whole time that everything would be OK.  Sarah is doing great but we are doing our best to keep her rested. 

Unfortunately, none of her family was able to make the delivery.  We had called her mom to change her flight once Sarah went into labor but the earliest flight arrived at 12:00pm on September 11th.  Her mom missed the birth by only 3 and a half hours. 

When we originally heard that her due date would be in September, we prayed that she wouldn’t be born on September 11th.  For obvious reasons, it is such a sad day of mourning.  However, we completely missed the point with our prayers.  Her birth has brought us joy on a day of sadness and symbolically has given rebirth to hope and healing.  It’s an interesting lesson that our prayers are not always answered as we would have intended, but they are always answered.

Ashley is a beautiful baby and aside from all of the normal baby fussing, she’s been a little angel.  She is a great mix between Sarah and me.  The dogs are really sweet with her to.  Every time she cries, Kitty cocks her head to the side and is right there when we are consoling her.  Tater has welcomed Ashley by bringing her some of her bones and resting them next to her. 

I hope that you enjoy the photos and I hope that you can all come out soon to visit.

Thank you for your continued prayers and well-wishes during this entire pregnancy.  We are really excited to start this new life with her!

Love,
Sarah and Paul

Dear Grown-up Ashley,
One day you will read this blog entry. I don't know how old you will be and I don't know where you will be in your life, but I want you to know that your Dad and I couldn't be happier to have you for our daughter. You are a joy.  You mean the world to us and we are honored that God chose us to be your parents. We love you so very much.
Love, Mom and Dad