It wasn’t for lack of trying that baby Ashlyn Graves entered the world a bit later than intended.
Stacey Graves, 39, was asleep in bed at 2:30 a.m. Sunday when her water broke. She rushed to Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center where she waited.
And waited.
And waited.
Then kept waiting.
But labor never began.
“She never came,” Graves said.
Doctors noticed that whenever Graves had a contraction, Ashlyn’s otherwise strong heart rate would dip. It was unclear why.
“It was stressful,” said Graves, who lives with her husband, Michael Graves, 42, and children in Vancouver. “Until the baby’s out and you hear that first cry, it’s scary.”
At about midnight, Graves’ doctors decided to perform an emergency cesarean section, meaning Ashlyn would be the first baby born in Clark County in 2018.
“To have a new baby this new year, new life, new resolutions, new goals, new babies,” Stacey Graves said. “I’m just really excited.”
Ashlyn was born at 12:54 a.m. Monday, a healthy baby girl who joins four older siblings.
“It was nice to hear her cry once the cesarean was underway,” said Graves, feeling “a little bit better” after sleeping on New Year’s Day.
Graves said she hopes her youngest daughter grows to be strong, healthy and, in the near future, gets along with her full house of siblings.
“Just that she would grow to be a compassionate person, with empathy and love and generosity,” Graves said.
