Ashley Reed - the name and her birthday

For those who were with us every step of the way during Ashley's pregnancy, you know there was a reason for her name and birthday. Back in Sept of 2010 when we found out we were pregnant, we were ecstatic. Not only was number 2 on the way, we were going to have a baby in late may/early June 2011. Hmm. Maybe we were concerned about this as well with the many late May/Early June birthdays: Ryan - May 2nd, Nonnie - May 21st, Uncle Nick - May 29th and Ahpa - June 1st. :)

We calculated her official due date to be June 5th (which an ultrasound later confirmed June 6th) . June 5th was a great date except it was to be Aly's dance recital day that mommy really wanted to attend. So mom was excited to pick a date for baby to arrive since she was going to have a scheduled C-section (planned and no trauma like Miss Alyson) and that would have to be about a week or two earlier than the due date. Great - I thought Monday the 23rd would work - WRONG. Too early to have baby according to the doctor. 39wks is the standard date to pick which put us at May 30th - Memorial day. Well, a holiday did not seem like a great day to schedule so we were able to schedule the 28th. Ashley would have her own birthday unless she came early! ;)

As for Ashley Reed and her name, the only must have for her name was to have a 'Y' in it. With Ryan, Courtney and Alyson having a 'y', it just made sense to mom. As for Reed, this is the special part. Reed is Ryan's Grandma B's maiden name, Here given name was Faith Arlene Reed of which mom only knew her as Arlene Benson. As we began talking about middle names, we went through a lot of Ryan's family names to find something that worked. Reed was one that we fell in love with even prior to knowing we were having a boy or girl. Once we knew she was a she, Ryan and I talked about asking Grandma B if she would approve of the name. Ryan was able to travel in February up to see Grandma B and got to talk to her about the name in person. Our favorite comment from Grandma was that she came up with a name for Ashely - she thought Alyssa Reed was beautiful. Ryan and I thought this was adorable since Grandma did not know one of Aly's best friends was named Alyssa....