[This post is being written by a guest blogger, Jessica's husband, Devon.]
At Jessica's doctor's appointment on Monday afternoon, July 20th, Jessica was dilated to 3 cm and was 80% effaced. She was hoping the doctor would strip her membranes, but the doctor decided not to do that and Jessica was very disappointed. She had a few contractions on Monday evening, but nothing substantial and they stopped after not too long.
Everyone in our family was hoping Baby would be born on Tuesday because we realized that Jessica was born on a Tuesday, we were married on a Tuesday, Grace was born on a Tuesday and Jenna was born on a Tuesday. For those of you who know Jessica, you know that something like this really excites her. Unfortunately, as Tuesday wore on, it became less and less likely that she would be born that day.
Finally, on Tuesday evening, Jessica started having regular contractions. They weren't super strong, but they were regular for a couple of hours. At a recent doctor's appointment, Jessica learned that she was positive for strep B infection. This meant that Jessica needed to get to the hospital at least 4 hours early so they could give her two separate doses of the necessary antibiotics before the delivery. Given that Jessica has had fairly quick labors in the past, she wanted to err on the side of caution as to when to go to the hospital. Therefore, she decided at about 10:30 p.m. on Tuesday night that it was time to head to the hospital. We called her brother and sister-in-law, Brett and Sarah to come stay with the kids, then we headed to Banner Gateway Hospital in Gilbert, Arizona.
We arrived about 11:30 p.m. and when they checked her, she was dilated to 4 cm so they admitted her and gave her the initial dose of antibiotics. At approximately 3 a.m., she'd been having regular contractions, but they hadn't been very strong. However, they were strong enough to keep her from sleeping, which was making her more and more stressed, so she asked for an epidural so she could get some rest. They checked her and said she was dilated to 5 cm and gave her a light epidural and also started her on pitocin to speed up the labor. By that point it was about 4 a.m. and Jess was able to rest off and on until 7 a.m., but never got any real sleep. Shortly after 7 a.m., they checked her again and said she was still at 5 cm. She was getting very frustrated. Also about this time, she called her sister, Rachel, to let her know how things were going, because Rachel was planning to be in the room for the birth. Rachel only lives a few miles from the hospital, so she said she'd get ready and come join us.
Her doctor came in at about 8 a.m., said she was dilated to 4 cm (the nurse said the only time anyone ever agrees on that measurement is when the patient is at a 10), and broke her water. Also at about that time, the nurse anesthetist offered to give her a "heavier" dose in her epidural, and she was happy to hear that. However, it took until after 8:30 to get this going. Rachel arrived around this time as well.
At about 8:45 a.m. she was dilated to 6 c.m., so there was progress being made, but it still seemed to be going slowly, so at about 9 a.m. I decided to go to the cafeteria and get something to eat. While standing in line waiting to order, my phone rang and it was Rachel telling me Jess was dilated to 10 cm and was ready to go. I bolted from the cafeteria and hurried back to the room. Jessica was in a lot of pain and wanted to push, but they were telling her not to because they hadn't yet located her doctor, who was supposedly upstairs beginning a scheduled C-section. The nurses were preparing everything and appeared to be getting stressed that they might have to deliver Baby without the doctor being present.
Luckily, they were able to locate the doctor before he scrubbed in for the C-section and he arrived at about 9:15 a.m. Despite the epidural, Jess was in a lot of pain and was very ready to begin pushing. After initially pushing, the doctor told her it was OK to start pushing, so she realized she needed to step it up. On the next contraction, there was significant movement, and Baby's head was crowning. On the next contraction, at 9:27 a.m., she got Baby out all the way! Our long-awaited miracle Baby was finally here! She weighed 7 lbs. 1 oz. and was 19.5 inches long.
Rachel's husband is a photographer, so she brought his nice camera and she took tons of pictures. Because of that, I didn't take very many pictures with our own camera. She's going to give us copies of those pictures she took and we'll definitely post some of them here, but at the moment, the only pictures I have are those we took with our camera. (Supposedly, she's posted some of her pictures on her Facebook page, but since I don't have a Facebook login or know how to use it, I can't go there to get them. Here are several pictures that I took:
Here she is! Unfortunately, we haven't decided on a name yet. I imagine we'll finalize something on Thursday and Jessica will likely post here to let you all know.
About a week ago, our family all made guesses about what day Baby would be born. Jenna guessed Wednesday, the 22nd, so she was the winner. She was very proud of herself, and her prize was that she was the first one to hold Baby once Aunt Sarah brought the girls to the hospital. I had to post this picture because the expression on Jenna's face is hilarious.
Here's the proud mommy and the very excited big sisters.
Finally, I just had to post this picture. Jenna wasn't supposed to be in it, but she was so excited she was practically bouncing off the walls and just as I was taking the picture of Jess, Grace and Baby, Jenna poked her head in and we all laughed so hard when we saw it, because it looks like one of those pictures where someone's head is Photoshopped in later.
Jess and Baby are doing great. The girls were able to visit a couple of times today, plus Jess got a couple hours of quiet in the afternoon to get a nap. In the evening, a few of Jess' friends were able to visit and hold Baby for a few minutes. We are so grateful for good friends.
I'm certain there will be many more pictures and details to come, but given how anxious people were to hear how things went and to see pictures, I decided it would be a good idea to at least get some basic informaton out there. We are incredibly blessed to have three beautiful, healthy girls and we thank our Father in Heaven for sending them to us without incident.
