On June 4, Jill started having contractions in the afternoon while
still at work. They were pretty mild and spaced far apart, so she
stayed at work and even went to water aerobics afterwards. She really
started to feel them at aerobics and by the time she got home, she
suspected she was in early labor. We went ahead and ate dinner like
normal and tried to stay calm and collected. But we did manage to get
he house completely ready for company and pack a bag for the
hospital.
Jill was up most of the night with contractions that were between
5 and 10 minutes apart. By 6 in the morning, they were consistently 5
minutes apart, so we decided it was time to head to the hospital. But
on the way there, the baby must have started chickening out, as the
contractions stretched back to 7 minutes apart. We checked in and
waited an hour to see if labor was progressing. It wasn't and they
sent us home. This time they said to wait until the contractions were
3 minutes apart.
We had a very long day at home, although Keith did fertilize the
lawn to keep his mind off of the labor. In the middle of the
afternoon, the contractions really started to get painful and started
to get closer together. By 6:30, they were 3 minutes apart, so we fed
the dogs and headed back to the hospital. We were excited to see one
of the members of our Lamaze class was the resident on call for the
labor and delivery section. He stuck with us and talked us through
everything that was to transpire that night.
Jill was still only 3 cm dilated, but 100% effaced. Her doctor
came by very quickly and said that they would break her water to move
things along. We did go ahead and get the epideral before they broke
the water. By 9 pm, the water was broken and things really started to
move quickly. Jill immediately went to 4 cm dilated and zero station.
Keith cat napped as was possible, but by midnight, Jill was 9 cm and
getting close. At 12:30, she was fully dilated and in active labor,
but the doctor decided to let her rest a bit and "labor down", which
would help the baby move down without pushing. At 2 am, the pushing
started. Unfortunately, that is all that started. The baby never
budged. By 4 am, we were all very tired and the baby was making no
progress. Someone said "failure to progress" and we started to
discuss a c-section. We agreed that at this point it seemed to be the
best option.
Things really started moving then. By 4:30, we were moving to
surgery. Keith stayed with Jill on her side of the curtain, but did
peek over at 5:02 am and was the first to see that the baby was a
girl. Everything went very well, even though Keith somehow lost the
ability to get enough oxygen and was escorted to recovery a little
early :) Jill and Ella Marie joined him shortly, though, and we were
able to spend some time together. Jill's mom, Joan, upon hearing of
the c-section, packed a bag and started the drive from St. Louis. She
arrived just in time to help us through the hospital stay and our
first week at home.
In recovery from the
C-section
Staying warm in recovery
Jill testing Ella in recovery
Grandma arrives!
Some awake time in the
hospital
That's not a scream, its a
yawn
Three generations!
Grandma gets some time with Ella
sleeping
Kim came up from Oklahoma on
Saturday, our first day back home
She was so good those first few
days
Sleeping angel
Who does she look like?
The flowers from the hospital
Jill gets her first beer (thanks
Rich!)
Limp baby
Mom gets some couch time
First sponge bath
Keith's mom and dad make the drive
up from Houston to stay a few days
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