Shanna's in labor....more later.

Well, Shanna's water broke and we all rushed to the hospital.  Well, sort of rushed...water broke at 6:30 am, she called me at work at 7:30 am, I arrived at the hospital at 10:00 am.  As always, nothing was happening when I arrived.  The nurse could not determine if Shan's water really broke so we had to wait for the doctor to finish his surgery and do a fern test.  Everyone believes that her water broke but there's no trace of amniotic fluid to prove it.  The fern test came back negative and we've just arrived back home.  Best guess is that the rupture is up high and has basically resealed due to any number of things happening (baby moving, the way she was standing/moving when the initial gush happened, phase of the moon).  Between now and the 31st that child will arrive though as Shan is scheduled for an induction on the 31st at 11:00 AM.

Jillian, Come on down!

Well, Shanna's been contracting on and off since last night and she couldn't sleep through the night at all.  I went in to work (that was a bit of a never ending nightmare but enough of that) and finally broke away at about 2 PM.  By 4 PM she was contracting every five minutes and by 6 PM we were in the hospital and back in room #9.

She had gone to the doctor at 11:45 this morning and hoped to be sent right over to the hospital and when he told her that she was at 3 cm and 80% effaced and then sent her home, Shan cried the whole way home.  When the nurse called and told him that we were back at the hospital and she was 4.5 cm and 80%, he said to keep her.  She was absolutely ecstatic and then she gave me a shock and asked for an epidural.  They broke her water about an hour ago and we're hoping that very shortly we'll have a new member of the Ormond clan.

IT'S A GIRL!

Jillian Fae Ormond joined us officially at 23:23 on 01/24/2003.  She weighed in at 9.03lbs and 19 inches with an APGAR of 9, just like her oldest brother.  She has dark hair, refuses to cry, long fingers and wants to see everyone's faces.  Well, that's enough for tonight.  Join us again on The Whinery at a later time for pictures and more details because I'm pooped.

Pictures of Jillian can be found here.

It's been a busy day today.  Both Mama and baby are home safe and sound.  I'll have more pictures tomorrow.  I'm of to bed in anticipation of being woke several times through the night. . . .

What a week this has been.  Shanna wasn't feeling too well on Monday but by Tuesday morning, she could hardly get around.  Now we had expected her to be really sore but she should have been feeling better and not worse each day.  Worse, this pain was very localized to the right side of her abdomen.  My mind immediately went back to the night of the delivery.  As Dr. Nelson removed the membrane and decidua (lining) I heard him say that it was shredding instead of coming out in one piece.  We've known Dr. Nelson for over eight years and I heard a twinge of fear in his voice as he said that.  He worked and worked to get everything out and so we expected her to be sore but again, not getting worse each day.

When we were able to finally talk to someone at the doctor's, Shanna was immediately scheduled for an appointment during the office's lunch hour.  When we arrived, they quickly ushered us into an exam room and the doctor arrived shortly after that.  He immediately found more membrane and a couple of larger blood clots.  As he and I talked after the exam, he expressed relief that we didn't wait at all when we suspected something might be wrong.  As he put it, If she had waited for a week, she would have been torched.  It would have been horrible.  I'm grateful that skilled hands like Dr. Nelson's are available to cure our illnesses so that today I can enjoy spending time with my wife and children instead of losing her to a post-partum infection as would have likely been the case otherwise.

Things are settling down around here again, Shanna's on her feet again and now our worst concerns are trying to sleep around the schedule of a baby that seems to think she needs to eat every 40 minutes and a little boy and girl who are distraught at not being the babies any more.