Big Surprise!Jessica has arrived! At 4:25pm pdt little miss decided to make her grand entrance into the world. 7 lbs 8 oz and 20" long, she is perfect. On Friday the 13th we had all decided to head up to Healdsburg for a relaxing day at Camp Lester. Drea had cooked dinner for everyone and was washing Jason's hands to eat when she felt a small gush. She thought her water had possibly broken, but since that had not happened with Jason she wasn't really sure. We decided to go ahead and eat dinner before heading down to San Francisco to get checked out. It seemed like labor might start on it's own and there wasn't that big of a rush. At 9pm we arrived at Kaiser San Francisco and much to everyone's dismay they couldn't find any leaking amniotic fluid. The doctor decided to do an ultrasound before sending us home and discovered that Jessica's fluid level was indeed low. To be safe they decided to admit Drea and start the induction process. We had no idea what to expect, but the doctor said that it could be a lenghty process that could take up to a couple of days. Because Drea was slightly dehydrated it was difficult to find a suitable vein for the IV. The nurses tried 4 times before calling in the anisthesiologist! It was painful to watch! By 3:30am they were able to start the Pitocin drip and by 10am Drea started feeling contractions. They were growing stronger but not too terribly uncomfortable. Every 20-30 min the nurse would come in and turn up the dose in order to establish a continual labor pattern. By 2pm Drea's body had taken over and the contractions were growing nice and strong. The doctor came in and checked and even though the contractions had been continuous she was only dialated to 3cm. We had 7 more to go and decided to hold out a bit longer on the epidural. After 45 min in a nice warm shower Drea decided that she had enough and we called the doctor back in for another check. Much to our dismay she was still only 3cm! The anistheologist was called back in and the epidural was administered. It was so hard for Drea to sit still during the contractions while they inserted the 6" needle into her back. 30 min later we had pain relief and everyone was happy again. Another nurse came into insert a bladder cathetor and after a failed attempt she told us that the babies head was too far down in the way. Drea mentioned that she was feeling a lot of strange pressure and as the nurse walked back over a look of panic took over. "Delivery! Delivery!" she shouted and hit the panic button. Jessica was crowning all on her own! They told Drea to stop pushing and Drea was quick to say "I'm NOT pushing!" A doctor from a delivery next door came rushing over just in time to catch her and Daddy was right there to cut the cord. No one could believe it! All is well with Mom and Baby and we expect to be able to go home in the morning.
Welcome to the world Jessica Alice Marie!
4:25pm 7 lbs 8 oz 20" long
