"The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad." Psalm 126:3

Things I can do. I like to lay on my side. I got onto my left side by myself on Thursday, 11/3. On Friday 11/4 I got onto my right side. On Saturday 11/5 I rolled over to my tummy.

Daddy taught my little-big sister how to say "Boppy". She says "boppy" and crosses her arms over her chest and rocks them. It means she wants to hold me.

First outing: Toys R Us on the way home from the hospital for diapers. The cashier was totally stunned that Mama was standing there and that I was in the cart.

First trip to church and Forbidden City Sunday 11/6. I used all my outfits.

I "talked" at the table 11/7. I squeaked but used my "voice". I was not crying.

This is my big brother Caleb. I am his baby the way Hadassah is Rebekah's baby. He will take extra special care of me. He has the best smile when he holds me.

Long and short of it--Galilee Eilonwy (Gal-i-lee EE-lawn-wee), "A mighty force where Jesus walks who is submissive to God and has a passion for the truth", arrived at 5:00 a.m. on 11/2 after the crew arrived at 1:15. Jessica and baby are doing great. Room 1005 in the Family Center. She is 6 lbs 15 oz and 19 1/2 inches long.

Birth story:
We started timing at 10:30 p.m. 11/1 after all of Haddie's birthday festivities. (She had a really good time.) Chris was able to sleep. Jessica was
not and passed the next two hours tracking progress and reading and doing nesty kind of things. Convinced that sleep wouldn't come Jess called the
doctor at 12:15 a.m. We received the "come on in" call at 12:25. Kids had to be woken. Best friend and special invitee, Jaci, needed to be called. We got to triage around 1:30. It was not the best of situations. The initial monitoring was splotchy. The contractions didn't show up; the baby wouldn't give them a baseline. Jessica was checked at 3 almost 4 cm. This is not "we're having a baby" stats. But we stayed for an hour. (3 a.m.) Nothing changing. The triage nurse, Nancy, was very patient but she probably thought Jessica was crazy. No one knew what to do with her monitoring results. Jessica had given up and thought we'd be going home. The Dr on call said to keep Jessica for 2 more hours and hydrate with an IV. Jessica asks a nurse to get Chris so she can share how frustrated and down heartened she feels. This is when things get uncomfortable.

Jessica is there in triage. The kids are sleeping in the waiting area with Chris. The nurses even took them pillows and blankets. Jess and IVs mean an extreme need to use the bathroom often. This does not sync with "getting a good reading" because the monitor has to come off to go and the drip has to follow. Even worse the contractions are disappearing. When they're there it's hard but they're 15-20 minutes apart. Jessica was so going home. Yet, when she stood to go to
the bathroom she'd get hit with 3 action ending contractions over that span. No walking allowed, remember monitors and drip. The last bathroom trip Jessica felt really poorly and had a huge desire to push. She asked the nurse if she could just stand. The nurse said the monitoring needed to be done laying on a side. Jessica could not get in the bed because of a contraction. It was very frustrating because an hour ago with no breaking water and no consistent contractions
she was resigned to go home. The sweet nurse became curious and insisted on checking Jessica's progress. Yeah, her eyes went wide and she scurried out of the cubby to the phone...."The patient with the monitor chart issues, she is at SEVEN! I haven't even gotten her blood draw."
Oooo, 7. 7 is no going back. We're having a baby. 7 is 1 cm every 15 minutes, one for each contraction Jess had felt. Jessica called Jaci to say we're a go and "My water hasn't broken yet, but HURRY". Jaci hurried to the hospital. Jaci told Chris in the waiting area that we were at 7. In comes Chris, "No one got me. Jaci's here." Jessica, "Tell them to come in. Where's the nurse? I want to push." Everyone comes in. Kids can't stay. They did for Haddie. No reason was
given. They went back out. Jessica wants to push. Activities and snacks are lavished on the kids. Chris and Jaci return. The awesomely calm labor and delivery nurse, Amy, says Jessica is ready (10 cm, but not fully admitted to L & D yet). Dr Lee comes into check and finds Galilee's head all ready to come down the canal. Jessica is told she can push to get things going but she can't. She's tired and cold and shakey and thinking about being nauseous. Amy allows Jessica to use the stirrups. The bed has not been broken down for delivery yet. 6 pushes and two contractions later Jessica knows Dr Lee must come in. Amy goes to get him. The water has not broken. Is this normal?

Dr Lee comes bedside and gives a push allowance but after 2 asks Jessica to stop. Jessica tried but well with the next contraction Jessica's body pushed again. 8 minutes after coming into the L&D room, Galilee is birthed onto the bed under a condition called Placental Abruption ( for reading on this try here http://www.babycenter.com/0_placental-abruption_1425791.bc?page=1 ), meaning Galilee comes out in her placental sac (think Uruk Hai from Lord of the Rings movies). In a normal delivery the baby is delivered first followed by the placenta, and this is where God's grace became so evident even in Jessica's frustration and tears hardly 15 minutes before--Galilee cried almost immediately after the sac was opened. Jessica did not suffer in heavy bleeding due to the abruption. God stayed Dr Lee's hand from sending us home and he made the call to have Jessica stay in triage for those two more hours. The nurse and the neonatal physician both shared that if we had gone home Galilee would probably not have survived the delivery and Jessica if she did survive would be very very sick. Psalm 126:3, Jessica's daily reading for TODAY says, "The LORD has done great things for us; we are glad." There are 7 Shullenbargers here who sure are GLAD.