BECKIE'S ARRIVAL

THE MAIN EVENT

From Steve’s Journal:

29 March 1981

We are parent a fourth time!  Yesterday…Saturday, 28 March, 1981,at 1:00 p.m. Jeanne gave birth to a 22-inch , 8 lb. 5 oz. Girl.  Her name will be Rebecca Lynn, but we probably won’t bless her until late next month.

The essential details have been partly explained in previous entries.  Jeanne had  been experiencing contractions of varying duration and intensity since the beginning of March, and thought the Army had agreed to pay hospital costs (thus relieving any pressure as to when the baby would be born), Jeanne’s patience was wearing thin.

Friday we went over to the church meetinghouse to help decorate for the Gold and Green Ball.  What we expected to be a two-hour job lasted all day (10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) and by the time we left to get dressed for the ball, we were tired.  There was only enough time to rush home, feed the girls, get dressed, and get back.  We arrived at the dance at 7:30 p.m., and the whole affair was very nice.  Jeanne had secretly (though not too secretly) hoped things might work out so she could attend and see the fruits of her labors (she had been in charge of the ball until the two weeks previous).  She was not disappointed.  We danced several dances , and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  About 9:15 Jeanne started feeling some pretty sharp contractions, about ten minutes apart.   We left the ball at 10:45 and went to Roy Rogers for a sundae, then came home and went to bed.

Jeanne arose a couple of times, around 1:30 a.m., then again about 3:30.  She finally got up for good around 5:00 a.m., and by six we had dropped the girls at Sacketts, and were on our way by about 7:15 a.m.  We arrived at the hospital at 7:30, going directly up to the labor and delivery ward.  As soon as they knew Jeanne’s situation (breach presentation, hard contractions five minutes apart) they admitted her, no questions asked.  We were fortunate to have the obstetrician (Dr. O’Connor) on the floor, and he checked her initially.  She was dilated to 5 cm., and progressing rapidly.  Dr. O’Connor sent her down for some x-rays to determine the baby’s exact position and whether Jeanne’s pelvic cavity was large enough to deliver the baby vaginally.  Both tests turned out good, and the Doctor decided it would be worth it to wait to see if the baby would come down far enough to deliver normally, without a Caesarian section operation.  He thought the chances were excellent, but that Jeanne could look forward to 6-8 more hours of hard labor.

Jeanne proceeded to dilate much more quickly than expected, and by 9:30 she had dilated to 9 cm.  Dr. O’Connor thought the end was near, and told Jeanne a couple of hard contractions should do it.  Unfortunately she got stuck at 9 cm., and by 12:30 the doctors decided the baby wasn’t going to come.  They prepared Jeanne for a Caesarian section, and I helped roll her into the operating room.  Since I couldn’t follow her there, I proceeded to the waiting room to “wait”.  It was about 12:50 p.m.

At 1:00 p.m., a nurse came to the waiting room to inform me that I was a daddy – and that the baby had been delivered vaginally after all, with no operation.  Apparently while they were waiting for the anesthesiologist, the doctor decided to check her one more time.  She had dilated enough that he told her to give it her best shot, and a couple of hard pushes later, out popped the little squirt.  She is a beautiful little thing, looks a lot like Emmie, and I am grateful for the blessing of yet another beautiful, healthy little girl, and the wife and mother of them all.