Happy Belated Birthday Jill!

First day home from the hospital: 6 days old
I did wish her happy birthday on her day.....but she kind of got lost in the events of the week....her cake was finally iced on Friday and that is the way it went. We love you Jill! With each child is a story and Jill has hers. About a month before Jill was born, I went to the hospital and stayed several hours, dilated to 2 and then they sent me home. Jill is child #2, but we were still clueless about what my labors were REALLY like.

They day Jill was born, July 1 1982, we had unexpected company that day who stayed for awhile. I had some canning to do and they had a lively bunch of children. I had been having contractions all morning, the kind that sent me to my knees when standing, but they were sporadic and not close at all. The company finally left and Rick and I had a huge fight about canning some beets. I believe he even called my mother to tell me to go lay down. So I did go lay down. It wasn't long until I was suddenly feeling the urge to push. (With Laura, she was sunny side, I had an epidural and had to be told when to push....never had the "feeling"). We called the Dr. and they had said come in but by the time we could get someone to the house (I can't remember now if it was Peggy Cranford or Phyllis Mecham who came), we were on a fast track to the hospital. Jill was born 20 minutes after we left home! That was scary! 9lbs., 2 oz. That was drama enough for one birth....but Jill likes drama....so that wasn't enough for her.

The next day when Jill wasn't quite 24 hours old, they brought her to me from the nursery and I noticed she seemed a little cold and blue on one side.....I didn't say anything....probably should have. (This next part isn't for the faint of heart, or stomach). She didn't want to wake up to nurse, I was jostling her back and forth trying to get her awake, when she gagged and threw up this huge blood clot. The rest is kind of blurry...but she kept on throwing up blood, they took her away and Rick followed them. She evidently then began to ooze blood rectally as well. Rick quickly got on the phone calling to find someone to come help him give her a blessing and those that were closest, we couldn't get hold of, but he did get Phyllis and Vern Mecham. Phyllis wheeled me into the ICU where they were giving Jill a blood transfusion with a hand pump as Rick and Vern began to give her a name and a blessing. The nurses thought they were baptizing her. She passed a huge amount of blood as I sat at her feet. We thought we were going to lose her. At that time the NICU was at Baptist in the fore runner to Brenner's Children Hospital. The last blood she bleed was while I was at her feet before they transferred her. Rick has his own experience with a prayer he had before giving her that blessing. As he prayed for guidance and comfort, he says he could feel the Lord's arm around him, letting him know, come what may, it would be all right. And it was. One of many great blessings for me was that my VT companion, Nancy Ray Goodyear worked in the NICU. It gave me great comfort and helped us when we needed to understand what was going on. They called her experience an "Upper GI Bleed" and treated her with Maalox! She was the biggest baby in that unit. It was sad to see some of those little ones and some had been there a long time. We knew then that Jill has a great work to do. And she has done many great things and still has lots to learn and accomplish. We love you Jill!