One last.... (*Updated w/ pics -- baby is HERE!*)

[jenluckenbach]

I saw Ashley at 5:30. She is in the hospital, her water broke (not sure if Kim told you that) and she is very comfortable.

She had about 10 minutes worth of contractions before the mighty epidural. so she is feeling NOTHING!!!!!

The monitor however, was showing contractions every 10 minutes. (actually, there was a bit of a scare before I arrived there. Ashley was having VERY rapid contractions and the baby was in distress. But they got them under control and everything was proceding normally.)

Let's see if I can get a phone update............

[jazzcat]

Yay! Thanks for the update Jen!!!!!

[Daisy and Delilah]

Thanks for the info Jen. I can imagine Kim and the family are beside themselves at the hospital. I know I would be. Me, Daisy, and Delilah are praying hard here in Florida that all is well and we hear the good news soon

[Karen]

Whew, thanks for the update, Auntie Jen!

[Cataholic]

Its been HOURS now....where is the uppiedate? However will I sleep tonight not knowing Ashley and baby are fine?

[Craftlady]

I would say first baby, at least 16-20 hours plus labor.
So maybe by early tomorrow a.m. there will be a new arrival

[Samantha Puppy]

I would say first baby, at least 16-20 hours plus labor.
So maybe by early tomorrow a.m. there will be a new arrival

Not necessarily! My labor began around 7:30am and Aidan was born at 5:19pm after only 20 minutes of pushing! He's my first. And we beat the woman across the hall who was having her fourth!

[prechrswife]

Okay, I came over here looking for this news... Hope to hear something very soon.

[Tubby & Peanut's Mom]

Ok, I'm wearing a path in the floor here as I pace in the waiting room......

Thanks for the uppydate, Jen. I was hoping you'd be our "inside line."

Push, Ashley, push....breathe, breathe, breathe....push, push!

[Sevaede]

Whew! Thanks for the update Jen! I will be on first thing in the morning to see if anything else has happened!

[catnapper]

Ok, ok, I suppose I should tell you all I'm a grandma!!

It was a day of too many ups and downs! Jen, you know how we thought those contractions were coming every ten minutes.... ummmmm... we were reading the monitor wrong. They were coming every MINUTE!

Where do I start? Forgive me if this all comes out in a ramble. I'll most likely make several posts (and yes I do have pictures!)

We went to the doctor this morning. She said all looks good and she'd be having a baby sometime this weekend. We came home and she immmediately started having bad back pains. I was hopeful but didn't get too excited that this was "it". As time passed, she grew more and more unhappy and painful. I called the doctor asking if this could be back labor (which is where I was when I started this thread) they said it sounded like labor and get over the the triage department. Only we took a detour.... to the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet. She INSISTED she was starving and wanted to eat before she went in. So she ate a lot of pizza. Turnwed out ot be the smartest thing she ever insisted on because it was a long day without food for all of us!

Ok, so we roll into the hospital at 12:00 on the dot. Half an hour later her water broke and labor started abruptly. Problem was that she was only 4 cm dilated and 80% effaced. She started BAD contractions, and LOTS of them. The baby kept having a HUGE dip in heartrate and SEVERAL times nurses and doctors rushed in prepared to do an emergency C-section. Each time they were able to stabalize the baby's heartrate and stop her contractions with meds. So then labor would stop and we'd wait hoping to buy time for her to become fully dilated and effaced.

That time came, but problem: her contractions started real bad again. The baby's heartrate plummeted again, and back to the concept of an emergency c-section. They stoped the contractions and the heartrate leveled out where it should be. They decided to try to make her push the next time her contractions started... only problem was her epidoral paralyzed her and she couldn't push. Then the contractions started too fast and furious again... and emergency c-section was once again mentioned. Again they stabalized the heartrate. So they decided to try forcepts. We waited for the medicine that stopped her contractions to wear off so that contractions could start again..... and when they did, the forcepts didn't work. This time they just rushed her for the emergency c-section and I was made to wait in the waiting room like the rest of the family. It drove me NUTS!

The contractions were really bad. It was all natural - and they NEVER see contractions like she was having without having been given drugs to bring on contractions like that. She averaged 8-9 contractions every 5 minutes! There were so many contractions that the baby didn't have time to recover from one before another came, which sent the baby into distress and plummeting the heartrate!

More in next post... I'm sure you're all dying to find out whether its a BOY or GIRL