Baby o'mine

22 years ago......august 1987....

David, Leah (3 yrs), Lyric (4 months) & I met up with the Jeppson family at Zion's National Park....camping! yay! we arrived and settled into our cabin (hey---we had a newborn!....let it go)...the family was cooking over the campfire....i got myself a hotdog....yummers!

threw it up

we travelled farther north and met up with my parents to go to BYU Education week....Lyric & Leah stayed with David's brother, Buckley and his family while we were spiritually nourished all week.

i was sick every morning

We tried to go to the temple on Saturday morning.....I couldnt get out of bed....the guys went....mom stayed with me...suggested that maybe i was pregnant? WHATEVER.....7 years of trying...2 beautiful adoptions later....probably not mom!

We got the girls and headed home to Beaumont.....I was exhausted....slept the entire trip....couldnt eat....not nauseous (hmmm...that spelling doesnt look right)...just tired....but i was used to tired....chronic anemia and 2 little girls....yeah, i was used to tired.

We arrived home on a Friday and I looked at the calendar ....hmmmmm... interesting.....but after that many years you dont get your hopes up....you look at the calendar a lot and grimace.

I stopped at the store to get some basics..... and some not so basics.... and went upstairs to the bathroom..... reading instructions...okay....pee....(did i really just say 'pee' in my blog!?)....wait 5 minutes...okay....30 seconds later! "leah! go get daddy!".....i've peed before....never like this! (i am roflol right now...in 2009...really....i love that line)

I called my oncologist/hematologist (I have chronic anemia and was getting transfusions and meds)....asked if they would add in a test on Monday at my normal appointment. his nurse laughed and said sure...and that false positives were pretty rare....

the next night we went to a ward party....the bishop called me in and said that the primary president was pregnant and not feeling well and was being released...and they'd like to call me to that position....david & i laughed and told him that possibly we were in the same situation! but i dont say no...so I said yes.

On Monday morning, I went for my lab tests....the nurses were all very excited....not their usual testing! I waited for a phone call....and waited...and waited....finally in the afternoon I called the dr....the nurse couldnt believe he hadnt called....he had been walking all around the clinic announcing HE HAD GOTTEN ME PREGNANT! :) (ace just read that line and wanted to know what the heck THAT means!)

I called david! we ordered flowers to be sent to our parents...without our name...only the grandchild number for them....

my parents were visiting my brother Ace in California...I finally called Judy (my sister) late and asked if the flowers had arrived....she laughed and said "They are yours!?" mom and dad were at Eden's and wouldnt be back at her place til late...but they were thrilled when they finally saw them...mom cried.

David's mom didnt call til the next day....around noon....she had tried to figure out who it might be all day---going thru every other daughter to see who it might be----not wanting to hurt my feelings by calling me in case it wasnt me!

JUMP AHEAD TIL APRIL 1988....

pregnancy went perfect....I was high-risk due to my anemia and got iron shots in my behinny (had a bruise for 2 years!) and had to drive 90 minutes to Houston every other week for my ob appts.......I was a scheduled c-section (dr knew from day one....no head was gonna fit....I know...tmi)....so at the appointed week, my mom flew down to care for leah & lyric... c-section scheduled for noon on Friday, April 15. On Thursday, April 14....I woke up having contractions....took a nap...they stopped.....at 1 p.m. they started up for real...back labor....15 minutes apart....we called david to come home (and stop and get a gallon of milk, really....my mom didnt want to have to drive anywhere)....we called the hospital in Houston and they said to come in....2 hr drive. so I said goodbye to my lovelies and headed to the hospital. Every 15 minutes I would have to stop chatting and focus on the labor.

we arrived and they checked me.....and......NOTHIN. but since we had such a drive, I could stay overnight and we'd do the c-section at 6 a.m. Dinner was served and we settled in.

I ate dinner.

They checked me.....OH MY GOSH! I had progressed to 3 cm.....WHY DIDNT I TELL THEM?! GET THAT FOOD AWAY!----yeah....that was their reaction for 3 cm! so we waited for more.....and............NOTHIN.

We watched L.A. Law...or was it Hill Street Blues...it was whatever was the popular NBC show at 9 p.m. on Thursday nights at that time...then david remembered he didnt have camera batteries...so he ran to a 7-11 to get them...then at 10:30 David & I started walking the halls....watching Johnny Carson on the tv screens in the various waiting rooms.....me stopping to focus on the labor that was every 3-4 minutes....and painful...but not so much.

the dr was being kept up to date....said I could try a vaginal birth! WHAT? I DIDNT PAY ATTENTION IN LAMAZE CLASS!

so at midnite, the nurses were disagreeing whether I was a 4 or a 5....apparently it depends on the size of the nurse's fingers?.....so the dr got tired of the constant updates and he came in (now.....he only does high-risk, so he does c-sections....scheduled....not middle-of-the-night deliveries)....not happy.....checked me...said...."she's at a 4 and not doing anything....i'm here anyway...lets take this baby"....

Jasmine Ann Jeppson was delivered at 2 a.m. and has been a joy ever since.