Baker's Dozen

What a weekend it's been! In the space of less than 47 hours I went from having four sisters pregnant, to just two. (And in the middle of that had a birthday party for my own baby. See previous post for those details.)

Back in like February or March when Cami & Jesse announced that they were both expecting we started joking about the race being on. Their official due dates were a mere 8 days apart, with Jesse due September 7 & Cami on the 15th. The last few weeks have been really fun as we've waited excitedly for my parents' 12th & 13th grandbabies to arrive.

When Jesse's due date came and went with no sign of progress it was a little disappointing. But we knew that her baby could come at any moment, so we waited (somewhat patiently.) Still last Tuesday when she went to the doctor, already six days past her date, I think we were all hoping he'd do something about it. He did. He told her that if nothing was happening by Saturday that they take her in that evening and get her started, so one way or another she'd have a baby on Sunday. I can't speak for anyone else, but I know that I for one was really hoping and praying that baby would just decide to come on her own before then. Saturday seemed like a long time away at that point.

On the other hand, it was kind of surprising that Cami even made it to her due date. She'd been progressing slowly for two weeks and having slight contractions and pains. And since this was her 3rd child, I had a sneaking suspicion it would happen fast for her.

It's funny because on Friday morning I talked to Cami twice. She told me she was having pretty substantial contractions, but that they were still pretty far apart so she wasn't going to head to the hospital for a while. I spoke with her at just after 3pm her time and they had just dropped off their kids and were headed to the hospital but she cautioned me not to tell the family just yet because she was pretty sure they would end up sending her home. The contractions were big, but they were a good 10 minutes apart. Interestingly that conversation ended with her gasping, "I'll call you later...having one now...." About an hour later I got a txt message saying they were keeping her and the baby was coming.

It's a good thing she went to the hospital when she did. They got her checked in around 3:30 pm and at 6:07 she delivered a healthy baby boy! 2 1/2 hours! WOW!!!!!

So meet my parent's grandchild number 12:

Gage William Guffey

September 16, 2011 6:07pm

7 lbs. 2 oz & 19.25 inches

Cami & Jacob are proud of course, but probably not as proud as Lily.

She takes being a big sister very seriously. She even picked out the pirate sleeper herself!

She made sure he got his 20 minutes of reading time too.

As for Ransom he likes his baby brother well enough to try and share his crackers. That's about as affectionate a gesture as you're bound to get from a 20 month old boy.

Despite all of the excitement (and the dozens of prayers by the rest of us) it became painfully clear that Jesse's baby was not in any bigger hurry just because her cousin had finally arrived. So yesterday Jesse cut Kelly's hair, then they joined us for Parker's birthday party and left our house to go to the hospital so they could get her started. I won't give you all the gory details, but it really didn't take Jesse's labor very long to start. She checked into the hospital around 6:00pm and by 11:00pm her water had broken. She got her epidural at 2:30am or so. Around 11:00am I got a message that she was dialated to a 9 and almost ready to push. And that's where things stayed for the next few hours. The doctor was in doing a C-section, so Jesse actually laid back and slept for a couple of hours. By the time I got out of church my mom was asking if I was planning on coming up to the hospital. I desperately wanted to, but Jesse had made it abundantly clear that she didn't want anyone but she and Kelly in the delivery room so she would send a message once the baby was born and she was ready to recieve visitors. That of course didn't keep my mom or Joliene (Kelly's mom) away. They were in the waiting room with Kelly's sister Randi Jo & his dad Randy. I hesitated going up there because I really wanted to respect Jesse's wishes and not intrude where I wasn't wanted. I was determined to wait for she or Kelly to call or txt and tell me it was okay to come visit. Around 2:20pm I got a call from my mom saying they were still waiting on the Dr. and Kelly was starving, could I please bring him some food. So I kissed my own babies & husband and headed to the hospital. When Kelly didn't come out for his food once I got there, we figured the baby must be on her way. And at 3:00pm when the lullaby started playing over the hospital's speaker system my mom and Joliene both started jumping up and down and hugging. (There were only a few tears.) A few minutes later Kelly sent a photo of the baby to his mother's phone and that was really torture because the photo wouldn't open.

But it only took a few minutes before he came out and mom & Joliene were allowed to go back and see her. By 4:00 the rest of us were told we could come back.

So here's the princess who makes up our Baker's Dozen:

Tyree Kay Crystal

September 18, 2011 2:58pm

8 lbs. 21 inches

And let me tell you she's an absolute DOLL! I realize she's still kind of swollen, but she's very filled out for a newborn! And so very alert! Her color is perfect, she's strong and healthy. It's so funny because Jesse's so tiny and the first thing you think is "How did that big baby fit into that tiny girl!?!?!?" I felt so blessed to get to hold her when she was still so very brand new. (In fact, about the time they were planning on cleaning her up, like 3 other girls in the hospital started having their babies, so all the nurses and staff kind of disappeared and left us alone for a while which was nice.)

With Aunt Randi Jo

It's seriously sickening how she can look so cute and perky after a night of no sleep and just having had a baby!

My dad (who called Kelly just a few minutes after she was born) said he could hear Kelly beaming through the phone. He's a pretty proud papa.

She's got way more hair that we expected, especially considering Jesse & Kelly were both bald as babies!

Seriously does se look like she just had a baby? So not fair!