Chapter 335

Before I went out to start plowing I asked the girls to call the Bay Bridge Transit Authority to see if the bridge was open. I was finished pushing when Jake, Jason and Dad drove in to put the final touches on my job.

Mom, Lisa and Mindy made a bee line for the house to see how Jenny was doing. I wondered the same thing myself; I had been pushing snow for almost an hour. Where the snow was untouched it was to my waist and still snowing. I had one heck of a pile in the back and side yard.

The guys and I went inside to see what the situation was with Jenny. The contractions were 10 minutes apart and strong.

"Just when did the contractions start Jenny?" I asked.

"Yesterday afternoon, I think around 4," Jenny replied.

"Why didn't you say something?" I asked.

"With everything that was going on they were just a minor distraction and I thought it was just the boys getting active. I did not realize what they were until my water broke," Jenny replied.

I did the mental math - four yesterday afternoon, water broke at four today, 12 hours of labor already. Maybe, just maybe, I had under estimated the strength of my dear Jenny.

We had a quick powwow. We were going to leave one plow here. Jake and Dad with Jason would each drive one. We would take two Suburbans to carry all us girls following the two plows.

Vicky had finally gotten through to Bridge Authority; one lane on each bridge was open for emergency vehicles and plows transitioning to the western shore.

301 was no better - barely one lane open with all the drifting snow and the wind was picking up. The state was working hard to keep the road open for utility trucks and those mandatory people that had to get to work. It was 6 AM when we got to the bridge.

The west-bound bridge is a three lane bridge; the plows were moving the snow to the right lane. There were several of those big snow blowers mounted on the front of large front-end loaders, simply blowing the snow over the side of the bridge.

Once over the bridge we made a little better time. There were more plows and more traffic on the road. It only took 45 more minutes to go from the bridge to the Jennifer Road exit where the hospital was.

It had been a two hour trip. Jenny was in the Suburban I was driving and I could hear every contraction getting stronger and more intense. One of the girls had called Dr. Peterson to let her know we were just a mile away.

We followed the sign to the emergency entrance. Dr. Peterson was there with several nurses and a gurney. Jenny was carried to labor and delivery. We had told Dr. Peterson that we wanted the biggest room she could get because Jenny wanted all of her family to witness the birth of our children, something that would never had happened 10 years ago.

Dr. Peterson did an exam on Jenny, "Oh my, 10 cm already - you have been in labor for a while."

AAGH was one of the newer hospitals in the metro region and one of the oldest. Originally it had been in the old part of downtown Annapolis, was overcrowded and had no place to grow.

Finally in 1998 the hospital bought a 100 acre parcel on the outskirts of the city to build a modern hospital with the latest technology in medical care.

The local wealthy and famous people donated big time for the new hospital. One of the pavilions is named after a noted Hollywood game show host that calls Annapolis his home. He worked the local elite for donations to match his very generous gifts.

Their labor and deliver rooms were big and set up for families to be there for the delivery. Many hospitals forbid cameras in the rooms - not here. They even had video cameras mounted overhead to capture that special moment the baby made its appearance.

There were operating rooms on the floor with staff specially trained in neonatal care and C-sections. Babies or a mother in trouble could be in surgery in two minutes, the staff said.

We wanted it filmed for posterity; there was no sure thing that it would ever happen in our family again. In the beginning the other girls were open to each having their own child but after seeing everything Jenny went through close up, I suspected that would not happen.