Our little baby boy is finally here! On Monday evening 1/8/07 Jessica started having some pretty strong Braxton Hicks contractions. They were becoming a little more uncomfortable for her than the ones she had experienced before. They were coming pretty regularly but we did't think much of it because she still had about 7 weeks to go. The next night Jess was really getting worried because her "Braxton Hicks" were coming on really strong. Being the genius husband I am, I told her that it was probably nothing and she shouldn't worry. I told her to wait a little bit and if they were still coming we would call the doctor and see what he had to say about it. One of the books we read said that if you have more than 4 Braxton Hicks in an hour that you should call the doctor. While I was goofing around on the internet in the other room not giving much concern to Jess' Braxton Hics, she began to time them. A little while later she showed me her timing chart she had been working on over the past couple of hours. When I saw that she had timed 13 contractions in a single hour, I started getting scared. Jess called the doctor and told him what was happening and he sent us to the hospital. I still didn't think she was in labor because she still had 7 weeks to go, but I was a bit worried that something may be wrong with the baby.

So we headed for the hospital. We got there and the nurses did a test to tell if she was in labor or not. They took the sample that they needed and left to get the results. In my mind, I was convinced that it was a false alarm. After all, we had a trip planned for the weeked to visit our friends in Houston. Needless to say that trip never happened. The nurse quickly returned with the test results. I was floored when they told us that Jess was in labor and was already dilated to a 4!

So we were off to the races... sort of. At this point is was around 10:30pm. Over the next 20 or so hours, the doctors and nurses did everything in their power to slow down the labor. They said that the longer the baby is in the mommy the better off it would be. Their plan was to administer two steroid shots to Jess so that it would aid in the development of the baby's lungs. The shots would need to be given about 24 hours apart. They also gave her drugs to attempt to stop her labor. By the next morning though, Jess was already dilated to a 9. After a full day of waiting, the doctors finally decided that it was of no use to contiue to try and slow the labor. They had done their best to postpone the inevitable. At around 5:30pm Dr. Fliedner broke Jessica's water. Jess pushed through four or five contractions and our little boy was here! It all happened in a matter of minutes. It was insane!

Dean Maxwell Rolf was born on 1/10/07 at 6:05pm in Lewisville, TX. He weighed 5lb 8oz and was 18.5 inches long. He was 33 weeks and 2 days gestation when he was born, making him about 7 weeks premature. The included pic is from Dean's first day outside the womb.