Wide eyed and beautiful!

Ann sent me this picture of Kennedy a couple days ago. Such a wonderful expression on her face - such a precious baby!

More pictures from our visit at the hospital...

When we entered their room, Meredith was nursing the baby. Of course, that was a mother-daughter private matter, as you can see from the top photo :-) Then after the feeding came the burping time. Great Grandma Jarman carefully positions Kennedy for the awaited "burp" sound.

Visited Meredith, Alex and the baby again...

Mom, Dad and I went back to Greenville last night to visit Meredith, Alex and the baby. I had the chance to take a couple more pictures along with a couple videos. Baby Kennedy was nursing when we arrived, and she took her time! Finally, we had a chance to see her. But she became quite irritable with gas. Eventually she felt better - especially after Alex took her and rocked her gently. Here's a video depicting that. Kennedy was looking all around, and especially at her dad as he whispered comforting words to her:

Our new bundle of joy!

Well, we got home from the Marine Corps Retirees Ball at 11:00pm. We quickly changed our clothes and headed to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville. Meredith was in labor, and we didn't want to miss a thing! We were so tired - it had been a long day. By this time we were operating stricktly on adrenaline. Meredith called us as we were travelling and told us not to hurry, that it would probably be morning (towards daylight) before she would deliver. At that time she was feeling no pain because the nurse had given her an epidural. It is an hour and a half drive to Greenville, so we got to the hospital about 1:00am. Ann and Dalton were just getting there too. Meredith had dilated only about 4 centimeters by the time we arrived. It was going to be a long night! Meredith is pictured above relaxing and feeling fine as she waited for things to really get moving.

Here is the monitor recording Meredith's vitals, along with the baby's. Look at the baby's heartbeat! 141 beats per minute at that moment! Life waiting to join the world!

We all tried to get some sleep throughout the night and early morning hours, but I don't think anyone got much. Shortly after 5:00am Blake, Evan and I went out to get a few of Meredith's personal things from her car. We came back in, gave the items to Ann to give to Meredith, and within five minutes the baby was delivered! Meredith told us afterwards that she only had to give four pushes and there she was! At 5:21am little Kennedy Caroline Tippett made her debut into the world! And what a beautiful baby!

Meredith and Alex, rejoicing in the gift of life. It was an amazing moment for them - and for all of us. This long-anticipated moment - just in time for Thanksgiving. Thank you, Lord, for your love and protection. And thank you for giving us little Kennedy, all healthy and sound - my first grandchild!

I was able to go into the room just in time to see Kennedy getting a bath. Poor thing - she seemed so helpless lying there away from her mother's warm protective womb. Such a bright light now replaced the dark security that was home for nine months. I longed to see her quickly returned to Meredith's comforting arms.

Here she is - so beautful, and so relaxed and peaceful. Isn't she beautiful? I'm holding her here, by the way.

It has been along time since I held such a tiny baby. I didn't want to disturb her, and I didn't want to wake her. I was glad she remained asleep when I took her into my arms. She seemed so happy. Every moment or so, she'd breath a comfortable sigh. I knew she felt secure. She won't remember this moment - but I will.




A perfect picture - Mom and baby doing fine. Life has certainly changed forever for both.

Happy Birthday, USMC!

Ana and I had a big day yesterday! It started with getting out of bed on a Saturday morning at 7:15am to get ready for the Jacksonville Holiday parade. We were part of the Salvation Army entry and walked just in front of the Salvation Army cantina van dressed in our 1860's garb holding a Salvation Army banner. It was such a cold day, but so many spectators bravely ventured out along the parade route to watch. We had a great time, all in all.

Later in the day we changed clothes and put on our party clothes. We joined our friends, Mr. and Ms. Richard Beauchamp, who invited us to the USMC Retirees Ball to celebrate the 233rd birthday of the Corps. It was alot of fun and included good food, a moving military ceremony, and dance. Pictured here are our good friends, Richard and Okhy Beauchamp. I included a picture of our souvenirs from the ball too.

We left the ball about 10:30pm. Before we could get home, Ana received a call that we had expected to receive any day now: Meredith had gone into labor! More about that in the next post!

Halloween..!

Although we didn't really celebrate Halloween, Ana's workplace was alive with costumes and whimsey to honor the occasion! The top picture is Ana with her good friend (and director of our wedding) Cathryn. Cathryn is dressed up as a 1940's factory worker. The bottom picture is of Ana and another good friend, Rebecca. They are office gypsies! Hmm... they seem to shop at the same markets... :-)