JENN BIO
Jennifer was born December 2, 1975 in California under some very interesting circumstances. She sure knew how to make an entrance from a very young age......
About 1 o'clock in the morning on Dec 2, 1975, Karen woke me up saying that she was having some pains.
"Labor pains?" I asked. "They can't be, the baby isn't due for another 10 days", she answered.
I turned on the light and got my watch and timed the pains - 2 minutes apart and 2 minutes duration!
"Get dressed, were going to the hospital !"
By the time we were in the car, a 1962 Volvo station wagon, she was screaming every time she had a pain. I was calmly near panic and of course there was no gas in the car so we had to stop at a gas station.
I drove down highway 101 at about 90 miles an hour saying, "Where are the cops when you need them?" and Karen, with her feet on the dashboard, letting out blood curtling screams.
"Where are we going?" she wanted to know. "To Kaiser, Terra Linda", I answered. "They don't do deliveries, they have no delivery room or nursery. We have to go to San Francisco."
"Tonight they are going to deliver in Terra Linda."
As I turned off the freeway at Terra Linda, Karen let out a loud, long scream. "Ron, the baby's head is out !" I reached down between her legs and held the baby's head with my right hand while steering the car with my left. As I turned the corner onto Las Gallinas, Karen screamed again and the baby was born!! I pulled over to the curb at the corner of Las Gallinas and Nova Albion.
When I pulled Karen's pants out of the way the baby fell down on the floorboard, slid under the seat and began to cry. I groped around under the seat and, with difficulty because of the wet slickness, picked up the baby.
"It's a girl !" And I put Jennifer on Karen's chest under her jacket and we continued our trip to the hospital which was only 2 blocks away.
So on Jennifer's birth certificate on the line where it says HOSPITAL, it says "Corner of Las Gallinas Ave. and Nova Albion Way, San Rafael.
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The station wagon from the 60s and 70s, which became Ron and Karen's delivery mobile or perhaps our Volvo Birthing Inn.
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More on Jenn's Birth from her big sister Katie Johnson.......
If I can add a few things to this story.
Jennifer was breech, so she was suppose to go in to have her by c-section. The night of the 2nd, Mom kept saying that it felt like the baby was doing summer-saults (?)
One of the reasons Mom didn't want to go to the hospital was because she didn't think she was going to have the baby because she was breech. I was upstairs sleeping and awoke to Mom moaning-screaming.
I kept asking her if she was alright and she would say "NOOOOOOOOO". I would put my head back under my pillow hoping to drown out the screaming.
At one point I was so scared that I asked if she wanted me to call 911. She of course said "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO" That's when Dad said "come on we are going right now".
Dad also left out the fact that we had gone to get hay for the horses that day in the station wagon so it was all over the inside of the car. When Jenn was born and fell on the ground she got hay all over her. They did have to get an incubator out of storage and warm it up for Jenn when they got to the hospital. I remember when they brought her home from the hospital. She was sooo small. She weighed 4 lbs when she was born. When I held her I felt like I would loose her in the blanket because there was more of the blanket than there was of her.
She was so cute! I took her everwhere with me. Everyone thought she was my baby and would say "What a cute baby. She looks just like you." I got so tired of explaining that she was my little sister, so I began to just say "Thank you!"
It broke my heart when I moved to Utah and had to leave her behind : (
That's what I remember. Love, Kath
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Did you know?
Jennifer was the star of an impromptu play performed at 315 Dry Mill Road in Leesburg, Virginia. She was the co-star, what was the play called ?
Pigs in Space. Jenn and her brother Jim spent many hours writing and rehearsing a mini-play with sounds effects and speaking parts. They rehearsed and made an audio tape of the performance. It received raving reviews.
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July 2009 resting at the beach.
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BREN & JENN HONEYMOON
Brendan & Jennifer First Noticed Something Was Wrong In January of 2006 Jennifer experienced serve headaches every day. One evening, while Jennifer & I were on the computer doing wedding plans, Jennifer froze. She could not move her mouth for about a minute or two. Once she could talked she said " Bren, it feels like I swallowed my tounge, like I am paralized in my jaw and throat and my head hurts." This was very scary. We called the hospital and explained the situation. The nurse on the phone asked a bunch of questions and said if it happened again to come in otherwise, it was probably related to stress. So we went on thinking it was the stress of our wedding.  On February 4, 2006 we had the most spectacular wedding day. It was so full of love, joy, and celebration. It truly was the wedding of our dreams. Even during the incredible joy of celebrating our love for one another with all our family and friends, Jennifer's eyes were giving her trouble. But on the alter she was able to see my face and smile and cry too. I had no idea she was suffering that day. She has a way of enjoying the moments no matter what is going on with her body. When Jennifer is enjoying something, that is all you can see. It wasn't until we were on our way to San Francisco that she told me that her contacts must be worn out and things were blurry that day. Our married life began with an incredible 2 week honeymoon in Hawaii. The first week was spent enjoying the whales, sunsets, and the incredible beaches of Maui. The second week we spent on tropical Kauai, full of waterfalls, plants, chickens, & more incredible beaches. We spent our days in the waters, snorkeling, scuba diving, driving in the convertible, soaking up the sun, exploring the islands, taking boat rides, eating incredible food, shell collecting, laughing, loving, and enjoying being newlyweds in paradise. Gosh we had a blast!
As we were enjoying our time snorkeling Jennifer mentioned to me, “honey, I can't see, something isn't right." As the days of fun & romance continued so did her troubled vision comments. When I would ask her to describe what she was experiencing, she would say "everything is foggy, it's like the defrost is not coming on." We came home and immediately made an appointment with the eye doctor thinking Jennifer just needed to update her eye prescription. We were wrong! The eye doctor said her vision had so drastically changed that she needed to see a medical doctor in order to rule out the chance of a tumor, diabetes, or possibly MS. Now things were really getting scary! Jennifer could no longer drive the car, go on the computer, or even watch a television show with me.
After several doctor appointments, Jennifer was diagnosed with a rare condition of the brain called Intercranial Hypertension. Her body produces too much cerebral fluid causing pressure on her brain and optic nerve. Her vision continued to digress to the point where she could not walk without assistance, read, or even see my face right in front of her. She lost her eyesight! Needless to say, it was devastating to us.
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Did you know that Jennifer is a Mentor?
Despite being in such terrible pain, Jenn has volunteered to help a young girl, named Claudia with severe spinabifida.
They get together once a week. The two have really bonded and love to do paper crafts together.
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Did you know ?
Born: December 2, 1975 San Rafael, CA
Baptized: March 21, 1976 Our Lady of Loretto Church, Novato, CA
Moved to Virginia: March 1979
Confirmation: St. John the Apostle Church, Leesburg, VA
Elementary School: Catoctin, Leesburg, VA
Middle School: J. Luptin Simpson Middle School, Leesburg, VA
High School: Notre Dame Academy, Leesburg, VA
Sports: Basketball, Volleyball, Softball
Graduation: June 1993
First job: Ben Franklin, Leesburg, VA
Moved back to CA: July 1993
First house: 805 Eucalyptus Ave., Novato, CA
Met Brendan: Nov 1998, Sonoma, CA
Married: February 4, 2006, Sonoma, CA
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