Our sweet Tessa Larae was born June 28. She is perfect. Andre and I have both said that we feel like she's been a part of our family for a long time, even though we've only had her with us for a few days. She is exactly what we needed. She mainly just sleeps and gets the hiccups, but occasionally she wakes up and soaks things in.
Her birth was exciting and pretty much the exact opposite of Rhett's, but it makes for a better story and one that is worth sharing (for posterity, if nothing else).
We had false hope from the doctor that she would come early. My last few appointments the doctor was surprised to see me, thinking I would have gone into labor already. But my due date came and went and still no baby.
Tuesday the 27th had been hot and fairly typical. We got out Rhett's water table and enjoyed our first grilled dinner of the year. We went on a walk around the park and I did some extreme curbs while Rhett went down the big slide. After he was in bed, I did some work and then watched Bones and ate a fruit bar with André. As I was going to bed I thought it couldn't be that night because nothing in the baby region was moving...
At 12:15 I woke up to crazy strong contractions. It's funny that I timed my contractions on other days when they weren't even close to as intense as this. I quickly realized they were 6 minutes apart so I woke up André and called the doctor. I had to wait on hold (?) and the lady tried to crack some jokes before she realized how much pain I was in and told me to get to the hospital ASAP. We loaded up the car and raced off--one hand on the steering wheel and the other on André's leg to get me through contractions and calm me down. Rhett was jazzed to be up in the middle of the night and gave a running commentary on the semis we passed from the back seat.
We dropped Rhett of with André's dad in the parking lot and I waddled into the ER where they tried to get me to fill out paperwork but all I could do what illegibly sign my name. By the time we got to labor and delivery my contractions were less than 2 minutes apart. The nurse tried asking my health history and I just kept saying "I need an epidural" but nothing was happening.
I should interrupt to tell you I have a very low pain tolerance and my birth plan was basically make it to the hospital, get an epidural, have a baby. So when my constant plea to have an epidural we're getting ignored, I wasn't happy.
The nurse brought in backup and told me the only way to stop the pain was to have a baby--no time for an epidural. All of the sudden it was madness as the delivery equipment was brought in, more nurses showed up, and the doctor was called out of another delivery because my baby was coming first. After 15 minutes of pushing (no joke the most painful 15 minutes of my life), a sweet baby was put on my chest, just 45 minutes after we got to the hospital. We got to snuggle and look at her for the next few hours as things calmed down. Honestly, a natural birth was kind of worth it? because the recovery has been sooo much better. Not to mention the adrenaline of pushing a baby out--if I can do that, I can do anything!
Now we have sweet Tessa, who is an angel. She doesn't do much except sleep and make mouse noises, but she is perfect. And I can’t believe we are a family of four!
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| I was feeling pretty good about that post-birth high until I saw this picture and realized how tired we look. Two hours of sleep and birthing a baby--what do you expect? |
