Month 1 - Tessa's Arrival

Ok girl, you are going to get monthly letters too - at least until the two of you turn my brain even further into mush, which may be as soon as next month. I'm going to recap how you arrived for my memory's sake - so I can remind you later when you think that I never do anything for you that I did, at one time, do something for you. This will be long, but my memory is crap now so if I want to remember details later, this has got to be thorough...



I went to my doctor's appointment on Thursday, May 28. I just knew I was going to be at a 3 when he checked me. I even told Bre, my favorite nurse, that no matter what, Dr. Gatherum was not to tell me I was at a one, even if I was. If I was at a one, he had to call it a 2 minus just so I didn't have to hear the word one. Sure enough though, your mother was right (I always am, but I'm sure you've figured that one out), I was a 3 and 75% effaced. I was absolutely certain I was going to have you the next day and told Dr. Gatherum that I hoped he didn't have plans for the weekend because I'd be seeing him again soon. I went and got cookies for the office on my way back, pretty much celebrating my last day at AP&P and I bragged to all the girls that I was a 3 and would have this baby tomorrow - I mean come on, that's how it was with Logan and the second baby comes faster right? Yeah, I even had contractions at work that day that were pretty regular, about 5 minutes apart. The beginning of the end had come, and as I left work that night I told the girls I'd be very surprised if I was back at work on Monday.



Fast forward through a lot of walking, eating pineapple (I'm convinced it helped!), lots more walking, an email to my boss saying I'd be in after all, etc... to Monday morning.


Apparently you wanted to be a June baby because no matter how much walking I did that weekend you waited until 12:30 a.m. on June 1 to decide you were ready to get this show on the road. I woke up after being asleep for about 2 hours and yeah, I quit peeing the bed a long time ago so I had a feeling it was something different. I sat up in bed and didn't quite know what to do next, so I sent your dad a text that said something like "Hope you're ready, I think my water just broke." I tried to wake up your grandma but she wasn't budging so I went to the bathroom and came back out and yelled her name a little louder and the games began. She jumped up and started running around, we informed your grandpa he would be driving to Cedar instead of heading to bed, and I called your dad. Good thing I did too because he slept through the text. He was a little foggy when he answered and I wasn't quite sure he understood what was going on but I kept him on long enough to make sure he was at least out of bed before I hung up.


Grandpa and I got on our way to Cedar and by this time the contractions were just starting to get painful. As we left town we saw a car burning on the side of the road on Main Street in Hurricane. Random? Yeah. In an effort to try to ease grandpa's anxiety I told him "See the things you miss when you're at home sleeping at 12:30 in the morning?" It might have worked for a minute or two but then when he asked how I was doing and I told him my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart and we still had a 40 minute drive ahead of us the anxiety level went up again.


We made it to Cedar about 1:30 and after fighting with grandpa over whether I needed a wheelchair or not we walked in the ER entrance and down the hall to labor and delivery. By the time I got in and settled and checked I was at a 5 and 80% effaced - not nearly as close as I thought I'd be. The cute nurse told me I needed to get 2 rounds of antibiotics in through my IV before you could come and that would take 4 hours so I needed to at least keep you in for that long. I agreed and she asked me about the epidural. I said I definitely wanted one and she informed me that the anesthesiologist was about 20-30 minutes away and to keep that in mind when deciding when I would want it. About ten minutes later she asked again if I wanted it. I didn't want to be a wimp but I told her to get that man on his way - the contractions weren't making me want to die yet, but I remembered how good it felt when I stopped feeling them.


Your dad got there at 2:30 and grandpa promptly left the room - I'm pretty sure he was relieved that he had completed his duties at that point. He had gotten me to the hospital without having to deliver a baby - mission accomplished. About that time the epidural man got there and they made your dad sit down so he didn't fall down. It's a good thing the pregnant woman can't see what they are doing back there because if they make grown men sit down and the big needle isn't even going into their back, then I don't want to see it either. A few minutes later I could feel things starting to get numb and my pain level went from a 7 to a 5 and I smiled and thanked the epidural man as he walked out of the room.


Then...the nurse had me shift to one side and propped me up on a pillow and that's when things went downhill. Apparently propping you up on one side is supposed to help things, but if you get the wrong side then it hurts like hell. I grabbed your dad's hand and told the nurse it was not feeling right and my pain level was now at an 8 - not supposed to happen. I kept squeezing your dad's hand waiting for epidural man to come back or them to knock me over the head with an IV stand - ANYTHING to make the horrible pain go away. The cute nurse was just about to call the epidural man back in but told your dad to press my magic pain button and then propped me on the other side and seriously like magic the pain went away. Oh my goodness girl, how I love epidurals. I hope you grow up to be strong but let me tell you - those drugs are a blessing. In fact, I should sew a cape for that anesthesiologist with a big E on it and suggest he wear it when administering an epidural and introduce himself as Epidural Man. Point being, I am sure that pushing a baby out naturally is a very amazing experience, but I don't think pushing a baby out unnaturally is any less amazing because I don't want to kill myself before that time actually comes.

At this point my favorite part of having a baby, with the exception of actually seeing the baby, begins. The nurses and everyone else leave and I get to have some quality time with your dad. I am comfortable, although shaking uncontrollably with my teeth chattering, but we get to talk uninterrupted for a while and it is nice. I was supposed to be trying to sleep but I was a little wired and although your dad was trying to get me to sleep we kept on talking. Talking about what your brother would think, and what gender you were going to be, and what we would name you.


At 5:30 a.m. or so they came in and got my second round of antibiotics going and told me they would take about 45 minutes to go through so if we were ready, we'd be having a baby in an hour or so. I think at this point I was at an 8 or 9. The nurses changed shift at 6 a.m. so the new set of nurses came in about 6:20 and saw that I was at a 10 and we were ready to go. They broke down the bed and got everything ready and Dr. Gatherum came in about 6:30. I started pushing quite soon after and after pushing through 2 contractions and a "little grunt" there you were, less than 5 minutes later. You were easy! I was so excited when Dr. Gatherum announced you were a girl. When I saw your face when he first held you up you looked so much like Logan I thought for sure you were a boy. I had told everyone I wanted a boy so Logan could have a buddy but when the time actually came I was thrilled you were a girl. Your dad cut the cord and they gave you to me and honest to goodness, the first thing I noticed as you were screaming at me was that you were tongue-tied. Poor little thing your tonge was seriously attached all the way to the tip. You calmed down pretty quick and they let me hold you for a few minutes before taking you over to weigh and measure you.


After feeding you for a bit the nurses let the wolves in and all four grandparents and Logan were there to see you. Logan wasn't quite sure what to do at first and didn't want to come sit with us but pretty soon he was on the bed with us pushing the buttons. They took you and gave you a bath and the pediatrician checked you out and clipped your tongue right there in the hospital so we wouldn't have to worry about another tongue fiasco like Logan's. We had to stay an extra day because of your jaundice but so far eating hospital food for an extra day has been my only complaint with you. I didn't even taken any Ibuprofen at the hospital the second day until they told me I probably should even if the pain wasn't too bad. Oh, that and the fact that you did a number on my bladder - but I won't go into details on that here, or anywhere.


You sleep better than Logan did, and you eat half as much but are still filling out well. You've been an easy child so far, but I know this is only the very very beginning. I look at you and I can tell we will have our WW III fights - it's just my style and probably will be yours too. I was absolutely 100% right when I wrote in Logan's letter that while I couldn't imagine loving another baby as much as I loved him, that I would surely love you as much when you came into the world. It is absolutely amazing to me how quickly it happened - the minute they placed you on my chest I loved you just as much while continuing to love Logan as much as ever. I'm not sure he understands this yet, so do me a favor and go give your big brother a big hug and tell him you love him and then punch him on the arm - he most likely deserves both.

Love you sis,
Mom





















My you are a pretty thing.