Baby Tessa's Birth Story

On Friday, August 29th, our family of three became a family of four! After a few weeks, I'm still having a hard time comprehending that I'm a mommy of two now. Probably because baby is so new, but I'm sure I'll get use to it. But I figured it would be a good idea to write down Tessa's birth story now before life with two gets a little crazy. So here goes...

Mommy and Baby Tessa 

Tessa Elizabeth was due on Sept. 1st but my water broke the morning of Aug. 29th. At 4am I was woken abruptly to my water breaking. While we are waiting for grandma and grandpa to come we woke up Sophia to tell her that her lil sis was ready to be born and she handled it like a trooper. She woke up bright eyed and ready to be a big sis, for she has been waiting for this moment for months now. 45 minutes later we found ourself at the hospital with Soph safely with the grandparents. 

Once I was in our labor and delivery room, my contractions started progressing, getting closer together and more intense. Since I was getting an epidural, I had to get a full IV bag in my body before I could get the epi. This seemed to take forever. The contractions were getting stronger and I was in pain. The anistigeologist was finally called, but my contactions only got worse. 

The first thing out of the anistigeologist mouth was "why didn't you call me sooner?" because I was almost at the point of no return. It took him four tries to give me the epi since my contactions were right  on top of each other. By the time they had me sitting up attempting to get the epi, I was having the urge to push. It's the most uncomfortable feeling I've ever experienced by far in my life. Finally, I was drugged and my body started to relax thanks to the epi. I was at 6cm and this was the point of no return, so I was honestly lucky that I got that epi. The nurse said that I had great control and could have had the baby without the epi, but all I could do was shake my head no and let my body rest from what it had just experienced. 

Unfortunately, I was having a bit of a low blood pressure issue. I couldn't lay on my back without it dropping and kept coming close to passing out, but the nurses were quick and able move me to my side (when you're having pushing intense contractions without any medicine, you can't move without help.) And after the epi kicked in, they had to give me a shot to boost it. 

Within 30 minutes of the epi, I was pushing and about 20 minutes after that we were the proud parents of another baby girl with a head full of hair. I mean a FULL head of hair. Tessa was born at 8:30 am - yeah, you read that right, I was only in labor for 4 1/2 hours. While I'm thankful labor was super short (Sophia's was only 10 hours, and I thought that was short) it was not with out stress and pain. Just another perk of bringing a new life into the world. :) 

Me and my girls! 

Remembering 9/11

I didn't plan on writing this post today. I'm usually not one to publicly talk about "remembering" terrible events or even things that happen in the news. Everyone gets so caught up in the news and media, (hey I'm a media person, so I'm not judging) so why does anyone really need to know my thoughts and opinions on such topics?

However, on my drive into work this morning, I tuned in to one of my favorite morning shows, The Bert Show, and heard their "9/11 Remembrance segment". As I was listing to the recording of them recount the tragic events of that day, as it happened, I immediately was taken back to the day as well. Remembering all the feelings and emotions I had; it was a surreal several minutes for me. I remember over the past years hearing that my generation will have something to look back on and say "I remember that, I was doing..." So, this is my memory of September 11, 2001....

I was a sophomore taking the ISTEP. I was in Mrs. Hemmingway's class; we had just taken be released for a break. As we emerged into the halls, noticing the lack of the normal busyness, we quickly realized that something was happening. As we passed classrooms, we realized that nearly every teacher had the TV on and the rooms filled with students were in complete silence.

What was going on? After promptly heading back to our classroom, Hemmingway had already flipped on the her TV; seeming as though she had already been notified but let us finish our testing. That's when we learned of the news and sat there and just watched.

It wasn't until probably 10-15 minutes that a thought hit me, and it hit me hard: My dad was out of town on a business trip. Where was he again? Wasn't he suppose to fly home today?  Did mom say he was in New Jersey or New York? Oh my God. Where is my Dad? Why didn't I care more about where my dad was traveling to?

After that moment of panic, I don't remember how or when I ended up in the school office on the sectratery's phone with my mom, crying and speaking though almost hysterical tears "where's dad? Is dad ok?" My mom, being one of the most calming and gentle people I know, calmed me down and informed me that Dad was safe, he was in New Jersey; he was fine. I believe after I hung up, my mom called my guidance counselor to make sure I was ok, because I know I ended up in his office for a brief meeting, sometime thereafter. 

I know we continued on with our testing, and that it was a very long day. I remember getting home and hugging my mom for what felt like hours, as I feel like most people did when I they realized that the one's they love most where safe and sound.  I remember being glued to the TV the rest of the night, watching the same footage over and over again. Isn't it funny of in times of crisis people are completely content on watching the same news loop over and over for hours at a time, just hoping, knowing, that something new will be shared, some new developments will become available?

Anyways, that was my memory of that horrific day in history. One of the few that have happened thus far in my life.

-Lauren