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! 

Things I Miss About Not Being Pregnant

At 39 weeks pregnant with baby #2, I've realized that this time around, there are a lot more things I miss about not being pregnant. I think the reason why I haven't enjoyed this second pregnacy quite as much as the first is due to two reasons, 1) everything happens sooner than it did the first time. 2) I've been preggo longer this time then the first.

Anyways, here is my list...

• Zippers and buttons on pants - I bet you $5 I walk around at least twice with unbuttoned or unzipped pants after baby is born.

• Towels - the standard size towel was not created for the 32 weeks+ pregnancy body 

• Not having necessary articles of clothing - with maternity clothes, you don't realize the need for certain articles of clothing until you really need and don't have it. Example a maternity swimsuit.

• Being able to remove yourself from the couch at any giving time - getting off the couch is a process. One that could take me at least five minutes. After I realize I need to get up, I move to a upright, edge of the couch siting position and then let me body get used to that position, then slowly stand. Next, let my hips/joints get use to the standing position and then slowly start walking to make sure my legs aren't going to give our because my hips don't want to function.

• Deli sandwiches - my favorite food in the world, I can't eat for 10 months because of the nasty Listeria bacteria found in cold colds (and many other foods.) Unless I want to microwave my deli turkey before adding it to my sandwich (yuck) it's my most missed food/drink.

• Alcoholic drinks - any one who knows me well, knows I'm not a bring drinker. But I hate that I can't have a Strawberry Mango Margarita at Applebees, or a Carmel Apple Martini at home just because it sounds good.

• Shaving my legs - they get shaved once a week and that's it. I have to suffer through a bath (I hate baths) because it's the only way I can shave, since I can't bend over in the shower, mostly because I will fall over, but also because I can't reach very far.

• Having a normal poop - Everyone does it, so I'm not embarrassed to add this publicly to my list, but really though, I just want to have a normal poop. Being pregnant messes a lot of things up and going to the restroom isn't a quick task, oh no, things take time.

• Not waking up every hour to go pee at night - when I'm not pregnant, I wake up once or twice a night. I'm use to it, but when I'm pregnant, its like every hour on the hour, every night. Just remember my getting up off the couch process? Insert that here since I'm coming from a laying down/sleeping potion....5-7 times a night.

• Being able to sleep in any position I want - you're suppose to sleep on your side. Well my right hip hurts a lot, so I really can't lay on that side for long, and I can't lay flat on my back and for obvious reasons laying on my stomach is out. So some nights, I'm just angry.

While there are a lot of things and more, that I miss while being pregnant, it's all worth it. Ten months really isn't that long and at that end of that sometimes miserable duration of time, I get to hold and cuddle a sweet little baby in my arms making it all worth it. And then in a couple of years, after I've forgotten the misery, I'll want another one and may just go through the whole process again....

If you've been pregnant before, what did you miss the most? If you've never been pregnant, what are you not looking forward to missing out on, while you are baking a baby?