Tessa

My daughter Tessa was born August 12 at 39 weeks 1 day. I haven't updated the blog mostly because I've been completely wrapped up in the world of having four children aged 3 and under. Here is her birth story...

I was up most of the night having cramping. I have what my doctor calls a "contracty" uterus, so it was nothing new. In the morning, I took a warm bath, and it alleviated the cramps so I figured it was just another day in the life of being pregnant. As soon as I got out of the bath, I started having more intense contractions. They were 5 minutes apart. Kevin was home so he and I took the kids for a walk around the neighborhood to see if they'd stop. They didn't. They picked up from 5 minutes apart to 3 minutes apart. Although they were uncomfortable, they definitely not what I would consider labor pains. The people in my family tend to get really nervous when I start complaining of "feeling" contractions. The morning I went in for my scheduled c-section to deliver the twins, I was in active labor, and I didn't have a clue because to me, it felt just like the same stuff I'd had for months. SO, at the urging of my husband, I called the doctor (even though I didn't feel it was necessary). The doctor told me to go ahead and go into L&D because he did not want me showing up to the hospital in active labor.

We loaded up the kids and headed to L&D. I got checked and discovered that I was still not dilated AT ALL (much to my great disappointment...I wanted to believe that all of the pain I'd been enduring for weeks on end had at least resulted in SOME form of progress). I was hooked up to the monitors and an IV was started. The monitor was showing ZERO contractions. My first thought was annoyance that we were at the hospital for no good reason. The nurse then noticed that the monitor wasn't fastened correctly. The contractions started showing right away. I didn't feel like a complete moron at that point. Two IV bags later, I was still contracting, so it was the opinion of the staff that I was in early labor. Had I been expecting a vaginal delivery, I would've been sent home. However, since I supposed to have a c-section they gave me the option to go ahead and deliver. Since it was a Thursday afternoon by this point, we had fears that I'd wake up in the middle of the night in active labor, and we'd be pulling our families out of bed to drive 2 hours to get to us. We decided to go ahead with the surgery.

Kevin called his brother and told him to leave work and meet him at our house. He left with the kids while I hung out waiting for my doctor to finish delivering another baby. Kevin had a 1 hour round trip to make, so we weren't in a huge hurry. He got back to the hospital, and I walked to the operating room 15 minutes later.

This was an experience unlike any other. First of all, it was my first time at this hospital. The operating room was at least double the size of the one I'd delivered the other children in. Also, they were playing good "fun" music. I received my spinal, was introduced to the OB assisting my doctor, and the show got rolling. After they made the first incision, they brought Kevin in. The surgery took a lot longer this last time because of scar tissue. Tessa Gwynne was born weighing in at 9lbs 3oz. I held my breath while they evaluated her. The nurse asked the pediatricians for apgars; my ob shouted out "she's a 12!" The nurses laughed, but she in truth was an 8/8. She had no signs of respiratory distress. I was finally able to relax. Kevin went with her while they took her to the nursery for her bath while they finished sewing me up.

My uterus was apparently not contracting very well, so I got some pitocin. The doctor massaged my uterus to help it stop bleeding. I also had my tubes tied. I knew that Tessa would be our last little one I would birth. She was brought to me in recovery, and she latched on perfectly to my breast from the very beginning. I couldn't ask for a better experience.

We left the hospital on Saturday, less than 48 hours after my surgery. I couldn't wait to get out of there! My mom had taken our other children to her house for the weekend so it was just Kevin, Tessa and me at home. Our first order of business was to all crawl into bed together for a nap. A coming home tradition we've had with all of our kids. It was a sweet end to our birth experience.