Tessa's Birth Story

Tessa's birth story is a rather boring one, which is fine by me because it means there was no complications or scares. 

For a while we thought she was going to come early since I had too much amniotic fluid and that tends to cause preterm labor. But after hitting 37 weeks and surpassing that deadline, I became convinced she was never coming out. Her brothers came at 35 weeks along so anything past that seemed like an eternity to me. I think she was getting a little too squished so she stretched out her living quarters with excessive fluid and then made herself so comfortable that she didn't ever want to leave. 

Because of the added complications that come with too much fluid and the fact  that I was SO DONE being pregnant, we set an induction date that I was sure that I wasn't going to make it to. I did.

On March 2nd I was 39 weeks and 2 days along. It was a little surreal waking up that morning KNOWING that I was going to give birth that day. Since my mom was staying with us we were able to leave the boys sleeping and headed very calmly to the hospital. No contractions, no water breaking, nothing. Jason even stopped on the way to the hospital to grab a bite to eat.

We were checked into the hospital. The nurse said that she would be surprised if my labor lasted longer than three hours since I was already dilated to nearly 5 cm. But since my doctor was busy they were going to wait a little while before putting me into serious labor. So we waited.

And waited a little more.

I wasn't progressing like they thought I would, so they broke my water to help things along. Tessa was chilling on one side of my belly and since there was no water to cushion her anymore, I was very lop-sided. I was showing Jason in this picture.

Finally it was time to push after about 5.5 hours. This is Dr. Cloward waiting between contractions. She was my doctor during this whole pregnancy and she was fabulous. It made me smile because from my position she looked like an angel with the light behind her illuminating her hair.

After 15 minutes of pushing (that I could actually feel this time around. I wasn't super numbed up like I was with the boys), Tessa made her grand entrance! She had a startle reflex as soon as she came out. Dr. Cloward said she has never seen a baby with that reflex that soon after birth.

She was born at 1:15 pm. They set her on my chest as soon as she came out. It was amazing.

Jason got to cut the cord.

And then they inspected her to make sure all was well. She was NOT happy.

Check out all that hair!

She was a cute mess.

She weight 7 lbs. 13 oz.

And was 20 inches long.

After she was deemed perfect, they gave her back to me. She took a long time to calm down. She would rest for a few seconds and then remember how upset she was and start crying again. She repeated this cycle numerous times before she finally settled down for good. We thought that this was a good indication of what kind of baby she was going to be. But apparently she was just really mad about being forced out of her warm, cozy, spacious home. She has been an angel baby since day 2.

Proud Daddy

I was really sad that the boys couldn't come to the hospital since it was flu season. They told us no visitors under the age of 14. We found out later that big brothers did not apply. They COULD have come. Bummer. But here is the three of us.

 Check out her long toes! She gets those from her mommy.

I just love my Tessa Rose.

 And so does her daddy.