(This is a long story, but I want Tessa to know all about how she came to us. My apologies in advance.)
I have mentally replayed the day that Tessa was born a thousand times in my head since she joined us… I’ve been asked about it by countless doctors, nurses, therapists, family members, friends… my Birth Day story always starts the same: Tessa came into this world like a whirlwind and by the end of the day, I had no clue what just happened to me.
You have to understand that Ellie took her sweet time joining our family. She came three days late, my labor pains started 36 hours before she graced us with her presence. We needed her to come on time because my brother and his wife were getting married a couple of weeks after her due date and I was desperate to go to their wedding. Ellie was born on the date that I had set as my mental deadline after which I would not make the trip with the rest of the family. I actually asked one of my OBs if he thought I had any chance of going early with Tessa and he told me that given my good health and the baby’s, I could pretty much count on being pregnant until my due date, plus or minus three days.
I was mentally prepared for the long wait. I was prepared to be a very uncomfortable 39 weeks pregnant at Christmas. I was prepared to spend New Years Eve chewing Tums and drinking sparkling grape juice. John was counting on having our Winter Break to prepare the house for Baby. When Ellie was born, my home was spotless. I had all the washcloths lined up in the bathroom, groceries in the cabinets, drawers were stocked with little tiny diapers, all of the clothes we had for her were washed and neatly folded in the drawer…
I cannot comment on the state of my home just prior to Tessa’s birth. If I did, well, I’m pretty sure the Health Department would be at my door. It was that bad.
At my 37 week appointment, the evening before I had Tessa, I joked with my OB that I was just hoping that Baby would come before the new year so that we would be able to deduct her on our taxes. Little did I know that in less than 24 hours, we would meet our newest family member.
John and I went to dinner. I at a LOT of spicy nachos. At 3:30 am, I woke up a little bit and thought to myself, “oh man, Mags, you definitely overdid the jalapenos last night!” One hour later, my indigestion was coming at regular intervals and I had one of those Hollywood moments where I turned to John and said “Honey, it’s time. I’m in labor!”
His response was, no joke, “you can’t do this today, I have to give a test.”
When I not-quite-so-politely told him where he could shove his stupid test, he agreed that I could have the baby today as long as he could go into work and “set things up.” And he left.
(In his defense, he really does feel badly about how he handled that morning and has apologized profusely. But it needs to be documented, nonetheless.) 🙂
When he finally arrived home, contractions were coming hard and fast and I needed to get my butt to the hospital. As he slowly packed his bag, I begged him to hurry up and wake up Ellie. He told me he was waiting until the last minute to get her up. When I yelled that it was the last minute about 30 minutes ago, something finally clicked in his brain and we were moving.
The drive to the hospital is 40 minutes on a clear day and we were in traffic. I recall that I insisted that at stoplights, John should not stop next to any drivers because I didn’t want people to be freaked out by my labor. There was Christmas music playing, Ellie was singing “Oh Susannah” in the backseat, pausing only to giggle and repeat my yelping through contractions.
8:30
We got to the hospital and got to triage, I told the nurse I was definitely ready for my epidural. While I’m sure it’s very empowering to have a baby naturally, I am all about modern medicine. There was a wait, I was checked, I got moved to a room.
9:30
I got my epidural. Hallelujah.
10:45
My OB came in to check me and I was at 6 cm. Yippee! I was counting on an hour or so per centimeter. I called my mom to ask her to come be with me while I labored, started checking my work email, chatted with the nurse.
11:15
OB comes back to check me one more time before he leaves and another doctor would be on call to deliver me.
Scratch that, I’m complete. Time to push.
But wait, I’m writing an email! John hasn’t eaten his sandwich! I’m not ready!!
From there, it’s a blur.
11:30 AM
Someone’s blood pressure was dropping (don’t know if it was me or Baby), NICU was called, I got oxygen, they used a vacuum to get Baby out, two pushes and then we had a baby. The nurse asks John to tell me if it’s a boy or girl and it took him what felt like eternity to tell me that it was another girl. He told me later that her cord was wrapped around her.
11:35
I’m dealing with the pleasantries of post-birth and John is with our beautiful girl as they check her, weigh her, give her the Apgar rating (don’t ask me what it was, I have no clue). I hear the NICU nurse practitioner say …Down Syndrome… strong markers… the room gets quiet and my labor nurse looked and me and quietly asked “did you know?” I just shook my head and tried to come up with a question to ask, tried to plan what would happen next. Then I was holding my little girl and the nurse practitioner started talking about monitoring in the NICU. Tessa needed an echo cardiogram to check her heart, she needed some tests to confirm the Down syndrome, she would be there for at least 24 hours. We held her for a couple hours and off she went to the NICU and off we went to the Mother Baby Unit.
So that’s how Tessa came into the world. From there, we saw social workers and geneticists, neonatologists, cardiologists, lactation consultants… there were lots of people. We had the most positive experience in the NICU that a person can have really. It was hell being separated from my new baby and my big girl at home. We had the most amazing nurse, Theresa (more about that later) to help us at the NICU and our family and friends at home… and we got through it. And now here we are. Home, comfortable, happy, healthy, and loving life as a family of four.
Yo soy La Lay 