It’s been almost a week since she arrived, and I’m still not feeling up to doing much. It’s been a hard week! Last Wed. night (the 11th), which was my due date, I started having contractions. They weren’t real painful, but they were consistent and close together. After 3 hours of this, I decided to go to Labor and Delivery to have it checked out. They hooked me up to the monitor in triage and saw that my contractions were not very strong and I was only dilated to a 2. They were going to send me home, until they saw the baby’s heart rate drop on the monitor. So, they kept me there and admitted me so they could keep an eye on the baby. It seemed that every time I had a contraction, her heart rate would dip, which meant that there was pressure somewhere on her umbilical cord that was cutting off oxygen when I contracted. So they decided to give me pitocin to speed things up. It didn’t work. They took me off and put me back on numerous times over 6 or 7 hours and I was still only dilated to a 4. They finally gave me a shot to stop labor to give baby a break. That is when my body kicked in and decided to do things on it’s own. Within half an hour of the shot, I dilated to a 7 and within an hour she was born. I only pushed 3 times and she was out! Quick! That was at 8:11 am. She weighed in at 6 lbs. 2 oz. and was 19 inches long. All during my labor though, I was nauseated. I usually am, so I didn’t think much of it. But, after Tessa was born, I started throwing up, my head was spinning and then the worse headache imaginable came on. I thought I was going to die! They kept me in the delivery room for at least 3 hours because I couldn’t stop vomiting. The nurse talked to the anesthesiologist and he came and talked to us and it was concluded that I had a spinal fluid leak from the epidural. The pressure in my spine from the leakage had caused wwthe pressure in my head and the nausea. I was down for the count. The only thing I could do was wait 24 hours and then get a blood patch. The thought of them poking me again did not appeal to me and so I decided to stick it out at first. It was so miserable-I couldn’t hold Tessa or nurse her, or walk or even sit up. I couldn’t eat, hardly slept, besides the pain and nausea, I was congested and couldn’t breathe. My mom or Julio took turns taking care of me and the baby around the clock. Tessa was having a hard time eating too. Her sucking reflex wasn’t kicking in. So, that was another issue. Her jaundice levels went up and so we had to be very careful that she was eating consistantly-which was a lot of work. My dad took care of the kids when Julio was at the hospital with me. On Saturday, I decided I couldn’t take it anymore and got the blood patch which is supposed to stop the leakage and relieve the pressure. At first it didn’t work, then I thought it did. They sent me home on Sunday because at least I could sit up and walk around and feed the baby. Monday however, we had to take the baby to the doctor (fortunately her jaundice levels had gone down and she’s ok) and I was up and moving around a lot. By that afternoon, I was suffering again. I called the doctor and they said to lay flat again for the rest of the day and if it wasn’t better I could go back to the hospital and get another blood patch. So, yesterday (Tuesday) I did just that. The headache was gone almost immediately. My back is really sore now though from all the prodding. I’m sure I’ll be feeling better soon. During all this trauma with my headaches, Tessa was not eating well and hadn’t pooped for like 3 days. We were worried about her. Those issues have also resolved themselves. She’s eating and pooping normally now.
As for the other kids; they are adjusting surprisingly well. We’ve had a lot of help from my mother, sister, dad and people in the ward who have brought food in. I’m so thankful for those people who were willing to help out during this difficult time. I know that trials make you more aware of your blessings and having good health is definitely a blessing. So is having a new baby. We are so in love with her. Tessa is beautiful in every way-sweet and innocent and pure-straight from our Heavenly Father. I wish she could stay that way forever.
Just before pushing.
Welcome to the world Tessa!
Grandma’s sharing the good news
With big sister Lucia-she wanted to hold her right away.
I LOVE the look on Sylvie’s face! The first thing she did was come and hug me and then she got down and we asked her if she wanted to hold the baby. She shook her head yes, sat down and held out her arms-then gave her this look. It was priceless!
We kept asking Marco if he wanted to hold her and he’d say, “In a minute” He was too busy looking out the window and exploring the room. He wasn’t opposed to holding her, it was just inconvenient to him at the moment, but eventually he did hold her. It was so cute, the kids made a little house in the window seat and started playing there.
With her proud daddy.
Our beautiful baby.
. I wish we didn’t have to go back to our regular routine. I like being able to sleep in, not worry about driving anywhere, eating and napping as we please, letting the kids play all day, no homework, and going to bed late. We didn’t schedule or plan much for the week, just tried to get stuff ready for the baby and relax.
