after the alter tessa

Well ladies and gentleman the little girl that you have been hearing so much about has arrived (well…she arrived a week ago, but who has time to write with a newborn!?). She entered this world on September 18th at 2:41 pm. Weighing 7.5 lbs and was 20 inches long. When they put her on my chest for the first time I was in awe. We made her…The Captain and I. This little girl is our miracle and we waited so long for her arrival, and there she was. She was ours. I don’t want to forget what it was like so I wanted to share our birth story.

My son was born at 38 weeks 1 day, so once we passed that point I felt like our little girl was late. If you have been pregnant you know how horrible the last weeks are and I was feeling pretty crabby. I actually physically felt better than I had a few weeks earlier, but mentally the thought of birth terrified me and the waiting was driving me nuts. I needed her out. I went to my 39 week appointment and the doctor told me she was happy with how everything was looking and would induce me the following day if I wanted, but I didn’t. It scared me due to the fact that so many have gotten induced and ended up with a C section, so I wanted to wait. She then said it wouldn’t be long and she was on call to call her once contractions started…so I got myself excited. I left the appointment feeling positive that the end was near. If she was wrong and I didn’t go into labor soon, then we were to set up my induction date for the following week. That gave me some peace of mind.

Getting ready to go to the hospital!

That night as I was watching TV I began to feel some tightening and cramping. I started paying attention to the time and realized it was all happening 8 to 10 minutes apart. When I had my son they told me not to come in till I was 3 minutes apart after my water broke, so I felt like it was too soon. But after the doctor told me to call her once my contractions started I decided to give it a shot. Not to mention that I now lived farther away from the hospital (about 30 minutes), and I still had to get my mother in law to our house to watch our son. Plus, if I was going to the hospital I had to decide if I was going to give my parents the heads up in Pennsylvania so that they could take the ride at a normal hour rather than the middle of the night or rush hour. So much to think about!

It is so different the second time around when you have a child. If it were just me and the Captain I would’ve just waited and left, but there were so many other factors. The main one was taking care of my son. The good news is that when the contractions began they started at night, and that meant he was sleeping which was much easier. I started feeling constant contractions 10 minutes apart so I called the doctor. He said “Well, I’m here so come in and if you are not in active labor we can get you in active labor.” I was surprised by his answer, but felt positive. So we called my mother in law to come to the house (it was about 10 pm and she lives about 20 minutes away). Then we decided it best to call my parents in PA so they could start their trip at that time rather than the middle of the night or rush hour. I felt bad that they were going to start their trip around 11 pm, but the alternative sounded worse. So onto the hospital we went!

I was so nervous. I knew the time was coming for labor, but the unknown for how labor was going to go was terrifying. All I could think of was “this is it!” . So we parked, went to admitting, and onto Labor and Delivery. They put me in the triage room and checked me out. I could tell they were looking at me funny when I told them the contractions were 10 minutes apart. I had a long way to go, but based on stories some women go from zero to sixty quickly and I DID NOT want to miss that epidural. Soon, the doctor came in. The one who told me to come in and said “well…I think you should walk around for 2-3 hours. I’m going to go home.” Yup, that’s what he said! I was thinking “But you told me to come in!!!” I was so angry. He was so dismissive! WTF!? I would’ve stayed comfortably at home, but instead my options were to walk around the hospital for 2-3 hours or go home. Neither were great options. The Captain came up with the idea to go to my inlaws house which was much closer to the hospital. Maybe get some sleep in? So we left. I was so discouraged. Before leaving I asked if I was actually in labor and hoped they wouldn’t tell me it was a false alarm. I mean I had my parents driving in from PA! I was embarrassed. They told me that I was in early labor and it would happen soon…it didn’t make me feel much better.

At my inlaws house The Captain went to sleep and I stayed on the couch thinking that there was no way I’d sleep. I planned on counting contractions all night, but it turns out they started to slow down. They grew farther apart. I was sad. I even was able to sleep! That’s how not bad the contractions were. In hind site it was a good thing, but at the time I just wished I was back in my own home.

The following morning I noticed the contractions were back and coming closer together. Around 5-7 minutes. Still far apart, but if you know Long Island you know the morning commute traffic can be horrible…let’s face it…it’s stopped. The last thing I wanted was to be stuck in traffic in labor, so I woke up Captain Awesome and said let’s get back near the hospital. I knew the OB who told me to come after 3 contractions was on call at 8:00 am so I knew she would see me. So again we hopped in the car and hit the road. Still, the contractions weren’t too bad, but I felt better being close the hospital. Once we got there we parked, came inside, I ate some yogurt and decided to take a good walk. Maybe that would get things going. So, we walked the parking garage. Up flights of stairs, and down through the garage. Then…after 8 I called the doc. She said she knew she’d hear from me. She told me to go in, she’d get epidural set up and be there shortly. Again I started to feel positive.

This is where everything turned around for the better. They got me right in, they got me a room in labor and delivery and I met the nurse who would take me on my journey. She was an 18 year L&D veteran and so nice. As a matter of fact everyone at North Shore Manhasset was amazing. I was comfortable in a bed, and I wasn’t in too much pain. All was good. Now the real work was about to begin. I was nervous again for how it would play out. Either way my baby girl was going to be on her way in the near future. I just hoped all would be well….