Tenley's Birth

 

 

 

 

 

GO TIME!

 

 

 

 

I guess the story really starts the day that Reagan was born. Jake and I had just talked about having only one child, but the moment that Reagan was placed in my arms I looked over at Jake and said, “I’m not done. I want another one.” The time passed and passed, when I finally started to see the fertility doctor I was starting to feel like maybe Reagan would really be it for us. I went month after month with no baby in my belly & kept dragging my one year old to the doctors before the sun was up. They did more tests, more blood draws more ultrasounds and still kept trying to figure out why my 20 something year old body was not able to get pregnant. When I finally did get pregnant I was afraid to breathe because I was scared that the other shoe would drop. I went through the pregnancy promising that I would enjoy everything about having that precious baby in my belly because I knew that this would be our last baby. This would be the last time I would feel those first kicks, first roles & first time cries. The thing that people don’t tell you is that the second time around the pregnancy flies by. I felt like I didn’t get to enjoy it long enough because the second time around your so busy being a Mom that you never stop to just put your feet up for long. Than before I knew it we were at the final stretch of my pregnancy and it had went by in the blink of an eye.

This time around I knew that I was going to be scheduled for an induction at 39 weeks. When I got the phone call at 8:30am on Monday October 8^th I knew I had made it, we would be welcoming our second daughter in just 3 days. I had started to plan out how the week would go. I knew that Tuesday I would go to work, our friends got into town & Jake had to work overnight. I than planned how Wednesday was about getting all the last minute things taken care of. I would make sure to play a little longer with Reagan, read a few extra books to her. I would also snuggle her a little longer when putting her to bed because this would be the last day of her just being it. I was going to snuggle Jake a little longer in bed & get a great night of sleep.  I than planned out how Thursday morning I would wake up extra early so I could take my time getting ready. I would shave my legs, do my hair & makeup, while day dreaming about my little lady who was about to arrive. I than would go lie in bed with Reagan while she was sleeping so I could caress her hair and tell her how much I loved her while she was asleep. I would make sure to tell Jake how much I loved him and was excited for our next chapter... Those were all great plans, but I’m pretty sure when I try and a plan thing out God says, “I don’t think so. I make the plans not you.”

This is really how things went down Tuesday was just like every other Tuesday. I got up made myself breakfast & showered all before Reagan woke up at 8am. We spent our day just trying to get ready for company to show up that evening. We finished some banoffee cupcakes & chocolate chip cookies. Reagan went down for her nap at 1pm and I sat on the couch catching up on what was on our DVR. I knew that I should be doing something around the house, but between heartburn feet in the rips I wasn’t getting much sleep these days. At 2:45pm I went and woke Reagan up because we were off to collect Leo & Isabella from the bus. Than I would do homework with them until their parents arrived home at 6pm. Reagan was thrilled to be going to the kids house, but I was dreading the fact that Jake wouldn’t be coming to collect her because he had to work overnight. It can be difficult keeping a 2 year old entertained while working on homework, but we managed as we always do.

It was just after 6:15 pm when Reagan and I got home from the kids house. I really wasn’t in the mood to cook, but I decided on making breakfast for dinner. I had pulled some sausages out of the freezer that day and they were sounding pretty yummy. I dumped the sausage links in a pan, and went over to throw the wrappings away. That was when I saw the trash was full. My husband is probably one of the best around. He cooks, cleans, does laundry & plays with our kid. He is a down right saint for the most part and most of the time I think he is a better parent than I am. But when I opened that trash can to see that he hadn’t taken it out the night before I down right forgot about all of the wonderful things he does. I was pissed and I’m sure a little smoke came out my ears. I grabbed the trash and recycling and headed for the stairs, Reagan kept saying, “I come with, I come with.” I turned to her and told her to wait and I would be right back. Oh, I had forgotten to mention that the weather was a little cool that day and I had wool socks on. I went down the first step and somehow lost my footing and fell all the way down the first part of our stairs to the tile landing; I never dropped the bags, but did fall on my back and part of my giant pregnant belly side. I was a bit in sock when I got up, but Reagan was traumatized. She was screaming and crying for me as if I was broken into a million pieces. I was sore, but kept myself together for Reagan. I kept telling her that everything is okay. I kept it together until I called Jake at work and that was when I started to cry. I asked him if he thought I needed to call the doctor. I felt fine, but was just a little shaken up. Jake told me that it was a good idea just to call, but he reassured me that everything was probably okay.

I called the doctor on call and it was Dr. Rios. He didn’t answer, but I left a message explaining exactly what had happen with my phone number.  When Dr. Rios called back he had a strong Spanish accent, which reminded me of my fertility doctor. I explained again what had happen. He told me that because I was almost 39 weeks that the placenta could have detached in the back and I wouldn’t know and it was important to come get checked out. I know that he was just giving it to me straight, but this sure didn’t make me feel any more reassured. I called Jake back at work and asked if he could come home and take me in. He said that he would be home as soon as he could. While I waited for Jake to get home and Dallas and Sareh to arrive I made dinner for Reagan and me. It was after 7pm and my sausages were practically burned at this point. I managed to get some scrambled eggs, toast and sausages on a plate for both of us. I must have been starving because those sausages never tasted so good. I sent Sareh a text message and told he what had happen and she let me know that they were at the rental car place waiting on getting a car. I figured that I would get Reagan in the bath and try to keep her on schedule as much as possible. I gave Reagan her bath, read her some books and we said her prayers just as we do every night. I never in a million years thought that this would be the last time I would tuck her in as an only child.

Jake arrived home just after 8pm. I had just finished putting Reagan into bed and he got his clothes changed. Reagan heard him come in and he went in to give her a kiss goodnight. We got things in order and waited for Dallas and Sareh to arrive. They arrived at our house just after 8:30pm and we chatted for about fifteen minutes before Jake and I made our way to the hospital, which is a nice 45 minute drive. Jake and I chatted about our day and how we both were sure that we would be home before long. We figured that they would check me out and I would be home by midnight. I felt super crappy that we had just abandoned our friends at our house with our 2 year old.

Jake and I pulled into the parking lot at John Hopkins Howard County General just after 9:30pm. As we parked the car and walked across the street I saw two pregnant ladies coming out with their husbands. I was wondering if this was some sort of sign. Jake and I walked up to the security counter and the security agent gave Jake a tag and I asked for one also. He sort of laughed at me because it was obvious that I was the one to be seen at Labor and Delivery. Jake and I got into the elevator and headed up to the second floor and I don’t think that either of us thought this was the beginning of meeting our daughter. We walked through the double doors of labor and delivery and to the nurse’s station. They had all of my paperwork ready and we were just waiting on the triage nurse to come collect me. When the nurse arrived I recognized her because she was the same nurse I had seen a week ago, during my visit for a stress test. She didn’t have the greatest personality last week and I was dreading the fact that she was going to be my nurse again. I was surprised that she remembered me and even more so when she said that she never normally remembers people. She took me down to an actual labor room, which I was shocked about because I normally always just go into a triage room.

We walked into room 1 and I was told to go get undressed and put on a beautiful hospital gown. Jake sat down on the hospital couch thing next to the bed and started scanning the channels. I came back out and the nurse hooked me up to the monitor and told me that the doctor would be with me soon. We waited and about thirty minutes later a middle aged shorter man with a strong accent walked in the door. I instantly liked him and he had some of the best manors. He told me that my contractions were 10 minutes apart and everything looked amazing on the monitor. He check and I was 3 centimeters and 70% effaced. I was shocked because I was only 50% effaced the day before. He than told me that he was going to order an ultrasound to check the baby out. He said that he wouldn’t be able to sleep unless he made sure that he checked everything out. We waited and watched some chopped before the ultrasound tech arrived. She did a test that had to be done over 30 minutes. She checked the babies breathing, movement and size. She was checking out great for everything except movement. They had me move from one side to the other and the tech pushed on my belly trying to get our baby to move. What can I say other than she just wanted to be stubborn. The nurse came back in and just as we were finishing up and got the news that I had failed the ultrasound. She looked a little socked and I told her that we should just induce me now. She told me that she would let the doctor know what was going on. A little while longer the doctor came back in and sat next me on the bed and said that he didn’t feel comfortable sending me home. He wanted to keep me overnight and redo the test in the morning. I told him that I would like to just be induced than because I was already schedule for an induction the following day and I was already here. He said he would see what he could do and that he wanted me to get an IV put in just incase they needed it. The nurse was already getting things in order to put an IV in my arm. It was already after midnight when we got told that I would be spending the night. I asked Jake if he could get my hospital bag out of the car so I could take my contracts out and brush my teeth. After he got back I told him to go home and get some sleep because I was most likely going to get send home first thing tomorrow morning.

As anyone knows sleeping in the hospital doesn’t happen unless you’re sedated. I don’t think that I slept more than maybe 2 hours total. I was either sweating to death, uncomfortable or kept listening to the monitor. At about 3am Dr. Rios came in to check on the monitor strip. He told me that everything looked good, and asked if I had gotten any sleep. He also told me that Dr. Leak was on tomorrow and that he looked at the schedule for inductions and there was no one that could be bumped. He said that all the ladies coming in were either overdue, had diabetes or had lost a previous pregnancy. He said he would still try and get me to stay, but that things were not looking so great for me. I wasn’t going to be disappointed if I got sent home,  I knew that  I would be able to get at least a few hours of shut eye. This time around I just felt patient about her being born. It doesn’t mean that I wasn’t excited or extremely uncomfortable because well I was. At 6am I felt my stomach turning inside out as I was starving to death and the heartburn from last nights sausage was only making matters worst. I could only handle drinking so much water before I knew that I had to eat. That is when I remembered that I had a Kind bar in my bag. Oh, that macadamia and coconut bar never tasted better. I was just disappointed when it was gone. I drank some more water and peed for about the 10,000 time that night. I was wondering if anyone was planning on coming in because it had been hours since I had seen anyone. I just sat back and watched the horrible crap on TV. I decided to call my grandma like I do every morning to chat about TV, Reagan and what was going on with me in the hospital. I told her of my fall the night before and how I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Than to my surprise Dr. Rios came back in to let me know he was off and Dr. Leak would be coming to see me as soon as she could. He was still not sure of the outcome, but had fingers crossed for me.

I called Jake just after 7:30 am to make sure he was up, and they were about out the door. That is when I asked how his night was and to make sure he had grabbed the rest of stuff off my list. Thank goodness I reached him when I did because he was just about to drive off when I called. He told me that Reagan had woken up at 4:30am eager to play with Darby. I guess we had talked about Auntie Sareh, Uncle Dallas and Darby coming to town a bit much that she was over the moon with excitement. Jake ran back in the house to grab the rest of my stuff before they were on the way to me. It was just before 9:30 am when Jake and Sareh came in the room.. They had bags galore as if we were about to leave on a week long camping trip. What can I say other than I don’t pack light! I asked about the girls and the weather. They assured me Reagan was great and had things under control. Sareh told me it was a beautiful day outside. She said it was blue sky with some high whit fluffy clouds, but chilly. It was a true fall day.  That was when my new nurse came in. She was about 100 years old, or that is how her attitude seemed. She wrote her name on the board and introduced herself as Terry. I never got the warm fuzzy feeling, but wasn’t concerned because I figured I would be checking out soon. She asked when the last time I ate was, and when I told her about the Kind bar she sort of went off on me. I looked at Sareh who was thinking the same thing I was, “Witch.” That was when Dr. Leak walked through the door. She is a tall slender black lady probably in her late 30’s. She had scrubs on, her hair pulled back and glasses on. She has always been nice to me, but I felt like today she was extra warm. She walked over to my strip looked at it and asked what I wanted to do? That was when I pleaded my case to her. I told her about the induction for tomorrow, which she already knew about. I also told her how I was ready and already taking up space, why not just get the ball rolling now. That was when she turned to me with a smile on her face and said before she had come in she already had decided that she was going to induce me that day. She smiled just as she had been bursting to share the secret. I was smiling from ear to ear and looked over at Jake and Sareh who were both smiling. I think that I was a little shocked because I swore I was going to get sent home today.  I told her how the nurse had scolded me on eating a granola bar. She thought that was nuts and told me how she would have the nurse bring me in a menu because she wanted me to eat. She washed her hands checked me and said still 3 cm and 50% effaced. I was shocked because the night before I was 70% effaced. I guess different people have different measurements. She told me she was going to strip my membrane and it was going to hurt and it sure did, but it wasn’t as bad as I remembered with Reagan’s birth. She let me know that she was going to get the paperwork rolling. She smiled at me before she left and said, “Let’s have a baby!”

I was so excited. It felt like Christmas morning because I knew that before the day was over I would finally meet my new daughter. We called our parents and let them know that before long we were going to have a baby. Everyone was very excited that she was going to be born soon, and wished us good luck.  I decided that I was going to take a shower, but after I got into the bathroom I realized that I had an IV in my arm and that wasn’t an option. I was just relived I had shaved my legs the day before. I figured that since I had my hair straight and already up in a pony I would just keep it up. I started off washing my face, brushing my teeth and hair before I opened the bathroom door. I figured no point in curling my hair because I most likely had a long day ahead of me. When I opened the door I could see that Jake was busy working on homework. There is never downtime when you’re going to graduate school. Sareh was busy editing photos from a wedding she had done before coming out for a visit. I told them that the shower wasn’t an option because of the IV.  That was when Sareh picked up her camera and started taking pictures of me getting ready. It wasn’t like I was getting ready to have a baby, but we were getting ready for a night out. I tried my best to do my eye makeup, but because I had glasses on and no contacts it was a little difficult. I sure wish that I could have worn my contacts, but that just isn’t an option when you’re having a baby.

I finished getting ready and the nurse brought in the menu for my light meal. I looked it over and had no idea what I wanted to eat because nothing looked remotely good. I asked Nurse Terry what she recommended and she told me what she recommended. I finally decided on a turkey sandwich, chips and chocolate milk. After I finished ordering my food the nurse had me sign the rest of my paperwork for being induced. I told Jake and Sareh that if they wanted to get something to eat that this was the time to do so because we had a long day ahead of us. They both looked a little worried about leaving me, but I reassured them it was okay. That was when they decided to head out. I watched TV and waited for my food to arrive. I called my Mom and we chatted about what the coming events were. She was still concerned about my fall and wanted to make sure that Tenley was okay. I reassured her that things were fine and that the baby was good. That was when my food arrived and I got off the phone. My food looked like something from you cafeteria in high school. It wasn’t the amazing hospital food I had had with Reagan. I placed a ton of mustard on my sandwich and it helped it go down. I was about half way done when Jake and Sareh arrived back with food from Red Robin. We chatted about what they got to eat and how my food tasted. I finished eating at noon and let my nurse know because she told me it would be an hour before I would start on pitocin.

At 12:45pm Nurse Terry came in and started my pitocin coming in through my IV. I also gave her my birth plan, which she sort of wrote me off about. I was very calm and collective, but I was hoping she would be off work before I actually had the baby. When Sareh saw how she acted over the birth plan she looked shocked that the nurse had pretty much written me off. I normally would have bitten someone’s head off for the way she treated me, but I wasn’t going to let anything bring me down on this day. I decided to try and rest, while Jake and Sareh continued to work on their computers. I started to feel contractions with in 5 minutes, but they were nothing more than feeling like Braxton Hicks. At 1:15pm I turned the TV off and tried to fall asleep. I didn’t get to rest long because at 1:25pm my blood pressure alarm kept going off. I called Nurse Terry and she said that my blood pressure was super low. I drank some more apple juice & Sareh helped me go to the bathroom. There is nothing like going pee in a hat and not getting wrapped up in all the cords. The nurse also made me wear these ugly yellow hospital socks, which were not comfortable at all. I also hated the socks because I was getting hot with them on.

At 2pm my contracts start to get a bit stronger. I was still not bothered by them, but Sareh and I decided to keep track of them. At 2:06pm the contracts are a minute and half apart. At 2:10pm the contracts are 2 minutes and 12 seconds apart. At 2:16pm the contractions are 1 minute and 13 seconds apart. I figured that I wasn’t going to get any sleep because I was just so excited about having a baby. I kept wondering why my water hadn’t broke yet because with Reagan I wasn’t on pitocin very long before my water broke. I just kept telling myself that this was a different baby, which means a different pregnancy. At 2:38pm the Pottery Barn outlet called me to see if I wanted a bedside table I had called about previously. Sareh thought it was so funny that I took a call, while I was in the hospital having a baby.

At 3:00pm I got a new nurse! Yipee my new Nurse was named Elayne. She was in her late 30’s and nothing like the old hag that I had before. I asked her if I could get something for my horrific heartburn. I was really cursing those sausages that I had eaten the night before. She came back before too long and brought me some Tums, which helps a bit. I also asked her if it was possible for me to walk the halls of the Labor and Delivery. She said that she would go look for a monitor for me, but couldn’t promise anything. I was so happy when she came back with a monitor so I could get up and start circling the halls. At 4pm I start to do laps around the hallway. I see Dr. Leak in the nurse’s station. She says to me, “You’re making my job look to easy.” I tried doing some lunges when I didn’t see any nurses around because I wasn’t sure if they would say something to me about doing this. Sareh walked with me for a bit and than Jake did some walking with me. We just small talked about this feeling like it was taking forever. I got called back to the room by my nurse because the monitor wasn’t picking up and she needed to make sure she was monitoring me closer because of the medication I was on. She told me that I could walk around the room as much as I wanted, but I couldn’t keep walking the halls. I was okay that I couldn’t do laps any longer and just happy that I was able to do them for a bit. At 4:19pm I could tell that the contractions were getting stronger, but figured that was going to happen because they had been turning up my pitocin about every 30 minutes. At 5:16pm I decided to watch Parenthood. I could tell that my contracts were getting stronger and could feel them more in my back now. The nurse said that this could mean that the baby had turned and wasn’t ideal. I just kept having c-section flash in my mind. I just kept telling myself that everything would be okay. If I had to have a c-section it would be okay and I had no control over anything. At 5:45pm my pitocin was turned up to 20. The contractions were becoming more intense. It was still not in pain, but they were bothering me more and I could tell that they were there now.

At 6:00pm Dr. Leak came in to break my water. She checked me and said that nothing had changed I was still only at 3cm and 50% effaced. I looked over at Jake with pure sacredness. He gave me the great look of it will be okay. At 6:10pm Dr. Leak broke my water and let me tell you it shot out. I felt like it was the never ending amount of water coming out. I told everyone that it was like a giant water balloon had just broke between my legs.  As soon as my water broke the contractions were more intense. I was able to breath through them fine. We were all still laughing at your Mom jokes. I was having a lot more back labor and was no longer just a tight belly. After the nurse and doctor left I said to Jake that I was totally freaked out that I was headed towards a c-section. I was so sad that my body hadn’t done anything during the time I was on pitocin. Jake told me that he was sure things would be fine and not to stress. We watched some more HGTV and Food Network just waiting for the baby to arrive.

At 6:30pm the nurse asked if I wanted to get my epidural. I was hesitant because I was afraid it would slow down my labor. She reassured me that it wouldn’t slow things down and it could be an hour before the doctor came in to give me it. I finally decided that I would get the epidural. The contractions were intense, but I was doing fine breathing through them. There was a part of me that thought I could do the whole thing without the epidural, but I knew I wanted to enjoy my labor. At 7:15pm the doctor arrived to give me my epidural. That was when they asked Jake and Sareh to go wait in the waiting room and come back in about 30 minutes. The doctor was very chatty and wanted to talk about healthcare in England and what I thought about it. He was very surprised that I was not a fan of Universal Healthcare. I kept thinking to myself why the heck we are having this talk. Than the conversation turned over to how many overweight people we have in the USA. He kept telling me that he couldn’t understand how people could let themselves get so overweight. It seemed like forever until my epidural finally got put in. I think the most memorable thing about my epidural was that the doctor expected me to keep talking through my contractions. When the epidural was finally placed I felt instant relief.

A few minutes later Jake and Sareh came back through the door. They could tell that I was no longer in pain. I told the nurse that I could still feel pain on one side and she let me know that it might stay this way because sometimes you get an area that doesn’t take the epidural. I thought how the heck does this happen to me every time I have a kid I can’t get an epidural that fully works. At 7:00 pm I got another new nurse named Sarah. She was sweet and in her early 30’s. She told me about her 3 kids and how she had just graduated nursing school in January. I did have the thought run through my head that I was now stuck with the nurse who had zero experience. I pushed the thought out of my head because I knew that I had no choice at this point because the baby was coming soon. She placed my Foley catheter at 7:45pm. I was relived that I couldn’t feel it because having a catheter placed is pretty horrific. My nurse went did tell me how the baby would stay in the room for 90 minutes before they would take her to the nursery to check her out and bath her. I was pretty shocked that they did this and I think the nurse could tell because she then told me that she had heard of people refusing this. I told her that I would rather the baby be bathed and checked out in my room. She told me that she totally agreed with my decision and would see if there was any additional paperwork that I would have to do. Just before she left I told her that I was starting to feel sick. This was when she told me that it was probably from the epidural. I knew that my body was in transition. I have never gotten sick from medication before and I just had the gut feeling that things were changing with my body. At 7:54pm just in time the nurse gave me a hat because I started to throw up the apple juice I had been drinking that day. You know that you have a great friend when she will hold your puke hate. I’m forever grateful that my wonderful friend Sareh was part of Tenley’s birth. I’m also happy that she held the hat while I puked. I felt better afterwards, but was left with some more horrific heartburn. The nurse left to find out about the baby staying in the room and to see if I could have some heartburn medication.

At 8:06 my nurse came back to the room with some heartburn medication that was pretty horrific going down, but did the trick. She told me that if I lay on my side with one leg up in the stirrups that it helps move things along.  I was open to trying anything to speed up the process so I could meet my daughter. I could tell that Jake was exhausted, but he didn’t complain. He just watched TV because at this point he had finally finished his homework. At 8:30pm the baby dropped. I actually felt like it was time to push, but my nurse didn’t think so. The baby had dropped so much that she had to my nurse had to move the monitor pretty much all the way on my vagina. If this wasn’t code for go time I’m not sure what is. I could still feel the sharp pains of my epidural, but pushed the button to get a little more medication, which helped a bit with the pain. At 8:41pm switched to being propped up on my right side. The room is pretty quite, but we are having small talk with the nurse. The lights are dimmed and Jason Mraz is playing on Pandora.

At 8:45pm I told the nurse that it was time to have this baby. She asked how I could tell and I told her that I felt like my butt hole was open. Sorry for the picture. That was when she called Dr. Leak to come in. At 9:00pm Dr. Leak came in the room. She looked like a young kid with her hoodie, scrubs and ponytail. She checked me and said, “Yep, nothing but baby.” I sort of thought that she as going to leave and come back in a while, but she just started to get ready right then. The nurse got the cart opened up with all the delivery stuff and I knew that this was really going to happen. Jake took his position at my head because he is a guy that doesn’t want to see a thing. Sareh was by my right leg and my nurse was at my left. Jake gave me a kiss and told me that I was going to do great. At 9:10pm my doctor told me that it was time to push. Dr. Leak said that they had been taking bets on how long it was going to take me to have the baby. She told me that she thought it was only going to be 3 contractions. She also said that I was only in active labor for 3 hours, which I now think is pretty crazy. I guess I just have a body that is meant to have babies. I might not get pregnant easy, but I sure can have a baby easily.  The nurse asked me if I remembered how to push. I think pushing out a baby is like riding a bike you never forget how it’s done. I cleared my head as if I was about to start a race and knew I was ready to meet my daughter with ever part of me. The first contraction came and I took my deep breath and pushed with every part of me. That is when Sareh and the doctor told me that she had a ton of hair and that I was doing great. The doctor told me that my body was pushing her out and that the baby was moving because she could see her head moving. It only took a total of 3 contractions and Tenley was out. As the Dr. was pulling her out I heard her cry and I instantly felt relief. I had been so scared that I was never going to get this baby that when I heard that first cry my heart melted. They placed this beautiful chubby baby on my chest and she was beautiful, she was everything that I had prayed God would give us. She had dark hair that was kinky curly smashed on her head, eyes wide open, chubby cheeks and was very cheesy. I felt warm tears fall down my face as I looked at this precious baby I had dreamed of and worked so hard to have. I got to hold her for a few minutes before they took her over to the warming light to check her out. Jake never left her side and I could tell that he already loved her as much as I did. I was shocked when I saw that she was 7lbs 15oz. The doctor cleaned my up, but I watched my girl and her Daddy. It melted every part of my heart watching Jake because he is already an amazing Dad to Reagan and I knew it would be the same for Tenley. When Dr. Leak finished she came over and gave me a hug and told me that I was amazing. Just before she left the room she told Jake that she would deliver any babies we have because I was the ideal patient. When Tenley was all cleaned up and Jake brought her back to me she was already do the hungry face that Jake and I call when their tongue is moving all around like they are starving. I placed her at my breast and I don’t know if it was because I knew what I was doing, but she was a champ. She latched on and nursed for 20 minutes like she had been doing it forever.

We stayed in the room for about 2 hours. The nurse came and gave Tenley her first bath. I tried to get up a bit too soon because my one knee gave out and I went right to the floor. The nurse helped me back in bed and told me that we had to wait a while before I tried again. A little latter I finally got in the wheel chair and was able to start getting ready to head off to the recovery room. I told Jake and Sareh that it was okay for them to go home because they both looked beat at this point. It was just after midnight when we finally headed over to the recovery wing. Jake and Sareh helped get me and Tenley set up before they went home to get some sleep. They both asked me a million times if I was sure I didn’t want them to stay, but I figured it was better for them to get some sleep. I was also excited to have some alone time with my new precious baby. That night I got to snuggle Tenley and watch TV. I didn’t get much sleep because I had a very chatty nurse, but I was still on cloud nine. I knew that the next day I would be feeling the lack of sleep, but at that moment I didn’t care. Tenley was an angel and slept most of the night, except when I would wake her up to nurse.

Thank you for letting me share my birth story about Tenley. I know that this is all messed up, but I only seem to write at night when I’m exhausted. I didn’t proof read it before I put it on my blog, which I’m sorry about.

~Candice