The birth of Tess...
When I got pregnant with Tess we were one month away from being done having
babies. Halle came only after a long, hard road of infertility - several
shots, tests, surgeries, and an emotional roller before I finally got
pregnant. Once we had our perfectly healthy little girl, my thoughts turned
from nesting to how to afford both a wedding and a trip to Europe for Chad
and me before we die. We had multiple discussions about having a second
one, and even began "not NOT trying." But, I really wasn't investing the
same amount of thought and mental preparation for the second child.
We had been "not NOT trying" for a little while with no success, and we
decided to give it 6more months before we accepted our fate as a
single-child family. Low and behold, one night of fun in month 5 I
got knocked up (just about two weeks after I ordered my brand new size 26
skinny jeans I wanted for my birthday). Excited, yes, but also feeling some
"oh crap, here I go again." While we had become ok with the possibly having
an only child, the thought of Halle having a sibling thrilled me. Chad
couldn't wait to hold his precious new son, someone to teach how to hunt,
fish, throw a ball and pass down his heirlooms to (if he had any heirlooms).
As the pregnancy progressed we decided to take a "gender predictor" pee
test. Green for a boy and yellow for a girl. Well this particular sample
of my urine could not have turned the test specimen more green. Score for
Chad (man time), but WTF am I going to with a boy? A few weeks later, the
sonogram confirmed that we were, in fact, actually having a girl. $19.99
down the toilet for the "98% positive" gender test. Chad became oddly
quiet, and went through some sort of strange male grieving process for a
week. I don't think he thought he could stand 3 more years of diaper
changes where one has to "clean between the folds"...Nevertheless he quickly
came out of his funk and is now a fabulous girl dad (he even paints
toenails).
As for myself, I took this pregnancy like a free pass to an all you can eat
buffet for nine months. 6 waffles? Bring it. In fact, bring 8. Chad said
he was going to throw me a party if I reached two hundo. I gave it the old
college try but fell about 13 pounds short. Looking back, I think I deserve
some sort of consolation prize. I might even go get some cupcakes a bottle
of wine to celebrate what could have been.
Being pregnant and unreasonably large in the summer sucks. Whoever tells you
the "clothes are cuter and blah blah blah" obviously didn't have to take
their older child to the pool every day. Talk about a shot to the old ego.
My swimsuit resembled an ugly cocktail dress, and I floated in the water as
effortlessly as a fishing bobber. I finally forced my poor doctor to induce
me two weeks early. (I bet I could have had that party if I would have
waited to let nature take its course.) Oh well, I was done!!
Now the birth part...my first birthing experience was so easy I slept
through most of my drug-induced labor. I would wake up, watch a bit of
passions, eat a popsicle and go back to sleep. I think the real reason they
had to use a vacuum to get Halle out was because I was in la-la land and
really not into pushing much. (Good epidural.) I can't say the same about
my epidural with Tess. It was nothing like the calm experience with Halle.
Only part of the spinal cord took the epidural, so I felt everything on my
left side - not awesome. It feels exactly like what I imagine being sawed
in half would feel like. It was OK though, the anesthesiologist apologized
the next morning and explained that sometimes the shot only hits one strand
of the spinal cord leaving the other half functioning. "Oh you are sorry,
that's cool. BTW we are only paying half of your bill, k??"
So to wrap it up: two beautiful girls, two totally different pregnancies,
births, looks, and personalities. In fact, with Tess, Chad may have gotten
a bit of that son he always wanted anyway. She can kick like Hope Solo,
thinks she wants to drink "whispey" with Daddy, loves to play golf, and
really wants to go shoot a pig (she also loves clothes, make up, dolls, and
is a tad vain - still has the girly side, too). Life with two is fun.
Totally worth it. Glad we did it. I never have gotten those new skinny
jeans (in that size anyway), and now we have two weddings to worry about.
The trip to Europe is postponed indefinitely. At least we are pretty sure
Tess won't go to college...she is not much for authority, or listening in
general. Maybe Halle will support her one day when she is a starving artist drawing butts.... (see fb)
