• entries
    131
  • comments
    383
  • views
    53,300

WOW! 1 little thing can change SO much in a person's life.


lydiacevedo

1,193 views

There I was, snuggled into bed, having fallen asleep watching tv on 1/23/2015, all set to try get things done over the coming weekend, when there was a knock on my door. Tessa, who normally waits for me to respond, came through the door a second later, apologizing for waking me up, and explaining that she had instant messaged a few of her friends and they all said she should wake me up because she thinks her water may have broken. Nothing snaps a person into instant coherence than hearing that their daughter-in-law may have started going into labor. But, I chose to stay calm and asked her what had happened. As I listened, it dawned on me that she may well be starting to go into labor, so I asked her if she was feeling any cramping or contractions and suggested she call Garion, my son, to come home. As we waited for Garion, Tessa explained that the cramping was becoming more intense and at more regular intervals. It dawned on me that I didn't have anyone to watch Cookie Monster and labor and delivery were just one place I didn't think he needed to be. He would be in the way, and as he is protective of Tessa, I was concerned that if he heard her in distress, he would try to get to her. SO, when Garion got home, I instructed the kids to go to the hospital and have Tessa checked out. If it was noting, no harm/no foul. We'd have had a "dress rehearsal." If they admitted her because she was in labor, call me and I would be on my way. OK, off the kids went to the hospital.

 

3 hours later, at 4 am, I got the call "YEP!" I only needed the one word to know we were "go for baby." OK. Still having no sitter for Cookie Monster, I sucked it up and left him home alone with the cats, after making sure anything he might destroy in a fit of panic or depression was put up. Besides, he had the cats to keep him company. I also made sure all the animals had food and water, and let Cookie monster out before I gathered up my laptop and tablet and headed out the door. I landed at the hospital about an hour later, Tessa was still in triage, waiting for a labor/delivery room to be available, but since this was her first baby, it was taking a little while for labor to really get going. OK. We stayed in triage for about another hour, then they moved us to a labor room. In the mean time, Garion had called his brother and sister, and I had called my mother. Facebook posts of "Tessa is in labor" had also gone out. All we could do now was sit and wait, keeping an eye on Tessa and the baby for signs of distress, until it was time for her to deliver.

 

Tessa handled labor better than I had. She had a laboring tub in her room and chose to labor as long as she could in the warm water. Unfortunately, after several more hours, her doctor told us she had to get out of the water. he wasn't laboring the way they wanted her to, since her water had broken, so they were going to start a pitocin drip to help labor along. I had terrified flashbacks to Laney's birth and the pain I went though, then flashbacks of Garion's birth and how I had "failed to progress" and ended up with a c-section. I didn't say a word of it to the kids, I just held my breath and prayed. God was listening.

 

They showed up to give Tessa an epidural about 5 minutes after they started the pitocin. The epidural kicked in faster than the pitocin, so she never felt the mind shattering pain I had when the first "real" wave of a contraction hits you. I silently thanked God for sparing her that. By that time, the whole immediate family was in the labor room with Tessa, and the nurses were fine with that, as long as Tessa was ok with it. However, when the shift changed and the new doctor came on, she ordered no more than 3 in the room with Tessa at a time. O took control of the brood at that point and said "OK, sine Garion, Laney and I are the delivery support team, how about we go ahead and sit in the waiting area, and Logan, Kevin and Destiny can have some time with Tessa. It wasn't a question and no one acted as if it were. We simply got up, collected our things and did what I had instructed. In this situation, the kids were all very happy to simply follow what the nurses, doctor and Mom said to do. After all, we were the ones wit experience in this situation.

 

We sat in the waiting area chatting and wondering for about another 2 hours, then Destiny, Kevin and Logan came into the room and told us Tessa was ready to push and wanted us in there. We all hugged each other and the 3 of us reported for "duty," helping Tessa bring our long-awaited little one into the world. She pushed, and pushed, and pushed..........and pushed. A few times I could physically feel her frustration, panic and fear that she hadn't delivered yet. Garion was the strongest I have ever seen him. He emotionally supported Tessa and calmed her down, refocusing her on the task at hand. A couple of hours later, and we had a face, then the shoulders....the hardest and most painful part for Tessa, followed by the rest of our little girl. Only 1 time, as she was delivering the shoulders, did Tessa actually try to give up and melt down. We got her out of it and refocused quickly,

 

Tessa was shell shocked at what she had been though, after the birth, and was a little freaked out when the baby was put on her abdomen. We had to talk her down a little bit, something that she felt horrible about later, so I explained to her that I had felt the same way with all 3 of my kids, even going to so far as to tell the nurse that Laney wasn't mine, when she was born. It was ok. A lot of women go through that. It doesn't mean we are going to be poor mothers. Hearing that made her feel better about herself. But, she still refused to breast feed at that point. All of us, her family, were ok with her choice and prepared to support her, whatever her final decision was. Elaena Lee Lynn Cazzell was cleaned up, weighed, measured, and swaddled, then given back to her mother, who easily accepted her. Her stats were posted as 7 lbs, 13 oz/20.5 in. born at 9:51 pm on 1/24/2015. I shot the first pic of her on my cell phone, picture texted it to the kids, and they made the "official" facebook post, announcing Elaena's birth. I sent the first of the second wave of posts.

 

Along the way, I had had the good sense to text my best friend Lisa and ask her to stop by the house to let the dog out. She has a key, so it wasn't a problem. I can' always count on Lisa to be there. Friends like her are few and hard to find. When you have one, cherish them.

 

We finally got Tessa settled into a postpartum room with the baby. Poor little Tess was wiped out, physically and emotionally. She slept and Garion and I took turns syringe feeding Elaena until Tessa could try to breast feed her. When she finally was ready to try it, there was more pain than she could handle. Tess has always been very sensitive in that area and we were a little concerned it would e too much for her. She made the choice to bottle feed at that point. Several nurses tried to talk her out of that and into trying to breastfeed one more time, until I intervened on Tessa's behalf with a tone and force of will that challenged anyone to try to do anything less than accept Tessa's choice and that, as they say, was the end of that. At that point, I told Garion I was going to go home, clean up any mess the animals had made and get a couple of hours of sleep. He was going to spend the rest of the night at the hospital with Tess and Elaena.

 

Long story short (or shorter, anyway), Monday evening, Mom, Dad and Baby came home. I spent the whole of last week working from home to help the kids adjust to being new parents. Today is my first day back in the office. Around 10 am this morning, I realized that the blue and slightly depressed feeling I was experiencing was because I missed my granddaughter. This amazing little person, who already has quite a little personality, has already endeared herself so much that all I have done, mentally anyway, all day long to day is eagerly wait until time to go home so I can play with her and snuggle her. By Tuesday, last, it already felt like she had been with us a lot longer than a few days. Garion and Tessa are quickly adapting to being parents, and Tessa has identified the same 4 distinctly different cries that I have. Garion is a little behind us, but then, women are wired to distinguish the differences quickly. He'll catch up. We are turning into a fully integrated little family, and learning to work together to see to everyone;s needs, animals included.

 

And speaking of teh animals, Cookie monster is completely in love with little Elaena. He is never far from her, HAS to sniff and investigate any time she cries or fusses, and tries to sooth her by gently giving her tiny little ears careful kisses. I can't wait to see how their relationship develops as Elaena grows and can interact more with Cookie. I expect they will be the best of friends, and that Elaena will be one very safe little girl.

5 Comments


Recommended Comments

Congratulations to all on the birth of Elaena, what a wonderful thing it is indeed. I'm glad Cookie has taken to her to.  It will be interesting for you to be able to watch her grow.  Well done all!!

Link to comment

congratulations Lydia. I found out after decade if you take pitocin for labor pains there are chances your kid might have trouble latching in for breast feeding. I know my my son had in the beginning, & it made me feel like a failure as a mom since I had to opt for bottle feeding him though I was doing breast pumping milk but he would rather drink from bottle then breast feed felt so bad till recently found out side effect of pitocin. I guess being parent feeling guilty for everything you did or did not do is part of parenting

 

Asha

Link to comment
Guest
Add a comment...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.