The Birth of Teresia Benedicta

I've wondered for a while now if Teresia was really going to make it to her mid-December due date, but I definitely did not expect to be adding pictures of her to my "November 2014" folder on my computer. She made it past 37 weeks, which means we were past the cutoff for our planned homebirth, but it was still a big surprise!

Our day was moving along rather slowly Saturday afternoon, after Grandpa graciously spent a good part of the day entertaining the kids by completing various projects around my house. Gussie was a little extra crabby, and eventually crawled up in my lap and fell asleep. After a short nap, he opened his eyes, sat up a little, and threw up all down my front. Several times. Before I had even decided on a strategy to get both of us upstairs and cleaned up with minimal collateral damage to the path we had to take, Michael Jr opened his eyes from where he had been sleeping on the couch and threw up. Several times.

It was a moment I was exceedingly glad not to be the only parent in the house.

Both boys each threw up again before the evening was done, so when they both fell asleep on the couch I just left them there at bed time. Knowing that whatever it was would likely sweep through the rest of the family, I was too scared to eat any dinner. And knowing that I would likely be up in the middle of the night with whatever kid was sick next, I went to bed early.

At midnight I woke up with a serious stomach cramp and immediately thought, "oh, great... not a kid next, me next." But I didn't actually feel really sick. But the stomach cramps were real and didn't go away. It took about half an hour for me to decide that they were probably contractions, not stomach cramps. And about another half an hour more to decide they weren't the same contractions I'd been having for weeks, and probably were not going away. So I called my midwife and woke Michael up to let him know she was on her way over.

When my midwife arrived, my contractions slowed down a lot, so she and her assistant went downstairs to hang out and wait. (I heard later that Michael Jr woke up on the couch and just stared at them for a long time without saying anything, which they thought was hilarious.) I'm pretty sure at that point I could have walked around or up and down the stairs or something to help move things along, but I was completely exhausted and not feeling well (something different/in addition to the whole being in labor thing), so I lay down and I think I fell asleep for a couple hours. I woke up again maybe around 4am with more serious contractions that stayed around for a while, and was actually a little relieved that I hadn't called my midwife over in the middle of the night for no reason. 

Then I started to feel really sick. Then I threw up for about five straight minutes, at which point my midwife came upstairs to check on me. I felt so much better after that that I actually wondered out loud again if it all wasn't just the stomach bug and nothing else.

And then Teresia arrived about 5 minutes later, around 4:50am. My fifth birth, and five minutes before I was holding her I was seriously wondering if this was truly labor. There must be something wrong with my brain.

But those last five minutes went smoothly and even though 37 weeks is definitely on the early side, Teresia is healthy and thriving. Without the last few weeks to pack on the pounds she was 7 pounds even, much smaller than any of her siblings who ranged between 8lb 4oz and 9lb 2oz. But she's breathing just fine and nursing and sleeping well and passed all of her newborn evaluations with no problem. She has a little bush of very dark hair and very dark blue eyes (for the moment).

Gussie was the first of the kids to start waking up around six. He had absolutely no idea what to do at first, but when Mary woke up not much later and was very happy and excited, he followed suit. Then Michael Jr and Catherine came in meet their new sister, and Daddy even had time to shower and make coffee before he had to head off to Mass for a couple hours.

And since then, my biggest problem has been regulating the big sibling holding time. (Well, after I threw up two more times Sunday morning. I still have no idea if the throwing up was a birthing side effect new to me, or if my body decided to have a baby and a stomach virus at the same time. Either way, not my favorite.)

Catherine is trying really hard to claim this one as her own. You can't blame her really; being a little early, Teresia is extra tiny and extra sleepy, which translates into extra cuddly.

Saturday afternoon (not long before he got sick), Michael Jr told me several times that he was ready to see Teresia and he was going to see her that day. I figured out that it was because I had told him that Teresia would come before Christmas and he thought if she came sooner than Christmas would come sooner as well, but still, I think I can partially blame the early delivery on him.

For the whole first day, every time Michael came into my room he would ask if his sister had still been born. I think I've finally convinced him she isn't going to be "unborn" any time soon.

Mary is in a constant battle with Catherine to convince Catherine that she can do just as much with a baby even though she's not the *oldest* sister.

Catherine is holding her ground.

Mary's not backing down.

Needless to say, there have been a few big sister skirmishes around here today. (I'm pretty sure I took more pictures in spite of the crummy light all day - they're probably on Grandma's camera.)

And now Catherine just ran to the bathroom to throw up. Which makes me think even more that my body decided to have a baby and a stomach virus on the same day. Who does that? I really don't think it was worth getting both over with at the same time.

But we're very happy to have Teresia here! (Even though I finished somewhere close to zero of the pre-baby plans I had). I can only imagine she has many more surprises in store for us.