Tessa Lorraine John

I haven't blogged for awhile - been in the hospital for a week. My blood pressure had spiked when I went in for my doctor's appointment on the 6th. They shipped me over to a bigger hospital close by. The doctors said that the baby was great and everything else was fine except my blood pressure - which they were managing. They were going to try to keep me in the hospital until I reached 36 weeks (I was at 34 weeks 3 days) unless some other complications developed or the baby was being harmed. I did not look forward to laying in the hospital for that long when I had other kiddos at home to watch. Actually, my sisters took care of where the others were so I did not have to worry about them - other then them not being with me.

On friday, a different doctor came in and said that there was a little higher than normal protein levels. He said he would like to do the c-section that day when both baby and I were "close" to healthy rather than wait to have more complications for both of us. I agreed because I was already going stir crazy! This was at about 8 am. I called Dan and asked if he would like to have a baby today - it was deja vu of when we had D. He hurried in...

I knew we were having a little girl but Dan didn't want to find out. I was so careful to make sure that he didn't find out - not even telling some very close friends for fear they would slip - making them not so happy with me:). We did good up until about 45 minutes before she was born - the doctor is the one who slipped up though - not realizing that he did. He was just reassuring Dan that girls are more developed at this gestational age then boys are and so we should not have anything to worry about.

At 10:42 our littlest baby girl was born. She came out crying! A relief for mommy when she is so small. She was four pounds eight ounces, 17.25 inches long and lots of blondish hair. She was the smallest of all my children... I sent Daddy with her to NICU while the doc finished up and anxiously awaited to hear his report. She was doing great - no problems with her breathing or heart at all. She was hooked up to monitors but that was just because it was NICU protocol not really because she needed to be monitored. She lost a little weight - which all babies do and is considered to be a "Feed and Grow" by the nurses, because that is all they need to do - feed her until she grows a little stronger and bigger.

Below is a picture of her with my Mom - whom she is named after. Too bad she wasn't actually born on the 11th because that is my Mom's birthday too. I don't think that I could have laid in that hospital bed that long just waiting for her to be born though.

My blood pressure stabilized and I left the hospital on the 13th anticipating the day when the whole family would be together...