Lying in bed Saturday night I had finally resigned myself to the fact that she was never, ever going to get here. Luckily, I was wrong, and woke up around 2 in the morning with really bad back pains. It was hard to tell if I was having contractions or not because the back pain was just totally overwhelming whatever was going on with my abdomen. I woke Marc up at 3 and we spent the next 40 minutes trying to call the doctor. Turns out I was having back labor, which is why I couldn't feel the contractions in my belly as much. We dropped a groggy Teresa off at a friends house and ended up heading to the hospital around 4, with my contractions only 2-3 minutes apart. We actually got a police escort off of base, which was pretty exciting.
Based on how fast T's labor was, we were pretty sure it wouldn't take long to get this baby girl here as well. We guessed she would be here by 8 or 9 in the morning. We were so wrong! I couldn't believe how long it took. My epidural was so much better this time around, so that part of labor was better than with Tressa. I actually didn't mind that it took so long, since I was able to get a few naps in. But the pushing was way, way, WAY worse than with Teresa. Good grief. Nora took almost an hour and a half of pushing, compared to T's barely 30 minutes.
The main difference between the two was that after T was born I thought "that wasn't too bad, I can totally do that again", and this time I thought "wow, I'm probably not ever going to want to do that again".
Another big surprise was how little she is! I was hoping she would be smaller than T was, but still expected her to be pretty darn big. She weighed in at 8lbs 1oz, and is 20 3/4 inches long. The nurses kept calling her LGA, or large for gestational age, but we think she is tiny. I think it's so weird that my body would grow such completely different sized babies. I guess if/when we ever have a third baby we really won't know what to expect!
We had such a hard time naming this baby! With T, we had her name picked out as soon as I knew I was pregnant, and the first time I saw her I knew for sure that she was a Teresa Brigid. With Nora, we had a name we'd been calling her, but it just didn't seem to fit once we saw her. We finally went with Nora, because we like it, but it turns out we both have some Nora's in the family history, so that worked out. And the Merian is after Marc's mom.
Teresa loves her baby sister, she was so excited to see her in the hospital, and get to hold her. When Nora started complaining T would just keep saying 'sad' over and over, and once Nora started really crying Teresa just totally lost it and started sobbing as well. I think that one was a combination of empathy and being a little scared of what was going on. She likes to point out her nose and ears and hair, and anytime she starts to stir T puts a finger up to her lips and says 'shhhh' to her.
We're so happy to be home now, both girlies are sleeping peacefully so I guess Marc and I should go try to do some of that too!
7 comments:
Wow, it totally weirded me out for a second there seeing Tressa with a BABY on her lap! Wow! She's a big sister! And to such a gorgeous little thing!! Nora is beautiful, and I love her name :) I'm so sorry you had back labor, that sounds horrible. And I'm still in shock in that she was ONLY 8-1. You for sure have to have at least one more so we can see who she/he takes after... You and Marc look great, by the way! Congratulations again on your sweet new baby! I can't wait to hold her! I'm so jealous of Z if he actually gets to see her before he leaves.
Congrats you guys! She is adorable and I love the name. It fits her perfectly! And sorry your labor wasn't fun (well what labor is!? lol) but you're done for now and you have another sweet girl to show for it. Congrats again!
Congratulations cute family! Nora is beautiful and big sister Teresa is so cute. I love those sweet sister moments. There are plenty more to come! :-)
Oh, she is so beautiful! I LOVE the "cheese" pic. of T. I can hardly wait for April to come so I can see her in person.
Oh, she is so beautiful! Wow, I just realized that's exactly what Melissa typed! It's so true! T with little Nora is so sweet! Oh my goodness!!! I can't believe she's a big sister either! Tara, you are looking great! You too Marc! Especially with such a beautiful bundle! And How exciting to have a police escort :0) Congratulations!!! We LOVE you, Nora!!! and Teresa! And Tara and Marc! all you Milligans! I wish I could hold her!
I'll try again to leave a comment ... of course I loved the pics ... little N is so relaxed and cute like a pea in a pod in that last pink picture! It appears you colour coordinated T&N with some Valentine-y pink... such beautiful little girls... and their parents look great too! Thanks for sharing ... love, Mom (Dad too) xox
Ditto to all the above congrats - they said everything I wanted to: she's beautiful, I love her name, the matching clothes/ blanky are so cute, and I know how it feels to think 8 is a small baby! I thought for sure Connor would weigh in at 7, but when they said 8,15 I thought I was in the twilight zone. Congrats again!
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