Birth Story Part 1

Coral's birth story starts on Sunday, Aug. 31st, the day before Labor Day in my mind. I was scheduled to be induced that day, and would have been 40w3d pregnant. We were ecstatic, nervous and all other sorts of emotions. It was super trippy to think we were becoming parents the next day. Or so we thought. 

We had a few Saturday plans to get ready for baby, but mostly wanted to relax. I was so ready to be in labor, minus the small fact that I was terrified of pitocin. Not sure why, but otherwise, bring on baby was how I was feeling! 

I walked with Jessie and the girls. My sister, BIL and niece and nephew were coming into town from Austin so we cleaned the house.  I was so excited that a UT skirt from 2006 fit me and took this picture. 

I ALMOST posted it with the caption "we are becoming parents tomorrow!!!" on social media but luckily did not. I decided announcing my induction date to the interwebz was a lot of pressure.  We told all immediate family members, and most close friends what the deal was - and I was happy with that. 

Matt grilled steaks for my last meal since I was instructed to start fasting at midnight. I wanted lots of protein to keep me energized. We watched college football all by ourselves and had a calm night. Bags were packed, and the hospital could call us as soon as 4 am.  If we had not heard back from

them by 6:30 am, we were to call them and get our time slot.

Believe it or not I actually fell asleep at 11. I woke up every hour to check the time, and by 5:30 am I was fully awake. I laid there and waited til 6:30 am. Then I went to the nursery and nervously made my first phone call to the hospital.

"No we dont have a bed at this time, Call back at 9 am." 

Okie dokie. I did just that. 

"No we don't have a bed right now, but things should begin to lighten up around noon. We are working on it, have talked to Dr. Leeds-Richter, and we'll call you." 

Noon came and went, and at this point I was antsy and a bit pessimistic. I told Matt "let's just go to the movies. Let's pack everything up, and wait it out at the movies." He said ok, but then dodged the request which clearly meant, no Tess, that is crazy. I got the hint and dropped it. Finally at 1 pm we cracked and called.  

That's when things got sketchy. 

"It is not looking good, we will check with ginger, and give you a status update. We'll get you a firm answer within 30 minutes." 

1 hour later. Still no call.  We called them again, since they clearly were in no rush to call us.

"We officially need to cancel. There simply isn't any room. Be at your Doctors office at 9 am on Tuesday morning. Resume eating and monitor fetal movement." 

I then shared some not so nice words with said hospital staffers, and hung up on the stupid lady named ginger mid- sentence. 

We called our parents to let them know; nope- Today is not baby day. We texted everyone else.  It was pretty much the most awful news to share, especially while our phones were blowing up with "good luck!" "Can't wait to see the baby," "keep us posted!" ect ect. I didn't want to respond to anyone, but after a few hours I forced myself to let people know. I copied and pasted the same text to all folks who had inquired.  It was all I had the energy for. 

After moping around for a solid 3 hours, we decided to go eat spicy food and see a movie. Just to get out of the house. My picky eater husband chose a Cajun restaurant in highland village. We talked at length about the day. We were both emotionally exhausted, and decided that maybe the scheduled delivery was too much of a production for us. Since everyone would be off for Labor Day, it seemed a parade of people were ready to meet us on what would have been day 2 of our hospital stay. We were feeling overwhelmed by it all, so maybe this was for the best. 

We also talked about how little Coral was probably stubborn and slow like her daddy, and we truly didn't think she'd come on her own. She would need to be evicted on Thursday (the rescheduled induction date).  We weren't even going to hope for anything sooner. 

Well... apparently Little Coral was listening and laughing at us.. Because not even 12 hours later little girl decided she was coming into this world. All on her own... 

Part 2 coming soon! 

Furniture Friday | Nursery glider

TGIF people! Coral and I have had a wonderful night and day.  Matthew really took care of us yesterday evening, including feeding Coral her first full feeding of breast milk from a bottle! (Whoop, whoop!)  We've only given her an ounce here and there, mostly when we were supplementing with formula so this was a HUGE step for us. It was also a much needed break for me since I was running on fumes. 

But onto other things. Like Furniture Friday! I searched high and low for a glider for a month so I thought this post might be helpful to any pregos still shopping! 

.. If you're new Around Tess is my name and bargain furniture shopping is my game! Here is how our experience went down.. 

After endless searching, I bought this bad boy from Wal Mart. "Wal Mart you say?!"  Is probably what you are thinking. Yea, I was thinking the same thing too! But lemme splain'! Little Castle, one of the best glider brands out there, has a line of gliders on walmart.com for a deep discount. 

I am not sure what the difference is, besides about say $400 bucks when comparing to a store like Buybuybaby. I got this glider and ottoman for $534 total (we picked up from the store for free shipping), and the same exact glider alone was $599 before tax at Buybuybaby, no ottoman included. Im 100% positive it's the same exact one! You know I hate me some furniture mark up, seriously how do stores get away with this!!? Walmart.com also had other gliders that were out of stock at babies r us. And again, for a cheaper price. 

This was the best option for us because: 

-it was cheaper. And an awesome brand. Little Castle gliders are very comfortable. You can compare them to The PB glider, which is the holy grail of gliders IMO. 

-we didn't have to wait 10-12 weeks to custom order, and I found most gliders available immediately to be gray toned. 

-you generally can't use coupons when you custom order. 

And Boo on that. Ain't nobody got time for coupon-less purchases! 

If you are still searching.. Check Walmart.com. The end.  No I didn't get paid for this post. 

Happy weekend! 

Tessy 

Hey, hey hey! Says Baby Coral

Ah I've been writing 5 different posts in my head the past couple of weeks, so I figure. Let's just start with one Tess. 

The past two and half weeks have easily been the best and most challenging weeks. It's crazy to feel such polar opposite emotions during the whole process of having a baby, and even harder to write about. Simply put, "nothing can prepare you for the love and fear you feel" for a little one. 

We are all doing great over here. Our birth story is a little crazy, but I am so in love with how Coral came into this world. I am also dying to share it here in this space. Hopefully in the next few days. 

Our hospital stay was great, but definitely included a few speed bumps. We found out our baby girl broke her clavicle coming out of the birth canal, and I cried a lot over her little arm hurting her. It made every needle prick and vital check that much worse. 

But we survived, and coming home was fabulous, and then our breastfeeding journey began. More on that some other day, but let me just say, it ain't for the faint of heart :) 

We've also been to the pediatrician twice, mama has been out of the house solo a few times, but Baby Coral has only made it through a drive-thru thus far! 

Well I will wrap it up here. And because everyone tells me I don't post enough pics, here's my little bear:

Coral Cristine Cook - Born 9/2/2014 at 10:22 am - 9 lbs. 0 oz. 21.5 inches 

Over and out! -Tessy