Tessa Lane

Every family has its own birth story etched in memory as every child's birth is unique from another. Like all parents Amy & I will always remember the circumstances surrounding the birth of our children. With the boys, Amy began having pre-term contractions and was on bed rest for months. When we went to the hospital at 33 weeks the doctors were trying to hold off labor for as long as possible. After 30 long hours the boys were born early but healthy.

With Amy's second pregnancy the pre-term contractions once again emerged very early. So all along we prepared ourselves for another early birth. Week after week passed though, and today marked the 39 week mark -- quite a feat for Amy B or as I like to call her, my miracle woman.

So when Amy woke me up at 4am this morning to tell me that she thought it was time, our own unique journey began. We gathered our things and left the house around 5am as our wonderful neighbor Mary came over to stay with the boys when they eventually woke up. When we arrived at the hospital, the nurses checked Amy and were not convinced that she was truly going into labor yet. So they told Amy to wait out the contractions either in the jacuzzi tub or by walking the halls. We tried both, but neither helped the pains that were really coming on.

After an hour of contracting and a shift change at the nurse's station, Amy was requesting pain medication as she was ready for her epidural. (By the way, "requesting" is Amy's word -- my words would be "unequivocally demanding.")

As the new nurse checked on Amy's progress, she spoke bluntly, "I'm going to be completely up front with you. I'm going to try to give you everything you want, but you are 7-8 cm's right now."

No more than 15-20 minutes later and still not officially admitted into the hospital Amy delivered a healthy baby girl, all natural with no pain medication whatsoever. Tessa Lane Rutledge was 6 lbs. 9 oz., 19.5 inches long and born at 7:46a.m.

My miracle woman delivered a daughter, sister, granddaughter, niece, great-granddaugher and cousin as well as another unique birth story of our own.

Cheers!


Baby Tess, eyes wide open

Baby Tess, un-burritoed and unhappy about it.

Amy B. with her Baby T.


Proud Mama....

....beaming Proud Papa.