The doctor pulled and tugged and cussed.
Asked for more clamps and rags and billed us for extra time.
Thankfully I couldn't see much beyond the blue sheet.
It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. And really really cold.
The anesthesiologist tried to distract me, and suddenly there was a flurry.
A slippery slimy 8 pound 2 ounce little Tess.
And we waited.
For the nurse to suction her mouth, and for her to scream.
The relief of that sweet scream.
And she has been screaming ever since.
Before she got here I thought I had this parenting thing figured out.
Owen was easy. Laid back. Active, but usually eager to please.
I thought it was because I was good at it.
Apparently it was just beginners luck.
Tess is stubborn and sassy.
She takes short naps and wakes up at the smallest of noises.
She is picky and particular about what she is wearing, who is holding her, what she eats and even the room temperature.
But she can throw her head back and giggle.
A giggle so big that it consumes her whole body.
She jabbers and dances nonstop.
She is skinny and fair but tough enough to withstand a big brother who occasionally tries to ride her like a horse.
She can hold her own in a battle over a toy or the last cheeto.
She will grab on tight with both fists to my pants and follow me anywhere.
She will bang on the computer like it is a drum, empty a box of Kleenex in three seconds flat and splash toilet water all over the bathroom.
She will shake her head no at you, drop her dinner plate on the floor and then cry the biggest saddest crocodile tears when you so much as look at her sternly.
She looks so small and fearless walking across the room.
She doesn’t have much hair, but what she does is so soft and fine and smells like lavender.
I should have known that we were in for trouble in the hospital when the nursery nurses kept wheeling her back to my room in the a.m.
Saying that they were sorry, but that she wouldn’t stop crying.
But somehow something so little and difficult is so easy to love.
So now this little bundle of trouble weighs 18 lbs(ish), has 7 teeth, says a half dozen or so words and more often than not still keeps me up at night. But she can smiles as big as her eyes when she sees you and it is enough to make you forget how tired you are.
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