Alice's Story

I haven't updated in forever. It was on my list of things to do before the baby was born. Woops! I have so much to catch up on but I didn't want this story to get muddled before I could type it out.

The birth story:
I had been going to my regular doctor appointments and at about 25 weeks my dr. told me that my stomach was measuring small. I am tall and I have a long torso so we didn't get too worried about it. Also, because the Dr. in Las Vegas told me the same thing about Carly when I was pregnant with her. She seemed a healthy weight when she was born and we all chalked it up to just a formality that they have to take. Just to be safe my Dr. had me get another ultrasound. I did and things with her growth looked fine. 2 weeks later I had another appointment...same thing...baby was still measuring a few weeks behind. We set up another sono but this time she was a little further behind. Nothing to worry about quite yet, just to keep an eye on. Every appointment was the same. Her growth wasn't on schedule so we'd schedule another sonogram. At about 34 weeks we had a sono where we found that baby was 6 weeks behind schedule but measuring on the lower side of average for a baby that gestational age. We'd do one more sono at 37 weeks and check her weight. I went in on Monday for yet another sono but this time Joseph came with me. I'm grateful he did. After the sono the dr. came in and said, "Um, I need you to go home and get things ready, and get to the hospital as soon as you can. You're having this baby today." He said that she hadn't grown at all in the last 4 weeks and she was measuring in the 7th percentile for weight for her gestational age. I was in shock. Of course I started crying. This is NOT what was supposed to happen. The doctor was supposed to just be making this all a bigger deal than it was...plus... I still had time! I was supposed to get all my painting done and put up the baby room decorations and you know...actually realize I was going to have a baby. So we made the necessary phone calls asking people to keep the girls over night and called my parents who said they'd come right down from Las Vegas when I was in labor. (at least they got a bit of a head start) Then we headed to the hospital. I told Joseph I didn't have anything for her to wear! When we moved from AZ I had to sell everything and give things away...including all our baby clothes. My mind set just hadn't been on baby mode so I never really went shopping for clothes. I had a few things but not for a preemie baby. So on our way to the hospital we made a short detour to get a few preemie onsies and a going home outfit. ha ha

When we got to the hospital the dr. had already called to say we were on our way. They admitted me right away and I was in a hospital gown and hooked up to IV and PIT within the hour. I was talking to the nurse about how I had wanted try going with out drugs with my first baby but everyone around me scared me out of it. I thought I'd try again with my second but they induced Carly with pitocin also and I've heard of really horrible contractions with Pit so I didn't even try to go drug free. I was a little disappointed to have to be induced with this pregnancy also and miss another chance of going natural. The nurse told me that she had had 4 out of her 5 labors natural and 1 of which was while on Pit. I decided that I can do it and I'll try it by taking it one contraction at a time. I was doing well and before I knew it I was at 7cm in about 5 hours. The pain was starting to get harder and fewer breaks in between each contraction. I finally told Joseph I was really going to need him right next to me now. It was about 4 am when things started to get ugly. It was the worst pain ever. I felt like I was getting punched over and over in the kidneys and someone was drilling into my hip bones all at the same time. (I know, lovely thought right? :) I had been told that when going natural every woman gets to the point that she says she can't do it any more. And by that time, they're pretty much ready to start pushing. I was thinking about that while trying to breath through the pain. Telling myself, "I'm almost there, just one more contraction. Almost there..." But then I started with the doubt. The nurse had just checked me an hour ago and I was only at a 7. There was no way I could take more of this. I told Joseph I was done. "I don't like this anymore. I can't do it. Help me! I need you to help me." I'm sure I scared him enough to take me seriously. He made sure I was sure and called in for the anesthesiologist. They said he was on his way. (which seemed like an eternity) He finally came in and got me preped. I had to hold perfectly still through 4 extremely unbearable contractions while he put that scary needle in my back. Just when I thought I was done with the pain he said, "Ok, that should kick in in about 15 minutes." What! I couldn't do 15 minutes! I needed it NOW! These contractions were coming 1 minute apart and felt like they were on top of each other. The nurse checked me right after the epidural was in and said, "Oh! That's why! You're at 10 cm!" Really? Really. I did all of that work and got to 10 cm and THEN got the Epidural? The nurse informed me though that baby hadn't descended all the way yet and we had to wait for her to drop. My water hadn't even broke yet. I had to wait 4 more hours (at 10cm) for her to finally drop and my water to break. So yes, I am grateful for the experience of natural labor, I'm glad I made it all the way to 10 cm. However, I am also grateful for the epidural so that I didn't have to be at 10 cm for 4 more hours. And for the record, I NEVER want to do that again.

At about 8:20 my water broke and the Dr. was called in. I pushed 3 times and baby Alice was out.



Alice Grace was born at 8:33 am weighing in at 5 lbs 7 oz and 18.5 in long. She had a sweet peaceful look on her face and a full head of hair.




Come to find out, the whole reason for the stunted growth was her umbilical cord was too small. It was just really skinny which made it hard for enough nutrients to get to her body. But she herself was healthy as can be with a great set of lungs and a good strong body.

Joseph followed her to the nursery (for some reason he wasn't allowed in to give her her first bath. He's always been able to bathe our babies for the first time) and took a picture of her through the window after her bath.



Carly came to visit a few hours later. And yes, she looked SO big to me. It's funny how it does that. You leave them a baby and they come back 12 hours later a little girl.

She's a great first timer big sister!

Joseph left right after school let out to go get Ella and bring her back to the hospital. She was a pro.


It was hard to see Ella go. I think it had just been a hectic couple of days with picking up Ella from school and dropping her off at a sitter's house, telling her she's going to spend the night and then leaving to go have a baby with not much of a warning at all at what was going to happen. She was tired and full of emotion and just bawled when she had to leave the hospital with out her momma and new baby sister. Carly was great and pretty easy going about everything.



After a long drive Nonie and Pop also made it to the hospital that evening, just in time for her birthday.




We got to leave the very next day. I was fine and she was perfectly healthy so no need for the NICU. That was such a blessing.



We're home now and although that first night home is always the worst, Alice is so sweet and calm it made it easy to make it through and we've established a routine already. I'm pretty tired but I think this baby has actually been the easiest for me to adjust to out of all 3 of them. Maybe because I have my parents and Joseph here to help me. Everyone loves her so much.
The girls can't get enough of her. Carly wants to squeeze and pinch her any chance she can get and I have to keep reminding her to be soft, but she just loves her and wants to constantly hold her.



Ella is such a sweet little mommy and so soft and gentle with her. Both girls have been such a big help and always want to hold the baby or help change the diaper. They are fascinated with the breast pump and how it works. Ha!



My mom with the girls. She loves the babies and I'm thankful for that. She's a great person to pass the baby off to when I need a nap.:)

She's pretty alert for being so little and early and we just love her to pieces. She does a good job nursing and will eat about every 3 hours.




It's funny how having a new baby brings such a sweet spirit into your home. Maybe it's because her spirit is so fresh and new, straight down from Heaven. Alice is such a peaceful baby (knock on wood) who rarely cries. Every time she is awake everyone is excited and wants to be around her.