Meeting Baby Alice

ALICE’S BIRTH

7:00 AM on February 26^th.  That was when we were supposed to be at the hospital.  Truthfully, Chris and I were both surprised we even made it to that day.  Peter had arrived two weeks early, so I guess my expectations were already set that my water would break one unsuspecting evening and we would rush off to the hospital filled with adrenaline and excitement.  But I was always expecting it, dreaming about it at night, and planning for it every moment of the day, so my water didn’t break and we arrived at our induction day (which was still 6 days before my due date, mind you).  We dropped our kids off at the Lindberg’s house and drove to the hospital while it was still dark outside.  “Well,” Chris said, “Here we go to have our scheduled baby.”  He missed the drama and thrill of it all even more than I did. 

We checked in and Dr. Trainor arrived soon after and placed the little pill next to my cervix to hopefully get things going, and then we waited.  It was noon before she checked me again and I had gone from a 3 when we came in to almost a 5.  She broke my water (which was surprisingly painful) and when she checked back two and half hours later, I was still only at 6.  The progress was going way too slow for my taste.  Meanwhile, my IV was causing my hand to ache a little and they were constantly trying to get the baby’s heart rate to trace on the monitor.  At 3ish, they finally put me on Pitocin and things started moving.  By 4:00, I was having regular contractions and feeling them too.  I asked for the epidural and everything went smoothly with its placement.  My legs got warm and heavy and soon fell fast asleep but I continued to feel some of the contractions.  Over the next couple hours the contractions got worse and more frequent.  It was the most pain I had experienced with any of my kids and I was crying.  The nurse kept trying to reposition me so the drug could reach where it needed to go, but in the end, the anesthesiologist came back and injected some kind of booster into my epidural and the pain started to die down.  It was about 6 when I started getting uncomfortable again.  This time back pain.  I rang for the nurse and she checked.  The baby was right there ready to go.  She told me not to push and called for Dr. Trainor.  Everything was set up and ready to go and it seemed to take forever for her to get there.  When she did, it was just two and a half quick pushes before Alice slid out and they placed her slimy body on my chest.  She was purple (in a healthy way) and had the best hair any of our kids have gotten yet.  She was perfect, and then she peed all over me. They toweled her off a little and Chris cut the cord.  I requested they clean her (and me) up a little more before our skin-to-skin time.  That is such a euphoric time.  It’s hard to describe the feelings of love, gratitude, relief, and accomplishment. 

Alice Mary Silva was born February 26^th, 2016 at 7:08pm.  She weighed 7lbs 13oz and measured 20.5 inches long, and was just as calm and perfect as could be. 

My recovery was great.  That final boost in my epidural at the end meant I couldn't use my legs for the rest of the night, but the next morning, I was up and about better than after either of my other two deliveries.

It was fun to have the kids come visit the next morning.  Both were excited to see the baby initially, but it wore off pretty quick.  I was surprised that Peter showed a little more interest at the time than Jane, but since then, Jane has been much more attentive to "her baby".