Alice Marie Nicolich

Meet our newest addition, little miss Alice Marie. She was born five short days ago, on October 7th at 8:20 in the morning. At 7 lb 11 oz, she was nearly a pound bigger than her big sister! So far, she is a sweet, sweet little girl. She eats like a champ-she gained 5 oz in one day! She isn't too fussy, and is spending longer periods of time with her cute little eyes open. She loves her little hands up by her face and has found her thumb a few times to go in that adorable mouth. She loves to be held and has a perfectly round head.

Getting baby Alice here was an adventure. In the 24 hours before labor began, the following measures were taken. Lots of evening primrose oil, my membranes were stripped, we went on a walk, the use of the "marriage bed", the use of a breast pump, eating eggplant Parmesan, eating some balsamic vinegar, pressure points, and drinking some raspberry leaf tea. I'm not sure what exactly did it, but when we sat down to watch the Work and the Glory at about 8:30, I started feeling a little something every so often. I definitely didn't think it was the beginning of labor, but did mention the feelings to Bill and my Mom. By 12:30, we were talking about getting to the hospital.

We finally got there and were admitted at about 2:30. I labored with Bill alone till about 7:00, when my mom, who had dropped Sally off with a friend, came. I was planning on trying the natural way again, which went pretty well. Again, as with Sally, when I got to about 8 cm, I was going a little nuts and requested in my nicest voice, to get some medicine. Again, I received some fentanyl, which made it so I could cope a bit better. I had an awesome midwife, Jack, (the only 6 foot 4 midwife around, as he says) who was very willing to let me do my thing. I walked the halls and was in and out of the bath during the labor. When it came time to push, he also let me do it my way.
My way involved Bill in a big way. He was my rock throughout, but really shined during the actual delivery. I was kneeling on the bed with my arms wrapped around him. When I would push, I would kind of push against the bed and lean into Bill with all the force I could muster. Meanwhile, I was full on screaming with my mouth about an inch away from his delicate ear. He was talking cheering me on and coaching through every contraction and was just SO amazing throughout. The delivery was surprisingly fast. I was shocked when I was told the head was out. My mom was asked to put on gloves to help, but it all happened a little too quickly. Sorry mom. I am incredibly grateful she was able to be there to see little Alice come into this world.

The feelings of love were immediate as they handed me this perfect little bundle. She was so sweet and warm and just perfect. Tears filled my eyes as I held this little miracle for the first time. She had all ten fingers and toes (I counted). Her little face was so beautiful, her spirit so strong. I was a little afraid my that the motherhood key to my heart had been opened with Sally and that Alice would have to share that space. It turns out, there is another chamber all her own.
Sally has been pretty sweet when it comes to little Alice Marie. She enjoys loving on the baby (listen to me, sounding all southern) and helping with diaper changes and the like. She is even getting a little better at staying gentle, but we will have to work on that one for a while. When Sally was first looking at Alice, the baby stuck her tongue out. Sally thought it was so funny and continues to go up to Alice and stick her tongue out lizard style and says, "Baby do it." She tries to share cookies and the like with Alice. We still have some adjusting to do, and things might get worse, but she's already handling it better than I expected!

In the above picture, you may notice the big cast like business going on on her sweet little arm. That was her unfortunate IV. After she was born, sweet baby Alice had quite a bit of fluid in her lungs that they had to suction out. A little later in the day, they told us she was breathing quite a bit faster than she ought to. She had to endure a whole slew of tests while they determined the cause of the rapid breathing. After blood tests and x-rays, they decided she still had a bit of moisture in her lungs. The doctor was afraid she might aspirate some milk if she nursed, and wanted her to be on an IV to receive fluids. I only wasn't able to nurse for a few hours, though, which was good. They had to keep her in the intermediate nursery that first night. She kept getting better, though, and by noon the next day, she got to come in with us.
Now, she is strong and healthy. She did have some high bilirubin levels, but they are coming down. We had to go back to the doctor to get those levels checked on both Friday and Saturday. On Friday, she weighed 7 lbs 10 oz, very near her birth weight. The next day, she weighed 7 lb 15 oz! The nurse didn't believe the results and weighed her on a different scale. She is definitely a healthy and strong girl. I mean, how many four day old kids lift their head like this? Seriously.
Anyway, I know this was long, but very edited from what I actually wanted to post. I will leave you with one more picture of our sleeping beauty, little Alice Marie Nicolich.