Just Like Old Times!

The Monday before Christmas we met up with Hillary and Lincoln for a play date.

Christmas

Christmas is more and more fun every year for us thanks to Norah. We tried really hard to explain to Norah the true meaning of Christmas in terms she could understand. We talked about how Christmas was Jesus’s birthday but this alarmed her because she feared all the presents under the tree were not for her so she started insisting “No, Norah’s birthday.” Eventually we gave up on it and just enjoyed the secondary meaning of Christmas: Presents. We even had Norah put out Oreos and carrots for Santa and his reindeer.

Santa was very good to Norah – here she is wearing her princess dress, apron and chef hatGrandpa Guy giving Norah a beat to dance to in her princess dressCourtney with her two nieces in their Christmas dresses from MimiWe had church at 1:00 and by the time we were home and giving Norah lunch she was completely exhausted and fell asleep

Alice’s Blessing

Bryan blessed Alice with his dad and Kimball on December 23rd at his parents home. Alice wore her Aunt Courtney’s blessing dressAhhh, life with a big sister.Norah gave Alice lots of kisses once she realized how much attention she’d get for it. When we were done taking pictures of her with Alice she promptly pushed her off her lap. Fortunately we were all near by to catch Alice.Ashley, Matt and Louis came down for the blessing.Norah with Baby Louis. He is soooooo cute.

Norah's Nutcracker

Norah decided that she couldn't let Courtney take all the limelight and decided to do her own performance of the nutcracker.

The Nutcracker

Bryan’s little sister Courtney was the Sugar Plum Fairy in her ballet academy’s performance of the Nutcracker. She has been in the Nutcracker every Christmas as long as I have known her but we’ve never made it down to Virginia in time to see it. Since she is her academy’s prima ballerina this year and a senior in High School we decided we wouldn’t miss it for anything – not even a two week old baby could stop us!  She did a fantastic job. Her choreography was extremely difficult and her dance teachers said that she was their first Sugar Plum Fairy to completely nail the routine. She was absolutely lovely and I’m so glad we were able to see her perform.

Norah fell asleep in the car on the way and slept through most of the first half but didn’t miss any of Courtney’s numbersNorah handing Courtney a bouquet after the performanceCourtney posing with some of her friends after the showThis is Norah very seriously imitating the ballerinasAnd this is Susan with sweet little Alice after the Nutcracker

Alice’s Newborn Pictures

My friend Stacy Hutchison is building a portfolio and kindly offered to take pictures of baby Alice. These are my favorites:

Sleeping on the Job

I put an awake Alice on her brand new baby quilt from Mimi today for some tummy time and she promptly fell back asleep. She had a rough night last night so I guess she was making up for it. This is Alice having tummy time after her nap under the tutelage of her big sister.Norah showing Alice advanced tummy time moves – notice Norah AND the dog are doing downward dog

Branch Christmas Party

Friday was our Branch Christmas Party and we had a great time. My mom stayed home with Alice so we could focus on Norah and enjoy talking to friends. Norah loved running around the gym with her pals.And she enjoyed “playing baby Jesus” as Mary in the Nursery’s nativity
It was a little like herding cats, but darling none the less. Graham was Joseph, Ellie and baby Callie were angels, Drew and Ethan were sheep and J.J. was a shepherd.Norah and Dad

Jammies and Stuff

Norah has been particular about her pajamas for a long long time but it has gotten ridiculous lately. She has this one Christmas nightgown (featured below) that she wants to wear every single night – because it is a “dress.”But we have to wash it at some point and since we don’t have a washer and dryer sometimes she just needs to wear other jammies. She dug in her heels tonight so I told her she had to stay in her room until she was ready to put on other jammies. When she came out of her room she was dressed like this:She came out marching and said “I got all my stuff. I got my hat, my doctor bag, my pack pack and my dresses.”  Please note that both dresses are inside out and one is backwards. Also, you can’t see it but she is wearing a tutu under her dresses.

Alice at One Week

Alice is a sweet little baby at one week. She is sleeping and eating like a champ and as of Friday she was almost back to her birth weight. We all love to snuggle this sleepy baby and watch the funny faces she makes in her sleep. I wasn’t able to capture it in a picture, but Alice has a big dimple on her left cheek just like her Aunt Natalie and Great Grandma Hyer.

Fohawk

Alice's First Day

Alice Winnifred Hicks was born today at 1:45 am. She was 8 pounds 5 ounces and 20 inches long.

Katie, my midwife, holding Alice after delivery

Norah Checking Alice's vitals

Holding both little girls

Grandma Lorraine with Alice

First family photo

Alice's Birth Story:

Alice was due on November 20th but I was hoping since she was my second baby she might make her debut a bit early. The week before her due date I had my hopes up basically every day that she would come. Once I passed her due date I started feeling like I was going to be pregnant forever. I was also very anxious that I would have to be induced but I was also glad I would have time to get over a bad cold I had caught. On the Monday the 21st I was only dilated to 1 cm and then 2 cm after my membranes were stripped. My appointment was with my favorite midwife - and the one who I had seen most often - Katie Hazel. She advised me to schedule an induction for the Tuesday after Thanksgiving but also said that I would likely go into labor well before then. The rest of that week was pretty low key for us. Bryan had pretty much cleared his schedule assuming we'd already have a baby by then and of course there was also the holiday so we had lots of time on our hands to obsess over when we would meet little Alice. It was hard to come up with activities we could do to kill time without going too far from home or involving much walking. Fortunately the weather was exceptionally beautiful that week for an Ithaca winter. We took Norah to the park and we ended up spending Thanksgiving Day with our friends the Hales (who were due with Henry on Thanksgiving Day) and the Smarts. In the evenings we watched a TV series called "White Collar." By Saturday I was feeling pretty down and resigned to the idea of being induced. We went out to see a movie, Hugo, with our friends the Smarts. I was secretly hoping I'd feel contractions during the show but no such luck.

Early the next morning however I felt cramps. That was how Norah's labor started so I was getting excited but I also didn't want to encourage the false labor that I had had last time. I got ready and went to church trying hard to ignore the strong cramps I was feeling. By the time we came home and had lunch I was very uncomfortable but it all seemed just like Norah's labor so I wasn't too excited. I tried to take a nap and relax. Resting helped but by 4pm or so I was undoubtedly having contractions, not cramps. They weren't regular though so I started to worry that I would again have prodrommal labor for a long time first. Our friends the MacLennan's came over and asked Bryan to take their Christmas card pictures and then they stayed over for a while and we had gingerbread cookies that Norah and my mom had made together. I was having painful contractions the whole time they were over visiting but it was a nice distraction. When they left around 7:30 I started to feel like the pain was increasing but they weren't regular enough to go to the hospital so we continued to work our way through season 1 of White Collar. I think we watched 2 episodes - pausing for contractions. Finally I called Katie to see if there was anything I could do to get some rest because I was convinced it was just prodrommal labor (and so wer Bryan and my mom). I took some Benedryl to help me sleep but there was no way I was sleeping. I threw up instead and decided I should go to the hospital to get checked and try to get some narcotics until my real labor started. Bryan didn't think we should bother taking the hospital bag and camera because he was sure we'd be back in an hour or too but we decided to take it just in case. I threw up on the way to the hospital and was just dreading hearing that I was in false labor but I kept telling myself that at least I'd get to sit in their jacuzzi tub!

We got to the hospital around 10 pm. We had forgotten to tell Katie we were coming so a labor and delivery nurse checked to see if I was dilated (I was between a 4 and a 5 - so active labor for sure) and then called Katie to come in for me. I immediately felt relief from the pain because I was so happy to hear that I was really going to have a baby! I still thought I had a very long labor to go (based on last time) so I made up my mind to just take on contraction at a time and not think about time passing. I didn't ask to be checked because I didn't want to pay attention to how fast or slow I was dilating, I just wanted to zone out. When Katie arrived she insisted on check me and I was dilated to a 6 which was seemed fast but I tried to not to think about that and instead just looked forward to the jacuzzi tub which was ready soon after that. Bryan was a pro at labor support and helped me make my "low tones" and put pressure on my hips. Katie and the nurse were also very attentive. When the tub was ready we walked very very slowly and stopped along the way for a contraction. Once in the tub I relaxed even more which brought on stronger and more effective contractions. I felt less pain and more time between my contractions just as Katie said I would even though the opposite was happening. I think I only had two contractions before Katie came in and said that she needed to check me. I was so comfortable I didn't want to move but she insisted saying the labor and delivery nurse said I was making sounds that indicated I might be trying to push. I reluctantly got out of the tub after just 10 min or so and sure enough in that time I had gone from a 6 to an 8. We walked slowly back to the room and I kept saying I felt like I had to poo. Ha ha. You have no shame when you're in labor! I couldn't believe that the pressure I felt was really Alice ready to come because it seemed so fast. With Norah's birth I had to wait another two hours before I was ready to push after I made it to 8 cm. Not so this time - as soon as I was back in the room Katie checked me again and told me I was now at a 9. I couldn't believe it. It made no sense to me so I asked "9 out of what?!" "10 centimeters" she told me. Then she told me to "go ahead and explore that feeling of needing to poo" for reals she said that! She said as if she was teaching a yoga class - such a hippie but I love her! I was still kneeling on the bed as I would to cope with contractions and I didn't really realize she was essentially telling me it was time to push until I could feel that that was what I was doing. I asked her if I needed to move onto my back but she said no so I stayed where I was. I don't know how long I pushed - maybe 20 minutes - it didn't seem very long and it was much easier to push in that position. The most amazing thing was to see Alice the second she was born. When Norah was born the doctor caught her and I couldn't see her from being on my back. I'm sure I saw her quickly but it seemed like a long time. The instant that Alice was born Katie set her down on the bed so she was beneath me. I was still on my hands and knees and she was right below my face. It was incredible to get to see her first movements. She was crying and kicking the second she was born. I got to watch as Bryan cut the umbilical cord which was also amazing. He was still just in his swimsuit from being in the tub with me. The nurse had to remind me to pick up Alice and hold her. I was so stunned I didn't even move. We got to snuggle for a long time before Alice had to have her bath, and get her foot prints done etc.