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.

40 weeks, 5 days and counting

But at least I’m in good company: Emily Hales is also impatiently waiting for an overdue baby. We took advantage of the exceptional weather we had on Thanksgiving and took Norah to a park near the Hales’ apartment and decided to do our own study on the effectiveness of swinging as a natural way to induce labor. So far it seems to be ineffective.

Norah’s Big Sister Angst

Poor Norah. She thinks having a very pregnant mom is kind of a bummer. She has no idea what she is in for. I admit the last few weeks of this pregnancy have been hard on little Norah. I’m not picking her up when she wants me to and instead I’m asking her to pick up her toys or socks or anything else she has scattered around the apartment. When we attempt to leave the apartment I have to chase and wrestle her to get her dressed and while I used to tolerate this in good humor I’m increasingly inconvenienced and frustrated by it which I’m sure has her feeling equally inconvenienced and frustrated. Instead of carrying her to the car to avoid her running around the building I have to depend on her holding my hand and following directions. It turns out she is undependable and this leaves me to either chase her and then carry her to the car, incentivize her with a treat or sticker (surprisingly ineffective) or threaten to take away some privilege (never works). All in all, she is being asked to follow many more directions and clearly resents it. She has never been more stubborn or contrary (please note her tweet about going to the Sciencenter - one of her FAVORITE places).
I’ve been trying to keep things positive and even got her a calendar to put stickers on every time she follows directions. This has been mostly a failed campaign. Last night she actually earned about half a dozen stickers for picking up toys but generally the stickers don’t have much pull. This morning I had planned to take her to target to pick up a few things and thought it would be a fun outing for her as well. She’d get some free popcorn and get to pick out new stickers to replenish the stash since she’d been such a rock star last night. Well Norah was doing everything she could think of to delay this fun outing. Frustrated, I backed off and ignored her for a bit while she played in her room – or so I thought. When I went in I saw that she had colored with crayons all over her wall and covered it with the stickers I use to reward her. This should have been my tip off that she had learned how to open the desk drawers (where I keep everything that is small and dangerous (pennies, batteries, sharp things, super glue etc) but I guess I thought I had left out the stickers last night and I was probably too mad to think it through anyway. Norah absolutely knows that drawing on walls is bad. We’ve gone over this. When I tried tell her how naughty this was she just laughed at me and I felt like I was rewarding her with all the attention she wanted which made me even angrier so I put myself in timeout in my room to calm down. When I came out Norah greeted me with black Sharpie (from desk drawer) in hand, covered in body art. There was sharpie on my door, the wall, and even the lid to the toilet! But she really took out her angst on the baby room. The door, two walls and crib were sharpied. Coincidence? Maybe, maybe not. . .
I freaked out, cried and called Bryan who googled a solution for the crib: aquafresh toothpaste and baby wipes (who knew?). This picture was taken after I was able to clean the sharpie off of the crib so it doesn’t really do justice to Norah’s statement. Of course, while I was doing this Norah was trying to climb into the bathroom sink for some reason and stepped onto the toilet paper holder, which then broke off and caused her to fall. Thank heaven she didn’t crack her head open. She didn’t even have a bump. Really – things could have been much much worse in many ways:
-Norah could have chosen to eat batteries or any number of dangerous things in the desk that I have to now find new homes for
-She could have taken the sharpie to the living room chairs (I’m surprised she didn’t)
-Miracle of miracles – she did NOT sharpie the quilt I had made for Baby Alice and left in the crib (it has since been tucked away)

So anyway. We’ll be cleaning out the desk tonight and testing the power of Mr. Clean magic erasers on the walls.