I'm in love all over again...Added to my heart is our newest family member: Alexander Steele Rice, born January 22nd at 1:25 p.m., 7 lbs. 7 oz., 21 inches... brown/gold hair and dark blue eyes. Absolutely perfect!
For those who like to know the "whole" story (but still clean enough for my dad to read), this is how it went down:
5:45 am: got the call from the hospital that we were to come in as soon as possible for the scheduled induction. Couldn't sleep all night anyway, so we were ready to go! All the kids got up when they heard the phone ring because they knew what that meant! Hugs all around, a quick breakfast and we were off in the dark!
6:50 am: checked into the delivery desk during the nurse shift change so I had to wait a few minutes to be assigned. Felt sorry for the woman actually in labor in line next to me who also had to wait. Michael asked the charge nurse if I could go ahead and get my epidural now while we were waiting, but she and the laboring woman just didn't find it as funny as he did.
7:30 am: all set up in my bed, getting my pitocin started. Also started my antibiotics for the Group B Strep which would take 4 hours to be effective. At this point the epidural question was posed to us for real and we said we would like the "Princess
Cruise" option-- epidural before any painful contractions (our doctor had named it this). The anesthesiologist would be able to come after finishing up a surgery.8:15 am: anesthesiologist came in with his tool box and a couple of student nurses, talked through all the steps as he worked which was a great distraction for me. I was nervous since I'd experienced in the past some electric shocks down my legs during the procedure, but he was mostly able to avoid that "nerve brushing". It was quick and relatively painless, so I was relieved to be settling in to my numbness before I was uncomfortable with my contractions. Is that even legal? I was liking this Princess Cruise so far... :)
9:00 am: we had to work through a developing "hot spot" of the epidural being less effective, but soon got it under control. Now we had to wait to break the water until the four hours of antibiotics had been in place.
11:30 am: received second dose of antibiotics, so we were ready to get this baby delivered now!
12:00 pm: doctor came in and broke my water. 3+ cm. Everyone agreed that the labor would progress quickly now, so I took a nap while I could. Michael put on "Pay it Forward" while we waited.
12:30- 1:00 I progressed from 5 cm. to complete without noticing anything more than some pressure that I had to really think hard about noticing.
1:00 pm: Where is my mom? We call her to tell her that the baby is ready NOW, but she is
weaving through traffic and running red lights to get there, so we decide to wait... don't cough.1:20 pm: Mom arrives just about the time we decide to move forward. One good push, and we had a head.
1:25 pm: Next push, we had a baby boy! Cutest little pathetic cry that made us all laugh... hardly a cry, more of a weak pity party. Placed immediately to me and I felt my throat catch as my heart expanded 2 times it's normal size.
How did a real baby just come out of me? It's like he came out of a magic box! A bunny out of a magician's hat...
SO... easiest delivery ever. And I didn't even say "ow" or other
equivilent adjectives. Only "WOW".The Name?
The interesting part is that although we've been doing polls (to prove to each other our theories about names) and Alex/Alexander came out on top in the end... we had preferred this name from the beginning, but wanted to keep exploring all the options before making too swift a decision. In the back of my mind I kept thinking that I needed to review family names and
perhaps find an ancestor that held meaning to me. I finally cracked open a book of personal histories my sister had collected a couple of years ago of our pioneer heritage and was looking for one in particular I remembered who had led an amazing "Forrest Gump" type of life, only during the early history of the church. He seemed to be at all major events from joining the saints in Nauvoo and being blessed under the Prophet Joseph's hands to seeing the capstone of the Salt Lake Temple placed and a million other amazing stories in between. (Nauvoo Temple, Carthage, Mormon Battalion, Mobs burned his home, a miracle blessing, settling Provo, cornerstone of the Salt Lake Temple). I turned to his story, written first hand, and saw his name: Alexander Wilkins and felt a little shock as I realized that I had been prompted all along. Our little Alex would have this name to remind him of personal strength and valiancy."Steele" is another family name associated with a whole family of ancestors who crossed the plains to come to Utah. Plus it's rather rugged sounding, don't you think? The only problem we found was when Benson pointed out that because of the middle name, our baby's name is a sentence, with "Steele" sounding like "steal" (a verb, mom!). If that's the worst thing that someone can come up with, I think he'll survive.
The Rest of the Story...
So Alex is totally healthy, looks familiar since he carries traits that seem to be common in our Rice kids, and actually has a couple of dimples when he does his "newborn smiles". I have
been recovering nicely, although it feels like someone took all my organs out and put them back in the wrong spots... they'll sort out eventually! He's struggled with nursing more than my other kids but eating healthy amounts, so he'll be just fine.Everyone wants lots of turns to hold him and Jackson even said the prayer over dinner tonight blessing that "Jackson will get the first turn after dinner to hold the new baby." I think Alex is fitting in just fine and will be very loved...
This must be what Heaven is like. He IS fresh from being there, so he brought some of it with him.
6 comments:
I have done the "princess cruise" option and I will say that it rocks. Natural childbirth is totally for suckers! Alex is darling.
Emily - I just got chills reading your blog. He is the most beautiful baby. Aren't we good at getting those babies here after already having a few of them? I pushed one time and Matthew (my 6th) flew out. One push! Experienced Mom's know how to do it. Congrats. YOU and Alex look great!
Oh, he's gorgeous! How wonderful, and you write about it so beautifully. It brought tears to my eyes as I think back to our childhood and all we used to talk about. Now here we are again enjoying each others lives and loving every minute of it. I couldn't be happier for your sweet family. I only wish I could be there with you "M and M ing". Love you endlessly!
Girl!! You look like such a rock star! I've never seen anyone lookin' so good after delivery except me, of corse!) You family is amazing. Congratulations. Now I want a baby "fresh from heaven". THANKS A LOT!! :)
I loved reading this! Alex is just beautiful. Oh, and he was born on my birthday, so that pretty much rocks. :)
Now it is one thing to have your own baby but it is quite another experience to see your own daughter - flesh of your flesh - have a baby. It is a feeling that is indescribable and I'm not sure I'm capable of putting it in words now. It is like seeing the future and the past all together in one beautiful and splendid moment. It's a million feelings and emotions rolled together somehow.
A few of these are the joy and excitement of a new baby being born and all the fussing and excitement that comes with getting it here. Then there is the deep concern for your own daughter and what she is going through and how you would do anything to help her not experience any pain or discomfort. The nagging part of "what if's?" take a big part in what happens in your heart and mind. You just hope and pray with all your might that he will be normal, but you know that if he isn't that you will still be happy.
There's the part where you don't want to take away any of those precious moments from Mom and Dad and thus the questions of where you should stand so you aren't in the way, where can you help, where is your place in all of this? Are you in the way? Do they wish you weren't here after all? What should you say if you are able to choke out any words? After all, you are the grandma and should say something profound...
Suddenly, there it is. A promise of the future held in the spirit of this new little red body that was just laid on Emily's chest. Seeing the joy of the new parents, experiencing that first cry, marveling in the wonder of all that just happened - all are a huge high and great blessing for a grandma. Then when all fingers and toes, elbows and knees, eyes and ears and nose are all accounted for, there is a feeling of awe and relief and joy.
As you witness this event, a great feeling of humility comes over you as you realize where he came from and what he has ahead of him. You just don't know if you should cry with joy or cheer that all went well or say a word of prayer in thanksgiving or run up and down the hall screaming, "she made it, she made it!" or just stand there frozen in the amazement of all that just happened. You know and see the future.
So you pull yourself together and come out of your daze to dig out your camera and record just as much as you can so that all these wonderful feelings can be felt all over again as you look at the pictures later. Besides, that was your assignment and you've almost blown it soaking up the event.
It is an experience I will always cherish and remember with great joy. I'm grateful to have a relationship with Emily and Michael to where they love and trust me enough to be able to witness this marvelous event with them. It was indeed a privilege and a blessing in my life. There are no words to express the gratefulness of being present in those first moments. There are no words to express your fullness of joy and great overwhelming feelings of love.
See what you have to look forward to? And here's a word of advice... baby #6 comes much faster than those of 1 through 5 so leave plenty of time to get to the hospital so you won't be dodging cars and running red lights... (who me?)
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