We had visitors the first night–Kevin and Candace, Becky and Kyle, and Lori and her roommate Elena. They were all very impressed by our beautiful little girl and are looking forward to the arrival of their sons. Becky is due about Sept. 9 though she has been to the hospital twice already to try and stop contractions that would bring their little Andrew Michael too early. Kevin and Candace are due on November 26 and just found out on August 3 that they too are having a boy.
Mom and Dad were kind enough to come and stay at our house Monday night so that Chris could spend the night at the hospital with me and his newest daughter. We kept trying to figure out what to name our daughter. Our choices were Rachel McKenna and Alicia Michelle. I tried calling her both names at different times to see if either one fit and we finally decided on Alicia Michelle. She is sooooo tiny and everyone who sees her comments on her size. It is somewhat scary to hold such a tiny little bundle. I am always afraid that I will drop her.
Mom and Dad stopped to visit on Tuesday morning, bringing Amy to the hospital as well, before heading back up to Salt Lake to help Brad and Dallin more on their practice. They have all been working long hours to get everything ready for their opening this month, but it seems as though there is always something more to do. Anyway, they didn’t stay at the hospital too long, but long enough for Dad to be introduced to his newest granddaughter. Chris must have passed them on the way to the hospital as he went home to get Amy for the day. Tuesday was mostly a day of resting (in between walking and stretching) for me and a day of coming back and forth to the hospital for Chris in between Amy’s naps. Amy doesn’t seem to mind her little sister too much, but I don’t think she realizes that Mommy is bringing this little person home to stay.
Mom and Dad left for home on Wednesday the 11th because Dad had an appointment with his internist on the 12th. They had waited a long time to get into see the doctor and didn’t want to miss the opportunity to see him.
It has been a blessing for Chris to be working at IBM during this birth. Because we had a c-section, they gave him two weeks off–days which are separate from his regular vacation days. He was able to spend a lot of time with Amy which she really needed. Especially since I wasn’t able to lift her and am only now just starting to (August 11th).
Susan and her kids came to the hospital on Wednesday. She was not happy because I had asked Mom to ask her not to bring her kids to the hospital on Monday night since I knew that it would be a long and tiring day for me. They didn’t stay too long.
My visiting teacher, Leigh Laursen, and neighbor, Kelley Green, came to visit Alicia and me at the hospital on Thursday. Kelley had a baby in April and Leigh is due in September. It was so thoughtful of them to make the effort to come.
I slept completely through the night on Tuesday night, and that’s the last time that has happened for a long time, but my other nights at the hospital were full of interruptions and waking up for pain meds. My percadan was changed to another med on Wednesday, but it did very little for the pain and kept me awake for a lot of the night. I was fortunate to have great nurses during my stay.
Alicia and I had to leave the hospital before 8 am on Friday morning (insurance covers 96 hours for a c-section from the moment of birth). Since I was leaving before breakfast, the nurse brought me some yogurt, juice and toast. Chris was coming to pick us up by 7:45, so I spent the morning packing our stuff and then dressing Alicia for her trip home. She looked so cute and pretty in her little pink outfit. We were both checked out by the nurse one last time and just as we were getting ready to leave, Alicia filled her diaper. That delayed us for a couple of minutes but we were quickly on our way after that. The nurse’s assistant wheeled my down in a wheel chair and had to make sure that we had a car seat for Alicia to travel home in.
It is always a weird feeling bringing a baby home for the first time–a little person who is now a part of our family. We arrived, and went next door to Kelley Green’s to pick up Amy. She was rather happy to see us, but that was just the beginning of her adjustment to life with a sister. Amy took about a week to settle down when going to sleep, and I finally realized that she was afraid that I wouldn’t be here when she woke up. We have pictures of her standing on the counter in the bathroom so that I could hold her on my shoulder with a very sad “I missed you so much” look on her face. Chris carried Amy over to the bed and I carefully sat on it to hold her longer. She just didn’t want to let her mommy go. We made sure to show her my incision so that she would know I had an owie and to try and keep her from hurting me, but she mostly forgot when she tried to climb on my lap. When I went to the bathroom, though, she would always come in to look at it.
Chris went up to Salt Lake to help Brad and Dallin install computers in their new practice on Saturday leaving me with both of the girls. Alicia wasn’t much of a problem since I could lift her and she was sleeping for much of the time, but Amy wasn’t used to me not being able to hold her. I had to call Susan to come and put Amy in bed for her morning nap, but that was hardly acceptable. I let Amy cry for a little while and then got a chair for her to climb out of her bed with and then climb on to my bed with a stool. We laid down on the bed together and slept beside each other. She was much happier doing that.
We had kind, wonderful people bring in meals from Friday until the next Wednesday. Rowes on Friday, Slaters on Saturday as well as Bergers–friends from Novell–Glenns on Sunday, Ewells on Monday, Grants on Tuesday, and Greens on Wednesday. Kevin and Candace also brought a meal over on Friday and Kings invited us for dinner on Sunday.
Chris’ family arrived in Utah on the 23rd of July and stayed for the next three weeks. For the first two weeks they stayed at Kevin and Candace’s home and then Chris’ Mom stayed with us for the last week. They were anxious and excited to see their granddaughters. They took Amy to the zoo in Salt Lake during the first week and she seemed to enjoy the animals.
Alicia had her two week doctors checkup today Wednesday, July 25 She is growing and gaining weight but still seems so tiny. She weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces, which is only 3 ounces bigger than Amy was when she was born. Alicia has grown from 19 inches to 20 3/4 though.
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