Welcome To The World, Baby Alisa!!!

Poor Liz! She stayed w/ me the whole night & she slept on the uncomfortable couch. Of course we were woken up a few times when the nurses came in to check on me. Anytime I would adjust my position just a little bit, the baby monitors around my belly wouldn't pick up the baby's heartbeat anymore & the nurses would have to come readjust them. We did get a little bit of sleep, which was nice. Liz had to leave at 6:30 to get home so Liberty could get ready & leave for work.

 

 Right after Liz left, the nurse came to check on me & said I was dilated to a 10 & we were ready to push! Frank had come back to the hospital around 5:30 am, and he had left to go to the restroom and get a snack right before Liz left. I texted him to let him know it was time to start pushing. As soon as I hit send on the text, I heard his phone ding on the couch! He had left without his phone. OH NO! The doctor said we could wait just a few minutes, but then I was going to have to push whether he was there or not. Luckily he made it back just in time. He came and held my hand, I started pushing, and our sweet baby girl entered this world after about 6 pushes at 7:00 am! Of course Frank & I both started to cry the second we heard her take her first breath and let out her first cry. It's one of the sweetest sounds in the whole entire world.

 

 Our first family photo! A few things have changed since I had Autumn 11 years ago. One of those things is that they like you to have skin-to-skin contact right away for at least one hour. I was more than OK w/ getting to kiss and hug and snuggle baby girl for an hour.

 

After an hour, they weighed & measured her. They don't have a nursery at this hospital, so everything is done right there in the room, which I loved. She was 8 lbs 6 oz, and 21.5" long! Such a cute & fat & healthy baby girl. The doctor said I had a small tear, which she stitched up w/ about 6 stitches. She also said that I was SUPER LUCKY b/c I guess the umbilical cord had originally attached to the placenta in a weird place & was barely hanging on. It could have easily unattached at any point in the pregnancy! So thankful that all the prayers we said & that others said in our behalf were heard & that there were no complications w/ the pregnancy or delivery!!!

 

 Frank holding our baby girl. We decided to name her Alisa Lynette. We wanted to name her after her 2 grandmas, but wanted to change the names a little bit so it wasn't exact. So Alisa after Grandma Lisa & Lynette after Grandma Lin.

 

 It's so nice that the hospital is about an 8 minute drive from our house, so Frank was able to go back & forth a lot. He went home to pick up the kids and bring them to the hospital so they could meet their new baby sister. We let them both skip school today since it was a special occasion.

 

 I had ordered breakfast for us, and it came just in time for us to share some w/ the kids. Everyone was happy & had full bellies. So cute!

 

 Frank took Spencer home after an hour or so, but Autumn opted to stay & hang out w/ me & the baby. The bed was so uncomfortable & I preferred to sit in the rocking chair or on the couch. So, Autumn took up residence in the bed. One nurse came in when they were changing shifts and started talking to Autumn as if she was the Mom, b/c she was in the bed. We all got a good laugh out of that once the nurse realized she was just a kid.

 

 This is a special picture, b/c this is Frank's blanket from when he was a baby! GrannyMom has saved it all these years & gave it to him the last time he was up in Oklahoma. How neat that now our own baby girl is wrapped up in that same blanket.

 

 I don't know if this is how she'll always be, but she is such a CHILL & RELAXED baby! She was wide awake & alert for a whole 2 hours after birth. She just looked around & took in all of her surroundings. She was pretty laid back in the womb, so this might just be her personality.

 

 Julie A was our first non-family visitor to stop by. She brought a beautiful bouquet of flowers from the Relief Society presidency. She's so amazing & has such incredible advice & insight. I'm so thankful for her.

 

 I can already tell that Miss Autumn is going to be a HUGE helper. Anytime I wasn't holding the baby or that the nurses weren't checking on her, Autumn wanted to be holding Baby Alisa. She's already such a great big sister.

 

 There's nothing better than sweet newborn baby kisses & snuggles. It's so nice to just relax & rest & not worry about work or anything else.

 

 Liz & her crew stopped by this afternoon to love on Baby Alisa. I feel so bad for Liz that she was w/ me the whole night but then she missed the birth by 30 minutes.

 

 The rest of the afternoon & evening was pretty uneventful. Frank took Autumn home so she could go to bed at a decent hour since she has school tomorrow. We had dinner (the hospital food is actually really good), the nurses came & checked on us several times throughout the day, and we just enjoyed our brand new baby girl.

 

Another new thing they do since I had Autumn is that they don't bathe the babies right away. They wait at least 8 hours, b/c I guess the stuff on their bodies is good for them in a moisturizing & antibacterial way. Baby Alisa finally got her first bath late this evening. She LOVED it and looked so relaxed & peaceful.

 

 This baby beanie w/ the big old bow is too precious! I also got to put Baby Alisa in her first outfit and she looked so adorable.

 

I was starvin' Marvin, so Frank stopped at WalMart & got us a sandwich, drinks, & some peanut butter M&M's. We had a late night snack, and then he went home to get some good rest & be there to take Spencer to seminary & the kids to school in the morning. I ended up sleeping on the fold out couch, b/c it was more comfortable than the hospital bed.

 

Welcome to the world, Baby Alisa!!!