Sweet Alyssa!! (February 2014)

Post-posted from February 2014 

She's here!! Alyssa Ann Morton was born on February 18th, 2014 at 5:47pm. She weighed 8 lbs and was 20 inches long and is absolutely beautiful. We are already completely in love! Yes, I'm officially mother of 3 kids! That baffles me a little, but I of course feel absolutely happy and blessed to have 3 such sweet (most of the time) children. Now how I'm going to juggle all of their needs, personalities, and hands when I only have 2 hands of my own is still a mystery, but I'm going to try.

My labor with Alyssa was only about 8 hours (compared to 12 hours with Dominic and 14 hours with Blake), but it actually seemed a lot longer. The week before my doctor and I decided (at my appointment right before Atlanta Snow Storm #2) that I would be induced. This was primarily due to the fact that Blake was so big at a week early (over 8 1/2 pounds after they predicted 7 1/2 pounds if he went 40 weeks), meaning if I had waited till 40 weeks, he would have been a 9 lb baby. I had a lot of trouble delivering him because of his size as he was. I had an ultrasound done at 36 weeks with Alyssa and they had predicted she would be about 8 lbs at 40 weeks after measuring her at around 6 lbs 5 oz at that time (give or take a pound either way making it a big range).

Anyway, so with the induction - my 3rd - I was able to plan things pretty well for the boys. Since I'm a big planner, this was a big relief for me. My mom stayed with the boys at our house the Monday night that I went in for the induction and then stayed with them the night after I had Alyssa. After waiting all afternoon for a call from the hospital about what time I should go in, they finally called me at 7:00 to tell me to come in at 9:00. Once Brian and I arrived, I had to wait in the waiting room another 2 hours before my room was finally ready. They gave me cervadil after midnight and I hoped that would be all I would need to go into labor, but no such luck. At 8:00 the next morning, they gave me pitocin which almost immediately sent me into labor (finally). After that my cervix dilated very quickly and they expected that I would deliver around 1:00. However, I was at 9 cm for several hours and in fact never fully dilated. Finally, we tried having me push regardless of that last cm, and it worked. 2 pushes later - an extremely quick and easy experience - Alyssa was born and was hungry as could be!

Alyssa is a name that I've always loved since I was a little girl. Many years ago before Brian and I had kids and we were discussing the future, we decided that Alyssa would be our daughter's name because Brian loved it too when I told him I liked it (he vetoed at least one of my other girl names). Ann was my middle name as it was my mom's and named for St. Ann (the Virgin Mary's mother) since as Catholics we want to be named for a saint. Just like Dominic's middle name, Conway, is Brian's middle name and his dad's as well, we liked the idea of our first born son/daughter having those middle names to honor our families especially since we both felt strongly that we didn't want to have our kids' first names named after us or other family members in order to allow our children to become their own people. Blake's middle name, Christopher, is after my brother Chris as well as Brian's sister Christina, so that worked out well too. It would be nice if Dominic and Alyssa would both continue this tradition with their children too.

Unfortunately such a beautiful, wonderful day was followed by a sad day in my family as my our dog passed away the next morning after a rough last couple of weeks. Lacey, a Golden Retriever, was 15 years old, so she had a very long life. I don't know if the timing was horrible and good because Alyssa's birth helped brighten such a devastating time in my family. It was difficult because my mom was staying with the boys when it happened.

Blake was interested in climbing up to see Baby Alyssa...or just climbing. 

Melts my heart! Dominic is already so in love with his baby sister. 

Party of 5 or Circus of 5

All 3 kids! 

The morning after Alyssa was born, as all of that went on, my mom and dad brought Dominic and Blake to the hospital to meet their little sister and visit us. I missed my little boys terribly, so I was excited to see them both. Dominic walked in, looked around curiously, and then went straight to Brian, while Blake went straight to me. Blake didn't show much interest in Alyssa although he did try to climb up on her bassinet to see the "bee" (baby). Dominic, on the hand, was immediately in love. He happily held her and was incredibly gentle and sweet, something that was beautiful to see especially considering how rough and tumble he normally is. The boys' reactions to their baby sister were very positive or at least not negative, which was a big relief to me.

Getting ready to take our baby girl home! 

Warm and cozy and ready for her first car ride. Destination: HOME! 

Waiting on our chauffeur (Brian) to pick us up. 

With both Alyssa and me being healthy, Brian and I took our baby girl home from the hospital after the minimum 24 hours following her birth (and close to 48 hours for me since I went in the night before for the induction). We were greeted by 2 very excited little boys, my parents as well as my sister and her boyfriend Wes who brought dinner.

Alyssa and the boys

Brian thankfully took the next 2 weeks off for paternity leave while I recovered and we got a handle on juggling 3 kids. I've been told many, many times that when you have 3 kids, you immediately go from a man to man to a zone defense, and I feel that this is very true. The boys thankfully entertained each other quite a bit, which seemed to be a huge help. Also, I was already used to juggling multiple kids, so this made the transition a little easier I think. As the hormones and sleep deprivation started affecting me and I began to feel more and more overwhelmed and emotional, I remembered how this was exactly how I felt after the last 2 births especially the last one, which I think helped me realize that I just needed to push through it over the next couple of days and that seemed to help.

The hardest part this time around has been the sleep deprivation. It was also a little rough for a few days as Alyssa was eating every 2 hours. Blake had definitely spoiled us as he came out basically on a schedule, only eating every 3 hours from day 1. He also "slept through the night" (midnight to 5am) at only 2 weeks old. Alyssa was still trying to work back up to her birth weight, so she was eating constantly...for a couple of days it was every 45 minutes to 2 hours between feedings. This made it impossible to get anything done around the house, let alone take a nap. I will say that the new baby sleep deprivation is nothing compared to that which I experienced before Alyssa was born. Those last 3 months of pregnancy were full of sleepless, uncomfortable, restless nights full of lots of tossing, turning, frequent trips to the bathroom throughout the night (every 1 - 2 hours), and insomnia despite being exhausted. Thank God, I can now sleep comfortably - albiet for only a few hours at a time - instead of feeling half asleep most of the night. Best of all, I have Alyssa sleeping just feet away from me (in the bassinet), making the sleepless nights and exhaustion completely and totally worth it. 

Although life is far from perfect, I do have a household full of family, laughter, chaos, and lots of love.  There's nothing better than that! 

Happy Birthday, Alyssa!