Birth Announcement & Newborn Pictures

Alice's First Few Days

Alice is greatly loved from her older siblings, the first few days she was always held by someone and it was always a fight to see who got to hold her. Luckily it isn't as bad now but I still have to share my newborn cuddle time with the kids. Elizabeth has had a few meltdowns because her world has changed and we've had to say "no" a lot the last few days, she wants to be the mother and helper and she doesn't quite grasp that Alice can't be held like her dolls but we are slowly learning. 

Alice Evelyn Clark- Birth Story

 

Alice Evelyn Clark

August, 7th 2019

8.6 Lbs & 20.5 inches

Alice is here and we just love her! The kids are excited that their baby sister is here, and the way Elizabeth says "baby Alice" is too adorable. 

I like to write down the birth stories because it's amazing how quickly you forget and it's always fun to go back and read about them. Poor Thomas, I think he's the only one that I didn't write down, I was too busy finishing school I guess.

I've always say I'm not a fan to being induced, but I decided to get induced again this time because of timing and schedule. Both the kids and Dustin start school next week and I wanted to get used to our new normal before adding to the craziness, also my mother in law is in town to help out. 

I was 39 weeks the Monday before I had Alice and at my doctor's appointment on Tuesday I was dilated at 3cm and was 75% effaced which surprised the doctor and I since I was nothing the week before. So that made me excited and made me ALMOST want to wait and not get induced to see what would happen, but I decided to induce anyway. Dustin picked his mom at the airport really late Tuesday night and didn't come home sometime after midnight. I went to bed hoping to get some sleep before the big day, but once Dustin came home I couldn't sleep between the heartburn, Alice moving like crazy, and having lots a cramps and some good contractions.We got up left for the hospital at 5am to get things going. I let Dustin sleep at this time because I knew I wouldn't be able to with everything and we could trade off later when I could sleep. They started giving me pitocin around 7:20 the contractions started coming fast and hard and every few minutes, then they gave me the epidural, which probably worked too well, because I had one arm numbed and half of my face. I was also getting sick because my blood pressure was getting low but they fixed that pretty quick.  At 9:20 they broke my water and I was dilated at 4 and 80% efface, so I figured it was going to take a while before it was time, I did tell the nurse that I feel like about time I hit 5cm I go fast.  She put a peanut shape ball between my legs to help with dilation, then a little before 10 she checked my progress and I was a 10cm and 100% effaced. By 10am I was wanting to push but my doctor wasn't there, he was at the other hospital with another delivery and was heading our way. So I had to wait thirty minutes before I could start pushing. So 10:30 I start pushing and no sign of the baby coming, in the past it went a lot quicker and I was getting discouraged that no progress was made. Alice was so far on my left side that she was coming at an angle so when I was pushing she basically was just hitting wall versus going through the opening, after pushing and not that much progress I was getting discouraged and the lack of sleep hit me hard, but I kept pushing, the doctor said he probably missed the window since I had to wait for him and Alice moved out of prime location,  so after 15 minutes he used a little vacuum to adjust her, and I pushed a few times, then she came out. Like Elizabeth she cried and cried and cried, it took a while to finally calm her down. 

The first night was a little rough since she was having a hard time burping and she seemed uncomfortable so I was up most of the night with her. I did send her to the nursery to see if maybe they could get her to sleep and comfortable and they came back pretty quick and said she was fussy and only rocking her calmed her down, and I was like "yeah that's why I sent her, I needed some sleep" ha ha but I was happy to take care of her after my little nap, it just made me laugh that they didn't want to deal with her. But when I finally got her to burp some pretty good burps she slept pretty good and I got some sleep between every body at the hospital coming in to bother me. I'm not a fan of hospitals, obviously. 

Anyway she is here and she's been doing great once she figured how to burp, she's been sleeping a lot and it's hard to wake her up for feedings sometimes but she's starting to eat like a champ. We just love her and so glad that she's finally here.

Summer Fun

About a month ago I was able to get two vouchers for Build-A -Bear's "pay your age" sale, so I let the two younger ones pick out one each, it was $6 for the two stuff animals. Then I let the two older kids pick out some Legos at the Lego store since they didn't get a bear. I almost let Thomas get a bear because I did feel bad I only had two vouchers and he wanted a Star Wars one but I told him if he still wanted a bear after going to the Lego store then we can get one, luckily he wanted Legos because it was cheaper. Ha ha

I figured I should do one pregnancy picture for this pregnancy so this kid doesn't feel left out.  I think I was 35 weeks at this picture. And yes I know I'm huge, everyone likes to remind me and say some comment while I'm in public, and it takes everything in me not to say some smart, nasty remark back, oh bless me. Two more weeks!

Some friends threw me a friend baby shower last week. I just wanted friends since its my fifth baby I didn't feel like I needed a huge baby shower. My friends still went all out and did a wonder woman theme and it was amazing, and they had all the food and treats that I have been craving, it was very sweet.

This past month it's been hotter, its been a "mild' summer for Texas which has been a blessing for this pregnant girl, so we've been taking the kids to the pool almost everyday.

Also this summer the kids and Dustin have done a lot of bike rides in the morning. So far it's been pretty chill summer and now we are playing the waiting game for our baby girl to arrive.

Some of Summer so Far

So far this summer we have had three rounds of people getting sick that it's amazing that we have been able to do some fun activities. This past week Thomas went to scout camp for the day, I was a little worried since he's not the most out door-sy type of kid but he did great and even caught a fish. He also went to the Gifted and Talented Science camp this week, it's fun to see your kids get to experience and learn new things.

Also this past week my friend and I went to the Hugh Jackman concert, and he was amazing, no surprise there. I don't usually care for celebrities but I've been a big fan of  Hugh Jackman since he played Wolverine so I was on cloud 9. We also found out he has a coffee food truck traveling with him and we saw he showed up in most cities so Ashley and I waited for a few hours to see if he would show up, but he was a no show. But it was pretty hilarious to stand by several other women waiting for a celebrity, I felt kind of silly but I wasn't going to waste an opportunity to see him in person if I could ha ha.

Klyde Warren Park

This summer we have spent a lot of time at parks before it gets too hot. One of our favorite places is Klyde Warren Park that's located right over a main high way in down town Dallas.