Welcome Aletheia!

Aletheia Elizabeth Bostwick White (Ali for short) arrived February 26, 2010 at 7:03 am by emergency c-section. We are certainly in trouble if her dramatic entrance into this world is any indication of what we are up for in the future!

She made a valiant effort to steal my (and her paternal grandmother's) birthday but missed it by a day :) The end of February will be quite a party around here from now on though!

Her delivery was nothing like I wanted or we had planned for but the only thing that matters is that she is here with us today - alive and healthy!

Aletheia's Entrance

The last belly shot.

I did not know I was in labor until my water broke around 3:30 am (I was sleeping soundly). In retrospect I think I may have starting having contractions (very minor - I think I have had worse menstrual cramps) around 7:30 pm the night before. We were fairly unprepared (I had taken Thursday and Friday off of work so I could get the last few things done before she reached "full term" on the 27th) so things were a bit frantic as I started trying to pack a bag. I called my midwife and she said we could continue to labor at home for a while to strengthen up the contractions since the baby was still moving well and the amniotic fluid was clear.

We labored at home and got ready as best we could until 6:30 am. At this point my contractions has gotten much stronger and I wanted to be able to use the tub at the hospital for pain relief and relaxation. We walked up the labor and delivery and were shown to our room. Jesse helped me through a contraction immediately after we entered the room then I want to the bathroom to leave the requested urine sample . . . The rest of the day was pretty much a blur. As it turned out little Ali had us all fooled - she was breech and we ended up with a rare complication called umbilical cord prolapse. Fortunately God was watching out for her and the complication was noticed in time.

I was quickly wheeled away and given a general anesthetic and little Ali was born less than 10 minutes later. Jesse got to see her and accompany her to the NICU before he joined me. I woke up confused and probably had to be told 5 times that I had a baby girl before I was able to process the information. The doctors and nurses got me stabilized and we were sent to a recovery room where we would be the rest of our stay.

I got to see Ali for the first time late that morning and hold her that afternoon. After the longest 50 or so hours of my life - she was finally discharged from the NICU around 10:30 am Sunday morning. It was the greatest feeling in the world when we called to make sure it was a good time to visit and were told Ali was discharged and they were bringing her to us!

Ali and I were discharged Monday. It was so scary and overwhelming leaving the hospital but so great to know that she was really ours. She was jaundiced and had been in a phototherapy bed in the hospital and we had to get one delivered to the house to use as well.

Her first week was filled with doctors appointments (hers and mine) but she got to come out of the bed Thursday and has been doing great.

Ali had a little trouble nursing in the hospital - she tended to fall asleep too quickly. We were told this partially due to her arriving a bit early. She is still a great sleeper (better during the day than at night) and is eating better by the day.

She is such an amazing blessing and I overflow with love and pride just thinking of her. We are so thankful to have her in our lives and are adjusting to being mommy and daddy. The dogs are doing well with her although they are quite needy for attention.