Alice's big 0... behind the scenes!

We had another child!! With no small miracle, Alice Wilder Cerney was born amongst chaos and joy at 11ish am on Sunday July 22nd, 2018 weighing in at a whopping 5.08 lbs at 35 weeks. I'd say it was a big surprise but with all the drama before hand, we were not shocked by her arriving ahead of schedule. We had so been hoping she (I) would have held out two more weeks, as my mom and dad were in Alaska, a certain big brother had 2 birthday parties scheduled, not to mention a work party in my honor, a few last dates with friends before baby, and tons of work for me with grants and library. Ok! So none of that stuff happened! Fine. Because we now have a happy healthy adorable baby girl. Getting last minute tickets from Alaska in the summertime is nothing short of fantasy. So with Grandma and Grandpa donut's blessing, we called in a hail mary to Grandma and Grandpa Omaha to make an emergency Chicago trip to hang with Brock and witness the arrival of grandchild #4. They were, of course, game for it. Glory be. Now look at me, typing a blog post with one hand (some little nibblet is using the other one)! 

 Yay! Grandma to the rescue! Notice she is sporting the necklace Brock made in her honor for Mother's day. Well played! Looks great. 

 This is Beth. She was my amazing nurse during my crazy 2 days of delivery and subsequent 4 day hospital stay. Nurses are heroes! Child birth is no joke, and she made me feel human-ish. Beth has a son Ben who is Brock's age, so she knew just what to do to include him in this difficult/beautiful time. 

 Here we are, Brock tapping into the endless jello supply. So, judging by the broth in front of me, this should date before Alice is born, while I was "in labor". I guess I used quotes because it was kind of a faux labor? 

 Ok, so here is the deal on the behind the scenes. Right now I am in another state in the hospital, so all of this wonder photo documentation is courtesy of Gpa Omaha. So I am guessing on some of my captions here and learning what happened while I was in the zone. Apparently Brock had a great time, judging by copious smiles and complete lack of "I miss mommy" (ok, I got a few snugs out of him later... really, I am so grateful for all the love he got while I was distracted!!)

Brock is a regular at the Hollywood grille next door. We wondered if the waitresses thought that Brock was cheating on the G. Donuts with a new cute couple. 

Balloon joy at the Hollywood.

 Thank goodness for Perplexus. It's value as positive time usage out-weighs it's high inducement of insane frustration. 

 I don't know what is happening here, but it is cute!!

And... we have a baby! Alice! 

Alice is a premie, born at exactly 35 weeks, but she rocked it. Fluids for only one night, and no jaundice or other issues. Eating like a champ. Only 2 bottles of formula before my milk came in buckets. Turns out she was ready to go home before me. My doc wanted to remind me how lucky I was... duh. Although one of the nurses pish poshed 35 weeks as a premie, she was like, "nahhh, it's all just fat after that..."

I think this is Brock and Gpa looking at Alice in the NICU? 

"what do we do with it?"

Pretty sure they are waving at Brock and Grandma...

View from the other side...

Brock brings me my hospital give from Jim and Julie, which turned out to be at practical as it was adorable... a sequined narwhal pillow! It both glammed up my sterile stay and also helped Alice eat. 

Yes Alice, your daddy is silly.

Yes Alice, your brother is silly too.

More on super Gma. It made my heart so glad that G-ma Omaha was willing/happy to accompany Brock on his field trip to the Planetarium while Matt and I were baby-ing it up. He has already built a stigma about kids whose parents don't go on the field trips and those that do...terrible, I know. I mean that boy has no idea how lucky he is! I just happen to have Friday's off, but let's not pretend that I am engrossed in my career or slaving to put food on the table (more like slaving to keep Anthropologie on my back, gawd I'm choking on the privilege here people! Gag. Sigh). Anyhow, Grandma got to go and I hope/think she had as good of a time as Brock did. 

She even sported my field trip shirt!! It looks amazing, Julie! Sooooooo cute together. 

The report I got back and that I can see from this picture is why the heck is there a lego station in the Planetarium? Seriously, does the infinity of space not have enough to offer the people of Chicago?

By the end of the week, my mom and dad made it back from Alaska and headed over to meet their new granddaughter! The gang is all here playing a brutal game of Uno with the deadly draw 10 stacker looming in the deck. 

And baby girl is home with my baby boy. 

And this is what life is all about. Thank you Jim and Julie so much for making this amazing week even more so and thank you "Fates" for my babies - babies: a toast to all the people in your fabulous blood line who got to pass their awesomeness down to you.