Fwd: Alice Luna: Arrived

[Kelly Steinlage]

Just the other day, while eating breakfast, Jack noticed a new chair next to his. "That's for baby sister," he said.

"That's right. Baby sister is going to be showing up any day now."

He thought on this, and then said: "And she's going to play with my toys."

"Well, not right away. She won't be able to play with your toys, so she'll just watch you play with them."

"Oh," he said, "because I have hands."

"That's true, you do have hands.  But your sister will have hands, too. It's just that she won't be too good at using them at first."

"Oh."

And it turns out we were right! She does have hands! And feet. And fingers. And toes. And she is adorable.

Just after midnight this morning, Alice Luna, made her long-awaited appearance on the scene (hands and all!). It's hard to say if she looks much like her brother, given that, at the moment, she is pretty red, wrinkly, and puffy. But already, she has shown us the same concerned, furrowed brow employed by her brother when the topics of sharing toys or eating more vegetables come up.

Mom, of course, was a champ. After six hours of internal kicking, punching, burning, and pushing, out popped, at 9 lbs 7 ozs and 20.5 inches, the newest Dorlage. It was a team effort, though. According to Mom, Dad did a really, really exceptional job repeating, over and over, "breathe" and holding up her left leg. We're thankful for midwife Vicki and nurse Maureen for catching our Little Chunk and, to boot, giving us an up-close look at the placenta and letting us feel the uterus.

How has Jack done with all of this, you ask? Upon first meeting his sister this morning, as a sign of warm welcome and brotherly love, he gave her a doll. Which he promptly took back. Ah, siblings.

Love and Happiness from Kelly, Christopher, Jack, and now Alice too.