Welcome to the World, Alfred!

My oldest daughter, Katie and her husband Andrew have given us our third grandson.  We now have Charlie, Lexie's son; Henry, Katie & Andrew's first son, and now Alfred.

He was born March 1st at 9:38am.  22.5 inches long, 9 pounds 11.5 oz, 14.5 cm head circumference.

Katie called our house phone at 5:15am. I answered the phone in a groggy haze and had no idea who would be calling at that hour, so I said "Who is this?" in my grumpiest morning foggy voice. I forgot to sleep with my cell phone and I know the house phone is just for telemarketers.

Once I heard Katie's voice, I forgave the phone for ringing and waking me up. She said she was in labor and I should plan to come down to San Diego. Ok, I can do that. I laid back down wondering if I could sleep for another hour, but I couldn't. I tried, but I just tossed around thinking about how to handle the day.

I would have to drop the girls off somewhere and I have people lined up to watch them, but who do I call so early in the morning and leave them with. It's a school day which means someone has to transport Gracie to school and back. I'll need to give someone both carseats in order to get this transportation done right. Keith can't stay home, it's a school day. I juggled carseats around in my mind for a bit and then decided to just get up and get ready while I figure things out.

I showered, dressed, and started packing Gracie's lunchbox before waking the kids and then Andrew called. It was 6am now. He said, "you better hurry". Ack! School doesn't start until 9am and I still haven't figured out what I'm going to do with the girls! I was starting to think about dropping them at different places so that one friend wouldn't have to squeeze her own kids and mine in together. I decided to ask Keith to take the day off.

He wanted to, he thought about it, paced back and forth a bit and finally said he just couldn't. Lexie wasn't home either, and her phone is broken so I couldn't get ahold of her.

I decided to just take them with me. Forget taking Gracie to school today, it just wasn't going to work. I have two people in San Diego who offered to watch them so I can call them later and that would work out better than trying to get Gracie to school and back. That sounded like a good plan.

I poured a to-go cup of coffee and grabbed a bag and filled it with clothes for the girls. We woke the girls and tossed them into the car in their pajamas.

I got on the freeway just before 7am. I don't know where that last hour went, but it was gone. Traffic was thick, guess I was on the road with all of the people who commute to work. Good thing I brought the girls so I qualified for the carpool lane! I got to the Birth Center at 8am. I was hoping I made it on time because Andrew said to hurry and I really got the feeling that he meant it.

Henry was playing with a barn and some animals behind the receptionist's desk, happy as can be. I got the girls dressed and they started to play with Henry too. Everyone was happy and Katie was asking for me. She was in a birthing room up the stairs from the waiting room. All I could think was, "she had to climb these stairs while in labor?"

The nurse said "right at the top of the stairs", um ok, there were 4 closed doors at the top of the stairs, and it was silent. Great. I tried calling out to see if anyone would come see who the loon was lost at the top of the stairs, nothing. Nobody. So... I started opening doors and yelling. Hopefully, I wouldn't disturb anyone else, but I was just standing there for such a long time trying to figure out where to go. Finally, a nurse came out of one of the doors and she said Katie was just through that one. Ok, I opened it and no, it looked like a waiting room so I went in there. Finally found her, I had to go through that waiting room and down a little hallway. She was laboring in a warm bath tub and Andrew was fully clothed and in the tub with her.

Katie really wanted to tell me to take Henry and go do something fun with him, he needs to have fun, just take him somewhere fun, ok, go, just go and make sure Henry has fun. Then she waved me out.

The midwife, or nurse, or someone, I couldn't tell who was who, anyway she said it would be soon, very soon. I sure didn't want to leave if she was going to have that baby in the next few minutes.

The kids were having fun in the waiting room, playing in the toy corner and having fun just being together. My job was easy. I decided that I was honoring her wishes without going anywhere, besides, I forgot to grab the other carseat. It's sitting at home in the garage. Now I have three kids and two carseats, not sure if that's such a great idea to be running around San Diego like that. Plus, I had time on the parking meter. We'll just wait it out for a bit and see how it goes. I kind of want to hear from the midwife or doctor about how Katie is doing.

I caught one of them coming out of the stairwell and asked about Katie and was told she's doing great and it will be soon.  Eh, that's not really helpful news, but it's good to hear. 

The kids did great playing in the waiting room, but it was 9am now and Henry was starting to get rowdy, Libby was hungry and Gracie was bored. I told the receptionist that I was going to take them all for a walk around the block and we'd be back shortly, but they need some fresh air. She said there was a park two blocks away. Ideal!

I walked them to the park where they had a great time. I recognized the park, it's on the edge of Balboa Park. Felt nice to get my bearings and know exactly where I was. I get lost so easily!

Luckily, I had Gracie's lunch box packed and had the presence of mind to bring it along. I didn't bring water, so the kids had snacks but nothing to drink. Oops it was 80 degrees and sunny. We were there for about half an hour and Andrew sent me a text. Alfred was born!

We walked back to the Birth Center and after just a few minutes, Andrew came downstairs to get us. Henry jumped up into his arms and then wanted down. "Ewww, wet." We herded the kids up the stairs and through the labyrinth to the corner room where Katie was in a nice bedroom with beautiful sunlight, and she was holding a perfect little baby with lots of black hair.

She looked great! The girl didn't even look like she was in labor a few minutes ago. How does she do that? My daughter is a natural beauty. She said she felt fine and she was very happy to see all of us, especially Henry. He loved meeting his new baby brother and it was such a joy to be there and witness that moment with the four of them were together for the first time.

Gracie was super excited and curious. She wanted to touch him and she was concerned about Katie and asked a bunch of questions. I don't even know what all she asked; I tune out her chatter a lot and I think the moment was just so beautiful that I didn't allow her chatter to interfere. Libby was excited too, but she was just a happy little observer. She didn't get in the way or ask any questions, she just absorbed it all in her own way.

We went back to the waiting room to wait for him to be measured and assessed. Katie wanted food and wanted it NOW. She also wanted chocolate birthday cake. Andrew volunteered to go get it, in fact, he insisted, so off he ran. It took him forever to get back!  He finally came back in dry clothes, with a fruit and cheese tray and a sandwich wrap for Katie and chocolate birthday cake that looked like cookie monster. Very cute. And very very blue!

Thankfully, my friend Audrey had just given me a package of diapers and they were still in the trunk of my car or Henry wouldn't have a nice clean bum. I was very thankful for that fresh diaper supply, as was everyone in the waiting area. Henry suddenly had a bout of diarrhea. 

When Andrew arrived with the food we all went up to see Katie and Alfred again and watch him get measured. The midwife measured his length and said, "Well, that can't be right." and she tried again. He's a big boy: 22.5 inches long!  Everyone guessed he might be a nine-pounder, she put him on the scale and it turns out he was almost ten pounds! At this point she mentioned that they would need to check his blood sugar to make sure his size wasn't a result of gestational diabetes (his sugar level was fine). He's just a big healthy boy. I herded the kids back down the stairs so that Katie could eat without the kids all begging for her food, they were pretty hungry at this point and it was close to noon already. I also didn't want them to see Alfred have his sugar tested and get his Vitamin K shot. No need to traumatize the kids by seeing a newborn get a needle. Who am I kidding, I didn't want to see that needle!

I was about 2 hours past my parking expiration on the meter, whoops, but luckily no parking ticket! Score! I put Henry in Libby's carseat, Libby in Gracie's booster seat and Gracie in the middle without a seat. Illegal for two of them, but it was the best I could do aside from walking in an area I didn't know well. Libby isn't legal in a booster seat until she gains 4 more pounds and Gracie isn't legal to sit on the actual seat of the car until she is 8 years old, she's got another year to go even though she is bigger than all of the 8 year olds in her class at school. I've broken so many laws today, what's a few more?  (Speeding, parking meter ran out, didn't feed the kids very well so far, took small children to a birth center, probably more.)

I took the kids to Costco and fed them pizza and fruit smoothies. Filling, yummy and cheap! Then we walked across the parking lot to Ikea and I checked the girls into the play area. They love the ball pit! Ikea offers an hour of free babysitting and the kids love it. They needed to burn off some energy anyway. Henry fell asleep in the carseat and was still asleep so I strolled through Ikea while he napped in the stroller.

It was 3pm now so I called Katie and told her we're on our way back to the birth center to see her one last time before heading home to Murrieta. She said, "I'm home now" What? Really? That was fast!  I drove to her house instead.

Andrew cut cake for everyone. It was cute and festive, but I just couldn't bring myself to eat that blue frosting. Katie opened presents from her friend and poor Henry had two more yucky diapers.

I grabbed a fresh outfit for Henry and his carseat, and took all three kids home. Andrew said he would come and get Henry tomorrow. I know they need this night alone with Alfred, especially since this would normally be a night in the hospital for Katie.  Henry loves coming to our house anyway.

Poor Henry had one more nasty diaper in the morning and started to run a little fever. Not bad, and he seemed to be eating and playing well and he was in good spirits, but he has a brand new baby brother at home so I called Katie to warn her that he might be hosting a germ. His diapers were fine the rest of the day, maybe he worked it all out of his system. Katie decided to let him stay one more night to keep Alfred safe.

I babysat for a friend so she and her husband could attend a retirement party, and the kids had a fabulous time together! Henry hung out with the kids and wasn't at all acting ill. Whatever he had, it was gone and he had so much fun with all of the kids. We had 6 kids from noon till bedtime.

In the evening, he was still fever free, playing hard, eating great, smiling and no more signs of diarrhea except for the rash it left behind. A bath nearly cured that though. Just when I thought he was all better, the blue frosting worked it's way through. Yuck!

When Henry woke up in the morning, he had a big smile on his face, looked at Keith and I and said "Yes!" Funny boy!

Andrew came around noon and poor little Henry had to go home. He was having so much fun playing with his little aunties and cousin that he didn't want to go home. He covered his eyes with his hands to hide from his daddy. What an attitude! I'm sure that once he got home to his mama and his new baby brother he was happy. I'm so glad the four of them can have this family time together. I know a lot of military families do not get this opportunity so it is extra special.

We're so proud of Katie and Andrew. They have two beautiful boys now, what a wonderful family! Katie had that big baby after only 4 and half hours of labor from start to finish, and delivered without any medications. She is feeling great and doing well. Andrew is taking extra great care of her and the boys too. They are they kind of family you hear about, but are afraid to believe that much happiness could be true. They are living proof that dreams come true. Welcome, little Alfred.