Welcome Alee!

As many of you probably already know, Rebecca had Alee Moriah Dingle yesterday (Friday) morning. Now, for the behind-the-scenes details a la Torrie:

I'm a late night person, which Thursday night really came in handy. I was watching TV, as usual, when just after midnight I heard a lot of walking around upstairs. At first I didn't pay any attention; it could have been a sick kid or a bed wetting, or just Rebecca puking - all pretty normal stuff around here. But THEN I heard a very unusual sound for the Dingle household at 12:30 AM... Kevin was making a phone call! (side note: yes, I can tell the difference between Kevin talking on the phone and Kevin talking to Rebecca from down here). At this point, I ran up the stairs, and (as Kevin puts it) bound into the room like a giddy school girl saying "Are we having a baby?!?!!!" I found Rebecca in the bathroom & asked if she lost her plug or her water or something. Turns out her water broke, but she quickly assured me that it didn't break on the bed (my futon) - isn't she so considerate? :) She wasn't contracting yet though, so she decided to take her time getting ready to go to the hospital: she gave me instructions for the kids morning routine, she tweaked the baby announcement email, she packed her bag, Kevin took a shower, she dealt with a fussy Titus, etc. etc. Finally, the doctor called and asked where they were because he was at the hospital. So, they finally left for the hospital and I went to sleep in Titus's bed and Titus slept in their bed. Now, for those who haven't slept on a 4-year-old's bed recently... plastic sheets are the most AWFUL thing in the world! Every time I rolled over I ended up waking myself up with the loud crinkling of plastic, so needless to say I didn't sleep much that night. Which didn't matter, because apparently night-time stops at 6:15 AM, or at least it did for Titus. Thankfully he went back to sleep and I got to snooze for another hour. The morning was a series of whines and fusses, but overall it actually went fairly smoothly and I got Meg to school on time & had just dropped Titus off at Kevin's parents when I got the call from Kevin about Alee. I zipped over to the hospital and thankfully got there just in time to see her for about 10 minutes before they took her away to the nursery. It was good to get to hang out with Rebecca, and I've got to say she looked SO much better after getting that baby out. Apparently all of her nausea, heart burn, etc. stopped as soon as the baby was out, and her face showed it... she finally looks well again.

I haven't gotten to get back to the hospital again, but Rebecca and Alee come home tomorrow. Everyone tells me I won't be sleeping much with a new baby in the house. I say, that's what earplugs are for :)

Official Dingle details and picture are available here: http://dinglejapan.blogspot.com/2008/05/new-dingle-has-arrived.html