Grandma & Me: Welcoming Baby Atticus Into The World

I am so excited to share this very special "Grandma & Me" post with you this month.  Normally my "Grandma & Me" posts are a bit more staged with near-perfect settings and photography, but with all the chaos involving a new birth in the family, we did not have time to stage a formal photography shoot.  So instead of the usual "Grandma & Me" post, I decided to share some snapshots of our family welcoming Baby Atticus into the world, along with his birth story from a "Grandma's Perspective" and I will also give you deets on the outfits we wore, why we wore them, and where we got them.  Ha ha! So a lot of info in one post!

First of all, here are the outfits we wore to see Atticus for the very first time.  I wanted Alethea and I to coordinate so I picked out this cute floral top from Target, blue shorts, and a white sun hat for her to wear.   I wore my Stitch Fix T-Shirt dress.  I thought the coral in the dress went beautifully with her coral top and all the white and blue ties are two outfits together nicely.

We were all concerned about how Alethea would feel no longer being an only child, so we wanted to do things to make it a special event for her.  We stopped at the Dollar Tree before we went to the hospital and picked out a balloon.  Alethea loved to watch the salesman blow up the balloon and tie a ribbon on it.  We let her carry it once we were inside the hospital.  She loved it!

Now before I move on with more pictures of the week, first let's start with Atticus' birth story.  Many of you are already aware of Atticus' late arrival in the world.  I would love to say that my daughter always has to give birth so dramatically, but it's probably more like MY reaction to her child bearing that's dramatic.  🤣  Just once, I would like a normal delivery, you know, when the baby comes just around the time of the due date, mom goes to the hospital, and a few hours later the baby is born.  But, I realize those are quite rare and I should just be thankful that everyone is healthy and well...and believe me,  I am!  So what was so dramatic for me this time?  Well, I think we were all in the mindset that because Alethea, Ashley's first born, was early that Atticus would be early  as well.  Alethea's birth was dramatic for me because she came surprisingly early.  Mom's water broke, and we literally had to drop everything and drive to Illinois in hours.  I expected the baby to be born by the time we arrived, instead Ashley was still in labor.  I was awake all night worrying that something was wrong, until finally I got the call that she was born.  Now, when Ashley was pregnant with Atticus, we all expected him to come early, since he was the second baby and Alethea came early.  So even though his due date wasn't until July 8th we were expecting him to arrive at the end of June.  My husband kept working ahead at work so he could leave at a moment's notice and not have a nightmare of work to come back too.  He kept putting in "vacation requests" only to have to rescind them when Atticus didn't arrive when expected;  he ended up doing this three times.  I was at a complete lost to what to do with myself.  I never really realized how organized I was till I couldn't be.  Every day, every week, every month I have completely planned out;  what projects I want to work on, where I want to go, what I want to do...etc.  I felt I couldn't plan or do anything because at any moment I would receive a phone call and I would have to drop everything and leave.  I hated living my life in limbo.  Even food was an issue for us.  I couldn't go grocery shopping because I didn't want to leave a bunch of fresh fruits and veggies in the fridge to spoil.  It was hard to even come up with things to make meals with. We ended up not eating very well for a few weeks and neither one of us felt very good.  And of course, there was the "Motherly Worry" syndrome.  Why hasn't the baby arrived yet?  Was something wrong?  What if he gets too big and there are problems with the delivery? On, and on, and on.  I tried to pray about it, but got very little reassurance as I constantly reminded myself of how many babies are born with health issues.

Well, a few days past the due date Ashley called and asked us to come to Illinois early, that way we'd already be there when she went into labor and we could have some fun as a family before Ashley went to the hospital.  At first, I wasn't keen on the idea.  What if she didn't go into labor during my husbands vacation?  Then he'd have to drive back to Wisconsin to go to work, leaving me in Illinois, and he would miss seeing Atticus in the hospital.  Plus, I was worried about leaving Jackson, my cat, alone too long not to mention my garden.  After running the idea past my husband, he put in his final vacation notice, and we left for Illinois the next day.  It ended up being the very best thing we could have done because our being there helped Ashley to relax and we had so much fun as a family for two days.  Time we wouldn't have had if we would have arrived only after Ashley was admitted to a hospital.  Alethea was so happy we were there!  We went for long walks to local parks, swam at the pool, went to a farmer's market and the splash pad.  I was able to feel Baby Atticus move in mom's tummy.  I even felt him having the hiccups!  Grandpa Todd kept rubbing Ashley's belly saying "Come on out little guy, we're all ready to meet you!"

In the meantime, Ashley was having contractions on and off for about a week.  They would start up, but then stop.  On Saturday morning, they started up again, but we just went about having fun and keeping busy to try to get the labour to progress and not stop.  FINALLY, Saturday night, things were looking up.  We started praying that tonight would be the night.  We had dinner, put Alethea to bed, and around 10:00 Ashley felt the contractions were strong enough and close enough to head to the hospital.  We were all so happy and excited and so relieved the time finally arrived.  Hubby went to sleep and went out like a light.  I unfortunately had a little more difficulty, waking up multiple times during the night to check my phone.  Finally, around 5:42 in the morning Atticus was born and I received a phone call not too late after.  Turns out they had texted me multiple times during the night, but something was wrong with my phone and I didn't see them.  Ashley said her 9 hour labour went very well, she did it naturally again, just like she did with Alethea, and took no drugs nor an epidural.  Although the baby was big because he was six days past his due date (9lbs 2 oz) he wasn't difficult to push out...so Grandma worried for nothing!  ha ha!

These are some of the very first photographs of Alethea meeting Atticus for the first time.  She was wonderful with her new baby brother.  She even gave him a kiss.  Mom and dad prepared her well.

Because Alethea looks more like Jason and his side of the family, my husband jokingly predicted when Ashley was pregnant that she would have a boy and he would look just like her!  And he was right!  He looks exactly like our side of the family.  I think he is absolutely beautiful.  He took my breath away the first time I saw him (still does!).  

Here is "Grandpa Todd" my husband, with his two grandchildren.

One of the smart things Ashley and Jason did to prepare Alethea for Atticus' arrival was give her a "Big Sister Gift" at the hospital.  They gave her this cute fox back pack and inside were little items like Play Dough that she could play with at the hospital so she wouldn't get bored.  She was so tickled pink with her gift!  She loved wearing her back pack and wanted to wear it everywhere we went for the rest of the weekend.

This is my son Jordan with his new nephew.  Isn't he handsome?  And ladies, he is still available and looking to settle down!  ha ha! Just a little plug there.  I would love to welcome a new daughter into the family!

On the second day visiting Atticus at the hospital I wore my Stitch Fix maxi dress and I put Alethea in this cute teal romper.

The second day was much more relaxing for all of us so we decided to take some professional shots.  Ashley got all dressed and made up,  I opened up the hospital drapes to let in some beautiful natural light.  I absolutely LOVE the way these photos turned out, even though the hospital background setting isn't the best.  They capture such beautiful, happy moments.

And finally, on day three, we coordinated outfits so we could take some "going home" photos on the hospital grounds.  They have such lovely flower gardens on their property.  I bought Atticus' going home outfit at JCPenney so everyone coordinated their outfits around Atticus.  I loved the color in Atticus' shirt.  Ashley received so many baby boy outfits in blue or grey I pretty much decided anything I buy for him here-on-out is going to be full of color!  All the hospital staff went ga-ga over his going-home outfit, saying it was the cutest ever.  Atticus even wore this outfit to church for the first time, so he is getting good use out of it.

Dad wore neutrals, mom wore a coral top, and we put Alethea in a coral tutu and a blue top with coral embroidery.

My husband and I had to head straight home with a six hour car drive after this photo shoot, so we had to select comfortable clothing.  I went with a white tee and my new Stitch Fix shorts and hubby wore neutrals.

Well, that is how we welcomed Baby Atticus into the world!  I am now the grandmother of two precious grandchildren and I couldn't be happier!  I can't wait to see them again in just a few weeks!  I'm going back to Illinois in the middle of August to spend a week with the kids doing lots of fun stuff, including seeing the staged musical version of "The Hunchback of Notre Dame"!   I can't wait!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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Alethea's Birth Story....From A Grandmother's Perspective

 I'm so happy to be announce that our very first grandchild has arrived.  She is a beautiful baby girl, 7 lbs 9 oz, and her name is Alethea.

Everyone kept asking me before Alethea was born if I was excited about being a grandmother.  My answer was always "No".  I was never the woman who desired grandchildren nor have I ever pressured my children to give me grandchildren.  I was quite happy with our little family of five and didn't want it to change at all (well, a sweet spouse for my son would be a nice addition...still praying for that!)  But the second I saw Alethea and held her in my arms,  everything changed.   I fell madly and completely in love with this little pumpkin.

My daughter lives about six hours away from us and from the minute she announced her pregnancy we worried how we would get to the hospital in time to hold Alethea before anyone else got there.  (Yes, I was selfish, I wanted to be the first grandma to hold Alethea, and I was!)  However, I didn't need to worry about that, as Alethea took her sweet time getting here!

Ashley started experiencing mild contractions the night before, then in the morning her water broke so she was admitted to the hospital around 10:00 a.m.  It was a weekday, so my husband was at work.  I called him and told him we needed to leave a.s.a.p.  By the time he got home (he works about an hour away) it was afternoon.  We arrived in Illinois around 8:00 pm. and Ashley still hadn't given birth.  I was clearly in panic mode.  I recalled my own childbirth experiences, and I had always given birth within a few hours of arriving at the hospital.  I kept wondering what was wrong.

We wanted to go to the waiting room of the hospital, but Ashley and Jason insisted we go to their apartment to get some sleep and they'll call when the baby was born.  Sleep!  Who could sleep?  I was worried to death.  What was going on?  How could she possibly be in labour this long?  I just lay there all night long praying and praying.  I texted Jason a few times, but received very little details, which caused me to worry more.  I think I only slept two hours the entire night.

Finally, around 3:22 a.m., Alethea was born!  I was never so happy and relieved in my life.  Jason said they would be out of recovery and in their room around 6:00 a.m. and we could visit her then.  Of course, now we were too excited too sleep, so we just got up, went out for breakfast, and headed to the hospital.

When we arrived at the hospital the nurse said they were just getting Ashley settled into her room and they asked us to wait in the waiting room.  More waiting?  I couldn't take much more!  Then after what seemed to be an eternity another nurse came out and said Ashley was exhausted and needed to sleep for a few minutes before we could go in to see her.  At this point, I was ready to kill somebody. I had no idea what had happened to my daughter and why the labour went so long.  All I knew was that the baby was "perfect".  The nurse would only say Ashley and the Baby were doing well but she wasn't allowed to give me any details;  you can just imagine where my mind went.

Finally (after what seemed to be an eternity) Jason comes running out of the maternity wing arms outstretched for a hug and I said "We're mad at you".  LOL! If you could have seen the quizzical look on his face.  Clearly, he had no idea what he we had been through the past 24 hours.  He quickly explained that the reason he didn't text more details was that he didn't really have any.  Even though Ashley's water broke early in the morning, her real labour didn't even start till after 10:00 p.m.  It was just a long day of waiting for the labour to progress.

All was forgiven once I saw little Alethea and held her in my arms.  Oh, what a sweetheart!

When I first arrived in the room, Alethea was wide awake, laying in her mother's arms,  and just staring into Ashley's eyes.  She was making the cutest facial expressions!  I've never seen such an alert newborn baby before.  Ashley attributes that to the fact that she had a natural childbirth.

Isn't she just a doll?  She resembles her father so much,  it will be interesting to watch her grow and see what attributes of Ashley's develop.

My husband was afraid to hold to her, no matter how much coaxing we did.  Finally, on day two he asked to hold her (small miracles!),  then he wouldn't let her go and held her more than anyone!

We spent only a few hours at the hospital because Ashley and Jason were just exhausted after being up all night long.  So we left for the day to let them get a few hours sleep, and promised to return later that evening with our son Jordan (who still hadn't seen her yet because he was at work).

Unfortunately, Ashley and Jason who thought they would have all day to sleep, ended up only getting 45 minutes of sleep because doctors and nurses were constantly coming into the room all day to check up on them, do tests, etc.  They were totally and completely exhausted after going now almost three days without sleep.

When we arrived back at the hospital and found out that they still didn't get any sleep we said "You're kidding?  You mean we could have spent the day here instead of trying to kill time all day! ".  We did have a fun day, but of course we would have rather spent the day with our new granddaughter instead. We found a pretty wooded trail to walk on, then we headed to the outdoor mall (Oakbrook Center) I love to visit whenever I'm in Wheaton.  We purchased the cutest white eyelet dress at Baby Gap to take Alethea home in.  Then we enjoyed a nice lunch at California Pizza and ended the day by watching the latest "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie.  As soon as the movie ended, I looked at my phone and there was a text from our son Jordan wondering where we were as he was already at the hospital.  Thankfully, the hospital was only a five minute drive from the mall and we were back there in minutes.

Our son Jordan had never held a newborn before, so the expression on his face tells it all!  He didn't know what to think of this peculiar new creature.  He said "I can't believe this came out of you! She's a little person".  It reminded me of the old Dr. Seuss storybook quote "A person's a person no matter how small."

Well by now we were the only people who had seen the baby, so we had to leave to allow Jason's side of the family to visit.  Jordan went to his usual Thursday night bible study, and we just headed out for dinner and then back to the apartment to get some rest...as we hadn't slept much in the past few days either!

Unfortunately, I still didn't get much sleep because Ashley kept texting me throughout the night waking me up!  The poor thing couldn't sleep because Alethea wouldn't sleep.  The nursery in the hospital wasn't adequately staffed enough to take Alethea off Ashley's hands so she could get some rest.  Alethea wouldn't sleep in her crib in Ashley's room.  The second they put her down, she cried.   She just wanted to be held.  So Ashley texted that she would like us to come back to the hospital first thing in the morning just to hold the baby all day so she and Jason could get some rest.

We were more than happy to do that, and Grandpa figured out how he could safely hold Alethea so they both could sleep at the same time.  Unfortunately, yet again, doctors and nurses were constantly coming into the room throughout the day so Ashley still couldn't get any sleep.  Why do they do that?

By now, Ashley was so exhausted and just wanted to go home so she could get some sleep.  She even considered not staying the full two nights in the hospital and going home early.  We encouraged her to stay, just to be safe, and to try and leave first thing in the morning instead.  The second night was better for her as a lactation nurse showed her a way she could lay with Alethea in bed so they could both sleep.

Finally the day arrived when we could take Alethea home!  I was given the honor of putting her in very first dress and hair bow.  I couldn't believe how small she was!  She seemed to drown in her newborn gown.

Just look at this sweet little angel!  I love her gigantic hair bow!  (Which really isn't that gigantic, she's just that small!)

We had such bad lighting in the hospital that we never really got any good pictures, so we decided to take advantage of outdoor lighting and a pretty seating area on the hospital grounds, to take some family photos.

We never planned on taking family photos, so our outfits were not planned out in advance, but I chuckled after I saw this photo how good it looked because they were all color coordinated!  It made me wish I had worn black too!  My outfit was not suitable for family photos, but I was dressed for the long six hour car drive home, not for a photo shoot!

Alethea slept through the entire photo shoot, so we got some nice pictures!

Three generations of Johnson women....the circle of life....such a marvelous, wonderful thing!

I was so happy I thought of stopping and capturing these moments.  It was such a special time and wonderful way to celebrate Alethea's birth!

My husband saw Alethea was just about to yawn and caught this cute picture of her opening wide.  Priceless!

When we got back to Ashley and Jason's apartment, I realized we didn't take any pictures of my husband and I together with the baby nor Jordan.  So I asked Jason to take some family pictures of Ashley's side of the family.  Hopefully Ashley will get Jason's side of the family with Alethea if and when they are all together at the same time.

Ashley with her brother Jordan.

And the entire happy family (minus Jason of course who was taking the picture!)

By now we had been away from home and and our cat Jackson three nights so it was time to give Alethea a kiss and say goodbye.  It was so hard...I hate living so far apart from her.  I already made plans to go back at the end of the month to see her again.  I now know what everyone meant when they told me before Alethea was born that I would love being a grandmother....because I do!  She is such a precious gift!

Have a Great Day!  Amy

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