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it's a snowy evening in January, and Anya Sheiffele, nearing the end of her 12-hour labor, gives one final push in the delivery room at Overlook Hospital in Summit, N.J. "The baby is blond!" exclaims the obstetrician, Rhona Magaril, M.D., as the baby's head pops out. Quickly, the doctor suctions mucus from the baby's nose and mouth, then asks Anya for one more push. "It's--a--boy," Magaril calmly declares as the baby's body emerges. Anya's husband, Ed, lets out a cheer. The OB balances Alexander (Alex for short) on one hand, tilting the newborn's head down to allow the mucus to drain out, and Alex lets out his first cry, eliciting a sigh of relief in the room. Magaril quickly dries the baby, wraps him loosely in a blanket and hands him to Anya.

With the baby in Anya's arms, the nurse performs an Apgar test, giving him a healthy score of nine out of 10. Apgar tests, done at one and five minutes after birth, are an indication of a baby's overall health, measuring heart rate, respiration, muscle tone, reflexes and color. (Alex had one point deducted, as most babies do, for bluish hands.) Magaril clamps the umbilical cord in two places, then hands a pair of long medical scissors to Ed, who carefully cuts the tough, rubbery cord. Anya and Alex have a few minutes to gaze into each other's eyes, but fatigue hits her hard, so Ed jumps in to hold the baby.

Let the bonding begin

For 20 peaceful minutes, Alex lies in Ed's arms, eyes open, alert and seemingly content (see "All About Bonding," right). A nurse puts identification bands on Alex's wrist and ankle and a homing device on his umbilical cord to track him in the unlikely event he is kidnapped.

Alex begins to shiver, as the 75[degrees]F room feels chilly, compared with his previous 98.6[degrees]F home. He's placed under a radiant warmer (a blanketed table with warming lights above). After he's toasty, the nurse puts him on a scale and declares, "8 pounds, 8 ounces." Magaril then expertly swaddles him in a blanket and hands him back to Anya, who is ready to nurse.

Forty minutes after giving birth, well within the recommended first hour of life, Anya patiently tries to tickle Alex's mouth to get it to open wide and latch on. The nurse helps her adjust her breast this way and that. Finally, Alex tentatively begins suckling. After a half an hour of lazy sipping (newborns eat very little in their first 48 hours), Alex has his first diapering, and then Ed takes him to the nursery.

One busy baby

In the nursery, Alex is put under a warmer and given two routine medical treatments. First, baby nurse Diane Feldman, R.N., puts an antibiotic ointment in his eyes (Alex lets out his first cry of protest) to prevent infections. Next, she squeezes an inch of his thigh and quickly injects it with a shot of vitamin K, which helps prevent excessive bleeding until he can make his own clotting factors (the shot doesn't even faze him). Feldman then dabs the umbilical cord with what looks like a piece of dark purple chalk, which speeds the drying process.

With Dad snapping photos, she checks the baby's vital signs--underarm temperature, heart rate, respiration and pulse (this is repeated every four hours). Then Feldman moves into the head-to-toe exam, checking that all his body parts are normal, counting fingers and toes, looking for "stork bites"--strawberry-red marks that fade in the first few months (Alex has one on his eyelid)--and listening with a stethoscope to his heart, lungs and bowel sounds. She then wraps a tape measure around his head and chest and records his length.

When Alex's temperature is stable, he gets his first sponge bath and shampoo. Feldman soaps him up with a washcloth, which Alex clearly does not like, so she quickly wipes him off with a warm towel and swaddles him tightly in a blanket. Snug and warm again, Alex is entering his sleepy state, which can last from 10 to 24 hours, but he's asked to cooperate with one more procedure: The nurse takes his footprints, a gift for Mom and Dad.

First night out

Although this suburban hospital encourages rooming in, Anya is so exhausted that she asks that Alex sleep in the nursery overnight. There, he wakes twice for feedings, and a nurse gives him a small bottle of formula (also requested by Mom) while gently rocking him.

The next morning, a nurse assesses Alex, then wheels him in to Anya's room. Pediatrician Cora Cerdena, M.D., arrives at 9:30 a.m. and performs a thorough exam. She checks his fontanels (the soft spots on his head), the alignment of his ears and the pupils of his eyes. She look for bone fractures that might have occurred during delivery, checks his hips for a clicking sound that indicates misalignment, palpates the abdomen to check his organs and checks for red flags for Down syndrome and other disorders. Alex gets a clean bill of health.

Alex stays in his mother's room all day, visited by grandparents, aunts and uncles and his 2-year-old brother, who is so intrigued by him that he tries to climb right into his bassinet. Ed's on diaper duty, and Anya nurses Alex several times throughout the day, some attempts more successful than others (a lactation consultant visits to ease the process).

Testing, testing

After a busy day of eating, being passed around by his family and sleeping, Alex is rolled back to the nursery and given the newborn screening, a blood test that, in New Jersey, tests for 20 rare but devastating genetic disorders. (See "Questions to Ask While Pregnant," above.) The following morning, Alex takes a hearing test, also a requirement in some states.

Alex is wheeled back into his mom's room for his morning feeding and gets excited when he sees her. Now a pro--and very hungry--he latches on easily, only to be interrupted by the pediatrician, who has to examine him and sign the discharge papers. Cerdena says that Alex is slightly jaundiced and asks Anya and Ed to follow up with their own pediatrician when they get home. The nurses, who discreetly observe parents and baby bonding to make sure the baby will be in caring hands when he leaves the hospital, also sign off on the discharge.

Alex stands for one more ritual--having his picture taken by the hospital's photographer. And finally, in the early evening, the urologist performs Alex's circumcision in the nursery. At 7 p.m., 48 hours after his birth, he is ready to go home. The nurse removes his ID bracelets and homing device, and Anya bundles him up in his traveling clothes and straps him into the car seat. A wheelchair is brought up for Mom (hospital policy), the car seat with Alex in it is placed on her lap, and Ed wheels them out, to the farewells of the nursery staff.