Noah Ethan

I can't believe it has been 8 months since I have posted.  Lots has happened.  I guess I was lazy during my pregnancy.  Overall, it was an easy pregnancy after the dreaded first trimester and the nausea subsided. I ate too much and gained too much weight, figuring that might be my last opportunity to eat whatever I wanted.

I'll tell Noah's birth story and then maybe catch up some on the last 8 months.  I woke up the morning of May 10 thinking that it would probably be the day of his birth.  Micah said he had the same feeling.  I had contractions all day from 8 am, intensifying after 5:00.  They ranged from 5 to 15 minutes apart throughout the day, but were 5 minutes apart at 5:00 and were 3 minutes apart by the time we headed to the hospital.  They were installing a sprinkler system in the back yard and I was even able to listen to his 10 minute explanation of how they worked at 4:30.  At 5:15 I called Micah and luckily, he was already on his way home.  The Baylor regents were in town, so he really needed to be at work that particular Thursday as the ITS representative.  Joyce came over to watch Kaitlyn for us and we were off to the hospital around 6:00, arriving at 6:30.  I had difficulty getting ahold of one of the midwives through Waco Center for Women's Health, but luckily, I had the cell phone for the midwife who delivered Kaitlyn, and she said she would text the other lady and for me to head to the hospital.

I checked in, was sent to triage, and they determined that I had progressed enough to stay (100% effaced, dilated to 5 cm).  I headed to the delivery room.  The contractions were really painful at this point (probably 8/10).  I kept going back and forth about whether to get an epidural and had decided to play it by ear.  At this point, I was ready for my epidural!  They got some fluids in me and were about to call the anesthesiologist.  I had the midwife check my status one more time, and I was dilated to 9 cm (too late for an epidural!)  I then had the urge to push, turned over on my side, and my water broke (to say the least- I'll spare you the gory details!)  I just thought the pain was bad prior to the water breaking.  I'm not a screamer, but at this point, I was screaming!  The nurse kept telling me to breathe through the contractions.  I made Micah hold my hand during each contraction.  I pushed with all my might, hoping it would help the pain to end.  And on the fourth contraction after my water broke, my little Noah came into the world.  He was crying!  A beautiful sound after Kaitlyn came out blue and silent for the first 30 seconds.

I can't believe the little guy was 9 lbs, 3 oz and 21 inches long.  All the nurses kept saying, "he's a big baby."  The midwives guessed he was in the 7 lb range.  He has very nice brown hair with blonde highlights.  The cord was loosely wrapped around his neck once, but did not seem to affect him. I think he looks like his daddy and most people would agree.

  

Noah has arrived!