Surprise! Baby Noah is Here!

Kyle and I had the biggest surprise of our life when my water broke at 10:30 Sunday night-- three weeks and two days before my due date. We were caught unprepared as we both ran around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to think what we should pack and who we should call. My contractions immediately started coming every 3 minutes so I quickly decided to skip packing a bag, trust that my friend who was coming to stay with Jason really was only two minutes away, and race quickly to the hospital. Along the way I lamented that we had forgotten a camera, so Kyle asked his mom to bring one to us.

Immediately after being admitted to the hospital (I was already dilated to a 4) I asked for an epidural because the contractions were getting closer and harder-- much worse than I had experienced with Jason. The nurse said they had alerted the anesthesiologist, but that he was still 15 minutes away, so he might not arrive in time to give me one since my labor was progressing so rapidly. I was so relieved when he did arrive in time, and I finally got the blessed epidural. I am so grateful for modern medicine. This epidural really was a blessing for me because, like his older brother, baby Noah wanted to come sunny-side up. The epidural slowed things down enough that the doctor was able to turn Noah inside of me, which saved me from having to push for hours and from worse tearing. Instead, I only had to push for 30 minutes.

Noah was born at 1:04 am on Monday, February 6-- just 2 1/2 hours after my water broke. He weighed 7 lbs even and measured 19 in. long. Kyle and I were still in shock the rest of the day, Kyle especially because his work schedule is so hectic right now. Noah obviously didn't know how busy his daddy is, but I told Kyle it was probably best that he work as much as he could while I was in the hospital with lots of help around me. So poor Kyle visited us in the mornings and worked from lunch until 2:30 or later the next morning. We did, however, get to share a nice dinner together on Tuesday night that was provided by the hospital.

Our awesome mothers took care of Jason while I was in the hospital, and they have continued helping us out of the hospital. I seriously don't know what we would do without them.

When Jason met Noah it was a very special moment, at least for me. I nearly cried watching Jason hold his baby brother for the first time. Jason seems to have mixed emotions about this new member of the family. He loves to pay attention to Noah by holding him, and he gets jealous of other relatives holding Noah. On the other hand, Jason is having a hard time sharing his mom. He told me he wants to get in my tummy, that he wants to nurse, and he keeps trying to act like a baby.

I am amazed at how much better I feel during this recovery period than I did with Jason. With Jason I felt like I had been hit by a train and couldn't do much for a few days. This recovery has been quite tolerable in comparison, although I think the sleep deprivation is worse since Jason doesn't nap anymore.


Here are a couple of pictures Kyle took on his iPod while we were at the hospital. As you can see, he has a ton of hair. The nurses kept saying how much they loved his hair. It is pretty dark, but it has a silvery tint to it when in the light. We'll post more pictures as soon as we can get them from the family members who helped us out since we didn't have our own camera on hand.

We love our Noah!