Noah's Birth Story

I had an appointment with Dr. T on Monday, the 14th (due date) and I was only dilated 1 cm and about 75% effaced but baby was still very low at +1 station. I mentioned to Dr. T that baby had been less active in the past couple of days and he sent me to the hospital for an NST and biophysical ultrasound. Everything came back perfect so I went home to spend Valentine's Day with Aaron and Noelle.

I went to sleep that night praying and praying that I would go into labor before Thursday - the scheduled induction day. As usual I couldn't sleep and ended up on the couch at 1:40 a.m. I began to feel semi-strong contractions around 3 a.m. and timed them at about 30 minutes apart. They were just annoying enough to keep me awake so I watched a couple of hours of TV and finally started to doze off at 5 a.m.

Just as my eyes closed I felt a strange feeling and jumped up to run to the bathroom. On my way there amniotic fluid started running down my leg. I went to the bathroom and out came my mucus plug along with more amniotic fluid. Woohoo! God is good! I laid back down and soaked through a pad, then another. When Aaron got up to go to work I let him know what happened but I insisted he go to work because I wasn't planning on going to the hospital until my contractions were closer together.

I took a shower and finished getting our bags packed and at 8:30 a.m. I started bleeding. Not long after the contractions went from 10 minutes apart to 5 minutes apart. My parents came over at 9 a.m. and I called Aaron to come home from work.

At 10:30 a.m. we arrived at the hospital and got settled in.

At 11 a.m. my contractions were 3 minutes apart and getting stronger but for some reason they went away. Nothing for almost an hour so Dr. T ordered Pitocin which started working right away and I was contracting every 2 minutes from then on. My sister and Aaron were squeezing my feet with every contraction and at 2:30 p.m. I ordered an epidural.

3:00 p.m. I finally got the epi and was at 5 cm dilated. From 3-4:30 I relaxed with my parents, Aaron and Noelle. Nurse Julie came to check me at 4:40 and I was at 8 cm dilated. She said she'd come back at 5:30 and I'd likely be at 10 cm.

A few minutes after Nurse Julie left the room my forebag broke and Noah came sliding down the birth canal. I told Aaron and my dad to go get a Nurse - I knew Noah was crowning, the pressure was super intense. Nurse Julie came in to take a look and sure enough, he was ready to come out.

They prepped the room and Dr. T came in just before 5 p.m. Because he's such a sweetie, he cancelled his dinner plans and was in his office playing online poker waiting for my call.

Once everything and everyone was in our room I started pushing and about 4 minutes later Noah's head came out - but he had the cord wrapped around his neck twice so I had to give one big push to get him out. And there he was at 5:13 p.m! Perfect and pink with the most adorable little cry. Unfortunately because I had to get him out fast, I tore in the same place as I did with Noelle. :-( Recovery was rough for the first 5 days, but now a week pp, I feel pretty good.

7 pounds, 8 ounces and 20.5 inches long

My mom's expression during the whole process was priceless. I'm so glad she was able to watch the birth of her grandson. Aaron was an amazing coach and supporter. He is my rock.

Watching Noelle meet her brother was a moment I'll never forget. She kept trying to hold his hand and said, "He's my friend." It was so sweet!

Now we are a family of 4!