noah's birth story

It felt like an eternity as we waited for Noah's arrival. Every day we'd drive past the hospital next to our house and Sydney and Max would shout out and point to the "baby doctor" as we'd excitedly count down the months, weeks, and finally the days before his birth. But his due date came and went and each day felt like a million years. My mom flew all the way from Denmark to be here to help out for 2 wks, and after a whole week went by, I started to get impatient! I was also hoping to have my very talented and dear friend, Kirstin, there to photograph the birth, and when the due date passed by and she had to leave town for vacation, my heart sunk. But Noah waited for her to come back from her trip so she could be there to document the special day. :) I am so grateful for these images. They are truly priceless!

 

My sister, Kathleen, created this beautiful video of the birth! I watch it over and over and it still makes me cry - it brings me right back.

On October 18th, Tommy and I walked into the hospital at 9:30am to get induced after waiting a long week-and-a-half past the due date. Luckily I was at a 5 1/2 cm dilated (from weeks of contractions on and off) so the midwife just had to break my water, and labor immediately started without any need for pitocin. I tried to go as far as I could before getting the epidural, and it was nice to be able to walk around the hallways with Tommy as things progressed. By 7cm the pain suddenly became very strong and contractions felt like they were right on top of each other. And for some reason the usual labor positions and techniques weren't relieving any of the pain...so we rang up the anesthesiologist! 

The day didn't go quite as smoothly as I had imagined (like Max's birth, which seemed to be perfect and serene in my memory). After being up half the night with contractions, I was emotional from the start (I cried like a baby as they poked and jabbed for 45 minutes trying to find a workable vein for my IV). And as I laid on the bed after the epidural, the baby's heart rate kept dropping drastically, and the midwife would put an oxygen mask on me to help bring it back up. Each time the monitors would start beeping and they'd hurriedly whisk a mask on me, I would imagine the worst. Finally when I was at an 8cm the heart rate dropped again (50bpm instead of the healthy 120-160) but wouldn't raise back up, so the midwife said it was time to get the baby out of there. I heard her calling lots of nurses in and got the on-call doctor ready, and I was so scared the baby wouldn't be ok. But suddenly the midwife said the baby dropped down and was ready to be pushed out. There was a whirlwind of noise and movement around me as everyone shouted "PUSH, PUSH!!". I just wanted to curl up under a rock and hide. I was scared and emotional, and had no idea if I was pushing right. But within a minute the baby came right out, and they were able to untangle the umbilical cord from his neck and we soon heard the sounds of his cries.

As they rushed him to the other end of the room to get checked and monitored and cleaned up, I watched him, feeling stunned and shocked and a little numb. I couldn't stop crying, and had to tell myself everything was ok now - that he was here and he was healthy. When they placed him in my arms I felt so happy and relieved. I laughed at how heavy he felt in my arms (just under 9 lbs!), and he was making the funniest scowls at me. I couldn't believe this little human being was growing inside of me! I couldn't stop staring at him. It's amazing how quickly you can fall in love.