I waited and waited for our little one to come. Now here I sit 3 weeks into the life of baby R and ready to tell our baby's birth story. Oh, how amazing the journey has been so far. Let's go back 4 weeks...
I couldn't believe that the due date came and went and still no baby. My mom had been with me for two weeks before the birth and we all thought that Baby R would come early, even my midwife Lois. As the days passed and my patience was wearing thin, I got more and more anxious for the birth. We spent those days picnicing at Lake Nokomis on Memorial Day, traveling with my parents to dinners out at Tavern on France and a great pizza place by Nokomis, and of course, shopping for last minute nursery items. On Saturday, May 28th after David's parents had just left our house and I was getting ready to take a shower to get the smell of bonfire off me, I thought my water broke. We scrambled to get the hospital and Dave's parents returned to head to the hospital along with my parents. (FYI: Grandpa Marc had travelled twice up the twin cities ready for the baby to born only to have to drive or take the bus back to Wisconsin when the baby didn't come). After arriving at the hospital and having three tests done, we were told that it wasn't amniotic fluid and my water had not broken. Momma had just peed on herself (it really felt like my water broke!). So we returned home. So sad and even more anxious, we spent the next five days sitting around the house, waiting. Any little tinge and twitch, I was on edge wondering if you were ever going to come Baby R. We visited our midwife on May 31st and set a induction date of June 8th. I was happy to have a date but not happy about having to wait another whole week!
But then on the morning of June 2nd and five days after the due date, I woke up at 3am to go the bathroom. I felt a little tightening of my belly and then felt it again a few minutes later. I couldn't go back to sleep. I spent the rest of the night starring at Dave's alarm clock, counting the minutes between the tightening of my belly. I really thought that I was just having braxton hicks or false contractions. After a false alarm to the hospital only days before, I wasn't about to rush there again. And these pings did not hurt at all so I was convinced that I wasn't in labor. The tightening went on all throughout the night at about 10 minutes between feelings. As the morning approached and Dave got up to go to work, I mentioned to him that I think I was having contractions but would call him if I felt they were labor contractions during the day. I spent the rest of the morning watching tv and recording each contraction and the minutes apart until the next one. Nana was with me and she helped to record them. At about 10:30 my mom asked if she should leave to go the store or not. I told my mom that I wasn't in labor and she could go. I'll be fine! Well as I recorded the minutes apart, I realized they were now about 6 or 7 minutes apart. Still they were not painful or anything. My mom left to go the store. Two hours later, I got up to go the bathroom (this was about 12:30pm) and as I stood up I heard a pop and a gush came out of me of fluid onto the carpet. I still didn't know what it was (because the last time about the same thing happened). I walked to the bathroom and as I moved, more and more fluid came out. And then I had a little contraction and more came out. I realized that this must be my water! I called Dave and calmly told him that my water broke and that he needed to come home. I then called my mom and told her to come back home. Next I called Dave's parents and told them. Finally, I called Karissa and told her. I got things together at home and waited for my mom and Dave to come! I was so calm, but so excited! I think the most disgusting thing was the amniotic fluid coming out. Every movement, contraction, or laugh, I would gush out more! We made it to the hospital at 1:30 and went to the MAC to be evaluated. I was on edge that this time they'd tell me the same thing. But low and behold, they came back to say that it was my water and I was in labor. At 3:00, I got my room and they began officially monitoring me and the baby. They gave me my dose of antibiotics for my group strep b. My family came in to visit and the fun began (not really)! The pain began! I was dialated at about 3 cm and had started to feel a little pain with the contractions. Dave and I walked around the hospital, watched tv, played on the ipad, and chatted for a few hours. At about 5pm, the real pain started and I was told I was already at 5 cm. I used a tennis ball to squeeze through the pain or sat on the yoga ball. Dave held my hand through each contraction. At 6 o'clock, I was at about a 6. My contractions were now only about 3 minutes apart and getting more painful. I wanted to feel real labor and boy, was I! At 6:30pm, I couldn't take it anymore and asked for the epideral. Another patient was getting one, so I was going to have wait. They checked me again and I was already at 7cm. For about 30 minutes, my pain and my contractions got worse and now they were only about 1 minute apart. Finally at 7pm, I got my epideral. I had a tough time through it because as they were putting the needle in, I would have contraction upon contraction. BUT 15 minutes later, I felt no pain! I love epiderals! However; I didn't listen well to the instructions about dosage. I guess every 15 minutes the machine will administer a dose of medicine. If I need more than that dose, I can press a button to get more. Well I thought I had to press the button to get any dose of the medicine. So I kept pressing the button every 15 minutes. I was getting double dosage for the rest of the labor! Oops!
At about 9pm, they came to check me again and said I was at about a 8 almost 9 cm dialated. My nurse told me it would be about 2 more hours till I push so hang in the there. Well 30 minutes later, I felt a little pressure down there and told Dave to get the nurse. Sure enough, she could see baby r! We had bypassed the 2 hours and were ready to push! With the epideral I could not feel anything! I pushed so hard for the next 30 minutes that baby r came out very quickly. We played our birth music, dimmed the lights, and called in the midwife. We watched from a mirror as we saw the tuft of black hair and Baby R's little head making it's way out. Both Dave and I watched on as I pushed out our first born baby. They pulled out Baby R and before they could announce what sex our little one was, I saw that it was a boy! Baby R took a moment, but then let out the most beautiful cry a mother could hear. And then they laid him on my chest for the remainder of the labor. Holding him for the first time was an experience I will never forgot as well as Dave seeing his son for the first time. We both were in awe of our new son. Dave cut the cord and we spent a long time just looking at our baby boy. We both looked at eachother and I said, is he a Noah? We agreed he was a Noah David. Noah David was born at 10:13 pm, a little over 7 hours after being admitted into the hospital. He was 7 lbs 9 oz and 21 inches long. He scored a 9 on the apgar and was VERY healthy. As he lay on my chest, we learned that I had lost quite a bit of blood (more the double what normal women lose). 1 whole liter, so there was almost 2 and a half hours of surgery to sew me back up. BUT through it all, I couldn't feel a thing and held baby Noah in my arms the entire time except for the last 30 minutes when I finally handed him over to his daddy! At about 1 am, we finally called our family in to let them know about baby r and meet their new grandchild. Dave went out to get them and asked if they'd like to meet their new grandchild. When they came in, we introduced their new grandson and nephew, Noah David. Everyone agreed that he was so precious and adorable. Each grandparent got to hold him and finally Karissa. It was such a special moment! Too bad we didn't get it on video. But it is a moment none of us will forget. Many pictures were taken and hugs, tears, and kisses were shared. Welcome to the world Baby Noah! We are so blessed to have you in our lives and on the outside! What a blessed day!
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