Noah's Birthday!

I CANNOT believe my little baby is 1 year old today! The time flew by and it scares me. I'm excited to see him grow more and learn new things, but it makes me sad that I will never have this time and age with him again. It sure is super important to enjoy everyday...even days when you just want to crawl back into bed or when everything seems to be going wrong.

In honor of Noah's birthday, I've decided to repost his birth story on here and facebook.

Thursday, July 1, 2010:
We went to our 36 week doctor appointment. Much to our surprise and the doctor’s, I was already 3, almost 4 centimeters, dilated, and the baby’s head was very low. She had us schedule an appointment for Monday but said we might not make until then. Our trip home for the weekend had to be canceled. If anything changed or felt different, I was supposed to call or go in to the hospital. The rest of Thursday and Friday I put myself on bed rest.

Saturday, July 3, 2010:
In the evening, I thought my water was leaking, so we called the nurse and ended up going to the hospital to get checked. My water wasn’t actually leaking, so we headed back home for the night, but at least it made me feel better going in.

Sunday, July 4, 2010:
We went to Sussex to see fireworks with Stacy and Adam. Stacy and I finally took our belly pictures together—just in time, she had Brooke the next day!

Monday, July 5, 2010:
We had another doctor’s appointment. I was 4, almost 5, centimeters dilated, still without feeling any pain or discomfort. The doctor had us come back 2 hours later, so I could be hooked up to the monitors to see if I was really having contractions. Sure enough, I was, and they were 2 to 3 minutes apart. Now I was really freaking out because I didn’t know I was having contractions, so how was I going to know when I was actually having the baby? The doctor said to go to the hospital if I felt any change in pressure or anything. I was really starting to get frustrated because I didn’t know what that meant exactly.
That evening I thought I felt some changes. Nathan said we could go in if it would make me feel better. We stopped at Arby’s :) and then went to the hospital. The nurse at the hospital checked me, and I was still 5 centimeters. I started crying because I was so frustrated. They ended up admitting me and had me walk around for half an hour to see if anything would change. It made me dilate to 6 centimeters. We slept there that night, though Nathan had to get up to work from 5:30 to 10:30 AM.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010:
I was super hungry in the morning and asked the nurse for some food. She brought me a menu but then my doctor decided I shouldn’t eat anything just in case I did deliver the baby that day. Good thing I went to Arby’s the night before because all I got until after Noah was born was 2 cups of Jell-O and a cup of chicken broth. My doctor came by around 9:30 to check me and decide what to do. She gave me the choice to have my water broken or wait it out. When Nathan got back from work we decided that we would have my water broken but waited until 1 PM, so my parents could come get the keys to our apartment to feed the cats.
At around 1:00, they broke my water. I still hadn’t felt any painful contractions, though they were 2 to 3 minutes apart. Around 2:00 I actually started to feel the contractions. I was around 8 centimeters. Shortly after, I felt the urge to push. They called the in-house doctor. My doctor was on her way but wasn’t there yet. Twenty-two minutes of pushing and Noah was born at 3:09pm! My doctor arrived about 4 minutes after he was born to deliver the placenta and stitch me up. I met my goal of delivering pain-med free. :)

It has been the best year of my life and I can't wait to say the same thing next July 6!