Sweet Noelle

Noelle Christine is here!

She was born two weeks early, on December 4th at 2:06 pm. She weighed in at a whopping 4 lbs, 11 oz and 17.5 inches.

Here's the story of that Friday; it's still a little surreal to me.

I had a doctor's appointment at 10 am. My mom had gotten into town on Thursday, so she stayed at my house to watch Riley. The doctor had informed me on Tuesday that if my non-stress test wasn't absolutely perfect, they'd induce me. He also added that if it looked good, they'd give me the weekend to try to go naturally and then induce on Monday. Since I had been taking countless NST's, and they all had been perfectly normal, I was pretty much banking on Monday. I did, however, have my hospital bag with me... just in case.

At the doctor's, they hooked me up to the NST, and I just hung out, as you do with those things. I glanced over at the report from time to time and, although I have no idea how to read those things, it did look a little different. Sure enough, when the doc came in, he looked at it a little more closely before saying, "We have a dip in the heart rate here, and I think it's real, so I'm going to send you over."

As a little back story, I had been having contractions the previous night, but they were pretty sporadic and not horrifically painful. They had minimized by the morning, so I chalked them up to Braxton-Hicks. I did have one during the NST, however, and I think that's what caused the drop. More on that later...

Dr. Bowles told me, very strongly and twice, that I was to head immediately to the hospital. I wasn't to go home or stop anywhere (what? like Wendy's?). I jumped in the car, immediately called Michael (who was in a meeting and couldn't pick up! Ahhh!) and my mom.

When I got to the hospital, they put me in a room right away, hooked me up to an IV, and Dr. Hay came in. She found that I was dilated 4 cm, one more than I had been at the office, just a little while before. I have to say that this news was a huge answer to prayer. I was really hoping that my body would show some sign that it was ready to go on its own and that they wouldn't have to just fling it into childbirth. I hadn't been hoping for much, however, as the due date was two weeks away. But Noelle, it seems, was ready to make her entrance. Praise the Lord.

Pretty soon after, they broke my water and hooked me up to Pitocin. Within a couple minutes, my contractions were 2-3 minutes apart, and they hurt like the dickens. I mean, seriously, these things were horrific. For those of you who are moms, I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. They come so strong and fast that you can barely catch your breath in between.

45 minutes later, thanks to my phenomenal nurse, Michele, the anesthesiologist came to give me the epidural. The Labor and Delivery anesthesiologist was apparently busy with a c-section, so Michele went out of her way to bring in someone from another floor. I feel like a total wuss, but I could have kissed her feet. :)

After the epidural, I was dilated 7 cm. Since my pain was minimized and everything looked good, Mike asked, "So, now we wait?" Michele confirmed that now it was time to sit and hang out, so Mike, who hadn't really eaten all day (and it was now 1:45), decided to run to the cafeteria to grab a sandwich.

I kid you not; he was out of the room for less than 2 minutes when Dr. Bowles and 5 nurses entered the room, and Dr. B announced, "Alright, let's have a baby!" At first, I thought he must be kidding. I mean, after my epidural with Riley, I got to sleep for a few hours. Now, just minutes later, I was going to have a baby? And Mike was gone?!

Michele threw me the phone, and I called Mike's cell. Thinking it was a work call, he didn't pick up. I left a message that I believe said something to the effect of "YOU MUST GET BACK HERE NOW!" Fortunately, he listened to it and booked it upstairs.

After pushing twice (TWICE!!), Noelle was here-- all 4 lbs, 11 oz of her.

Since I've been rambling way too long, here's the good stuff... Pictures.