Easter and other fun things

Noah is now over 2 weeks old already! I know in the grand scheme of things 2 weeks isn't very long, but it's hard to believe he's been with us that long already! We had his 2 week check up at the pediatrician on Friday. He weighed 9lbs 4.5oz and was 22.5 inches long...that means he's in the 75th percentile for weight and 95th percentile for height. Can't remember how big his head was, but it was in the 50th percentile. He's still a big boy...and growing so fast!! Mike and I commented this morning on how he seems so much bigger to us in just the span of a few days. The other great thing that happened at our visit with the pedi is that Noah very loudly and obviously loaded his diaper (only the way newborns can do) over the span of several minutes while we were talking with our doctor, it even leaked a little on Mom...it was pretty funny and I think it made Dad proud!

We had some fun this week too. Took Noah for his first stroller ride (a walk around the block that was a very welcome outing for Mom) and then later in the weekend we met Uncle Brian (Mike's brother) and Aunt Dayna and cousins Isaac, Lydia, and Jared at Central Market for dinner. We sat outside on the patio and Noah slept in his stroller for the entire time we were there! But again, Mom and Dad welcomed the fresh air and visit with family outside of the house.

We celebrated our first Easter as a family on Sunday. We did decide to take Noah to church, but snuck in late, left early, and avoided sitting with the main part of the congregation. Even though we missed parts of the service it was still great to be there! Noah even got his first Easter basket...not the he knew the difference, but Mom had fun picking out a few little things for him!

First stroller ride

Getting ready to go out "So big!"

His outfit says "Dad's Team"
Easter
Easter
Noah's first Easter basket

Our first week home

We've been home with Noah for a week now. It's been a great week. Exhausting and exhillarating all at the same time. Noah is now eating (and pooping!) like a champ! We went for a follow up visit with the pediatrician the day after we left the hospital last week and he'd gained 8 oz in one day! We go back for his 2 week check up on Friday and Mike and I can't wait to see how much he's gained now. The doctor also looked him over and decided that his color was looking so much better that we didn't even need to do another blood test to check his bilirubin level. Mom and Dad were glad we didn't have to take him for another poke after all he had to have in the hospital!

Noah has been such a good baby so far...he rarely cries unless he really needs something, he gives me plenty of warning when it's time to eat, and while we would love for him to sleep better, for a newborn he's doing pretty well. The only complaint so far is that his awake and alert phase the last few nights has been from 11 pm-1230am. We're working on trying to figure out his routine and really all just learning and adjusting to each other so far.

It's been great introducing Noah to lots of friends and family this past week. My mom brought my Grandmother and Great Aunt up to meet him earlier this week. This is my Grandmother's first Great-Grandchild and she just turned 94 so it was really special to have her be able to see and get to know him.

Mike and I are constantly amazed that this wonderful little person came from us and is ours...he is such a blessing and we feel so honored that God chose us to be his parents!

Noah's first sponge bathAhhh, that's better! Eskimo kisses from MomAunt Vanessa

Uncle Thomas

Why does everyone keep taking my picture??

Meeting Great Grandmother

Great-Great Aunt GeorgieGreat Grandmother 4 Generations

The Stephensons-they came all the way from Wisconsin to meet me!!

Not sure if I like this swing thing...maybe I do...

Hospital Days

We had quite the hospital stay with our little guy. The combination of my long labor, and the doctor's attempts to turn Noah during the delivery process left him with some head trauma. Mostly just swelling and bruising and some abraisons on the top of his head and side of his neck. As the swelling and bruising went down, it led to an elevated bilirubin level which gave Noah a bad case of jaundice (bilirubin is what is left over when the body breaks down old red blood cells). We woke to this news early on Sunday morning and were told he would have to use special UV lights to help breakdown the bilirubin so he could get better. So he wore these bright blue UV lights from Sunday-Wednesday.

We were in the hospital till Wednesday waiting for him to get better. A combination of several things led to him being sleepy most of the time so it was difficult to get him to eat. Then he lost more weight than the doctors wanted so that caused some concern as well. Mom and Dad spent the majority of Monday and Tuesday trying to get him to eat as much and as often as possible (not only did he need to gain weight, but another way to get rid of the bilirubin is to poop it out, so he needed to eat, so he could poop!). We had a great day on Tuesday and were able to take him off the special lights and finally go home on Wednesday!

While in the hospital, we did get to enjoy lots of visitors who were eager to meet Noah. Here are a few pictures from those hospital days with some of our visitors and the lights Noah had to wear.

Hello, World! Nice to meet ya! While it looks like he's jammin' to some tunes, this is really Noah's hearing screening...he passed!

Grandma and Granddad Tilton

Aunt Kristi

Our little family...

Stephanie (our friend and L&D nurse) actually gets to enjoy the baby she helped deliver for a change!
Noah with the bili-blanket (UV lights for his jaundice)

Watching the Texas basketball game with Dad. Note Noah is appropriately dressed in his first Texas onsie.

Our little glow wormGoing home, FINALLY!

Happy Birthday Noah!

Noah Thomas White was born at 6:26 pm on Friday March 7, 2008!
Weighing 8 lbs. 13 oz and 21.25 inches long!

Here are some of the details of his entry into our lives:

For those of you who don't know, I was scheduled to be induced on Monday March 10th if Noah hadn't come on his own yet. My doctor estimated my due date to be March 3 and based on my history of high BP's and what she was anticipating to be a tight fit with Noah's size (little did we know how right she would be) she didn't want me to go past that date. So, we were excited when my water finally broke on it's own around 10:30 pm on Thursday March 6 right as we were getting ready for bed.

We decided to see if we could get some rest since nothing else was happening at that point. No such luck. Contractions started and were fairly close together by 11:30pm. We decided to pack up and got to the hospital around 1 am on the 7th.

When we got to the hospital we discovered that I had meconium in my fluid surrounding Noah. Basically, that means he passed part of his stool while still inside. His heart rate was good and strong on the monitors so they weren't really worried about it at that point, but it just meant we would have to watch him more closely to make sure everything was ok.

For the first 12-13 hours of labor, with LOTS of help and support from Mike and my wonderful L&D nurse, Stephanie (a close friend from nursing school), I was able to labor naturally. Most of my contractions were very painful in my lower back (in other words, back labor) so we suspected that Noah may have been turned the wrong direction. Sure enough, we eventually discovered he was "OP" or "sunny side up" meaning he was facing my back instead of the front of my pelvis. This position can sometimes make it harder for the baby to come out.

Unfortunately, my contractions sort of stalled out mid-morning. We had to add some pitocin (a drug similar to the hormone your body makes to trigger contractions) which just made the contractions more intense and painful, but didn't make them any more effective. Finally around 1pm I gave into the epidural, hoping we could then up the pitocin enough to help the contractions so we could progess a little further. I was around 8 cm at that point, so we really didn't have too much further to go!

Finally around 4pm I reached 10 cm and it was time to start pushing! We pushed for 2 hours, were able to see Noah's head, but couldn't get him to come down any further. Our doctor felt like his head wasn't moving further at all, but instead he was just getting more swelling at the top of his head as I tried to push him out. Finally we decided the safest thing would be to deliver him by C-section.

So, I was wheeled away...Mike was told to change into his lovely OR outfit, and less than 30 minutes later, our son was born! All the staff in the OR immediately commented on how big he was...especially how big his head was! There was no way he was coming out if we hadn't done the C-section. As you can see in some of the pictures, he had quite the cone head with lots of swelling from all the pushing during the labor process. Poor Noah looked quite stunned when he first came out, but he was beautiful to us anyway!

Overall, my labor last over 19 hours...not only was that a long time, but Mike and I were both running on empty as we had gotten no sleep the night before. So, it was quite exhausting. I can't say enough about how amazing Mike was...he was so supportive and there's no way I would've made it through that without him. Stephanie was also great...we know we are so blessed to have had her there by our side supporting us through the whole process as well.

So, that's the story of how little Noah White came into our world. While it's not the story we anticipated having, it's our story and to us it is beautiful. And in the end, we have the most important thing...a wonderful, healthy baby boy!!

Liz and Stephanie, our good friend and L&D nurse

Noah, right after birth. Because of the meconium the NICU team was called to check his airway and breathing

Finally, we meet!

Proud Daddy introduces Noah to the rest of the family

Big Boy!

After recovery, Mom FINALLY gets to hold her little boy