We wanted to keep a blog to record some of the neat moments that are sure to come with the birth of our first child, so here it is! To start things off, I am going to post a recap 9.9.08, the day Noah Christian was born. Incidentally, go look up Genesis 9:9. read verse 8 first and see who God is talking to in verse 9. Kind of cool, and something my sister-in-law Joy pointed out to me today.
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What a day…actually it was more than a day, but it matters not. It was special, crazy, unlike anything else I have ever been throughclearly. At the end of it all Beth and I had a very cute, quiet,alert son, Noah Christian and we are quite excited, and tired, to saythe least. The thing I am proud of most besides Noah being here isBeth, how amazing she was, specifically the pushing aspect of thewhole deal. I will get into that later. She was super rad though.
So, Beth's mom drove up to Charlotte from Georgia Monday evening. Shegot here at about 10:15 or so. It was perfect timing as Beth,unknowingly, was already having contractions. She had been havingthose contractions stupidly known as Braxton Hicks contractions. Ihate calling them that, but I suppose some dude named Braxtonsomewhere really needs the credit, so we gave it to him about 874times over the last several months every time Beth's body "practiced"for the main event, which occurred yesterday. So, it was probablymidnight or so Tuesday morning, and we were asleep not knowing thatthings were in place that would change our life forever, and begin anew chapter of our lives. We had a scheduled inducement for Friday,9.12.08, but did not want to go that route unless we had to.
I noted a second ago that we were asleep, but that is inaccurate.Beth was wide awake, and woke me up. I asked her if she was ok andshe said "I might be having real contractions." My heart skipped forthe first time through this whole process. Whoa! This is it. I askedher if she was sure and she was not as she had never had them before,but she was assuming it was the case as these were different, and wererapidly starting to cause an uncomfortable feeling, otherwise known as pain.
We started timing them, like they taught us at that class…that veryweird class. Only I kept missing the stop button, or timed themincorrectly…but it matters not. We knew something was happening thathad not happened before. This was why I did not want to induce if we could help it. I wanted to experience the excitement leading up, asopposed to being told "be here at 7:34 AM on Friday morning tocheck-in. At 8:08 we will begin the process. By 11:43 you will beapproximately…" you get the idea. Clearly, we did not make it toFriday!
So, the contractions were coming, and continued until about 5 AM.Beth had not slept at all. Then out of nowhere, they stopped. Juststopped. It was very upsetting to Beth as she really did not want tobe pregnant anymore, and we both wanted to meet the little dude. Itseemed progress was being made, and then, BAM, it was over just likethat.However, a few hours later, the contractions returned. We decided tohead to the hospital knowing they could tell us to go back homedepending on how far along Beth was. I was nervous, yet excited… thiswas it!
We got to the hospital and a nurse examined Beth and we both could notbelieve our ears when she said that Beth was barely 2 cm dilated.That seemed impossible based on the contractions and what was goingon, but what do we know. We prayed the first of many prayers thatday, all of which were answered in amazing fashion. We did not wantto go back home, and prayed based on that desire, and the nursereturned some time later to say "we are going to admit you and seewhat happens". Thanks.
That was good news. We got into the room and started making a fewcalls, better known as the all-too-convenient-and-lazy text message(do you prefer t9 or a full QWERTY…nevermind), letting family andfriends know what was going on. The contractions continued to come,and Beth was getting more and more uncomfortable. There was not a lotI could do, which stunk, but I guess that is part of this whole deal.They checked her a few hours later, and progress had been made! Shehad gone from 2 cm to almost 3. Beth could not believe it, almost abit of a blow to the gut. Come on, how could all of thesecontractions only gotten her to a 3. Not even a 3 yet.
Time passed on much the same with all of us waiting on progress whichwas not coming and each taking a turn on an extremely addictive cardgame based on blackjack. Beth was very uncomfortable, in pain, andher soon to be new best friend showed up with the authority to provideher with an epidural. That junk is magic. It was insane. She wentfrom being in so much pain that she could not stand it, to having tobe told that she was having a contraction. We had a chart on acomputer screen to look at that monitored Noah's heart and Beth'scontractions. Every now and then she would say "hmm, that might havebeen a contraction…" and we would look at the screen, and it wasliterally off the chart. Er, ahm, yes Beth you just had acontraction. In fact, if that thing did not put you all the way to10, then nothing will. The epidural truly was like magic and it keptall pain away and was simply amazing. After a bit more time passed,the nurse checked Beth again, and she was a whopping 4 cm. This wasmoving way too slowly. It was 5 PM and she had only moved 2 cm.sure, she was progressing some, but not at a rate that was pleasing to anyone. Then the drama started.
During the day the nurse repeatedly tried different positions andmethods to get Noah's heart rate increased. Beth had so many wiresand cables hooked to her body it was hard for me to look at her. Shewas amazing. Watching your wife go through labor and have your childgives a new appreciation for her that cannot be described. Anyway,lets get Noah's heart rate up. It would be good for a spell, but thendrop back down. After checking for Beth who was only at 4 cm(actually a bit less), they decided to give her Pitocin, which helpsspeed up the whole labor process. At some point something happenedand Noah did not like it. His heart rate dropped so fast, and so low,and admittedly I was freaked. It did not help that the nurseimmediately cut off the Pitocin feed while simultaneously paging Dr.Ward to get in there now! I could see the worry on Beth's face and Iknow it was on mine. It was freaky, no question about it. His heartrate increased back up, but the reading on the screen that moves fromright to left was moving slower than a pizza through a pizza oven.All I could see was my little guy's heart rate dropping so low itcould have stopped, and I could not look at any other part of thegraph. Thankfully it finally moved off the screen to make room forthe next set of graphs. But it shook me. It definitely did. What made it worse was that the nurse said we would give the Pitocin onemore go, and if his heart dropped again, a C-section was inevitable.Beth understood, but this did not help her mood. She was worriedabout Noah's heart, and I was as well. We started praying for God to intervene big time. And He did, in an amazing way. (WHOA….NOAH JUST,ER….wow, he just made an extraordinary noise that came from his rearend. I have a feeling those will continue for some time)
Throughout the day we had prayed that this would happen today, thatprogress would be made. We knew this baby was in God's hands andtrusted Him for sure. But that did not mean this was not a worrisomemoment. His heart maintained for the rest of the night, but was stillsomewhat low, but not too low to worry about. Still, there was talkof a C-section, and Beth was ready for it, knew that our son wouldstill be here and was prepared to do it if she had to. The nurse saidwe would keep monitoring and hopefully Noah's heart would cooperateand perhaps it could be avoided. She would tell us later that she wasnot optimistic about that avoidance. But God was and He decided toshow up. It all started when the nurse decided to really hear whatBeth was describing was going on and discovered something that changedthe landscape of the evening, and brought my first tears of the day!Beth was lying on her side and had just pressed the button of herepidural feed that gave her more because she thought it was wearingoff. The nurse was not in there at the time. Beth said that it didnot really hurt, but she was just feeling a lot of pressure andthought that pain would soon return, so she nipped that with a singlepress of a button. It looked like she was on Jeopardy. That is howthe button looked exactly. It is designed so that you can only pressit one time every 10 minutes to keep from giving yourself too much ofthe magic. Ten minutes passed and the pressure was worse. Why isthis not working? The nurse had returned and Beth asked her why shewas still feeling pressure. The conversation went something likethis:
Beth: How long does it take for the medicine to kick in once I press the button
Nurse: 10 minutes or so and you should be good
Beth: Well, I Pressed it 10 minutes ago and I still feel massive pressure
Nurse: do you feel pain?
Beth: no, just pressure, but I figured I would get more of the magic in there before the pain came
Nurse: well, pressure is ok. If you don't feel pain, then it isworking. Now, when you say pressure, what do you mean. Where do youfeel it?
Beth went on to describe the pressure as being low, almost like shehad to take a…go to the bathroom, if you know what I mean. Here inthe hospital they call it a "bowel movement".
The nurse then said, "Well, we last checked you 2 hours ago, so lets just have a look and see if there is any progress. We could have a little change, maybe some progress if you are feeling more pressure low."
So, the nurse, rolled Beth over as she could not move her lower halfthanks to the "magic". She put on her gloves, I was just kind ofsitting in a chair, very sleepy, a bit frustrated, and feeling forBeth. Then the nurse started talking….rapidly, and loudly."ok, lets see what we have going on here. WHOA. WE HAVE A HEAD. His head is right here!"
Beth: what? What do you mean?
Nurse: you are at Ten, we are going to have a baby. (ok, typing this story right now made the same reaction as it did yesterday.) At these words, I cried my first tears of the day.
The nurse got on the horn. We need Dr. Ward in here for a birth, andI need this room prepared for birth!It happened so fast. A huge weight was lifted…it was amazing. In 2 hours she had gone from 4 cm (barely) to "WHOA, WE ARE HAVING ABABY…GET IN HERE!!!"The room had gone from mentally preparing for a C-section, to lets doooo dissssss!!!And it was overwhelming. And It was fantastic. I could not stop thanking the Lord. I looked at Beth and she was ready. It was on herface. She was calm, excited, thankful, and full of a new energy. It was amazing to see, and if you have ever been through this, you knowwhat I am talking about.
Nurses started filing in, each doing their job, including one there simply to cheerlead, and she was awesome. The Dr. came in and he wasexcited as he too thought we were heading down a different path. Andbefore I knew it, I was on one side of Beth holding her right foot,pulling it up and they were telling her what to do. Then thecontraction came. Breathe in, push for a SLOW count to 10. let outthe breath. Quick, quick, breathe in and push…count to 10…breatheout. Quick, breathe in, push…count to 10, breathe out….great job.
The nurses and doctor could see Noah's head barely from the beginning. I was by Beth's head admiring her. The next contraction came and shedid it again.Here is what was so rad about all this stuff. Watching Beth push was something I have never seen of her before. It melted me in an amazing way. She was so determined, focused and she kicked it. Pushing forlong 10 counts, then breathing back in, pushing, exhaling, breathingin for 3 times a contraction…that is not easy. The look on her face,she wanted to meet Noah, she was ready, and she pushed with all her might. No doubt, besides meeting Noah, this is my best memory fromthe day. How she pushed. It was stuff of champions.Then it happened. 29 minutes after her first push, Noah's head literally shot out, and with one more push he was out, purple,wrinkly, crying, and simply beautiful. It was unreal. It is still unreal. The first thing we saw was what most of you have said… "hehas Paul's lips…" here's to hoping he gets Beth's hair!
I cannot explain how amazing it was to watch Beth push like she did. Iam so so so proud of her. I will leave it at that. Indescribable tosee her, and to see Noah pop out.The hospital does not allow people to be outside of the hospital door in the hall so I was pleasantly surprised when I finally made itoutside of the room. I knew good friends Owen and Dawn were therealong with my bro Dave and his wife, Lorean in the lobby awaiting somenews. Turns out they had made it at the perfect time to the hospitaldoor, and no one was there to kick them away. They heard thecheering, and then heard the first cries of Noah. That is pretty cool! They came in and got to see Noah, saw him take his first, ahm,bowel movement, and then pee across the room nearly hitting the nurseand Lorean. It was impressive.As I write this, Noah is asleep in Marti's (Beth's mom, Noah'sgrandmother) arms, Beth is finally getting some sleep, and I am typing this story. Our room is on the 8th floor directly looking at uptownCharlotte, and it is raining in the distance, but not here. With the Innocence Mission playing in the background, Karen Peris' unmistakable and magical voice and lyrics, it makes for about as perfect a scene as one can want. What transpired on September 9, 2008 was like nothing I have ever experienced before. Noah is perfect, and I am pretty amped about the whole thing.
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