Noah’s World

Well, yesterday Noah reached 2 milestones. First, it was his first day off the biliblanket. At his appointment Tuesday, his bilirubin level was down, and the doc said he looked much better than on Monday. We’re to keep an eye on his skin tone and make sure it doesn’t get worse – otherwise, we’ll see the doc in 1 week for his 2 weeks checkup.

Second, yesterday Noah got circumcised (more precisely he had a Bris). Let me just say ouch, and thankfully he won’t remember that at all (and thankfully I don’t remember mine). We were warned that we would know when he urinated – and that couldn’t have been more true. The squeal let go when he went #1 was a new level of shrill. Luckily, by last night that seemed to be getting better, and he seems to be handling it much better today. If we’re lucky, by the end of the weekend that will heal and his umbilical cord stump will have fallen off.

Well, Noah’s been active lately, even with his somewhat restricted movement because of his attachment to the biliblanket.

First, we had him on the couch laying on his back on his biliblanket last night, and I was sitting there watching him fall to sleep, he decided to get comfortable and roll onto his side! I was so proud! Here’s a pic (I’m a little worn out in this pic):

Secondly, this morning, Emily passed Noah duty off to me, since she couldn’t get him to fall asleep. After getting a burp or 2 out of him, and him being wide awake, I decided to lay down on the floor, put him on me, and put the biliblanket on his back. While here, he did 2 things – first he “GI Joe”ed up my chest (I had started with his head at my solar plexus, and he boogied it up to my neck in no time), and once there, decided he didn’t like looking right (showing that by crying), so he picked up his head enough to look the other way, at which point he stopped crying totally and just looked around, content as could be. So it looks like he prefers to lay on his right cheek. He’s progressing so well

So, when we left the hospital Friday, they told us to keep an eye on Noah since he looked a little jaundiced in the face, and if he started to look that way head to toe, then we should go see the doc.

Well, Saturday afternoon we noticed, but unfortunately it was after the pediatrician office had closed. So we called the answering service, talked to the nurse, and then to the on-call doc (who happened to be our pediatrician), and he suggested we come into the ER just in case. So we took him in, they drew blood, and the results came back that he had a bilirubin count of 15.8, which was a little high, but not high enough to admit him. They sent us home with a “biliblanket”, which is a UV light source that he can lay on (UV helps break down bilirubin in the blood), told us to expose him as much as we could, and come back today. We’re happy to report that after the second bilirubin test his level is down to 13.9, which the nurse was nothing to be concerned about, and to keep the UV light on him until we talk to our doc at our scheduled 2 day post-discharge appointment, which is tomorrow. So, hopefully he’ll continue the trend down and clear up a bit more.

So, last Thursday, we got a tease. A big fat tease.

Emily started having contractions approximately 8 minutes apart mid-afternoon that day. They stayed that way until we went to bed, and the next morning they had shrunk to being 6 minutes apart. Were we getting close?

Mid-afternoon Friday they stopped, and went back to being all over the board. Needless to say we were disappointed. Especially once we found out from the midwife on Tuesday that she was only 2.5 cm dilated.

So, Tuesday afternoon, mind restless, I went home a little early to go on a walk with Emily. We ate dinner, watched 24, and eventually got to bed around midnight. Three hours later, I get shoved awake.

“Hey, you should probably get up?”

“What? Why?”

“They’re a lot stronger and really close together.”

She had been up for about an hour or so before that (2 AM), and had timed several to be around 4minutes. So, I jumped out of bed, found a pen and paper, and started to record times. She was indeed about 4 minutes apart. I recorded enough so we would have some evidence for the midwife that she was indeed in active labor, and then we gave her a call. She suggested waiting for dawn if we could, for her to take a hot shower, and if she couldn’t make it, to come on in.

She took the shower. The contractions were getting stronger. She said she couldn’t wait. So, I packed the car and we got to the hospital (which thankfully is only 2 minutes away) around 5 AM. By the time she got admitted and hooked up to all the machines, it was 6 AM. The nurse checked her out….. she was 6 cm! She had progressed 3.5 cm in less than 24 hours, and above that – she made it to 6 cm with no drugs! The staff was in awe.

Speaking of drugs, we filled out the epidural forms ASAP (for her, not me ) and by 7 AM she was sailing through the contractions like no one’s business.

She had made enough progress by 7:50 (8 cm or so, I think) to go ahead and break her water. It was clear and they were pleased. At some point they had to give her an epidural redose, which brought her back to Heaven

However, about 9:50, the epidural was starting to wear off (more on her right side than the left) and as they were thinking about giving her another dose, they retested – she was just about 10 cm and fully effaced – in other words, she was ready to push.

So they started pushing around 9:50, and she made good progress. Noah seemed to have some trouble getting under her pelvis, and eventually a little trouble turning his head once he was through. It was later determined that he probably had his hands up near his face as he was coming down the birth canal, causing some markings on his face, as can be seen in this picture:

Anyway, around noon, Emily had gotten really tired, and Noah’s progress was slowing down, and his heartrate was starting to drop a little. So they decided to aid her with some vacuum extraction. What’s that you ask? Basically, they attach a suction cup to Noah’s head (which was near crowning by this time), pump the air out, and use it to pull on the baby’s head as Emily pushes. So just shy of 12:16 PM, Emily was starting a contraction, and as she pushed, the midwife, Terri, pulled on Noah’s little head. Before you knew it, his head was out, and they were suctioning his mouth. Terri got Emily focused and asked for one more push, and when she did so, the rest of Noah came flopping out like a rag doll floppin all over the place.

And it was the cutest thing ever

Emily got some initial bonding with him, and then they took him to the warmer to check him out. His 1 minute and 5 minute APGAR’s were 8 and 9 respectively, which were great. The only concern was some junk is his right lower lung lobe. This was causing him to “grunt”, which is what happens when babies have to fight for air. They tried some patting on the back and flipping him on his stomach to help get it out, and just in case, called the NICU to send someone over to check him out. By the time the nurse practitioner got there, he was breathing fine, and she gave him a clean bill of health.

So that’s it for the time up to the birth – one of us will post event on our hospital stay sometime soon.

Welcome Noah Harrison Steele!

He arrived at 12:16 PM today, weighing in at 7 lbs, 7 oz, and 20 inches long. Mom, baby and dad are all doing well (although tired since we have been up since 2 or 3 this morning).

Well, Noah’s due date has come and gone. We found out this morning that Emily is about 2.5 cm, and 65% effaced, and is still at -2 station (keep in mind that the measurement is subjective, so don’t take the 65% vs 80% as anything wierd). Noah is head down, has a good heartbeat around 130 bpm, and is still predicted to come in at less than 7 lbs. We have an appointment scheduled for next Monday, but we’re hoping we won’t need it! More news when we get it!

Well, yes we do…..

Still in the womb.

No sign of going into labor anytime today, so we’ll just have to see how the doctor’s appointment goes tomorrow. We know (trust us) Emily has made some progress, we’re just not sure how much. More info tomorrow!

No change in Noah’s progress this week. Other than that he checked out OK with a good heartbeat. We’ll know more in a week!

OK, so this is the news we’ve all been waiting for…. at 38 weeks, 1 day, Emily is:

1 cm dilated, 70-80% effaced, and the baby is at a -2 station (which means he is low enough to start pressing on the cervix).

The midwife was very pleased at her progress at this period in the pregnancy, and predicts a on-time or early arrival, with a weight of about 6.5 lbs.

As usual, we got to hear the heartbeat, which came in around 150 bpm. Her belly was at 37 cm and everything else was OK.

More in a week!

Well, we had our infant care class today, where we got to learn about, for the most part, the first month of taking care of Noah. We covered everything from diaper changing to bathing to how to swaddle the baby in a blanket to food and first aid. It’s been about oh, 15 years since I’ve done anything with a kid (I used to change my youngest brother’s diapers when he was young) so it was a nice refresher. That does it for the classes. Now the waiting.

But while we’re waiting, Emily has noticed that she has started to “drop” – i.e. Noah is starting his descent into her pelvis. She showed me 2 pictures and I have to say, the shape of her belly has changed; it wasn’t as much of a drop as I’ve seen in other pictures, but I think something is there. We’re going to take another picture tonite for comparison.

The nursery and bathroom are ready to go as Emily counts the number of Braxton-Hicks contractions she has each day. Nice to see her body is paying attention and getting ready We go in for a checkup on Tuesday – more then!