Noah's Birthday

Despite how it looks, we really have tried to have babies at all times of the year.  But instead, we get to celebrate them all within two weeks.  Noah sometimes has a hard time understanding why in the world he's the last one when he's actually the oldest.  I don't have a good answer to that one, but I'm very thankful he's an extremely patient kid. 

Noah could hardly wait for December 8th to arrive.  He knew exactly how many days it was until his birthday for weeks in advance, and would also say things like, "When it's tomorrow, my birthday will be two days after that." 

When the 8th finally did arrive all of us were ready to celebrate.  It took some real organization to make sure we pulled off the birthday pancakes.  Nate was on a web conference (at home thankfully) that started at 4:30 a.m.  He'd have a thirty minute break at 7:15 when we would eat and celebrate.  I had a baby to feed, pancakes to cook (batter made the night before, thank goodness!), um, maybe get myself ready, so that we could also get Noah off to Joy School at least close to on time.  It felt a little crazy, but was so worth it.

I mean, look at that smile.  He didn't know it felt like exhausted chaos, and that's what matters.

 Nate had taken Luke to the store the night before to pick out a small gift for Noah.  It was really cute to see how excited Luke was for Noah to open his present.

 It was also pretty cute that Noah was really excited for such a simple present.  Paw Patrol is at the top of the toy favorites right now, even though the boys have only watched it a couple of times.

 Noah opened his marble run and exclaimed, "Cool!  A marble run! I was always wanting one of these!"

 It has been played with and played with for hours on end already.

We wrapped up the morning celebration, sent Nate back to his computer, and hustled to get the boys ready for the day.  Noah and I made some birthday treats the day before to take to Joy School and he was antsy to share them with his friends.

The afternoon was pretty calm.  Having added a new member to the family since Luke's birthday, we opted to stay in for dinner, but made sure it was still easy for me and one of Noah's favorites.  He was over the moon excited when Nate brought home orange chicken from Panda Express. 

Once dinner was finished we waited for the family to arrive for cake, presents and celebrating.  Noah sat in this chair and just stared at the door.  At one point he asked, "Mom, what will we do if no one comes? Are they late yet?"  It must have felt like seven o'clock would never come!

 Everyone did indeed come and, oh boy was this kid all smiles. 

 It was a Star Wars, Ninja Turtle and some other fun things type of birthday.  Perfect for this five year old, that's for sure.

 Noah loved his cake,

 LOVED being sung to,

but once that was over, he really wanted to get back to those cool presents. 

 He made sure to tell me,"This is really good cake Mom," but after a few bites, the pull to play was just too strong to resist.  It was a great day to be five and to celebrate this sweet, happy boy!

Coming Home

Wednesday morning brought lots of visitors from my medical team to begin the checkout process.  I was eager to call Nate and give him the green light to put those boys in the car and jump on the freeway so Leah and I could have a ride home.  Things seemed to happen a lot more timely this time around.  Other than my nurse saying Leah had lost too much weight and was down to 7 pounds, 7 ounces everything had been perfect.  By the way, don't tell a mom that unless it's really serious.  It's SO not what we need to hear when all we've done for two days is feed a baby.  A weight check was scheduled for the next day, and I figured we'd be fine.

Before long Nate and the boys arrived.  Right away, Luke ran over to check on and love on Leah.

 

 Noah. Well, after saying hello with a hug and a kiss, he was thrilled that my t.v. had the Disney Junior channel to keep him entertained while a few loose ends got wrapped up. 

 And I just held on to my girl and tried to keep soaking in all of this wonderful hospital experience that was about to end.

I could have ten kids and never feel done with the labor and delivery part.  It's been magical every time, but even more so with this third baby.  Maybe it's because I know we're done, I don't know.  But a part of me will always want to experience that again (and again and again).  It's the hardest of hard when it comes to pain followed by the highest of any high I've experienced or likely ever could.  That stark contrast makes the high even more sweet and powerful, I think.

Before we knew it, Leah was buckled in, checked by the nurse and we were walking out of Labor and Delivery.  Real life was about to begin.  

 That biggest brother who seemed to be more interested in Legos and the Disney Channel sure showed what's in his heart.  As soon as we walked out of the door he reached out to help Nate carry Leah.

 He held on in the elevator, as we proceeded through the hospital, and then walked to the parking garage.  Lots of people noticed how cute it was that this almost five year old brother was taking his job so seriously, and he got plenty of smiles as he 'helped'. 

 It's been that way with him ever since.  He might not love on her as much as Luke, but Noah is always quick to help when it comes to Leah needing something.  He looks out this baby sister and likes to give us status updates on how she's doing from the backseat.  I'm so glad that Noah is the biggest brother of this family. 

Tuesday

I don't know who was more excited: my sweet boys who had really missed their mom or me.  Admittedly, I'm not good at being separated from my favorite people for very long. We had used FaceTime the night before so they could see me and see Leah for the first time.  Morning rolled around and Luke in particular needed to see his mom.  Even another FaceTime call wasn't cutting it. Those boys of mine can hug like no one else, and I was antsy for some monster hugs.  I also just couldn't wait to introduce them to this baby sister we had talked so much about for months.

It was such a sweet reunion for all of us to be together. All FIVE of us. 

After some of those long-awaited hugs Luke asked, "Where's my baby sister?"  So we went over and looked at her.  He immediately climbed onto my bed where Leah was hanging out and gave her a kiss.  In the sweetest voice he said, "Hi baby sister.  I love you."

Melt my heart.  Just a few minutes later he moved over to the couch and held that baby sister for the first time.

 All of his sweetness was unprompted. 

 I just let him love on her how he wanted (within reason), and oh boy did he enjoy it.

 It hasn't really changed much since we brought Leah home either.  My Luke is just completely in love with Leah.  He especially loves it when her eyes are open so she can 'see' him.

Noah was happy to see me, reasonably happy to see Leah, but more excited that baby Leah had gifts for him and his brother.  So putting a new Lego set together was definitely a priority.

 Once restlessness started to settle in we hugged again and Nate took the boys down to the cafe for lunch and then back to Nana's for the afternoon.

Oh, I loved seeing them, but I was also excited for some alone time with my girl.  I knew that once we got home things would get busy quickly and these minutes that we had together, just her and me, were priceless and not to be taken for granted.

I couldn't get enough of just looking at her, snuggling with her, and she couldn't get enough of the eating thing.

 But that eating was being made just a little more difficult due to a slight tongue tie issue.  Nate had given me a blessing before my contractions got really bad the day before and mentioned that we would both have clarity when it came to making decisions about our baby.  After considering the information we had I had no hesitation about having this very minor procedure done.  After they brought her back to me she latched on much easier and ate like a champ instead of stopping a lot like she had.  Happy baby, happy mom!

Nate came back for the afternoon, but only stayed for a few hours.  It was obvious by then that the boys needed some normalcy so he got home in time to have dinner with them and do the bedtime routine.

 They happened to open the front door to collect a package and noticed a very large balloon tied down in our front yard.  Anonymous, but just so thoughtful.  I have the best friends in the world. 

After the boys were asleep and a little more FaceTime so Nate could check in on his girls, we tried to sleep. 

Even though Nate and I were together much less than we were with either of the boys' deliveries and hospital stays, our love and connection seemed stronger than ever.  We were both giving all of our energy and time to this family, him with the boys and me with this new baby girl.  It was just awesome.  I love being his partner and teammate.  

Wednesday would bring another visit from the boys, who would be bringing us home with them this time!

Delivery Day

Never in this pregnancy did I think I'd be overdue.  The boys had both been early, so surely this baby girl would follow their lead.  Not so much.  The 28th came.  The 30th rolled around, and there I was walking into the doctor's office at 8 a.m.  I had bounced out of there just the week before saying, "Happy Thanksgiving!  I'll bring in a baby the next time I see you."  Because there was no WAY she'd be overdue, right?  Wrong.

So, 8 a.m. Monday morning I was seeing my doctor.  Quite honestly, I probably would have let this girl hibernate for a couple of more months if I had the guarantee that she wouldn't get any bigger.  I wasn't that uncomfortable (also different this time around) and clearly she was in no hurry either.  But having had big, over nine pounds babies in the past I was nervous about her size -- and my recovery after because of her continued growth.

My doctor gave me the option of an induction, which was a new experience that I was completely open to...as soon as possible.  When she said 10 a.m.  I smiled.  Yes!  Let's do this, and as soon as possible please!

We dropped the boys off at my mom's and drove down to UC Davis.  After getting checked in, admitted and hooked up to the usual machines, my beloved pitocin drip started.  All of this was under the care of the very best nurse possible named Nadine.  What an angel.  We had mentioned that this was our last baby, and she did all that she could to make sure it was a sweet, memorable experience.  And it was.  I'll never be able to thank her enough for all that she did to create magical moments for us on that last day of November.

After a couple of hours of pitocin I had the option of getting an epidural or waiting about an hour while the anethesiologist helped with a c-section.  I opted to wait, but then about twenty minutes later mentioned to the nurse that as soon as that good doctor was done I sure would appreciate it if he'd come (running) my way.  Turns out the c section was delayed and he was there in minutes.  Thank goodness.  It didn't take much to turn this body into full delivery/contraction mode, and I was anxious to get some relief.

He started with a regular dose that helped only marginally.  In the end, I had five doses of epidural in addition to my magic button that I diligently waited to push every ten minutes.

 They were surprised that my blood pressure tolerated all of that medicine.  Even with a lot of medicine on board, my contractions ramped up quickly and the epidural drugs couldn't catch up.  I think I was breathing hard enough to keep a kite in the air.  It felt ridiculous, but the pain was a crazy kind of intense that only a mother in labor can understand.  With all of the painful drama happening the nurse checked me and this baby girl was only minutes from arrival.  It's amazing how fast a labor and delivery team can be ready for action when a baby is so close.

Tears streaming down my face, tears starting to stream down Nate's because of what I was going through, I was pushing even without having a contraction (not very productive, by the way).  Five or six tiny pushes and our girl was here.  And in that very instant, at 5:50 p.m. to be exact, all of the pain was gone, and both Nate and I were overcome with the love, gratitude and closeness to Heaven that is truly unique to childbirth.

She cried almost immediately, and my tears continued right along with her.  Maybe we were both so excited for her to be in the world that emotion got the best of us both. :-)

UC Davis is really dedicated to baby bonding time so once our little girl was delivered, she was all mine for two hours.   Two hours!  It was just such a special time.

 No weighing or measuring or checking. 

 Just me and our girl...and Nate watching over both of us. 

It was part of what made the day so magical.  The love in that room for each other and the closeness we felt to Heaven was palpable.  I'll never get tired of saying how special it truly was.

That was true treasured time that I'll never experience again, and will forever be thankful that I did this time around.

When I was ready the nurse did her usual check up routine on our baby girl.

She seemed small to us, but we've thought that about all of our babies.  8 pounds, 1 ounce and 19.5 inches long.

A small baby!  Sure, that's normal size to anyone else, but she was by far our littlest, and we just loved it.

When all of the poking and examining was done, I told the nurse to hand her off to her dad.  He sure had been patiently waiting for his turn.  Neither of us can really explain it but something about this little girl instantly melted our hearts in a way that we hadn't quite experienced before.

We had talked all day about her name.  Sometimes seriously, and other times tossing around ridiculous names just to pass the time.  Really, we had talked for months about her name, with no real resolution or decision made.   But Nate would be heading to the airport to pick up his Dad, and he would be bringing the boys to the hospital first thing the next morning. It seemed like we should really commit to a name.

So we did. 

Leah Evelyn. 

I'll write a post about her name later.  But she's definitely got some sweet, strong women to reference when it comes to that beautiful name.

 Nate drove over to the airport to pick up his dad.  It meant a lot that after a long day of traveling from Cleveland that he extended his day (well, night really) even longer to meet grandbaby #9. 

 I don't tell him often enough how much I appreciate the kind of grandpa he is, especially since he's the only one my kids have.  He's the perfect combination of so much love and so much fun.

 At about 10:30 p.m. he and Nate headed home, and baby Leah and I settled in for the night.

She still had some fluid in her lungs that was keeping us both awake for a while.  In the end, she settled down by snuggling right up next to me for some sleep.

I mentioned to her that this was a one time, it's your birthday kind of thing and down the road sleeping in mom's bed is not an option. :-)

Morning came and we anxiously waited for our visit from the boys in the family.