Noah Russell Schluchter

Noah is here!!!  

Our precious, adorable, sweet little baby boy was born last Thursday, May 28 @ 2:33 p.m.  He was a whopping 9 lbs. 5 oz and 21 1/4 in. long.  He is exactly 18.5 months and 4 minutes younger than his big brother.  (  interesting fact :)  )  

I must say that this birthing experience was much easier this time around.  Thank goodness.  And thank the good Lord that my epidural didn't wear off this time!  We went in to the hospital Wednesday evening to have a cervical ripening procedure done.  This may be too much information for you, but in case you are wondering/interested, the procedure consists of inserting a catheter like thing with a balloon like thing on the end up into the cervix.  The balloon compresses the cervix to help it thin and dilate.  My doctor with tiny hands was not on call that evening, so another doctor ( a man, meaning bigger hands) did the procedure.  It was veeeerrrrry painful but only lasted a few minutes.  After the balloon was inserted my contractions (i was already having them at this point..around 7-10 minutes apart...but not in labor) got to be pretty darn painful.  Lots of cramping.  So, they administered pain medication in to my i.v. which made me feel pretty good :).  Around 6 Thursday morning my nurse pulled on the balloon and it came right out.  (it will not come out unless you have dilated a certain amount).  My doctor came in around 7:30 and I was 4 cm dilated.  So, they started me on pitocin soon after to get my contractions more regular and more frequent.  They were paaaaainful.  I got my epidural around 10 I think.  It was smooth sailing from there!  I labored pain free until time to push.  Once I felt pressure i told my nurse and she checked me to find that i was 10 cm.  We did a "practice push" before getting the bed ready and after the practice push she told me not to push until she had everything ready because she could tell i was going to move him out fast.  John and I prayed together before the real pushing started.  Once the bed was ready, i pushed 2 or 3 times more and she told me i had to breathe through my contractions without pushing until the doctor got there.  That was the worst part- trying to not push when all my body wanted to do was get that baby out of there!  I felt like screaming hallelujah when i saw my doctor enter the room.  Once she was suited up and ready I pushed one more time and out came baby Noah.  I was quite proud of myself for being such a champion pusher :)  The Lord answered our prayers. Noah's delivery went smoothly and quickly and Noah was healthy and so was I.  There were no stitches or hemorrhoids or any complications (yay! most people's mouths drop when I tell them that after hearing that he was over 9 lbs.) My doctor once again said that i was born to birth babies...but i don't know if i will be doing that again.  It's kind of bittersweet to think that that may be the last experience I have birthing a baby.  

This time around it was much more emotional.  With Joe, I think John and I were more in shock than anything.  Like, wow, what in the world just happened?!?  This time I wanted to boo hoo.  Noah was so beautiful and calm when he was born.  What an awesome way to enter this world.  John went out to tell my family that Noah was here and how much he weighed, etc.  We could hear them scream in the waiting room when he told them how much he weighed.  Ha   we were all laughing in my delivery room.  Our hospital stay was great.  The next morning I was up and showering and I really didnt even feel that I had given birth the afternoon before.  I have felt great.  Coming home was exciting.  Joe still doesnt know what to think of his little brother.  He really doesn't pay much attention to him, but I can tell he is a little jealous when we are paying attention to Noah and not him.  We are trying our best to give Joe extra love and attention.  I am nervous about how he will be when John is back and work and all the extra help is gone.  I will be spread thin in the attention giving department.  

The first couple nights at home were tiring.  Noah is a great baby, he just has his nights and days confused.  BUT! Last night, he slept great and woke only twice to eat and fell back asleep after each feeding.  He slept until about 8 this morning when he was ready for another bottle.  What a champ!!  And, thank you miracle blanket! I really think it helps.  I highly recommend them.  

Right now Joe is with John's parents.  They took him to the park and now taking him to my mom's salon and spa (N Vogue) to get his hair cut.  Mom has a sucker waiting for him to eat while he gets his hair cut. :)  Then they are taking him to lunch and bringing him home for nap time.  John is running a couple errands as I type this, and Noah is waking up so I should run.  (I am watching his precious self as he swings....so sweet)  Anyways, I am sure I left out lots of details, so if you have any questions or want to know something that i didn't post about, leave a comment and I will make sure to fill ya in!