Baby Noah

Noah Grant Allori was born at 12:09pm on Friday, October 24th, 2008, at Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon, via emergency C-section. He was born 3 days before his original due date. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and was 20 3/4 inches long. He is absolutely perfect.

Here are the very long details. If you don't want to read, pictures are at the bottom:

On Thursday, Oct. 23rd, I called my doctor to find out if there were any openings for an inducement for the following day. I wanted to let it happen naturally like I did with Violet but after having three false alarms where I was positive I was in labor for a few hours, the contractions and pain dwindled away. I was starting to stress about the coordination involved with having my mom watch Violet, making sure we didn't forget to bring anything to the hospital, etc. Plus, as much as I love being pregnant, I knew the baby was cooked and I was ready to meet him. My doctor said that they could induce me and I should be at the hospital by 6:30am the next morning.

On Friday, Oct. 24th, my mom came over at 5:45am, Dominic put Violet's car seat in her car, and we left for the hospital. They had a room ready for us when we got there but it took awhile before I even got gowned up so I watched the news and Dominic wouldn't take his eyes off the stock market on my laptop. Quite a relaxed and different experience than when I showed up at the hospital having full on contractions with Violet. They eventually got me gowned up, took my vitals and got the IV started. At 9am, my doctor came in and broke my water (I was already 3+ cm dilated on my own and still 80% effaced) and at the same time they started me on the smallest drip of pitocin that the IV would allow. The next sentence may have too much info so skip to the next paragraph if you aren't a detail loving person. Having my water broken was the weirdest feeling. I already had my epidural in when the doctor broke my water with Violet so I didn't feel anything but since I didn't have the epidural when my water broke, I got to feel it all gush out, and gush out, and gush out. I actually thought it was a really cool feeling. Gross, I know. I started having contractions and they started to get painful.

Although my contractions kept getting stronger and more regular, they varied in intensity and also in their timing. I had a contraction and the baby's heart rate took a pretty big drop so they had me turn on my left side. Turns out the baby didn't tolerate me being on my left side so I flipped over to my right side. He seemed to tolerate the contractions better with me on my right side but the stronger the contraction, the lower his heart rate got. I guess the normal range for fetal heart rate during labor is 120-160 beats per minute and Dominic said he was watching the monitor and it got as low as 60 bpm. It started to drop again and right in the middle of the contraction they had me get on all fours to see if it helped. By this point, I had my nurse, an intern, the head charge nurse, my doctor and the anesthesiologist in the room - all with concerned looks on their faces which wasn't very comforting. The doctor checked my cervix and I wasn't really progressing and she inserted a fetal heart rate monitor that stuck to the top of the baby's head to give a more accurate reading. My doctor thought that since I wasn't progressing fast enough, meaning it may have happened in another 6-8 hours maybe, and because the heart rate dropped with every contraction, a c-section was the best way to go. Plus, the anesthesiologist said I wouldn't have been able to get an epidural because in order for it to work properly you need to be able to lay on both sides to let the drugs flow evenly on both sides and since the baby didn't tolerate me laying on my left side, I would've only been numb on my right side and no way was I going for that. I was very upset - a little disappointed because Violet's birth was so easy and complication free, scared that the baby wasn't okay, and just extremely emotional because of all the hormones. I was also very upset because I thought I had caused this to happen because I didn't let my body go into labor naturally. The doctor said that his heart rate was most likely dropping because the cord was being pinched during each contraction and chances are that when my water broke, regardless of being induced or letting it happen naturally, it made him go into a tighter position and it was good that I was in the hospital for them to monitor his heart rate.

At 11:30am they wheeled me into the operating room and Dominic had to wait outside while they got me prepped. The anesthesiologist decided it was best to numb me up with a spinal tap. I guess he usually does it with the patient laying on their left side since he's right handed but it took him an extra long time and several pokes of the needle in my spine before he got it right because I was on my right side. I had to lay there with my legs pulled up (not so easy with a baby in your belly) and my back rounded for a good 20min while he poked around back there, all while sitting through a good 3 or 4 very strong contractions and listening to my poor baby's heart rate drop during each one. I could sense with every contraction that everyone in the room was getting impatient and wanted that baby out. Once he finally got the spinal tap in, they laid me on my back and the doctors got to work and Dominic was able to come in. I could feel them cut into me but it didn't hurt - it just felt like a plastic knife going across my belly. I think the numbing medicine was still taking effect. I hated smelling my flesh burn as they cauterized each layer. I started to get nauseated but the anesthesiologist was still trying to do too many things and couldn't pump anti-nausea medicine into my IV fast enough and I started to vomit. All I could do was turn my head and Dominic tried to catch it in a bag and the doctor was suctioning it out of my mouth but it was still all over my hair. I don't remember exactly how it felt when they pulled Noah out but I remember all the pressure and mentally comparing what they were doing to what I've seen on TV.

Noah came out with a healthy cry and great color and as soon as I heard that first cry, I let out the same cry that I did the first time I heard Violet. You definitely miss out on that precious moment where your naked baby gets to lay on your naked chest and stare into your eyes during those first few moments of life where they're calm and alert. Instead, poor Noah had that medicine put all over his eyes so by the time Dominic got to hold his head next to mine, he not only couldn't see me but his first scent of mommy was vomit.

I went to recovery for about an hour before they returned me to my room. They hooked me up with a morphine drip and although I was super relaxed for the next 24hrs, I didn't make much sense to other people when I talked, my mouth was beyond dry, my vision was blurry, and my nose and forehead itched like crazy.

More than a full day after the c-section, I walked for the first time. It was only a few feet over to the sink so the nurses could clean me up. Later that evening I had the nurse help me to the bathroom and by night time I was able to walk by myself. I stayed in the hospital 4 nights and enjoyed being waited on.

Nathanael got to meet Noah on Saturday and he wasn't very interested. I think the combination of him being almost 14 and his knowledge of what its like to have a little one in the house didn't really float his boat.

Violet got to meet Noah on Sunday. She got to spend a little time with mommy in the bed watching a DVD and drinking all of my cranberry juice while Daddy watched Noah get circumcised. When they brought Noah in the room she understood that Baby Noah was no longer in Mommy's belly, that he was a real baby now. She was very sweet to him and wanted to touch, kiss and hug him. When Noah needed his diaper changed I had to call in the nurse to show me how to handle the circumcision and when Noah cried, Violet lost it. The sound of other babies crying has never bothered Violet but when Noah cried she said "Baby Noah sad". So while I was trying to watch the diaper change and calm Noah down, Dominic held Violet and tried to calm her down.

Noah's first week home has been wonderful and I'm enjoying some of the most precious and memorable moments of my life. I don't know if Noah is a much easier baby than Violet was or if I just know what I'm doing this time around but having two kids under 2 is actually doable. He's very sweet and he's a great nurser and sleeper. Violet is very helpful and hands me things when I'm nursing the baby and loves to help with his diaper changes. She also loves putting the "c-pillow" (the boppy) on her lap and holding the baby.

This picture taken the morning we got to the hospital and both thought we'd have a perfect delivery like we did with Violet.

This was taken right before they wheeled me into the operating room. Its a horrible picture of me but I thought Dominic looked hot in scrubs so I thought I'd post it.


Welcome to the world, Baby Noah!


Taken right after his first bath. He looks just like some of my (Krissy's) baby pictures. I looked like a boy and so does he.


Taken a couple hours after the c-section.

Grandmama meets Noah.

Auntie Lisa meets Noah.

Granny meets Noah.

Violet meets her little brother for the first time.

Family photo with my OB who delivered both Violet and Noah. The dude who took the photo must have not understood that the camera has the ability to focus on the subject. Oh well.

We didn't get too many "posed" hospital shots but of the ones we took, this one was pretty cute.

Noah was in pure heaven when my colostrum started turning into milk. He was drunk! You can see he didn't even bother to wipe off that little drip on the side of his mouth.


Yawn!

Sleeping in my hospital bed.

This is the first time Violet held Baby Noah. He has his hands up almost like he knows she wants to poke his eyes.

Violet LOVES to give baby Noah kisses.


Its surprising how difficult it is to get a newborn and a toddler to pose for a picture and not cover up the special t-shirts they're wearing. I'm sure I'll have to try this one a few times before I get that perfect shot.


Violet loves holding Baby Noah. He hasn't fussed once when she's held him. He naively feels at ease around her. Maybe he won't like her holding him as much if we don't manage to stop her from poking at his eyes one of these days.


Noah's first Halloween. Nathanael's b-day is exactly one week before Christmas and Noah's b-day is exactly one week before Halloween.

Poor quality picture because we used the small camera. Don't look at my belly hanging out either. Nathanael wore my Eeyore suit and Violet LOVED being Piglet. She had a great time walking up to the doors and getting candy (even though she didn't eat any of the candy) and Noah slept the entire time. He was in a warm bear outfit and I carried him in the Moby Wrap. We probably walked about a mile and I over did it. I was in so much pain about half way through that I had to have Nathanael stay with me while Dominic went home and got Violet ready for bed and it took us forever to get home.

Pictures of Noah's and Violet's rooms

I just wanted to post a few pictures of Noah's and Violet's rooms. Noah gets Violet's hand-me-down furniture but he gets the bigger room. I didn't go with a particular bedding set or theme for either of their rooms, I just started piecing them together and like how both of them came out. I just want to get some wall letters to hang in Noah's room and then his should be pretty complete.

This is just the dresser/changing table, the glider, and his name is stuck to the wall inside an open frame.

This tree was my big project and I have to say I'm pretty darn proud of it. I wanted to do a wall mural but didn't want to screw up the wall and have to paint over it. I modeled it after a tree in Violet's pediatrician's office. The trunk, branches and leaf clusters are made out of foam board that I painted and I glued a ton of silk leaves on top of the leaf clusters to give it depth and extra color. The trunk is diagnol between the two walls and the branches are on each wall. It took me a long time to construct but I'd have to say that most of my time was spent standing in the doorway just staring and trying to visualize how I wanted the next piece to look.

Violet loves Noah's tree.

I tried to get a closer look at the leaves and branches.

Its so hard to take pictures of a room. I hope you can get a feel for how big it is in relation to the furniture, etc. The branches on the right partially hang over the crib.

I just went with sage green and chocolate brown bedding. Nothing fancy.

Below are some pictures of Violet's room for those of you who haven't seen it. The walls are painted a pale Violet color (go figure) and she moved into her "big girl" furniture about 6 weeks ago so we could get her used to it before the baby arrives. We have a matching twin sized bed but won't put that together for awhile. She's in a toddler bed that some friends were nice enough to loan us and she has done great with the transistion.

She has these great wall letters around the room that she loves to look at as well as a couple sets of butterflies that hang from the ceiling.

Her name is just stuck to the wall and we framed her very first painting.

This is the furniture we got her. I love it. There's a twin bed with a trundle underneath (we'll use it for storage), a dresser and a night stand. It has flowers, butterflies, and dragonflies (not shown) hand painted on the front and sides of the dresser and night stand and also on the headboard and footboard of the bed.

And here's a picture of her big girl bed with her babies on the pillow. She loves all of her babies but has a serious attachment to Mimi the Mole and Mr. Lamb comes in second place.

39 week update

Last week I was 2-3cm and 60% effaced, now I'm a solid 3cm and 80% effaced. She stripped my membranes but said there wasn't much that she did because they had already been doing it on their own. I was pretty crampy after the visit but seem to be back to normal now. I was really shooting for having the baby sometime this weekend since Michelle, her fiance Josh, and my Auntie Di were in town but now that they have left, I'm not in any rush. I can't possibly see how I'd go past my due date because I didn't with Violet and I'm so much further now than I was with her but I'm learning that you just never know. I'm anxious to have him because I just want to hold him and love him and I'm pretty darn uncomfortable, but I can hang in there another week. :)

There were two nights during the past week where I thought for certain I was in labor. Both times I was awoken by painful contractions. I either took a warm bath or laid in bed and watched TV. I straightened my hair and mentally prepared my list of everything we needed to bring to the hospital. Both times the contractions weren't regular and didn't continue to get more intense so I just went back to sleep and that was that. I got to enjoy new pain in my lower back during contractions - it felt as bad as when the epidural went in. I don't know if that had anything to do with the position of the baby but it was not a good pain.

Now I'm just shooting for going into labor on an evening after Violet has gone to bed and my mom doesn't have to work the next day. That way she can just come over and sleep in my bed and my morning time I will have had the baby and she can bring Violet down to meet her new baby brother!

38 week update

2 weeks until the due date! I'm 2-3 cm dilated and 60% effaced (a bit of a difference from the 1cm and 0% effacement I was at when I was 38 weeks with Violet). I'm still getting lots of contractions and I'm getting a lot more cramping pain. It could be any day or I might just go up to my due date. You just never know...

My belly seems to have dropped too. My belly button used to point straight at the mirror and now it points down a bit. I can't wait for the baby to get here but at the same time I'm savoring every minute with Violet being my baby. She really loves her little brother, always giving my belly kisses and hugs and high fives and telling it secrets. I wonder how she'll feels when she has to share mommy with a little baby. I think she'll be a great helper but I also think she'll definitely get jealous.

37 week update

As of today, I'm officially full term. I have some slight swelling and sometimes I sweat worse than a fat man in a hot sauna. The doctor checked me at my weekly check up today and I went from zero dilation last week to 1-2 cm (she could feel the head) and I'm ~40% effaced. Every week my contractions get more frequent, more intense, and sometimes more uncomfortable. We'll see what happens in the next week.

I just checked my pregnancy log that I kept with Violet and it was at this point I was 1cm dilated by my cervix didn't start thinning until I was 39 weeks pregnant (and I delivered one week later). I wonder if that means this little guy will come earlier because my cervix is already thinning? You just never know.

Roloff Farms

We made our first trip to the pumpkin patch yesterday. I think Roloff Farms is one of the best pumpkin patches around here and there are tons to choose from. We scheduled a group tour for our playgroup and they gave us priority seating on the tour so we didn't have to wait in line and all of us got to ride together, plus Amy came down to individually greet all of us and take pictures. She was so nice. I think they try to come down to meet guests whenever they can. We saw Matt Roloff riding around the property but he didn't come talk to us. The film crew was filming us the whole time and we had to sign release waivers but the chances of us making it on the show are slim because they film 5 days/week, 9 months/year. I'd like to go back next Wednesday to get more pictures because they have a lot of great photo spots, plus Violet loved the little petting zoo they had.

Me, Violet and Amy Roloff (the show is TLC's "Little People, Big World" if you didn't know what I was talking about.

Here are some of the kids from our playgroup. Two others were there but left before our attempt at a group picture, and I think there are two more toddlers in the group who didn't go to the pumpkin patch.

I'm working on shooting in manual mode. I captured some good catch lights in her eyes but I don't think I focused on her eyes very well. I can only get her to smile like this when I ask her to sign "apple" - its a good trick, I know.
One day we'll get a good picture with all the cousins actually looking at the camera and smiling. This picture was taken about 5min before Violet lost it on the tractor ride because the little stinker was dead tired after refusing to nap earlier in the day.

Just another sweet picture

If only I was turned more to the left, you could see how huge my belly is...