I FINALLY have a second to do a quick post on Noah's arrival!
Noah arrived a bit early... 2 days after Sofia's birthday!! We were hoping for the 14th, so we'd have Gabe- Sept. 11, Ava- Sept. 14, Sofia- Nov. 11, and then Noah- Nov. 14... but he was ready to be here.
We actually headed to church Sunday, November 13, 2011, and I felt super tired and crampy. I had a few contractions, but figured it was because I was frantically trying to get everyone out the door for 8:00 church. We sat by Leilah because I really felt I may need the extra help with how gross I was feeling. I patiently sat through sacrament meeting, breathing off hard contractions. I timed them during that hour, and they were right on at 5 minutes apart for the whole meeting! I tried repeatedly to catch Greg's eye, and give him a look- like, "Hey! This is happening!!" But he later said he thought I was just mad at him, so he was avoiding eye contact..:)
After sacrament I ran up to Greg and told him I was in labor! We sent all the kids to class, telling them we were headed to the hospital, and asked Suzy Harper if she would take them home with her. I waited while Greg made arrangements with the bishopric to leave, and cancelled his appointments for the day. I told the relief society presidency, Sister Payne, Sister Hoadley, and Sister White, (who was also being changed- crazy day!! Sister Enders was going to be the new president... I really didn't want to stress her out any more than she was!!) that I wouldn't be able to teach the lesson in relief society. :(
I wandered the halls while Greg got meetings and things covered, and lock up his office.
We ran home real quick to grab bags and change into something more comfortable.
We headed up to the hospital. At first I thought maybe I was jumping the gun, but contractions remained close together. We got to the hospital around 10am, and hard contractions didn't really start until later that afternoon, about 4. In the meantime, we walked the halls, I ate ice chips, bounced on the birthing ball, and waited...
Noah Robert Schroeder was born at 10:24pm, weighing 6.9, and 18.5 inches long! The umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck, so I'm sure that's why he came so early. Dr. Crandall quickly cleaned everything up and talked to greg about snowmobiles. :/ (Hellloo-oooo! Having a baby here..haha!)
At first he screamed really well, while Greg helped the nurses clean him up and Mom took pictures. Then after holding him for only a second, they took him away because he wasn't breathing well (hence the concerned look on my face...). We managed to say goodbye to him before they ended up taking him to the NICU for a pneumothorax- a tiny hole in his right lung. He was struggling to breathe. He couldn't inflate his lung on his own until the pocket of air that had formed outside his lung was sucked out. So they did an emergency surgery- inserted a needle into his chest, and the lung inflated immediately. It was able to heal on its own, and give Noah time to figure out how to breathe, maintain his blood pressure, and heartbeat. He was hooked up to a feeding tube, an IV in his head (and later in his hand), blood pressure, and heart monitor. He was only in the NICU from late Sunday night til early Wednesday evening, when we took him home about 6 pm. The nurses in the NICU and on the recovery floor were really great, and so helpful. I was able to go home and shower, visit the kids, give loves to Sofia, spend a few minutes with my Dad and Wendy, and then return to pump milk and feed Noah. He was a trooper. We are so glad he's here safe and sound!!
Welcome, Baby Noah!
