The story of how Noah James came to be

Well, if you look at the floating baby on my page, it says there are still 10 days left until Noah graces us with his presence. But in reality, he's 6 days old. I can't believe that I had a baby 6 days ago.

Call it a mother's intuition or just plain luck, but as I predicted, I went into labor on Saturday. It started on Saturday morning. I woke up really wanting to get a haircut, so I went down and got it cut. About 2 hours later, I went into labor.

The contractions started out far apart, but quickly changed to 3 minutes apart. So we got Elijah ready, put our suitcases in the car and headed to the hospital- not knowing what would happen. They watched me overnight as I continued to labor. The contractions got harder and quicker, but they were concerned about me having him so young. So they tried all kinds of drugs to keep that baby in me. Finally, after 17 hours of contractions they could not stop, they decided to do a C-section. And 30 minutes later, he came.

It was so crazy how fast it happened and how little time I had to process it. But it was amazing to actually be awake when my son was born, and to hear that little cry. It was amazing. He was born on Sunday May 17th, 2009. At a mere 6 pounds 10 ounces and 19 inches long, he was nowhere near the giant baby I thought I was going to have, ofcourse he was 4 weeks early.

A few minutes after he was born, they rushed him to the NICU because he was having trouble breathing. They kind of warned us that this might happen, so we weren't that nervous about it. They put him on oxygen and antibiotics and kept him under lock and key.

The hardest part was not being able to see him for 12 hours. Because of the C-section, I had to stay in bed and recover. That part was really difficult because I had waited so long to hold that baby in my arms.

Finally at 9pm Tim wheeled me into the NICU and I held our son for the first time. We named him Noah James. We picked James because it just flowed well, but also because we really dig Jimmy Eat World.

After 4 days in the NICU, we brought him home where he met Elijah for the first time. It was so amazing to see our boys together for the first time. Eli was so gentle with Noah, as if he knew. He didn't have too much trouble adjusting to the noise and so far, loves being a big brother. We'll see how long that lasts :)

So there it is, that's the story. I cannot believe I had a baby 6 days ago, it feels like it all happened so fast it's almost like a dream. But I am so happy to be home with all my boys. I am loving life, even if I get no sleep.