And then there were three...

It's hard to believe that just 9 days after I wrote my last blog post, this guy came barreling into our lives...

Noah William Parker

Noah was born at 34 weeks and 5 days, on Sunday, October 26th. At nearly five weeks early, it was obviously a surprise entrance into the world! I could write out all the details here, but to make a long story short(ish)... my water broke on the evening of the 24th, I was in labor all day on the 25th, and he was born early in the morning on the 26th. Nothing really went how I thought it would go, but we made it through.

I still can't quite wrap my head around the fact that I gave birth. In fact, everything was so surreal that I decided to write my birth story within a couple days after he was born so I wouldn't forget all the details. It's a good thing I did that since I can already tell my memory of everything is becoming selective. All told, my birth story is 9 pages long. Single spaced. Yeah, I guess I am pretty verbose. If you're interested in reading it, let me know- I'm happy to email it to you! When I was pregnant I found it really helpful to read the stories of other women, and I want to be able to share my story with others who might find it useful too.

If you've read my facebook posts, you know that Noah was admitted to the NICU after he was born. While he was a good size for his gestational age (5 lbs 13 oz) and was breathing without assistance, his sucking/swallowing reflexes weren't quite developed enough yet and he needed to eat through a feeding tube in his nose until this reflex matured and he could eat on his own from a bottle or breast. We weren't sure how long this would take- it could have been a couple days or several weeks... the not-knowing when he would be home was the hardest part.

He ended up staying in the NICU for 16 days. I was discharged from the hospital two days after he was born and leaving him there was extremely difficult. Jordan and I settled into a routine where I would stay at the hospital with Noah from 10am-6pm and Jordan would go to work during the day, then meet me at the hospital in the evenings. My mom came to Madison and did an enormous amount of work helping us get the nursery set up. We were not prepared for his early arrival at all and there was a lot to be done! I also had a lot of preparing to do at school to get everything ready for my long-term sub at the last minute. In some ways, it was helpful that Noah was in the hospital during this time so we were able to tie up all the loose ends of our lives and get everything ready for him to come home.

Alright, enough words. More pictures.

Hours after he was born... visiting him in the NICU.

Visiting with Grandma... two days old.

Noah's first bath!

One week old

Two weeks old

Finally, we got to bring him home! If you remember our birth announcement photo- we got a red onesie that we imagined our son would wear home from the hospital. I was always convinced it was going to be too small (I thought we'd have a 10 lb baby for sure.) 

The original photo...

Way too big!

It turned out that he would still need some time to grow into it. When Noah was discharged, he was 6 lbs 4 oz. Big boy! 

The cats are not so sure about him...

We're starting his musical education early

Three weeks old- looking very French!

Wrapped up in his moby

A wonderful visit from Jordan's parents

One month!

We had a pretty quiet Thanksgiving. I attempted to make my first real feast for dinner- Celebration field roast, mashed potatoes, scalloped corn, roasted brussel sprouts, lefse (courtesy of my mom), dinner rolls, and a pumpkin cheesecake for dessert (courtesy of Costco) It was an obscene amount of food for two people, but somehow we managed to polish it all off. 

Sunrise over our deck

Some of the feast!

Sleepy baby.

Yes, this outfit is wayyy too big and meant for a girl.
Noah didn't seem to mind at all.

Post-dinner crash

I have been putting Noah into the moby wrap that I got a few months ago. It's a good thing I practiced with Jack first...

Cat baby.

Real baby.

And finally... baby with hiccups.

The last month of my life has just been a blur. I can't even really believe that tomorrow it will be December- in fact, tomorrow is my DUE DATE! What happened to November?! But through this whole crazy experience, I've been trying to take some life lessons. The biggest one I've learned thus far is that your whole life can turn upside-down within a matter of hours, and it's extraordinary how one can cope with such dramatic change, roll with it, and even- hopefully- enjoy it. Seeing this little face everyday makes it pretty great.