Noah's Birth Story

 

I know many of you have wondered about our experience of giving birth overseas and just how it all happened,so here I am to tell you our story. We came to the hospital on Tuesday December 1 at 1:00 AM in the morning. Charlie sure was hoping to get some sleep but but that didn't happen. Upon entering the hospital I immediately felt the presence and peace of God with me. The receptionist met me at the door with a smile, taking my hand and leading me to each room. After examining me and doing an ultrasound the doctor on call confirmed that we would be admitted to the hospital. They immediately took us to a room and began the IV and paperwork. They asked about an epidural and I was quick to answer yes:) I was dilated 4 centimeters and that was the perfect time for an epidural. The lady who administered the epidural was great and I must admit I was relieved that it went so well, except for the fact that it only took on my left side. It does this every time so I assumed it would finally take on the right side too; I was wrong. Due to my cervix not dilating very quickly, it was 3:30 PM or so before they took me to the delivery room to break my water. At that point I had dilated 8 cm and was so ready to begin pushing. However, when they took me to the delivery room they unhooked my epidural and did not want to reconnect it. They wanted me to feel the contractions a little and know when to push. I assured them I most definitely could feel the contractions and had delivered both of my other children with complete epidurals. They finally reconnected it but I was feeling the contractions as if I had nothing. I got a true taste of labor without medication and it was tough! I admire all you ladies who do it with no medication. The good thing was that up until this point I had felt no pain and that was nice since I was in labor for 14 hours. I finally began pushing but like Judah, Noah's head was turned a little, making his delivery more difficult. They would have me push some and then breath through two or three contractions. This went on for a while and they decided Noah needed a little help with delivery. They used the vacuum, like they did with Josiah, and we finally had our sweet baby Noah! He was pretty blue and bruised and not breathing great at first, in fact, I didn't even get to hold him or really see him. This was hard for me and became even more difficult when it was 4 hours later before I got to see him. Due to the pain of the birth, the difficulty and not getting to hold him, I was quite emotional. This by far was the hardest and most painful delivery for me, but one verse from God's word kept coming to my mind: Hebrews 12:2 "Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who for the joy set before Him endured the cross. . ." I knew that what I was going through was nothing in comparison with what He endured for me, His child. I knew that I could and would get through this with the Lord's strength because there was a great joy awaiting me if I endured and his name was Noah Samuel. He was so completely worth every pain and difficulty that came with his birth. He is absolutely precious and has already captured my heart. I can't hug him or kiss him or hold him enough. He is our little miracle, just like every child born into this world. Thank you all for praying for us. I can't tell you what a comfort and a blessing it was to hear from you all through emails or facebook letting us know you were praying for us. THANK YOU!
In all, the experience here at Remdeika Hospital has been wonderful. They do some things differently, like putting fish oil on Noah's skin making him smell like a little sardine, however, he has wonderful, soft skin. Sometimes different isn't bad, just different and that is OK.