Little Prince: the birth of Noah

It was a chilly Sunday morning and the time change had just sent us falling back an hour. Noah was snug as a bug in my belly and two days past his due date. I was awoken by a tinge of cramping and thought, “Today could be the day I meet my handsome man.” As the hours rolled by, the contractions did as well. Ten minutes apart, seven minutes apart, six, five, four minutes apart! “Could this be the real thing?” I thought, “Can I hold out a bit longer?” and I did hold out until 10:30 p.m. that night. Keeping my husband posted on my progress, he gradually packed the car with the birthing essentials that had been packed and ready for weeks. We slowly walked to the car trying our best to contain our excitement. The moment we were so eagerly awaiting had arrived!

Just as we had practiced just a month prior, we arrived at the hospital and walked up to the doors. The security guard pushed the ‘up’ button on the elevator and up we went, one step closer to meeting Noah. We checked in and set up in triage. We anxiously waited to see how far along I was and to my relief I was four centimeters! By 2:00 a.m., after a few hours of painful yet satisfying contractions they officially admitted us. With my amazing husband by my side we made our way to the labor room.

At this point I was having contractions consistently every four minutes and was SO ready for an epidural. Within ten minutes the  anesthesiologist was there ready to put it in. This was one of the moments I feared the most but the doctors were so amazingly helpful and calming that it was in before I knew it! As the medicine made its way through my system I was filled with relief and excitement because I was now six centimeters dilated!

Three o’clock in the morning had now arrived and all we could do was wait patiently for our prince. As I shut my eyes to rest, the doctor came in and it was already 8:00 a.m. She had come in to see how I was progressing and proceeded to check me out and with a look of shock on her face she said, “You are ready to go! Lets see if I can…” and POP! she had broken my water with just the tip of her finger.

With this progress, my nurse, Jaime, came in to prep the room and to tell me that we had a waiting room full of loved ones anxiously awaiting Noah’s arrival. By 10:30 a.m. my nurse was prepping me to start pushing and by 11 a.m. we began the miracle of delivering our precious baby boy.

With my husband to my left and Jaime to my right we began to push counting from one to 10 and visualizing Noah making his way into the world. The lights were low and we had soothing classical music playing in the background. It was the perfect way to bring Noah into the world. Contraction after contraction, push after push I could feel him slowly coming closer to making his arrival. As the final moments arrived my nurse called the doctor and told her we were ready to deliver. But she was still in surgery! With that news, we had to hold back on pushing for 30 minutes. Normally that would be extremely difficult, but with the ambiance and support of my husband we paced my pushes until the doctor could make her way into the delivery room. She made it just in time, too, because I nearly laughed him out!

Finally, with the doctor in position it, was time for Noah to make his grand entrance. I gathered every ounce of energy and pushed! First, I felt his head slip out, then his shoulders, his arms and lastly his tiny feet. I felt every part of my baby come into this world and it was amazing! The emotions I felt when I saw his face for the first time, heard his cry and felt his skin against mine are indescribable! Giving birth to Noah was the happiest and most memorable experience of my life! I cannot wait to see what motherhood has in store for me.

Send us your birth story! Whether you had a home birth, hospital birth, 37-hour labor or emergency C-section, we’d love to read the tale of your little one’s grand entrance. Write up your birth story (click here for tips on getting started) and email it, along with a few photos, to birthstory@pnmag.com. We’ll share it on our Birth Day blog and may even print it in an upcoming issue!