Noah Naoto Funai is born

Baby Noah is here.  My due date was July 17, but no baby.  I was not surprised as my water has either broken or I've been overdue and then I end up induced.  So my midwife scheduled me for an induction on July 21st since my parents would be in town and they could watch the boys.  She said she could schedule one for earlier, but I thought that was fine.  When she was examining, she said the baby's head was right there and that it would be a fast delivery.  She couldn't believe I hadn't had the baby yet (I could), but I was still 3 cm dilated just like I had been 3 or 4 weeks earlier.

On the morning on July 20th, we were sleeping.  Logan crept into our bed.  I had been a little awake and felt a little crampy.  I had felt a little sick the night before, but figured it was because we had been at a party the night before and the food hadn't agreed with me.  When I picked up Logan to hoist him into bed, the cramping turned into a definite contraction.  Since I have had a couple contractions here and there, but I've never really gone into labor on my own, I figured I would wait and see what happens.  I had a couple contractions more and they seemed really close, so I told Katsu and got out of bed.  It was 2:30 am.  At that point, I had probably been awake about 10 or 15 minutes, thanks to Logan.  I walked around to see if the contractions would go away and went to the computer to time them.  They weren't too painful but I was pretty surprised to see that they were all about 3 minutes (actually less) apart.  After timing 5, I decided maybe we should call the doctor and someone to watch the kids.  It seemed a little surreal since they weren't too painful, but they were awfully close together.  During this time, Katsu took a quick shower.

Unbelievably (but I checked it on my phone later), we called both the doctor and friends around 3:15 am.  Luckily, we were able to get a hold of one friend and the husband came over to stay with the kids.  The doctor got back to us at 3:17 am, at which point we were still at home, but I could still talk during contractions.  I told him that it was my 4th and this was going to be quick.  He got off the phone, informed the hospital, and then headed out.

We waited outside for our friend, and then got in the car.  By the time we got in the car, my contractions started to hurt a lot.  On the drive to the hospital, I was pretty sure I was in transition and I was not happy - it was going too fast, this is not how it was supposed to be, and I wanted to be in the hospital with this painful of contractions, not in the car.

We got to the hospital, Katsu parked, and I wasn't quite sure how I was going to walk.  I walked over to the sidewalk and my water promptly broke.  Katsu rushed in to tell them we were there and then helped me walk in.  The staff could not find a wheelchair, I didn't think I could walk, but Katsu and the receptionist started walking me over.  They found a wheelchair and ran me into a room with doctors and nurses on the way.  My doctor was not there yet, but a resident was.

I waddled to the bed, they wanted to wait till after a contraction to check me, but they were pretty much continuous, so they checked me and I was ready to push and the head was there.  I didn't even really had to push - he more like fell out (but I suppose you could call it 2 pushes) and Noah Naoto was born at 3:37 pm.  My doctor showed up probably within the next 5 minutes and was able to sew me up (I guess you can't rocket ship yourself into the world, without a few tears).  I'm impressed he made it to the hospital that quickly even if he did miss it.

I still think it is somewhat of a miracle that I didn't have the baby at home, in the car, or on the sidewalk.  From the time we called our friends to come and watch the kids to when the baby was born was about 20 minutes.  That involved waiting for our friend to drive over, driving to the hospital and getting to a room and pushing him out.  Thank heavens he was born in the hospital!

Noah was 7 lbs 14.9 oz and 19.25 inches long.  He has long dark hair and sort of delicate looking features which I think make him look bigger than he is.  We stayed in the hospital for one day and left around 10 or 11 on Monday morning.  He seems to be healthy - he did fail one part of the newborn hearing test, but he probably just still has stuff in his ears.  He burps and farts a lot because he came out so fast, there wasn't time for much to be squeezed out of him, apparently.  He doesn't cry much, but has the saddest little cry when he wants to be fed.  He is now 5 days old and is already 8 lbs 1 oz, so he is gaining weight and doing well.