Noah Grant Carter was born on Tuesday, August 23, 2016 at 9:51 PM. Here is the full story...
On Friday, August 19th I had a check-up and found out that I was 2-3 centimeters dilated. I was 38.5 weeks pregnant at that point. My midwife also stripped my membranes, which sometimes helps to get things going. All that week I had been having tons of contractions all day long, but they were never regular. Everyday I thought I might actually be in a labor, but things never progressed. After that appointment, I felt even more contractions all weekend.
On Tuesday morning (the 23rd), I realized that my contractions were pretty regular. I timed them for several hours and they were 5-7 minutes apart. Then at around 12:00 PM, Paige and I went for a walk, and around that time the contractions started to come about 3-4 minutes apart, so I decided it was time to head to the hospital. We called Nate's mom and she headed over to our house to watch the kids. I would have liked to labor at home for a while longer, but I tested positive for Group B strep, so I needed to make sure I got there in time to get the antibiotics. Plus, you never know how quickly things can progress when its your 5th baby!
So anyway... At about 2:00 PM I got into the triage room at the hospital and they checked me. I was 3.5 centimeters dilated. That was disappointing. I thought for sure I would be more than that. They could see that I was having regular contractions, so they had me walk the halls for over an hour to see how I progressed. If I made enough progress, they would admit me. I was stressed! I was not about to be sent home, so I walked and walked and prayed that things would speed up. As I walked, my contractions got more painful. I started to feel pretty confident that they wouldn't be sending me home. When they checked me again, I was 4.5 centimeters dilated and much more effaced. Phew! They got me into a delivery room at about 4:00 PM. I was THRILLED. This pregnancy has felt so incredibly long, so I was so happy that this was the day that I would finally have my baby.
They got me all set up with my IV and started the antibiotics. I was in quite a bit of pain with each contraction, so I was really looking forward to the epidural. With my other deliveries, I always tried to hold off as long as I could, because I was afraid that the epidural would slow my labor down. But looking back, I really don't think it ever did. So this time, I just wanted to be comfortable as soon as possible. So I got the epidural around 5:00 PM. It was great at first, and then all of a sudden I couldn't breathe and I felt like I was going to pass out or throw up. My blood pressure had dropped dramatically, so they gave me something in the IV to combat that. I can't remember what it was. After that, I was fine.
At about 8:00 PM, I was 6 centimeters dilated and they broke my water. Then at 9:30, I started to feel more pressure down there, so they checked me and said I was almost completely dilated. They wanted the baby to move down a little more, so they had me turn on my side for a bit. That caused the baby's heart rate to drop suddenly, which was scary. Then they had me try the other side, and the same thing happened. So they gave me an oxygen mask, and had me stay on my back.
At around 9:45 PM, it was time to push. Thankfully, it only took 3 pushes or so, and Noah was born. It was painful pushing him out because the epidural didn't numb my bottom area very well, but I'm glad it was quick.
We were SO HAPPY to see our cute, healthy little boy. He was 7 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long. The first thing we noticed were his big hands and blonde hair. It's so fun to see your child for the first time. We love him to death and are so thankful that he arrived safely.
It took us a couple days to settle on a name for Noah. It was stressful! I had a couple names I liked and Nate had a couple that he liked, but we just couldn't agree. So frustrating! I'm glad we finally came up with something we both liked. That is not easy!
My recovery has been smooth and uneventful, thank goodness. One of the best things about having your 5th baby is that you pretty much know what to expect and you can prepare for all the unpleasant things that happen those first couple weeks (ie. postpartum cramping, engorgement, sore nipples, lots of tears, etc, etc, etc.).
The kids all love Noah so much and even Luke asks to hold him all the time.
