I thought I would write the birth story of Noah, for those of you who may not know. When I was 36 weeks along, I went in for my last ultrasound. Everything was looking good, except for the fact that Noah was measuring to be 7.5 lbs. already. Considering I had 4 weeks to go, and babies grow on average 1/2 a pound a week, I was a little freaked out. I figured that the baby would be somewhat bigger since Jeff was about 9 pounds when he was born, but I was not expecting a 9 1/2-10 lb baby! Well because of this, my Doctor decided to induce me a week early. I had always heard women say that the last week of pregnancy is the worst and that they would love to be induced, so I wasn't too worried about it. Had I known what it would actually be like, I probably would have wanted to wait! I was scheduled to be induced at 3:00am on Feb. 5. So, we got to the hospital, got checked in and everything was fine. They started by using this gel stuff to try to induce contractions and dilation. You have to leave it on for 4 hours...that didn't work. So, they tried to do it again...again, it did not work. I had only gotten 2 hours of sleep the night before because of the time we had to be there and because of nerves. I found it almost impossible to sleep at the hospital, so I was pretty exhausted after those 8 hours. The gel didn't help to dilate me in the slightest bit, and I was progressing very, very slowly. So, my Doctor decided to break my water. I was not even dilated to a one, so she had to use a finger cot, which is basically a little glove for your finger with a tack on the end and use that to break my water....I wont get too graphic with it, but you get the idea. Needless to say, that was the most painful moment of my life. However, after she broke my water, the contractions started coming one after another. The nurse wanted to make sure I was in "active labor" before getting the epidural and starting me on pitocin, so I had to walk around the hospital for an hour having contractions about 30 seconds apart. That was fun. Anyway, after that I got the epidural (which was heaven) and things got a little better. By the time I had to start pushing, I was definitely ready to get this guy out. However, he didn't seem like he was so ready to come. My biggest fear was that he would get stuck in the birthing canal and that I would have to get a c-section. I was a little horrified when this fear started to come to life. I was pushing for an hour and a half with no progress. Noah's head kept getting stuck under my pelvic bone and he simply wouldn't come out. I told the nurse that I needed a little break, so she said that was fine and left the room. It was then that Jeff gave me a priesthood blessing. I am so grateful that I am married to a worthy priesthood holder! Thirty minutes after I received the blessing, Noah Sanford Porter was born! He arrived February 6, 2011 at 12:07 a.m.! I was so relieved that he was healthy and happy, even though he had an incredibly misshaped head at first! But all in all, it was so worth it to have him here with us. He weighed a grand total of 8 lbs 1 oz, so smaller than I was expecting, which was a relief! It was an interesting experience, and makes me a little hesitant to want to do it again, but I know that the end result will always be worth it. We love you Noah!
