Noah's story-
Noah was our surprise baby! His birthday was February 28, 2009. Actually, I only took a pregnancy test, initially with Noah, because one of my friends made a comment at dinner the previous night about the size of my chest and "joked" that she thought I was pregnant (I know a little too much information- sorry). The next day, I thought "hey why not take a test and make sure". Well, it ultimately turned out that she was right!! Needless to say, I almost passed out when I saw the double line on the test. I was in total disbelief (in a good way), especially since we were planning to move to San Francisco in less than a month. By the time I had my first doctor’s appointment, I was already nine weeks along. It was a very surreal moment to see our precious baby for the 1st time. While we were definitely nervous and shocked, we were extremely excited as well. Given that we were essentially in "foreign" surroundings in San Francisco the entire time, the 1st pregnancy seemed to pass by very fast. Luckily though, we were able to move back to Houston in January before he was born.
Noah was our surprise baby! His birthday was February 28, 2009. Actually, I only took a pregnancy test, initially with Noah, because one of my friends made a comment at dinner the previous night about the size of my chest and "joked" that she thought I was pregnant (I know a little too much information- sorry). The next day, I thought "hey why not take a test and make sure". Well, it ultimately turned out that she was right!! Needless to say, I almost passed out when I saw the double line on the test. I was in total disbelief (in a good way), especially since we were planning to move to San Francisco in less than a month. By the time I had my first doctor’s appointment, I was already nine weeks along. It was a very surreal moment to see our precious baby for the 1st time. While we were definitely nervous and shocked, we were extremely excited as well. Given that we were essentially in "foreign" surroundings in San Francisco the entire time, the 1st pregnancy seemed to pass by very fast. Luckily though, we were able to move back to Houston in January before he was born.
Noah’s original due date was March 15, but he had a different plan. At 7:15am on February 28, 2009 my water broke (as we were unpacking boxes at home- we closed on our house on 2/24), and by 8:00 am we were headed to the hospital.
Not "knowing" exactly what to expect, I kept assuring myself that I was not going to have an epidural. Well, after about 4 hours of contractions, I asked the nurse to rate them out of 10, and she said I was at a 7. I thought “hey I can do this”. An hour later, I asked her again, and she said I was still at a 7. That is when I politely asked for the epidural.
Not "knowing" exactly what to expect, I kept assuring myself that I was not going to have an epidural. Well, after about 4 hours of contractions, I asked the nurse to rate them out of 10, and she said I was at a 7. I thought “hey I can do this”. An hour later, I asked her again, and she said I was still at a 7. That is when I politely asked for the epidural.
However, after I got my epidural, things got a little bit interesting. Noah’s heartbeat dropped down into the 30s twice. The nurses called the on-call doctor and multiple nurses in to assist. All that I remember from this experience is being on my hands and knees while they were shaking me and hitting my stomach in attempt to reposition Noah and restore his heartbeat. It was not fun and very scary. I think Ben turned a few shades whiter than a typical white bed sheet. Luckily after a few more interesting moments, Noah's heartbeat sped up, but only to drop again 10 minutes later. This process repeated itself a couple of times and thankfully, by then, my doctor had made it to the hospital.
He performed an ultrasound and decided it was in my best interest to have a C Section. Once the decision was made, I was on the table and within about 15 -20 minutes, Noah was here!! While it was not the labor and delivery that I had envisioned, we were so grateful everything was okay. It ended up that the cord was wrapped around his little neck 4 times. The nurse told me later that if we did not have the C Section when we did, we would have had to have one either way; so things worked out for the best.
He performed an ultrasound and decided it was in my best interest to have a C Section. Once the decision was made, I was on the table and within about 15 -20 minutes, Noah was here!! While it was not the labor and delivery that I had envisioned, we were so grateful everything was okay. It ended up that the cord was wrapped around his little neck 4 times. The nurse told me later that if we did not have the C Section when we did, we would have had to have one either way; so things worked out for the best.
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| My little peanut! |
Noah was born at 2:37pm. He was 7 pounds, 7 ounces, 7 grams (777) and 22 inches long. As you maybe could tell in these (and prior) pictures, he had a full head of black hair!!! Everyone commented on it. He even had hair growing on his ears. Don’t worry it fell off soon after.
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| Mommy and her baby. Please note that my appearance in these pictures is not the best. Just remember I was in labor and had a C Section; without a shower. |
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| Daddy and Noah |
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| Love! |
Since he came early, we were very unprepared. We had literally moved into our new house on Tuesday, and he came Saturday morning. So, we had did not have a nursery, most of our baby items were still in boxes, and most importantly (we did not have a bag packed for the hospital). Thankfully, Nicole was able to gather a few things (at the last moment) for the hospital. While we were in the hospital, Corinne opened and washed everything we needed for the baby, and Falon gave us a cute outfit that we were able to use as his “coming home outfit”. Looking back on it, we were dreadfully unprepared for this big moment.
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| I could do this all day! |
Between everything else going on, we realized that we had not settled on one of the most important things for a newborn... We did not have a name. Poor little guy wasn’t named until the 3rd day of his life. The only "sure" thing was we knew that we wanted Benjamin to be his middle name after Ben and his side of the family. I guess we were not totally unprepared as our short list of names had been narrowed down to Mason, Sutton, and Caleb. We literally had our name choices on the white board in our room and would ask people to vote when they came in (I know – very weird but we were very undecided). Finally, we realized that a decision was not being made and we needed to start over. We each made a list of 5 new names (not including any of the names above), and we both had Noah on our list. It was perfect – Noah Benjamin Kerr.
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| Headed home. I think Ben drove about 30 MPH and in the right lane the entire way home :). |
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| Our little snuggle bug! |
Very well written.. I love Noah's story! and what a story it was! We love that little boy so much. I remember getting the call and screaming at Bill who was mowing the lawn - think I pretty much scared him to death! We were thrilled for you guys. And when we went through the Whataburger drive through that night by the hospital since it was the only thing open... our total was $7.77, which i thought was totally cool since that was his weight!
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