A letter to my son on Christmas

To my sweet little man –

I know I have only just met you a few days ago, but I already feel like it has been forever. You are such a precious and sweet Christmas present, I am so glad to have the chance to be your mom. Things may be a little rough right now as you and I get used to each other, but you should know that all of the mistakes I am making are only my very best attempts to do right by you. And even though there are times when I look stressed out and ready to pull out my hair, I love you so very much and I would never trade a minute of time with you for a couple hours of extra sleep.

As I watch you sleep, it occurs to me how wonderful and difficult life is, and I worry about the trials and tribulations you will encounter as you grow. And as much as I would like to protect you from all of the frustrations and heartbreaks you are bound to encounter, it is only through experiencing the hard times can you really understand how sweet the joys in life can be. Please know that I will be there for you to celebrate all of your joys and will help you pick up the pieces when life throws you a curveball.

No matter who you become, or what paths you take in life, know that I will always love you, no matter what. You, as a person, could never disappoint me, never forget that. There will be times when we disagree and get mad at each other, but I will always be your mother and you will always be my little man.

Welcome to the family, my sweet little man. You are so treasured and you have so many people around you who think that you are the sweetest little boy ever and we can’t wait watch you grow.

I love you always,

Mommy

And Noah Arrives!

It's official, Noah Alexander arrived at 3:07 am on Sunday, December 23, 2007. Just in time for Christmas, and he wasn't kidding, we got home from the hospital at noon on Christmas day, can't time it any closer than that without ruining the holiday. Up until Saturday morning, nothing was happening on the baby front, but not for lack of trying. My Mom was staying with me to keep me from losing my mind, and when the weather permitted, we took trips to the mall to walk...whoever said walking can bring on labor was completely clueless! Friday night I started to have some mild contractions, but chalked it up to the same less-than-productive contractions I had been having for the previous 2 weeks. However, on Saturday morning things changed drastically. My water broke about 9:30 in the morning, after I had sent Tim (Daddy) off to work for the day. Still no contractions to speak of, however! I called the doctor on call and she suggested I wait at home to see if contractions would start on their own. In the meantime, Tim came back from work and then we proceeded to all sit around waiting for something exciting to happen. Suffice it to say until the pitocin hit at 5pm in the hospital, nothing at all exciting happened. I had a fairly short labor to speak of, when I arrived at the hospital at 3:30 pm, I was 3 cm dilated, by 11 pm I had only progressed to 4 cm. I got an epidural somewhere in there, we played cards, and just as I was about ready to try and get some sleep a little after midnight, my epidural stopped working. They checked me and I was fully dilated!!! I got two extra boosts of the epidural and they let me rest a bit before I started pushing at 1:45 am. Noah Alexander was born at 3:07 am and was absolutely perfect. I got to grab him right away and Tim cut the cord under the warmer while they cleaned him up for his debut. Although it was definitely a painful process, it is not something I would ever take back. I have included some pictures from the delivery room below.