Seven years ago today

Seven years ago today, we welcomed our second little bundle. He was red, wrinkled, and perfect (don't worry, he grew very quickly into a beautiful baby!). Noah was two and a half years old, and about 10 shades of jealous -- though he grew to love his brother very quickly.

When I think back to Eli's birth and compare it to Noah's, the difference is profound.

Noah was induced, and we spent the night before being prepped and the whole next day in delivery. But with the epidural, it wasn't too bad.  It took around 45 minutes for Noah to really start crying well. His first apgar was 4, but it jumped back up, and he came to the room with us. He screamed most of the night, but I didn't know that when he went silent -- that was a bad sign. The nurse came in that morning and took him to be checked by the doctor -- she didn't like his coloring. The next word we hear about him is that he is in the NICU on a ventilator. His blood gas had been 40 -- which makes it a miracle that he survived. Long story short, he spent the next twelve days in the NICU. He was thirteen days old when we brought him home. We spent his first five days wondering if he would survive. After that, everything new was terrifying.

Two and a half years later, I went into labor three days before my due date. Thinking we had plenty of time (doesn't labor usually last most of the day?), we took our time getting ready and got to the hospital aroud 3:30AM. By this time, I was not a happy camper. I made it into the labor and delivery room about 4AM, and Eli was born a very stressful 15 minutes later. But after that, he had an apgar of 8, then 10. He quieted down after a normal time of crying, and took quickly to nursing. And from there, everything was easy. After going through so much the first time, the second time was almost too easy!

Of course the third time around was pretty much as easy as the second -- even easier since I got ten minutes of a heavenly, blissful epidural. He also wasn't red and wrinkled ;-). We actually got to be at the hospital a full two and a half hours before Isaiah got here, so things weren't quite as rushed (haha!).

I am so happy with all three of my boys. They are each perfect in their own way. It is just an interesting contrast to think of everything that went on with Noah -- and the miracle that he is. Even though I had to endure a great deal of pain with my second two (but I can't bring myself to complain about fast deliveries!), I understand the miracle that it was for everything to come out okay. I understand how truly blessed I am in so many ways.

Happy birthday, Eli! I love you!