The Birth of "No Name"

Almost 4 weeks after Norah's birth I have decided it is time to get the blog up and running. I hope our friends and family find this to be a good way to keep up to speed on what is going on in our lives. It will be far from beautiful for a while, but hopefully I'll learn some tricks along the way.

Of course our big news at this point is the birth of our

sweet little girl, Norah. And so far she really has been mostly sweet. We expect many challenges to come, but we knew instantly that they would all be worth the reward. Everyone kept telling Seth that even though he was quite nervous leading up to her birth, he would immediately feel "something" and know what to do. It turns out they were right, and I think he maybe surprised himself a little.

The birth...

I was feeling a little nervous about labor and delivery (the fear of the unknown), but as it turns out that was wasted energy. At about 12:30 AM on Wednesday, October 15 (at week 37), my water broke. It wasn't obvious what was happening, however, so for the next 4 1/2 hours I slept a little here and there and did some research online to try and determine what was going on. At 5AM I woke Seth up and told him I thought my water had broken. He was very calm (which is exactly how I imagined he would be when the time came), despite all of the nervous feelings he had been experiencing. I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for that morning at 8:30, so we decided to shower up, pack the hospital bag and go see my doctor as planned (as opposed to going into the hospital). As we were leaving the house I said to Seth, "The next time I step into this house I might be a mom." He chuckled, but I don't think he believed it.

At the doctor I told her what I thought had happened and after a very quick examination she declared, "Yep - you're right. Guess what? You're having a baby today." Before I could say anything we heard Seth say, "Woah." She gave us some paper work, sent us directly to the hospital, and suggested it would be a good time to try to decide on a name.

By 10:30 I was given pitocin to induce labor. At this point I was only 2 cm dilated. Name discussions continued, but with no luck. I asked everyone who came into the room for suggestions, and in the meantime we all (including the nursing staff) started referring to her as "No Name." We also told them that our neighbors had affectionately been referring to the baby as "Sangie."

Looking back, I feel the only minor hiccup throughout labor and delivery was that once I asked for an epidural I had to wait over an hour because the anesthesiologist was stuck in the OR. I remember that at one point when I was waiting (and having fairly painful contractions) Seth asked if I had come up with any new ideas for a name. I told him I was sort of focused on other things and couldn't have that discussion right then. By 1:30 I was 8 cm, had an epidural and was doing fine. Unfortunately the baby still had no name.

(Side note: I should take a moment to let you know that the epidural has officially made it's way to Angie's Top 10 "Best Inventions Ever" list. This list also currently includes wireless, and the Blackberry. After 4 weeks with a newborn the Swaddling Technique is another potential candidate.)

Back to the birth...by 2:45, name or no name the little one was ready. Seth was of course in the delivery room, as was my sister. In between contractions Dr. Berens told everyone that she thought that morning in her office was the first time Seth realized he was having a baby. And after 45 minutes of pushing that's exactly what we had! We felt very good about the nursing staff, and my doctor was there to deliver, so we were happy about how it all worked out.

We of course immediately thought the little baby girl we were holding was precious, but she still did not have a name. About 30 minutes later everything was over, and Seth and I were alone in the room with our new baby girl trying to decide once and for all on a name. It took about 10 minutes to decide on Norah, and we have loved it ever since.