Noah Has Arrived!

Little Noah Matthew has arrived! He was born on March 16 at 10:45am, he weighed 7 lbs, 7 oz, and was 19.75 inches long. He is the smallest of our four kids, and he is absolutely beautiful! And, little Noah is a miracle.

When I changed the title of my blog to "Bountiful Blessings," I really had no idea how true that was. Oh, as a mama I count all of my children as blessings--even on the days when I feel like pulling my hair out. That Farm Rich commercial with the mother doing the voice-over, telling how her kids were so cute as babies that she could have just eaten them up, and then honestly saying that sometimes she wish she had always makes me chuckle--because I think we all have those days!

There is a lot that took place in the early days of this pregnancy that I could write about but won't. This would end up being about as long as a book chapter if I did! But suffice it to say that God's hand has been on Noah since the very first day of his life--which wasn't 9 days ago, but from the moment of conception.

Ben and I knew from the beginning of this pregnancy that this baby would complete our family, and we also knew that this would be a planned c-section. I have a history of long labors that end in the OR anyway, so my thought was to just avoid the stuff in the middle and go straight to the finish line. And going straight to the finish line at 39 weeks was the very best option for Noah, as we found out.

Ben and I arrived at the hospital at 7:30 am and went straight to the maternity floor. Surgery was schedule for 9am, so it was just a matter of waiting. While waiting they had me hooked up to the fetal monitor and an IV, and all was well. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nine o'clock came and went and we waited for my turn to walk down to the OR. The anesthesiologist and I made the trek down the hall a little after 10:00, I got the spinal, and then Ben came in and sat near me. Everything was fine. The anesthesiologist did a great job of telling me what was going to happen, what I would feel (which wasn't much), and then told me that the baby was out and we should hear him cry soon. Which we did. And then my OB told us something that we absolutely did not expect: Noah had the cord wrapped around his neck, and he had somehow managed to put two knots--on on top of the other--in the cord. There was just a very tiny gap in the knot that still allowed oxygen and nutrients to pass from me to him.

The nurses and doctors all said how lucky Noah was, and we all joked that he must have gotten bored in there or he is already working on his first Boy Scout badge. But in all honesty, our little Noah is a miracle.

Early in the week, I had felt a prompting to pray for Noah. I just knew that the cord was wrapped around his neck. Praying for him wasn't anything new; I'd been praying for him all 9 months and had specifically prayed Philippians 1:6 over him.

"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it..."

So immediately I began to pray for his safety and continued to pray for his safety all week long. When the doctor said that the cord was around his neck, that didn't really surprise me. The knots did surprise me, though.

During recovery, my nurse (whom I've had in at least one other birth) told me that babies just don't survive that kind of thing. And she said that having a c-section was the very best thing for him, as having a natural birth would have compressed the cord and caused another emergency c-section. Knowing that she is a Christian, I told shared with her how I'd been prompted to pray for his safety. The doctor told Ben that if Noah had just had one really jerky movement in the wrong direction, he would have cinched that tight and would have been cut off from all oxygen and nutrients and would not have survived.

So we are truly thankful for this tiny little boy who makes our family complete. Little Noah Matthew truly is a gift from God, which is the meaning of the name Matthew.

All I know is that we are truly blessed and are thankful for this little guy, and we know that God has some amazing plans for his life. Jeremiah 29:11 says,

'"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'

God's hand has been on this little boy from the beginning, and I can't wait to see His plan for Noah unfold.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy all of the snuggles and cuddles he has to give.