Noah is here!

Well Friday evening was an interesting one. I started having contractions around 3:30 in the afternoon but they weren't very convincing. So I went out to dinner with a group of my girl friends. I'm so glad I did because it kept my mind off of what was really going on...
Amber and I drove back to my house right after dinner and we watched an episode of friends while Amber timed contractions for me. It was fun to be able to hang out with her while Ian put Mary to bed and took care of things around the house. I could tell contractions were getting stronger and longer, but I still wasn't convinced I was in labor! I'd had contractions for a few days before Friday and they just stopped. Well anyway, Ian made the executive decision to go to the hospital around 11:30 when contractions were about 5 minutes apart.
When we got there I was 6-7 cm and I couldn't believe it! The contractions didn't feel that bad. But I maintain that having cervical checks is the worst part of labor. We got to our room and I hopped in the shower. The water in the hospital is really hot which felt so good. And it stayed hot for a long time! I was in the shower for most of the rest of the time we were there. Around 2:15 the nurse came in and said they needed to do some more monitoring. At the time I was thinking 'stupid hospital policies! I can feel the baby moving and it's fine!' But it was a good thing I did because our Doula suggested I sit on the birth ball while I had to get monitored. That got things moving along! She said that it would open up my pelvis to get the baby moving and it sure did just that. Contractions peaked then and it got to the 'i can't do this' point. Which I knew was good because they say you get there right before pushing. I really only had 4-5 transition contractions, which are the most intense. And during the last one I started to push. My water broke then and after 2-3 more contractions with pushing Noah came sailing out!
That was probably more information than people are looking for, but I'd like to remember it:) Here are some pictures. First time daddy held Noah:

This is me about 5 min after birth. I was SO HAPPY to be done if you can't tell:

Noah being weighed and measured:


All four of us:

Mary doesn't really think too much about her brother yet. She will look at him and say "baby!" and walk away. Here I am changing Noah's first poopy diaper. I forgot how gross those first few are:


Noah Henry Lubbers, 8 pounds 5 ounces, 20.5 inches: