Noah at 2 months

I'm a bit behind on posting this, but I want to document some of the exciting things Noah is doing during his second month. At his 2 month checkup he was 10 lb, 15.5 oz.

He is a very strong little guy and is completely holding his head up on his own.  I am SO glad to no longer be in the baby "blob" phase when the baby literally cannot do anything on his own.  It is much easier to carry a baby (and deal with a toddler at the same time) if the baby can hold his head up! 

Starting at 8 weeks old, he began sleeping 7-8 hours/night which is TERRIFIC! This makes for a very happy mama and a happy boy. Unfortunately the 7-8 hours/night don't always coincide with the the time I plan to sleep.  When he sleeps from 830pm - 430am, that's not so helpful!  But we're working on trying to get him into a 10pm-6am routine which is working out pretty decently.

We are very fortunate that he is a pretty easy baby.  8-9pm tends to be his bewitching hour and he just fusses during that hour for no real reason.  But other than that hour, he is a VERY happy little guy and love to smile at everyone.

He love to snuggle and cuddle.  One of the best ways to calm him when he's upset for no obvious reason is to walk around with him in the ergo (baby carrier).  Here's a pic of me carrying him in the ergo at the beach:

He has such terrific head and upper body control that we began using the fabulous bumbo chair which he LOVES.  Yes it is pink - and the same one that Sam used - from our best buddy London who kindly shares her pink bumbo with the Geller-Cheney boys.

Tummy time is not his favorite activity, but we work hard to make sure he has tummy time every day.  He has reflux which is not fun and makes it challenging to do tummy time and prevent him from spitting up everything he ate.  This gorgeous Noah blanket seems to make tummy time more bearable for him.

We have also introduced Noah to one of Sam's favorite tummy time toys - the rolling monkey (see below).  My dad gave this to Sam and he loved it.  If the baby hits the monkey, it rolls and plays an incredibly annoying song.  This toy drives me bonkers, but the boys seem to love it.  I'm not posting a video of it, I will save you the annoyance.

Noah recently visited Brad in his office while I had a dentist appointment down the street.  He was a big hit and everyone loved meeting him!  Brad's boss said that Noah should come visit more often!  Noah was very helpful in lobbying Congress.

 

 Sam continues to adore his brother and wants to include him in everything.  Sam loves to cook at the kitchen island and is ecstatic that Noah can now sit on the bumbo on the counter and "help" him cook! 

Noah is warming up to Sam. Sometimes I can feel his body tense when he hears Sam charging in the room.  I can't blame him for feeling nervous when Sam approaches.  We closely monitor Sam's interactions with Noah because he likes to harass Noah and smothers him in hugs and kisses.  Sam is very sweet with him but sometimes a "gentle" hug turns into more of a squeeze and we do our best to encourage Sam's love for his brother while protecting Noah.

Here's a picture of Sam playing with Noah on his playmat.

Noah loves to talk and coo.  Just like Sam (and us), he is very social and communicative.  When I'm nursing him, I cannot even look at his face because once he makes eye contact with me he stops eating and starts smiling and cooing.  It is very sweet and melts my heart, but I have to continually remind him that it is time to EAT and not TALK.  Here is a very sweet video of him talking and cooing away. He loves to say ooooh, gaaah, yaaaa, and aaaah.  If I stick out my tongue at him, he can stick his tongue out in response to me.  He has started laughing, most frequently when he hears Sam laughing (which is pretty much all the time). 

I try hard not to compare Sam and Noah's infancies - but they are so similar and yet so different. Neither one really cares much about a pacifier or being swaddled. Both have reflux and sleep in a swing for the first few months. However, Noah is doing things so much earlier than Sam - because Sam was a premie so we had to correct for his age. But both boys are pretty easygoing babies which is such a blessing. I don't have to pump with Noah, he is a terrific breastfeeder - in fact he loves to eat and could eat for an hour/feeding - but he doesn't self regulate very well and often over-eats which then leads to spitting up and then he is hungry again and it becomes a downward spiral. 

The biggest difference is the pooping.  Sam pooped about 5-10 times/day for the first 18 months of his life.  He still goes at least 3-4x/day!  Noah poops 1-2x PER WEEK!  It is completely freaking me out!  The first time he went 4 days without pooping, I brought him to the pediatrician because I was really worried.  The doctor assured me that he was fine and some breastfed babies only poop 1x/week.  Even still by day 5 of "no pooping" each week I begin to worry and check his diaper constantly.  I'm still not adjusting to this "no pooping" thing very well - although it does make for very easy diaper changes!

Anyway, enough about pooping - back to the more important things - like how incredible sweet he is. My new nickname for Noah is "sweet boy." He has started to play with rattles and enjoys batting at things on his playmat. He loves the bath and splashing in the water.  He recently went into the pool for the first time!

Noah and Mimi

 But his favorite activity is smiling and cooing! 

 After he spits up on me or pees on me, he always has a big goofy grin on his face and seems very pleased with his talents and accomplishment!

Although some days are certainly challenging, I try hard to cherish every day with my sweet boy - because I know that the baby stage goes by so quickly.  He is beginning to outgrow many of the newborn clothes and is mostly in 0-3 or 3 month clothes now and as I pack away the newborn outfits, I feel a wave of sadness at the passage of time and prepare myself for the next chapter in the exciting book of Life with Noah!

Week 1 of Diet - Lost 8 pounds!

I am proud to say that this past week I began a new diet and exercise routine and after 7 days I have have lost ....drum roll please....EIGHT POUNDS! I am VERY excited about this accomplishment and I know that this is just the beginning of my weight loss journey. 

Losing weight is probably the hardest challenge of my life and I've battled it pretty much since I graduated from college.

Friends, I need help with my weight loss journey.  Encouragement and support from my circle of friends and online community mean so much to me.  Sometimes I feel like giving up - and it is very helpful to have people pushing me to keep going. 

**LOCAL FRIENDS*** - any time you are going for a walk or a jog, let me know and I'd love to join you!  I used to meet up with friends to go eat at a restaurant.  Now, I'd much more prefer to do something active and your motivation and support means so much to me.  I have many wonderful friends in my life, but could use some more friends to push me to meet my weight loss goals.  I want to give a big shout out to my friend Alicia who is helping me train for a 5k and 10k race - she truly pushes me in a wonderful way and encourages me to keep going when I'm ready to quit. 

I am determined that this time I'm going to lose the weight and keep it off.  No more yo-yo-ing.  When Brad and I got married in 2004, I lost 35 pounds before our wedding.  Unfortunately I gained all of the weight back during the stresses of law school and then the bar exam (aka summer of hell).  Then after Sam was born in 2009, I was determined to lose the baby weight (which I did)..and then lost another 30 pounds after that!  Here's a picture of me in the summer of 2010 at my lowest weight

Here's one of my favorite pictures of me at the very beginning of my pregnancy with Noah at a pretty healthy weight. 

I had hoped to only gain a minimal amount of weight during my pregnancy with Noah and I did very well exercising and eating healthy during my first 2 trimesters.  However, being put on bedrest for the entire 3rd trimester meant that I wasn't allowed to exercise.  I was home all day long and began to eat badly.  I gained more weight than I wanted and now I am paying the consequences.

HOWEVER - I am back on track and just completed week 1 of my new diet.  I'm doing the South Beach Diet and the first 2 weeks are considered "Phase 1" that allows you to eat lean proteins, low-fat dairy, and tons of veggies - but no fruit or starches.  It's pretty tough, but I've found that the SB Phase 1 is the fastest way for me to lose weight.  I've tried Weight Watchers and find that WW works better for me to maintain at a certain weight - but SB gives me more of the instant gratification of losing weight immediately.  If I'm going to eat crazy healthy and exercise - I want to see the results NOW!

So, I'm super proud to announce that after week 1, I have lost EIGHT pounds!  I feel like I'm on the Biggest Loser!  In fact, part of my exercise routine includes using an exercise video from the Bigest Loser trainer Jillian Michaels.  Her "30 Day Shred" video is awesome and totally kicks my butt!

I've also drastically changed my diet.  Brad has eaten more green leafy vegetables this past week than he has in the past year! :)

Here are some of my favorite new dishes, mostly from the South Beach Diet. If you click on them, it will take you to the link for the recipes.

Baked kale chips are surprisingly good! I was very hesitant about trying this one, but I've been pleasantly surprised!  Brad even eats them (this is quite a feat considering that Brad considers ketchup, a slice of tomato, and a slice of lettuce on his burger to be 3 separate servings of vegetables!).  I changed the recipe slightly and used PAM spray rather than regular olive oil to cut more calories.

Chicken Curry with Eggplant & Spinach was absolutely amazing! This is one of my new favorite dishes - dieting or not!  I used red curry paste instead of green curry and cooked the whole thing longer than it called for.  It was FANTASTIC! I realized that for years, I've cooked curry dishes in the entirely wrong way - this recipe truly taught me to cook curry correctly.  I simmered it for much longer than the recipe calls for (because I had to put the boys to bed in the middle of my cooking extravaganza but I think it actually thickened up the sauce with the extra cooking time).  I also doubled the amount of curry paste because I like spicy food.

Grilled Sesame Salmon was pretty decent, the sauce was thicker than I expected but I would try it again.  Not sure this is my favorite salmon recipe though, I'm still looking for good bold fish recipes.

Ribollita Vegetable Soup has been my main staple this week, I've eaten it about 1x/day.  A wonderful friend made ribollita soup for me after Noah was born and I LOVED it!  I used her recipe but found this recipe from Iron Chef Mario Batali which is pretty similar.  However, the vegetables I used were slightly different - I used zuchini, yellow summer squash, onions, tomatoes, and white navy beans.  This is a great meal to re-heat for meals throughout the week, especially lunch when I get sick of salads.

I will share more of my favorite South Beach Diet recipes and creations as I continue with my weight loss journey.  If any of you have favorite healthy recipes that are chock full of veggies, please share! Thanks in advance for your support and encouragement!

Family Vacation to Kiawah Resort

This past week we had a terrific vacation with my parents, brother, and the kids on Kiawah Island in South Carolina. The resort was gorgeous (check it out here if you're looking for an awesome family friendly vacation spot!), pools, bike baths, and an amazing beach.  It was the widest, flattest beach I've ever been on.  The water was shallow for hundreds of feet out and the waves were pretty small - PERFECT for young children.  Check out this beautiful sunset!

We had a great time and did tons of outdoor activities.  We went to a festival in Charleston and Sam went on his first pony ride:

First bike ride with Mimi & Pa!

We went to a terrific outdoor concert...



met some fun frog statues...



Ice cream sandwich with Mimi at concert

We learned a lot about nature & alligators
  

We saw HUGE alligators everywhere! Scary!



Pa & Sam watching the alligators


LOTS of fun at the pool!

Noah's first time in the pool!



Sam and Pa





Brad & Noah



And of course spent LOTS of time at the beautiful beach!

Every time Sam built sandcastles, he sang Happy Birthday and called them his "happy cakes" - we have no idea why he associates happy birthday with building sandcastles, but he had fun

My little surfer dude

 

 

Flying kites with Pa



Chasing Uncle D!



Uncle D and Sam listening to the ipod music together

Attempting to convince Sam to
nap on the beach.  He tried, but was too
excited to play instead.



He was VERY determined to drag
the boogie boards into the ocean



Noah stretching in his tent, enjoying the
ocean breeze



Mimi & Pa with Sam & Noah

 

Noah learned to laugh at only 2 months old!



Seeking advice on potty training

**DISCLAIMER** if you do not want to read about potty issues or bodily functions (which probably applies to most people without young children), do NOT read this blog.  Thanks! :)

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I'm looking for advice on potty training - mostly on two topics.  #1) How did you know that your child was ready to be potty trained? #2) What's the best way to potty train a child? Anything different for boys?

Let me first say that I am NOT in a rush to potty train Sam.  We have had so much change in our lives over the last 2 months with the new baby, so I am not exactly looking to take on this new challenge of potty training Sam.  Diapers seem easier right now since I already have to carry a diaper bag with me everywhere I go for Noah. 

However, over the past few weeks Sam has done a number of things that have practically shouted to me that he is ready to be potty trained so I'm beginning to wonder if we should embark on this new challenge?  Personally, I think he's a bit young for this, he JUST turned two on March 24th.  I was planning on potty training late in the summer when he's closer to 2.5.  But...he seems to have other plans.

We bought a toddler potty about a month ago and every night before bath time he practices sitting on the potty before bath time.  Occasionally he pees on the potty and we get very excited and cheer and he helps us dump the potty into the big toilet and he loves to flush the toilet.  He also loves to put toilet paper in the toilet - I don't think he has any idea what toilet paper is actually for, but whatever. 

Anyway, so this past weekend, my Mom and I did the normal pre-bath potty routine and he sat on the toddler potty, peed, we cheered, he stood up and dumped the pee into the big toilet, flushed - and repeated the entire process...over and over again.  VERY intentionally, he was controlling when he was peeing and would sit on the toddler potty and pee and then excitedly flush it down the big toilet, over and over again.  We repeated this cycle about 8 or 9 times.

Then, he told us that he needed to poop.  So he sat on the toddler potty and pooped!  We cheered and then he flushed it into the big toilet.  He then said he had to poop again, so he sat on the toddler potty and pooped again!  He then wanted to try to keep peeing so he started to squeeze himself trying to make himself pee some more (does this actually work?? I have no idea!).  This  process of peeing on the potty 10 times in a row has now become part of our nightly routine which makes me think he knows when he needs to go and is able to control when/where he goes.  Last night he peed about 14 times in a row. 


On Sunday he woke up from a nap and was playing in his crib.  I heard him saying "poo poo" on the monitor and then I watched him on the video monitor.  He took off his pants and then took off his diaper too - which is when I went into his room.  As I opened the door, he practically shouted "Mommy, I went poo poo" and handed me his very full dirty diaper with the poop in it. He didn't make a mess or anything, he just didn't want to be wearing the dirty diaper anymore!

Soooo, it seems like he's telling me that he's ready to be potty trained, right? I'm thinking we will just take an entire weekend in early June to go cold turkey from diapers to underwear.  I've been advised to dress him in underwear and use the pull-ups diaper OVER the underwear so that he feels wet from the underwear but it won't make a huge mess when he has accidents.  Anyone have thoughts on this?

We also have a big book of stickers that I plan to use as rewards for properly using the potty. 

I'm also looking for advice about what to do during naptime and night time.  Do we put a diaper on him during sleeping times?  Or just stick with the underwear and he'll learn? 

Thanks in advance for your advice and suggestions, I appreciate it!

Adjusting to Life with Two Kiddos

I'm hoping to return to my blog once again now that I'm beginning to figure out how to care for a 2 year old and a newborn without losing my mind.  We are amazingly thankful that Noah is such a terrific sleeper.  For the past week he has started sleeping through the night pretty consistently - and I actually feel a bit like a normal person again!  Last night I fed Noah at 930pm, I went to sleep by 11pm and Noah didn't wake up again until 545am!   I actually can get through the day without feeling like a sleep-deprived zombie!  We are so so grateful that our 7 week old baby is such a terrific sleeper!

Sam is adjusting pretty well to being a big brother. He LOVE LOVE LOVES Noah.  He wants to help us with everything.  He pulls up a chair next to the changing table to help us change Noah's diaper.  He has learned to gently pat Noah's back to help burp him.  We pull up a stool next to the kitchen sink so he can help bathe Noah in the baby tub in the sink.  He takes dirty burp cloths and puts them into the laundry hamper.  For a 2 year old, he's a pretty fantastic helper.  

Sam helping Brad bathe Noah

However, then there are times when Sam is a bit overly eager to be around Noah and be affectionate.  He loves to gently pat his head but every now and then he tries to squeeze his head so we are working to redirect Sam's kisses to Noah's legs and feet.  I'm regularly entertained by the things I have to say to Sam - like, "Sam, please do not lick your brother's head."  

Most of our challenges with Sam are not really related to his new role as a brother, but more due to the fact that he is dealing with some classic 2 year old challenges.  He does not like to share and wants to do everything himself.  He wants to push Noah's stroller by himself - so we work on "sharing" the stroller pushing so that he can "help" me with the stroller.  He wants to carry Noah's carseat by himself, so again - we "share" carrying the carseat. 

Sam is constantly pushing boundaries and trying to figure out exactly where the line is - what is he allowed to do and what is he not allowed to do?  We try to choose our battles wisely, but sometimes there's just no reasoning with a 2 year old.  The other day he threw a tantrum because Mommy couldn't make it rain any more!  We drove through a strong rain storm which he loved, but when it stopped raining he kept asking me "Mommy, more rain please! More rain please!"  Sorry Sam, but Mommy is not Mother Nature.  He has endless energy and is speaking in sentences now.  We can understand pretty much everything he says and he surprises us with new words regularly.  Some of his new words include "motorcycle, computer, helicopter, firetruck, parachute, umbrella, and school bus."  He is at such a fun stage that is equally sweet/gratifying - and challenging/frustrating.  

Sweet Sam swinging in the sun! (Yes, I'm a poet, haha!)

Noah is a pretty easygoing baby and so sweet.  He began rolling over at 3 weeks old and is very strong physically!  He loves to eat and doesn't know when to stop eating, so we're learning to regulate that so we have less spit up.  He sleeps through VERY loud noise (Sam is not exactly quiet).   He loves to smile, coo, and he laughed for the first time this weekend! 

He tracks objects beautifully and turns his head to look for me when he hears my voice.  He is 10 pounds now, very cuddly, and pretty easy to comfort. He also likes to play on his playmat and bat at his toys.  He enjoys staring at himself in a mirror and reaching for his image. 

Life is never dull in our house, that's for sure.  Brad and I are constantly on our toes and exhausted at the end of the day.  We are LOVING the gorgeous May weather and spend a lot of time playing outside as a new family of 4!  We are adjusting to life with 2 young children, but are so grateful to have such sweet, healthy, and happy boys.  I hope to start blogging more regularly but wanted to post a small update about what we've been up to and how our boys are doing. 

Birth Story of Noah Daniel Geller-Cheney

As I'm sure you all know by now, Brad and I welcomed our beautiful baby boy into the world on March 26, 2011. Noah Daniel Geller-Cheney was born at 7:25pm.  He weighed 6 lb, 12 oz, and was 19.5 inches long.  He was completely full term - my due date was March 28th. Here's a picture of Noah on his first day:

Many people have asked me about Noah's exciting birth story and our friends have been so entertained by the drama around his birth, so I wanted to share it with all of my blog readers.

2:00pm:  On Saturday March 26th, I began to have contractions around 2pm - but they weren't terribly painful and they were about 30 minutes apart.  This had become very frequent over the past week so I honestly didn't think much of it.  Pretty much every day I had contractions for a few hours and then they would go away.  I had been 2cm dilated for 2.5 weeks at this point.  I was scheduled to be induced on Tuesday March 29th since baby boy seemed quite content on staying put.

4:00pm:  At my baby shower, my neighbor gave me a gift certificate to get my nails done at a salon down the road, so I went to get my nails done.  The contractions were still about 20-30 minutes apart for 2 hours, but I still didn't think much of it.  Brad took Sam to the park and I called him from the car on my way to the salon to let him know that I was having another round of contractions - but I didn't think much of it, I just wanted to let him know something might be up.  I had called him with this "something might be up" feeling at least 5 times in the past week, so again - neither one of us really thought something was really happening.

4:15pm: I arrived at the nail salon chatting on the phone with my mom while I waited for my appointment. I had a contraction at 4pm and again at 4:15pm which were the closest they'd been all afternoon.  I told her that I was having contractions every 20-30 minutes or so, but again - I didn't think much was happening.  I was called back for my manicure/pedicure.

4:18pm: Another contraction.  I wasn't even convinced it was a contraction, but I pulled out my iphone and began to record the contractions on my "contraction timer" app (which is truly an awesome app!).   As the mani/pedi continued, I continued having contractions but they're not overly painful and I'm not terribly worried - I just keep recording them on my iphone and am not really paying attention to how frequent they are.

4:45pm: I look at the history of the contractions on my phone and all of a sudden I realized that they have consistently been 2-3 minutes apart, lasting 1 minute in duration, for 30 minutes...and becoming increasingly painful.  Maybe this is the real thing?  I called Brad and told him that I think this might be it, he needs to call my brother and have him come to the house to watch Sam.  Brad starts to ask questions to figure out some logistics and I instruct him to "FIGURE IT OUT."  I wasn't sure if I'd drive home and meet him at the house or if he should come pick me up at the salon which was on the way to the hospital - he should just figure it out.  This should have been the first real sign that this was real - because I am always the one who obsesses about figuring out logistics! It is very NOT like me to tell Brad to "figure it out!"  

Here's what's happening from Brad's perspective at this time...

Brad at 4:45pm: Becca tells me that it's baby time and I should "figure it out."  I start getting the last minute overnight bag items together and pulling together stuff for Sam.  Becca's brother David is on his way from Arlington but won't be at our house for another 20-30 minutes but I'm not sure if Rebecca is going to come home first and David will arrive in time or if I need to bring Sam to our neighbor's house to watch him until David arrives.  

But, I don't know if Becca plans to drive home or if I should get her from the salon.  So, I call her cell phone...over and over and over again.  She's NOT ANSWERING!  She's never been to this salon before and I have no idea where it is or the name of the salon!  Finally, I start googling salons in our area and calling them asking "Hi, I'm trying to find my wife - do you have a pregnant woman there in labor? No? Ok, thanks."   Terrific. Finally I figure out which salon she's at - she's STILL NOT ANSWERING.  

Brad at 5:10pm: Becca calls me again and says "Where are you?  We need to leave now!  Why aren't you here yet."  I reply "Yes honey, I'm on my way" while I think to myself "Um, you said to figure it out, not come get you..."

Brad at 5:15pm: I bring Sam to the neighbor's and basically say "Becca's in labor, can you watch Sam? Here's some food for him and the diaper bag.  He has a dirty diaper.  My brother-in-law will be here in a few minutes to get Sam.  Hey Sam, look there's the dog - go play with her!"

5:05pm:  Back to my perspective - by the end of the mani/pedi, I realize I'm in full-blown labor and contractions are 90 seconds - 2 minutes apart.  HOLY CRAP.  After waiting for my fingernails to dry (of course!), I pick up my phone to call Brad and discover that I have about 97 missed calls from him.  Oops! My phone was in my purse on silent and I wasn't answering it because I was having my nails done! 

5:10pm: I call Brad and in a labor-induced panic, I practically shout at him again "WHERE ARE YOU!?!? WHY AREN'T YOU HERE YET?!"  He's on his way thank goodness - but we realize that no one has called the doctor to let him know we're on the way!  Crap.  I page the ob and let him know that this baby is coming fast and furious.    

5:25pm: Brad picks me up and we drive to Sibley hospital which is in northwest DC - a 40 minute drive from our house! YIKES!  Brad doesn't want to take the HOV lanes because he's worried we're not going to make it to the hospital and if he's on HOV, he won't be able to get off if we need to get to a closer hospital.  Again, I yell at him - GET ON HOV AND GET ME TO SIBLEY!  

Of course we have to drive through Cherry Blossom tourist nonsense - a few tourists dared to try to cross the street in front of us and I informed Brad that under NO circumstances was he stopping to allow pedestrians to cross the road in front of us! 

6:05pm: We arrive at the hospital and my contractions are now 30-60 seconds apart and lasting 1-2 minutes.  It's hard to tell when one starts and ends.  YIKES!  I cannot walk.  We feel like we're in a sitcom, Brad is the classic father yelling at the registration nurse "My wife is in labor, I need a wheelchair!"  He wheels me in and the registration nurse asks if my water has broken (which it hasn't) and tries to get me to sit down in the waiting room to fill out the paperwork.  I (not so politely) informed her that I had filled out and faxed in all of my registration forms and insurance information several weeks ago and they should have all of that information on file - and we are going straight upstairs to Labor &; Delivery!!!  

6:25pm: I'm in a room, in a hospital gown and they draw my blood to make sure I don't have any infections, etc and I can get an epidurral.  It takes 15 minutes for the blood results to come back before I can get an epidurral.  Contractions are now 30 seconds apart and I'm already 5cm dilated.  I am practically counting the 15 minutes by the seconds, waiting for the results so that they can start the epidural!

6:35pm: My water breaks. 

6:42: Bloodwork is back, everything is fine - YAY!!! I'm practically begging for the epidural.

6:50: Anesthesiologist arrives and begins to put in the epidural.  I have never been so happy to see a doctor in my life.  Unfortunately, I'm now in the final stages of labor (10cm!) and the contractions are running into each other.  It's hard to get the epidural in. 

7:05: Epidural is in!!! They said it will take 15 minutes to take full effect....again, I'm counting the seconds.

7:15pm: Epidural is BARELY taking effect.  Anesthesiologist has turned up the dosage as high as it can go - and it's not really doing much...which apparently is what happens when the epidural is administered at 10cm.  Terrific. 

7:20pm: Time to push!

7:23pm: OB says, ok, stop pushing - the head is out!  I'm stunned and say "REALLY!?!?" 

7:25pm: Noah Daniel Geller-Cheney is born!

I call my parents and brother and tell them "he's here!" They all are shocked and say "who's here?"  They can't believe that the baby was born so fast.  Neither can we!  The nurse said to me that in the 8 years she's been delivering babies, my delivery was one of the fastest she's ever seen.   She joked that if we have another baby, we might want to get to the hospital sooner.  No kidding!

With Sam, I was in labor for 3 days.  With Noah, I was in labor for 3 hours!  What a whirlwind 3 hours!

We are so grateful for the amazing medical team who delivered Noah.  I'll do another blogpost on our stay at Sibley - but for now, I hope that you enjoy reading about Noah's exciting arrival into the world!