Sunday, May 31, 2009

He's Here!





We are thrilled to welcome the family Noah Cornelius Ray!!!!

Noah was born yesterday, May 30 at 5:39 a.m. He was 7 lbs, 5 oz and 20 inches long. He has a head full of dark hair (though not quite as much as big sister Hannah) and gigantic feet!

I went into labor at about midnight on May 29/30 and after just under 6 hours of drug-free labor, Noah was born healthy and beautiful. He's currently about a day and a half old and sleeping peacefully in the bassinet next to my hospital bed. Our only glitch so far is that he appears to have somehow swallowed some meconium in the womb. We are just so thankful that he didn't inhale any into his lungs. The nursery was able to suck about 3 cc's of greenish yellow fluid from his stomach after he spit up that yucky stuff twice. Since then he's been nursing a little better and will probably continue to be fine from here on out.

Hannah and Elizabeth are just ecstatic about their new brother and are excited to have everyone come home tomorrow. Most people know that we were looking for a Biblical name for our son. We liked the name Noah both for how it sounds and for who it represents. In Genesis, Noah listened to God and, contrary to everyone and everything around him, built a ridiculous, gigantic boat and saved his family. And for those of you who don't know my family, Noah's middle name is after my grandfather, Cornelius VanLeeuwen (who usually goes by "Van"). My Papa is the family patriarch, really for both my side and for Don. He is a wonderful Christian man whose actions show his love for God and his family every day. Cornelius is also a Biblical name and his account is found in Acts Chapter 10. We pray that Noah will grow up to be a great man of faith, like each of the men he is named after.

These pictures are all from Noah's first day, in most cases taken the first time he was held by one of us. You can see how excited the girls are to hold and kiss their baby brother. They've been so cute with him!

We thank you for all your prayers over these last months. Our dear friends are such a blessing to us and we are grateful for your love and care. Please continue to pray for healthy mom and baby and let us know how we can pray for you. God's blessings to our blog readers - we love you!