Noah's First Check-up

Well, this is my first-ever post on our blog!

Noah had his first trip to the pediatrician's office today and he was very good. He's looking great according to the doctor, and has managed to regain the weight he lost at about twice the rate they would have expected. He's up to 9 lbs, which means he's gained at least 6 ounces since leaving the hospital, and should be back to birth weight in no time. He's a great eater!

Noah has been a blessing to his mommy in so many ways, I can't even begin to capture it here...but I'm thrilled to say that he has fairly naturally fallen into a nice pattern of eat-"play"-sleep every 3 hours, except at night when he is very kind to his Mama by skipping the "play" portion and going straight back to sleep after he's fed. He's a real sweetie, and has certainly had no trouble capturing my heart.

Hannah is having a tough time transitioning from being the only child to being one of two. We've seen lots of temper tantrums in the past 5 days, and have been reminded over and over of how sinful even a two year old heart can be. It is a hard lesson in patience for us, but when we are tempted to lose our tempers (and/or our minds ;), we must remember that we are held by a God who has been infinitely more patient and gracious with us.

Well, that's all for now. I must go and feed my little man.

Enjoy the new pics :-)

Noah's First Day at Church

Yesterday we greeted the arrival of Mum Bond (who will be with us all this next week) with a celebratory Thanksgiving turkey dinner.

Today was Noah's first visit to Church. He was very good and quiet throughout - taking advantage of his "Day of Rest" by taking a long nap. In the worship service Pastor Selph prayed and thanked God for his birth and prayed for his salvation and for our wisdom and skill in raising him up. After the service Noah had many visitors to his pew, starting with Hannah's friends and babysitters, Emily and Lauren. It is a blessing to experience the love of our extended Church family in this time of joy and celebration, just as we have experienced it in the past in more difficult times.

Tonight Noah stayed at home with mom while dad went to church, but he did put in a guest appearance in our weekly video chat with the Millers and had little to offer except a big yawn to the conversation.

Home at last...

Hi folks,

Sorry there haven't been many updates. We were discharged yesterday from the hospital and we're all together again. We missed Hannah so very much. We were graciously provided with both lunch and dinner yesterday so we've been well taken care of and I expect we'll have leftovers at least until tomorrow. I am planning on cooking up our turkey then and then we can live on leftovers for the week to come. We're all tuckered out so the provision of meals was a real blessing from our church family.

I went in this morning at 6:30 AM to get some pain meds for Val and some diapers and the cashier could not believe that was all I had to purchase (it's Black Friday - the American equivalent of Boxing Day). I was just happy they were open at 6 AM - Target has the cheapest newborn diapers!

We have more pictures, but with Hannah around now, who has developed a cough and cold, and Noah also stuffed up (and being an obligate nose breather) updating this blog becomes a much lower priority :-( Sorry folks!

We love and cherish you all.
Chris and Val

Baby Noah Update: failed hearing test

Hi All,

Little Noah failed his second hearing test in his left ear. It is still possible (even likely) that it is fluid as he is fine in the other ear. We are scheduled for a follow-up ear test on December 13th. He has also dropped to 8.10 from his birth weight of 9.4 - a 10 ounce drop but he is well within the 10% factor. The drop is quite possibly because of his big sleep (7 hours) last night. According to the pediatrician, Dr. Few, he is an obligate nose breather which should correct within a few months but may make congestion and colds more difficult in the interim. We appreciate your continued prayers and we give thanks for his healthiness.

love,
The Carolina Powells.

Thanksgiving

Today is American Thanksgiving in the USA. Millions of people travel many miles to be with family to share a meal. And while we would love to be with our whole family at this time we are very thankful to the Lord to be privileged to spend time with our son.

Here are some of of the things we're thankful for today:

1) Our God who does not treat us as our sins deserve. Instead, He gives us beautiful children to delight our hearts! Praise Him for Hannah and for Noah.
2) Our Natural families who love with all their hearts from a distance
3) Our Church families (in Toronto and the Carolinas) who worship and serve alongside us and love us with Christ's love - practically and substantially.
4) Dear friends from all over the globe whom we will treasure always.
5) Sleep last night after 2 sleepless in a row - a true God-given gift whereby Noah slept 7 straight hours (!!!!) in the nursery.

Prayer request

Hi folks,

Just a quick prayer request: Noah just had his hearing test and he failed in his left ear (he was fine in his right ear). We have been assured that this is common, and it is nothing to worry about he'll just get retested tomorrow. This means our time of departure from the hospital is uncertain but expected for tomorrow. Please pray that it will go well and that he will pass the test tommorrow if it's the Lord's will.

Love,
Chris and Val.

Noah's first slideshow

Here are some more shots of our "little" son. He just generates joy and praise. A refrain of praise found in both Psalm 57 and 108 says: "I will give thanks to you, O Lord, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations." That's about how we feel right now in this season of Thanksgiving (American and Canadian - transcends nationality!)

New Family Photo

Rachel Selph was sweet to bring Hannah to visit her little brother later last night. And, even though Hannah was convinced Noah was actually Phoebe, Caleb's sister, it went very well. Rachel also took our first family photo:

Presenting Master Noah Christopher Powell...

Welcome to the world Noah Christopher! Born at 5:24 PM, 9 lbs 4 ounces, 21 inches long. Head and chest size is 14 1/4 inches.

Praise God with us! We have an amazing Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer. Praise His name for His marvelous work.

And the race to the finish begins...

Some hard labour ahead...

3 PM and all's well...

Val is napping currently, nothing to report still about the same dilation as far as we can tell. The latest excitement? A beeping epidural pump.

Speaking of sleep, if only this were true...

Waters have broken...

Another OBGYN visit and well, the title pretty much says it all - still a stretchy 6 cm dilated... Dr. Chorness said that the fluid looked great and there was quite a bit... though not this much

Noah has hiccups

Just like his dad he's got some powerful hiccups. And, nope, he's still not showing signs of arrival. They are increasing the pitocin drip as we speak...

A visit from the OBGYN

We just had a visit from the OBGYN. All seems well, 6 cm dilated.

Up early for a new birth day...

Hi folks,

We're here! We have arrived in birthsuite 458 at St. Francis Women's and we are awaiting the birth of our beloved son. We went in last night around 8 PM and had a bit of a restless night. This morning started early around 5:30 AM with the nurses coming in to set up the pitocin drip. The epidural went in around 7:30 AM and all has gone well so far. The only hiccup so far has been some nausea that required a shot of ephedra to bring up her blood pressure just recently at 8:30 AM.

Here are a couple of photos to get it started. This is a picture of the beautiful mother taken early this morning before the IV went in. You can see the warmer where baby Noah will eventually be laid down. All of the action happens in this room. I have a little pull-out chair that enables me to sleep overnight in the same room.

We already miss our little Hannah, who we are sure is very happy staying with her friend Caleb, so, for those of you who haven't seen her in a while, here are a couple of recent photos... Here's her sitting in bed after one of her naps. For a while she was insisting on wearing the wolly cap. She seems to like sleeping with something on her head. Sunday night we went in and she had fallen asleep "reading" her book - it was open on her head.. The second picture is her demolishing her cake on her second birthday a couple of months ago...