Welcome to the world, Noelle Ullrich!

On June 22, at 9:13 pm, Noelle Ullrich was born.  Here are some pictures and stories to go along with them.  We have some really good professional pictures at the bottom of the post.

 

This is us all packed and ready to go to the hospital to have the baby. 

That was our last car ride with the Ullrich family of two.

The night before the baby came, we did everything that we could to help get this baby born.  We had spicy food at the Yak and Yeti dinner buffet (so good!), I gave Sarin an epic foot rub, Sarin took some oils that are supposed to help, and Sarin jumped on the trampoline for about an hour..... just kidding about the trampoline.  She did go on a long walk, though.

After keeping track of the timing of her contractions using a really neat app on my phone, we realized that they were definitely close enough together and long enough in duration to make the drive to the hospital.

Sarin's midwife group told us to give them a call when we were on the way to the hospital.  When we did, they told us to stop by the office, so that they could check her out.  After waiting fifteen minutes, which seemed like forever, they checked her out and found out that she was at a 6 and was ready to go! 

Soon after being checked into the delivery room, Sarin got the epidural, and everything was a lot less painful.  For the next ten hours, we would be in the room talking with the nurses and watching the monitors.  Everybody at the hospital was so nice.  One of the main conversation topics with all of the different nurses that would come in (and even the anestiesologist) was Sarin's hair.  Everybody was loving it!  When Sarin would tell them where she got it cut, The Yacht Club, it made us feel pretty cool.  (The name of that place just makes you feel cool saying it).
It was fun having my mom and Sarin's mom in there with us for most of the day.  We were just having a good ole' time.  We're grateful for all that they did for us.  Having a brand new baby is such a learning experience!

Here's a quick detail:
Sarin had been doing well and making good progress all day, the monitors were showing the contractions and her and the baby's heart rate, and everything was looking like it should.  At one point, however, the monitors showed that the contractions were stopping.  For a couple hours, it looked like the contractions were pretty much stopped!

We were getting a little nervous.  The midwife came in and gave us a bunch of recommendations on what we needed to do to more the process along.  Sarin and I had decided that wanted to do as few interventions as possible..... we know that they're not horrible, but this is just a decision that we made.  So the midwife got really serious and for about twenty minutes, gave us a stern talk about how this birth was no longer normal and how we needed to do some interventions (this midwife was awesome and so nice, by the way).

We had no other option but to say yes, so she started with the first thing, which was breaking Sarin't water.  She got everything all ready to do it, and wanted to check Sarin really quick to see how far she was dialated.  As she was checking, her face lit up, and she said "I think the water already broke!" 

Well, it had.  Sarin was progressing better than the monitors were showing.  When she checked the monitors on Sarin's belly, she found that the monitors had slipped off to this side.  When she put them back on, the monitor showed perfect contractions.  Those monitors had caused us a lot of unnecessary nervousness, and she was ready to get that baby out!  Crazy, huh.

Another quick story, (this will be more quick):
The nurses kept asking us what the name of the baby would be.  Sarin had been very dilligent in keeping the name a complete secret and not telling anyone.  I finally blurted that the first letter was "N," and that only made them guess what the baby's name would be.

Finally, they told us to write the name on the white board.  Their official guess was Natalie.  When they were all of out the room, we pulled a little joke on them and wrote the name "Nafonda" on the board (inspired from Lafonda from Napolean Dynamite).  As the nurses came and went, I think they noticed that name but didn't want to say anything.  They didn't know if we were joking or if we were serious, but they didn't want to bring it up, just in case it really was the name.  Finally we told them that it was a joke.

One of the nurses finished her shift before the baby was born, so she asked that we text the name to her when we finally announced it. 

Finally, at 9:13 pm, the baby came. What a miracle!

Noelle with daddy!

Noelle hanging out with Grandpa.

After the baby was born, we went up to our room, where they wanted us to stay from 

Friday night until Sunday. 

The food at the hospital was great.  We didn't want to leave. 

If our health insurance doesn't cover the food, we'll be in big trouble!

The Ullrich family...with lots of school pride, too.  Guess where Noelle will go to college? 

Noelle loves her momma's milk!

Sarin's mom flew into town the exact same morning that Sarin went into labor.  The planning couldn't have been better.  It was fun having her with us for the first week.....and very helpful too!

The cutest baby ever (based off our unbiased opinion, of course).

Are sleeping positions genetic?  Sarin usually doesn't sleep like this, but her mom does....

Noelle loves to sleep with her arms straight up. 

Here are a bunch of Noelle's firsts:

Noelle's first 4th of July.  Hanging around the house with all things patriotic (movies, music, stories)....it was a lot of fun!  We're going to quiz Noelle next year to find out what she learned.

Noelle already loves the red, white and blue.  Cute outfit compliments of Aunt Jenny.

Noelle's first car ride after coming home from the hospital.

Noelle's first doctors appointment....four days after she was born.

Noelle's first time 'reading' a book.  We think that she is a genious already.  Thanks Nana for the book.

                                           Noelle's first bath at home....it was fun having Nana there!

Noelle's first professional photo shoot. Camille France did an awesome job! 

Pictures by Camille France: