4 Kids

I was curious to see our kids side by side since they seem to have looked pretty similar.

Here they are leaving the hospital:

Ethan, Caitlin, Avery, and Noelle.

And at 3-4 weeks old:

Ethan, Caitlin, Avery, and Noelle.

I think Noelle is starting to look less and less like the rest of them. She definitely has the darkest hair. We love having her here. She is such a sweet baby and is still sleeping a lot. We are so thankful for our great kids and love them bunches!

Noelle Claire Dopp

So, it's taken me a while to post about it, but baby Noelle is here!

Introducing
Noelle Claire Dopp
Born Sunday, January 3, 2010
At 10:31pm
7 lbs. 1 oz. 19.5 in.

We had a cesarean section scheduled for the morning of the 5th, but I guess she was anxious to get here.

All day Sunday I was having contractions, but they weren't painful or very close together. At church I was joking about not making it till Tuesday, and I didn't. When we got home from church I thought I should probably start timing them. After an hour or so they were 2 minutes apart, and starting to get a little painful. I called my doctor and he said to just go on in. So, I went in and as soon as I laid down on the bed my contractions pretty much stopped. Hmmm...maybe I should have tried that at home first. Oh well. My doctor said that since I was already there he would do the c-section anyway. He also had another patient there already too.

At that point I was dilated to a 4, but my contractions weren't too close anymore. And since I had recently eaten they wanted to wait a few more hours before starting the c-section (BOO!)

The night before Bryce's car had been towed (stupid Waffle House) and the only time they would let him pick it up was that night, unless he wanted to pay an extra day (BOO!) So while he drove to Phoenix to get his car I sat in triage and waited for 10:00 to come. They were pretty busy that night with a ton of c-sections, so I heard quite a few women go back before me. Every once in a while someone would peek in on me and say "you're the one who ate the bagel, right?" Yep, that's me. One little bagel apparently equals three extra hours of labor.

It wasn't too bad a wait though and pretty soon Bryce was back and we were getting ready to go into the operating room.


Yay! Almost done!

The surgery went pretty well, although I did hear my doctor say "hmmm..." a couple times. What is that supposed to mean? Noelle was still up really high and I think he had to manuever things a little to get her down. I felt a lot more pulling this time than last time.

So at 10:31 she came out and we knew she was ours. Our kids all look just alike. The first thing I said when I saw her was "she looks just like Avery". Everyone always seems surprised by our childrens' hair, but by now we expect it. Noelle's seems to be pretty dark though, so she may not go as light as the others.

So, now we are at home recovering and adjusting to having four! So far, it's nothing compared to what three did to me. It has been a little different this time with Ethan and Caitlin in school. And Bryce has had this whole week off which has been really great and such a help.

Thanks so much to our family and friends for the meals and all the help. We are doing great and having fun with our new little sweetheart.

If you would like to see her birth announcement on the Mercy Gilbert Medical Center website, click this link:

Mercy Gilbert New Baby Page