We are getting our passports back today with our Iranian visas inside! We are thrilled and eager to go to Iran after waiting for so long. Noah is one month old and is officially an American citizen since yesterday when we received his passport and certificate of birth abroad. Now he is going to go to Iran and begin a new life there. It will be all he knows for a few years, as opposed to our daughter’s experience of living in America for so long, then here in Bahrain, and now in Iran. We hope she has lots of helpful information to pass on to her little brother some day.

Well, I am 34 years old now, having celebrated my birthday on the 15^th. We went to Al Areen Wildlife Park to see the animals and take some family photos. It was the first day here where it was really hot! It wasn’t a great experience due to the heat, the flies, and the bright sun in Noah’s face, so we packed it up with only one photo session taken in prickly grass. We headed to lunch at a Tex-Mex restaurant that opened up recently, and it made me a little homesick. There was an Arizona Route 66 sign on the wall on the way to the restroom that particularly made me sad. When I was exiting the restroom I was cheered up though, because on the back of the entrance door there was a sign that read “Men’s” and it looked just like the other signs marking the restrooms on the outside. It made me second guess where I was at. I had a good laugh and then sent Taylor and Cody to the bathrooms and they laughed too. We enjoyed our lunch and then split two desserts that were really chocolatey and yummy.

So, now it has been a few days since I typed the above portion, and since we didn’t have internet for awhile and I’ve been busy, I didn’t send it. We are leaving tomorrow! It has happened really fast and like our friend Alfred says, “It’s like a bottle of ketchup- nothing, nothing, nothing, and then whoosh, all at once”. He’s a pilot with Gulf Air and has been gone for a little over a week, so he comes back and we’re leaving. Pretty shocking for him I’m sure, it is for us. So pray for us and when we get a chance to connect to the internet again, we will, but it may be a little while. Look for us soon.

Today my baby boy is 9 days old. (Pictures in the bouncer seat) He is so cute! We just love him to death and as Taylor says all the time, “I just want to eat him up”. As strange as it sounds, our Persian friends say that all the time. Noah is a great baby and we hardly ever get to hear his cry. He used to cry during bath time but Cody discovered that he enjoys showers (only after he peed and pooped all over himself and desperately needed one. Noah, not Cody.) He is nursing well and getting bigger every day. I still can’t believe he has my hair color! Taylor was born with a head of black curls, so to see curly blonde locks on my boy was unexpected – but oh so cute. He was 3.5kg and 51cm long (7lbs. 7ozs. And 23 in.) when born.

I must say, I really enjoyed being pregnant and didn’t have any significant difficulties with my pregnancy. I didn’t have any morning sickness, felt great with lots of energy until the last 2 weeks. At the end I developed carpal tunnel and that was slightly annoying, and my feet swelled, but didn’t hurt. Overall I was blessed with an easy pregnancy, and very grateful for that. The delivery however…..that was much more than I bargained for!
The two weeks before Noah arrived, I had contractions and sometimes they were regular, sometimes accompanied by pain, sometimes not. So, it was exhausting emotionally and mentally, not knowing whether ‘today was the day’ or not. February 24^th I woke up with quite regular contractions and they were more painful than ever and it radiated throughout my lower back, so I knew something was different. They got more irregular throughout the day, but stronger. By the time we went to bed that night around 9:30 they were ten minutes apart and building in intensity. I had to wake Cody up to rub my back and he decided to take a shower and prepare for a long night and morning. At about 3:30 they started coming every 5 minutes and lasting a minute and a half, so at 4:00 a.m. I called the midwife and she told me to head to the hospital. After yanking Taylor out of bed and grabbing our stuff, we arrived at the hospital at 4:20 and I was wheeled up to the birthing room. Nurses were bringing in buckets of water to fill the tub faster and everyone was bustling around. When the midwife arrived (later than usual due to an unexpected fog), she hooked me up to the fetal monitor to check on the baby’s heartbeat and did an exam to determine how far along I was. I was only 3 cm and they recommend not getting into the water until at about 5 cm. She said to let it progress and she’d check on me in a few hours. So, as I labored away, Cody and Taylor either slept or assisted me by bringing me drinks or comforting me. There wasn’t much for them to do. I tried to sleep in between contractions but they were pretty painful in my back. She hooked me up to a TENS machine which is basically little electrical pulses that take the edge off the contractions. Right. It still hurt. After a few hours, she checked me again and I was only 5 cm so she broke my water to speed things up. That is when all the problems started. There was meconium (baby’s first poop) in the amniotic fluid, which means that the baby was under distress some how. That meant that she had to call in a doctor and that they were in charge from then on. The doctor came in and said that I couldn’t have a water birth, had to have a pediatrician present at the birth and she had to be present as well. She said they needed to start an oxytocin drip and that if I wasn’t close to delivering in 2 hours that they were going to have to do a Cesarean. So, I started praying that that wouldn’t be the case but if it was God’s will then so be it. Once the drip started, the pain increased and the contractions came on harder and longer. Every 20 minutes they turned up the drip which increased the pain and contractions. When I didn’t think I could take it anymore she was there to check my progress, two hours having passed already. She had to wait to examine me because I had two contractions right on top of each other and with them felt the urge to push. She said I was there and did I feel like pushing to which I replied I did, and thus began the delivery. Fifteen minutes later there was Noah, all slimy and warm, laying on my stomach. I’ll spare you the details…but Taylor was in tears because she had never seen me in so much pain and it freaked her out. Now she claims that she will never have children unless she adopts. They took Noah off to suction his nose and stomach in case he swallowed or breathed in any meconium. Cody stayed with him and Taylor went with them as well while I was getting stitched and cleaned up. When we were all done and in a recovery room, I nursed him and he took to it right away and was much happier. And thus began this family of four.
The first few days were hard on me because I was worried about him. He made some little choking sounds and I thought something was wrong. Was he getting enough to eat, was he dehydrated etc. I think I worried more in the last week than I have in the last three years that we’ve been here! What a wreck I’ve been emotionally. It is funny how you know that worrying does nothing to change a situation, but still can’t help worrying. I had some long talks with God this last week and one night when I was up worrying, I picked up my bible and read Psalm 4:8 “In peace I will both lie down and sleep, for You alone, O Lord, make me to dwell in safety.” I held to that promise and went to sleep. I slept soundly and didn’t stir at every little noise coming from Noah. Now we are in a pattern and all is well. He sleeps quite a bit at night and rouses about every 3 to 4 hours to eat, then goes right back to sleep. He doesn’t cry, just makes some smacking sounds which is enough to wake me up and feed him.
I am doing well; totally recovered and happy to have him here. I am wearing my clothes from before being pregnant and able to do all the normal activities I had before: cleaning, cooking, laundry, ironing, emailing (when we have internet), reading, exercising, etc, but now I add in there nursing several times a day. We have taken Noah to church, out to dinner (which is where I first nursed in public under a blanket), the grocery store (he slept the whole time), the mall, our pastor’s house and to the park. Quite a bit of activity for his first 9 days of life.

Thank you to everyone who prayed for us during this time. We are truly blessed and we are raising our son to be a blessing to everyone he meets. May God do great things with this tiny person He has entrusted to us.