Hudson's Birth Story

He's here!! I can't believe he is already 10 days old...every day that goes by I think to myself that this is the last day he will be 10 days old...or 9 days old, or 8 days old...I'm trying to enjoy and take in every second of every day. When he is up in the middle of the night screaming I try to remind myself that I don't want to wish this time away, because very soon he won't be so little that he needs me in the middle of the night anymore. I still get teary eyed when I think about him growing up, but hopefully that will go away with the rest of my hormones! :)

I need to write about his birth before I forget it, and it seems like an easier way to tell everyone about what happened than one at a time. The Tuesday before he was born, I went in for a routine appointment at my doctor's office, for a non-stress test and growth scan to make sure he wasn't getting too big. I passed my NST, then did the growth ultrasound, and then waited for the doctor to come in to see me. My regular doctor was out of town until Sunday, and we had planned on inducing on Saturday night so she could deliver me. I was seeing one of her partners while she was gone, and after waiting for 45 minutes for her to see me I was convinced she forgot about me. Finally she came into the room and apologized for taking so long, but said she was talking with her other partner and the hospital about my ultrasound, and because my fluid levels were so low on the ultrasound, she thought it would be a good idea to induce me that night. We had to get to the hospital at 4:30, so when I got home I had about 3 hours to get there...I had no idea what to do for 3 hours so I mopped the floor, then Danny and I went to get lunch. It was so strange to know we were about to have a baby. We got to the hospital, and the doctor (another one from my practice) came in to give me a foley bulb-which goes into my cervix to soften it and get me to dilate. When he tried to put it in I felt a gush of liquid (along with a horrible pain) and thought he broke my water. He had a panicked look on his face, and the nurses ran to grab towels. He lifted his hands up and I saw they were covered in blood. Then they took the end of the bed off and I saw it was covered in blood. The doctor said this had never happened before and he didn't feel comfortable going ahead with the procedure. I obviously didn't either. Luckily Danny had ran to get a drink right before the doctor came in and didn't see what happened-one of the nurses stopped him in the hallway to keep him from coming back in. (For anyone who doesn't know him-he has a VERY low tolerance for blood, and passed out at my first ultrasound). The doctor said we had the option of a c-section that night, or we could wait until the following night and try a different induction method. I didn't know what to choose...I really wanted to go ahead right then and get the c-section (the thought of having my baby 2 hours from then was very tempting...along with skipping the entire labor process) but the nurses told me when we were one on one that I should wait and try to be induced so I could deliver vaginally. Also, I had heard so many terrible things about c-sections so was afraid of the recovery. So we decided to give it another night and try something else the next day. The next morning the other doctor from the practice came in, and gave me cervadil-another drug to "ripen" my cervix. She inserted it in my cervix, and it hurt really badly going in but then I couldn't feel it. We left that in 12 hours, and she checked me again. Nothing had happened so she inserted another cervadil for 12 hours, after that still nothing, and they put something else in (I can't remember the name of that) and in the morning still nothing. The first doctor called my cervix "unfavorable" and the second called it "a steel trap". Well after going through this for 45 hours, we decided that c-section was the way to go. I had had horrible contractions all night and could not handle anymore when nothing was happening. We scheduled the C-section for 1:30 on Thursday, and they came to take me back to give me a spinal block a few minutes before. Danny stayed in the room and got ready...

We were pretty worried about if Danny could handle being in the room with me with as queasy  as he gets, but he was a trooper and wanted to be there. They gave me my spinal block, (not as bad as I expected) and soon I couldn't feel my legs. Then Danny came in, and sat with me and held my hand, and after a few minutes, he asked if he could lower his stool because he was seeing too much (they had a curtain set up so we couldn't see anything just like on TV). It felt like they were lightly rubbing my stomach, and a few minutes later the doctor told Danny to get his camera ready, and we heard the sweetest little peep we've ever heard.

They asked Danny if he wanted to hold him after they wiped him off and I looked at him and asked if he had ever held a baby before-to which he replied no :). He still did a great job!

He came out with his hands clasped like he was praying. So cute!! And, Danny didn't pass out even though he said he saw some guts!! They put me back together and brought us back to our room, and Danny and I got a few minutes alone with Hudson before all of our friends and family came in to see him. We stayed in the hospital for 3 more nights, and got zero sleep. Hudson was awake all night and we had visitors all day every day so we had no chance to nap. We were so excited though we didn't care. And I couldn't sleep through the night anyway when he was sleeping because I couldn't stop staring at him.

The newness still hasn't worn off...I still hate to sleep because he is wide awake at night and I don't want to miss anything. I love him more than I ever thought I could, as sappy as that sounds. Danny has been such a huge help, I am so excited he is still off for 2 more weeks with us! Due to my lack of sleep I'm sure I'm forgetting some details, but that is the gist of our hospital stay! The c-section was not nearly as bad as I had expected-I've been in a little pain but have stayed on my pain pills until recently. I can't compare it to a vaginal birth since I have never had one, but I would have no problem choosing this again!  Here are some more pictures of our cute boy: