A long time coming...

Hey everyone-

I don't even know if anyone checks this anymore- I'll have to send out a mass email to say that I've started posting again!

I've come back to work this week and it's sad to say that I had to come back to work to have time to post or check email again- sad but true!

I'll post more pictures but here are a few to get things started. I'm sure than anyone reading this knows that I had Hudson on April 30th, 2009 but just in case I'll start from the beginning and go from there.

Ok- well, when I first logged on to here I saw that the last time I posted was on April 29th- and little did I know when I wrote that what I was in for- or that my water would break that night in bed! In the day before Hudson arrived and the hours following my last post I finished my work day, went to Bible Study (feeling super exhausted) and went to be about 10:30pm that night. Jay had worked the entire night the night before (I may have mentioned in my last post- not sure)- anyway- we were tired. Well, about 1:50am on April 30th (night of the 29th) I woke up feeling hot and realized the power was off. It was about 10-15 mins before it came back on and I spoke to Jay and decided to get up and use the restroom (with the third trimester frequency I don't miss) and just before I did I felt a sharp pain in my abdomen/groin. When I got up I felt warm liquid running down my leg- when I got to the restroom (which was not far)- I realized what was going on. How anyone could mistake that feeling for "peeing yourself" I am not sure because I knew what it was right away. I hollered at Jay "My water broke" and he hollered back "I'm up" and literally bounced out of bed (remember he was exhausted having had maybe 4 hrs of sleep in the last 24hrs!

We both got dressed and I proceded to pack the rest of the stuff I needed in my hospital bag and kept wanting to put on dry underwear- finally after about 3 pair Jay told me to quit changing because they would just keep getting wet. He was right so I grabbed a towel to sit on in the car and off we were. Jay was sleep deprived but hyper - and yet we were both very collected and excited! That is the last time we ever set foot in our house without our Squirmy (that story to be explained later).

It was 3am or thereabouts when we got to the hospital and they got me checked in pretty quickly and did the litmus (the strips of paper that check the acidity of the liquid that is running out)- they do this to make sure it is amniotic fluid and not urine. Of course it was and so they got me settled in. My contractions were not really regular at this point so they knew that I would probably have to be on pitocin to get that going- reason for this is that if your water breaks they want to deliver the baby within 24hrs to reduce the risk of infection. After the i.v. was started they gave me some i.v. fluid. At around 5;am they called Dr. Fuller to tell him I was there and he had them hang and start the pitocin. At this point I was still dilated to 3pm and effaced about 70%. My contractions began to regulate and around 7:30 am I was able to get my epidural!

I will say that the epidural was great! As I was not hooked up to a pain pump the dose of medication given through my epidural wore off/started to wear off two times and I had to be given more medicine (bolused)- the last time it wore off I was in the last stage of labor and felt tremendous pain in my lower abdomen and back during contractions- that is the only time I used my breathing techniques we'd learned in child birthing classes. Otherwise I only felt pressure- I knew when a contraction was coming on and I was able to push. By about 12:30pm I was fully dilated (10cm) and Mary (great nurse) got the bed and room ready for me to start pushing and for Dr. Fuller to deliver.

It must have been right around 1:45pm when Dr. Fuller got there- I'd been pushing around 15 or so mins and Mary mentioned she was gonna call Dr. Fuller so he could help us. Well- I didn't know it at the time but that was because Hudson had turned from a side-facing position to a face-down position and she couldn't get him to crown properly. When Dr. Fuller got there it was show time. Dr. Fuller ended up needing to use a vacuum extractor and gave me an episiotomy- but out came Hudson Jack Gillespie at 14:14 pm weighing 7 pounds and 8 ounces and measuring 20.5 inches with a head circumference of 14 inches. His APGAR scores were 8 & 9. He was beautiful and when I heard him cry it was the most beautiful sound I ever heard. When they laid him on my chest/abdomen for the first time I just cried silent tears of joy. I had never seen anything so beautiful and was amazed it came out of me. (I'm tearing up right now)- It's just the best feeling ever and you just think that no matter what you went through it is worth it and more. It's amazing- really words can't say.

Jay's Dad and Miss Betty were there and had been visiting with us since that morning but we had told them that that first hour after he was born we wanted it to be just us three- Jay, Hudson and I. We'd been told in our child birth classes that this first 45 mins to first hour they are super alert and all senses are on hyperalert. It is a good time to try to breastfeed and get them to latch on as well as for the Dad to hold baby and let him get his smell memorized. I think this must be why I haven't posted till now because I am not sure how much detail to give or leave out. I want to be super thorough so that Hudson will have an accurate record but I don't want to be boring either. We held and kissed him and talked to him. The lactation nurse came in and worked with Hudson and I. I didn't know it then but he was latching on just fine- I guess I didn't think that "pinch" would actually mean tremendous pain. Hudson tried to nurse but he seemed to keep falling asleep- later we would learn that he was just a slow eater.

After that first hour we had all kinds of company- Kerry & Janet, Jim & Miss Betty, Kelly, Julie Milinowski, Claudine, Richard, Becky, Nikki, Nick & Nathan, Steve, Michael Legner, Rachel & Dennis & then 5wk old Beau, (sorry if I am forgetting someone)- it continued to feel surreal for a couple days.

I will write more about that first day- the second day and why we stayed, who visited, the day we went home and experiences thereafter and why we call him Squirmy- soon- but for now suffice it to say that Hudson Jack has been the greatest thing ever. Tomorrow he will be 10 weeks old and Friday he will be getting his 2 month shots- time sure flies!

Let me add some pictures and there will be more to come so stay tuned...