5 kids!?!?!

Well, I have a new baby that is 3 1/2 months old already!! I hate how fast babies grow up.

I figured I better jot his birth story down so I don't forget everything!

He was a planned C-section for the 6th of October. I was booked for 8 in the morning. It was a Monday. I was really hoping to have him over the weekend, but he decided to wait. My mom and dad came down either Thursday or Friday.....I can't remember.....I am already starting to forget things! Anyways, they came down and stayed until Tuesday evening. It was so great having extra help with the kids!

We didn't really do too much that weekend. It was General Conference and we just sat around and watched that. It was nice. I had to go to the hospital on Sunday in the afternoon to go and get some blood work done and get checked in. They put my iv in I was able to go back home for the rest of the evening.

My sister Kennedy came that night and I had a shower and got everything ready to spend the night in the hospital. We left around 11 that night. I got settled and Jaron went back home to get some sleep. I was not too impressed with having to spend the night in the hospital before I even had my baby! They told me it was their protocol because, and I quote, "certain people can't be trusted to make it on time for their surgeries, so to make it fair, we make everybody come in the night before". Ummmm, fair to who? Not me! I did not sleep. My hips hurt so bad and I was anxious and excited. I probably wouldn't have slept in my own comfy bed, but at least I would have been, well, comfy! I wasn't allowed to eat or drink anything either. The eating things was fine, but of course I had to be thirsty!

Anyways, I tried to rest and I never fully fell asleep, but I wasn't fully awake either. Until about 3 in the morning I woke up with contractions. I went to the bathroom and I tried to fall back asleep, but the contractions were quite close together and the weren't letting up at all. I started to time them and they were about 2 minutes apart and they were lasting about 45 seconds. After an hour of this, I went to go talk to the nurse. I really didn't want to because I went through the whole pregnancy not getting checked out down there. Not even once! It was awesome. I knew that if I told them, it was going happen. But, I figured the safety of the baby was more important than my decency and self consciousness, so I went and told them. I was right. I had to get checked by not one, but two people. So fun. They determined that they would just hold off a bit and see if I could make it to my 8 o'clock time. Did I get any drugs? Nope! Not that I needed any, but I was in labor and I had to just sit it out and wait and see all by myself if I could make it to 8. I will admit though, I tried to enjoy it. I called it a tender mercy. I was a little bit sad knowing that I wouldn't get the anticipation of not knowing the baby was coming and I wouldn't get to experience the labor thing. So, even though he was still born on that day, he would have been born on that day anyways!

They started to prep me for surgery around 7:40. And this is when the horrible student nurse came in! She was nice enough, but have you ever had a catheter put in by a student nurse? Shoot me now! I felt bad because I couldn't spread my legs very far because I had such bad leg cramps that if I moved them too far, my muscles would start to cramp. Not just my calves this time. Anywhere. I had it happen in my shoulder and neck. It was awful. After that nastiness was over, I got the lovely compression stockings put on. Or maybe those were first. Anyways, whenever those got put on, they got put on backwards and one was higher than the other. I tried hard to ignore it. I have a quirk when it comes to things on my feet. I hate socks. If I have to wear them, they can't be twisted or feel funny or I start to feel anxious and I may panic a little.

Once I was ready, they took me down to the OR and started getting everything set up. Jaron wasn't allowed in until the surgery was just about to start. He could see through a window though. They ahd me on the bed resting forward so that I could get my spinal done. The nurses were really nice. The anesthesiologists came in and gave me a couple of needles to freeze my back before they gave me the real stuff. Right before they gave me the last needle I hear "Where's the doctor? Is he ready?" Apparently nobody had seen the doctor yet, so they wanted to wait and make sure that he was there before the poked me. They called him and he said he was leaving his house in Beaver Mines in 5 minutes. Ummmm....what? He didn't know he was booked for a c-section that morning and he didn't check his schedule because he hadn't been at work since Thursday. Ok. We will wait. I was a little annoyed. Not at the doctor, but I was done waiting. Plus, I had to stay overnight so that I wouldn't be late for the surgery and yet the doctor was late. Ugh. Oh well. There wasn't much I could do. The rest of the staff were right mad though. The other doctor was upset because "I was a human being. She should be laid down so she is comfortable. She shouldn't have to sit like that that long. She is a human being!" It was kind of funny. The nurses were ticked right off and they had a lot to say about it. Very entertaining.

Doctor finally arrives! I get to get poked in the back again to make sure I am still frozen and then they gave me the spinal. Such a weird feeling. Medicine is fascinating. They put the curtain up and they start doing their thing. The doctors and nurses on the other side of the curtain are talking in their own little world, and the doctor on my side was talking to us and them. I could hear so much talking all around, it was hard to hear what anybody was saying. After awhile it felt like things should have already happened. It was taking quite awhile. That is when I could hear the voices on the other side change in tone. It wasn't bad, but it was alarming to me because they weren't telling me anything. All I could hear was "I've never seen anything like this before". "I have only seen this once or twice in my whole career." "You need to come over and see this". " That is amazing!"

The doctor told me that they were ready and I was going to feel a big push. They pushed hard on my stomach and I felt the table moving around underneath me. And then Hudson was born! He instantly cried. I, of course, started to cry. Such a great sound. And then laughter. Hudson peed all over the doctor. Right in his face. I wish I could have seen it. I think he got a few of the staff. They took him over to check him out. They didn't lift him over the curtain when he was first born and when they had him on his cart, suctioning him out and making sure everything was good, I still couldn't see him. I was trying to stretch my neck, but the curtain was in the way. I was starting to get annoyed that everyone in the room had seen my baby except me! FINALLY they brought him over all wrapped up and I got to hold him. He was perfect! He had a bunch of dark hair all over and puckered lips. He knew I was needing those baby kisses already! It was a bit awkward for me to hold him, because for some reason they tied my arm down and I could only hold him with the one arm. They finally untied me and I got to enjoy him as much as I could lying down on bed attached to all sorts of things.

Once we had a few minutes to hold him and take pictures, they whisked him away to do all of his measurements and they started to stitch me back up. I was finally able to ask how everything went. I asked what took so long and they told me that my uterus was so paper thin it was translucent and they weren't sure where to cut without cutting him. The doctor then told it was a good thing I didn't go into labor like I had wanted to try and do. I then kindly informed him of my going in to labor that night. Anyways, they stitched me up and sent me to my room. Little Hudson came in and we snuggled. My parents brought all of the kids over around noon to meet him. It was fun to watch them all together. For about 5 minutes. Then I wanted the kids to leave. Hospitals and kids just don't mix well! So Jaron and my dad took the kids back to school and down for naps and my mom and sister stayed and hung out for a bit. The kids came back after school and stayed for a bit and my parents had to go home that night.

I think over all his delivery and recovery were the least traumatic out of all of them.

Hudson has been the most sweetest, content baby. He loves to cuddle his mommy and loves to smile. He is a chunk! He was my biggest baby. He was 8lbs 1oz. He weighs 16 lbs already! He is wearing size 3 diapers and the twins wear size 4. He had to wear one of their diapers a few weeks ago because I didn't have any of his with me and the twins' diapers were big, but not too big on him. He is so soft and squishy, I can't get enough of him! He is a perfect addition and everybody just adores him. It has been an easy transition to 5 kids! Now to convince Jar for number 6!

That is baby Hudson's birth story. Simple and sweet. Next time I will write about our lovely hospital stay. And when I say lovely, I mean not so lovely. Gotta love student nurses!