James has been really into cameras for a while. He got his own camera for Christmas and has been taking pictures with our camera from time to time. Here are some of the photos he snapped while he was visiting us in the hospital. Some of them were actually pretty good.
The morning after Jude was born, my mom and sister brought James and John up to the hospital to meet their new baby brother. They were both so happy that he was finally out of Mommy's tummy and they could touch him. They each got to hold Jude on a pillow and give him lots of kisses. After that, they each got to have a piece of cake the hospital brought by the room. The postpartum room wasn't huge and they were both getting restless so they kissed their baby brother good-bye and headed to McDonald's to eat some lunch and play on the playground. Here are some photos we took.
We woke up around 4 am on Wednesday morning and left the house a little after 4:30 to get donuts for Brian. It's a good thing I don't like donuts cause I was starving. Plus I was really thirsty. We arrived at the hospital at 5:15 am and got all checked in. They started the IV at 6:15. Thankfully she only needed to poke me twice. The nurses started pitocin started at 7:15 am and Dr. Schmidt came and broke my water at 7:45. Unfortunately, his head wasn’t lined up well. She was feeling his ear instead of his head. We were told that if he didn’t correct his position that I’d need a c-section. While we were waiting, they started getting things ready just in case I needed surgery. Thankfully the next time they checked me, I was 4 cm dilated and they could no longer feel his ear. I dilated at a pretty steady rate of 1 cm ever two hours. I hit 6 cm around 2 pm the afternoon. The contractions were coming stronger and faster so I asked for some IV pain medicine to take the edge off and help me relax a bit. They checked me again around 6 pm and I was 8 cm. I asked for some more pain medication as the contractions were right on top of each other and horribly painful. The rest was kind of a blur but I remember the nurse having me push as she moved the last bit of cervix out of the way. Brian said I only pushed a few times before the chaos began. Loads of people and Dr. Schmidt came into the room to get set for the birth. It wasn’t much longer until he was out. I am so pleased that I was able to have a successful VBAC. Jude ended up being sunny side up but came out with just a few pushes. My body did most of the work for me. James and John didn't come up to meet him until the next day because it was kind of late by the time I got all cleaned up. I didn’t actually hold him that first night because I got the shakes really bad and didn't want to drop him. He spent the night in the nursery getting checked out and all cleaned up. Both my parents came to town to see me early on in labor and to help my sister with the boys. My sister came to visit me at the hospital and was actually present for the birth!! She did a wonderful job helping Brian get me through it all.
We've finally reached the end of this pregnancy. I went to see the OB this morning and we decided to go ahead and induce tomorrow morning. I'll be 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant. There's really no reason to wait since Jude should be done baking and ready to come out. After having John almost five weeks early, I never thought I'd make it this far. My only wish was to make it to 37 weeks and hope to avoid a stay in the NICU. Here we are two weeks past that point.
Since the decision was made this morning, I've been cleaning and doing laundry like a mad woman. I don't want to bring home our new baby boy to a messy house and piles of laundry. Hopefully all the activity will bring on some contractions. While they're uncomfortable, hopefully they will get me moving in the right direction for tomorrow. We also decided to take James out for his birthday meal today. He really wanted to eat at Rainforest Cafe and I have no desire to take a 10 day old newborn to a restaurant. He had a wonderful time seeing all the animals, fish, and the fake thunderstorms.
Check back in a few days when we'll hopefully have Jude's birth story and pictures posted.
First and foremost, I hope all of the mothers out there had a wonderful Mother's Day.
I was lucky to have a Mother's Day weekend. Friday night we went to dinner at Texas Roadhouse. I got my favorite dish - chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes. It was super yummy. Then Saturday after our Baptism preparation class, I went to get a massage and catch the new Star Trek movie. The massage was pure heaven. I think I fell asleep a couple of times during the hour. The movie was also fantastic. While I'm not a huge Star Trek fan, the action and special effects were awesome. Sunday, I got exactly what I wanted - to not wait on anyone else. Brian got the boys all of their meals, snacks, drinks, etc. He handled potty trips, getting them dressed and putting on shoes. He took them to the park and took James to a movie while John napped. I pretty much sat with my feet up all day long. All in all, a perfect weekend.
