Judson is Here!

The past week has been such a whirlwind! Phew! But I'm happy to report we're 1 week into being a family of 4 and we're all still alive!

Before I forget, I want to jot down all the details of Judd's labor and delivery. It was very similar to Jacob's, just an hour faster!

We checked into our room at 7:45am and I put on my gown and answered a ton of questions. 

At 8:45am, the nurse started my pitocin via IV. It took awhile for me to feel any substantial contractions and I believe the pitocin was at a 12 by then (it can go all the way to 40, but a woman ready to have her baby only needs 20).

At 11am, my OB arrived to check on me. I was still 1cm but my cervix had thinned a bit. She attempted to break my water, which was super painful. She used a foot long plastic stick (and her arm hand) to stab the sac. According to her, she was able to nick the sac but didn't break it completely. Throughout the next few hours, I had a slow trickle of water, especially during contractions.

The next few hours my contractions started getting much more painful, especially in my back. I walked around a bit, sat on the birthing ball and even clawed Josh's back to help through the contractions. But ultimately, they won. I got my epidural at 2:45pm. I had labored for 6 hours, and felt like I had gone just as far as I could naturally. Of course, I felt huge mommy guilt (which I promised myself I wouldn't do). Just like last time. But, of course, after it kicked in, I was wondering why I didn't get it sooner. 

Once the epidural kicked in around 3pm, my nurse checked me and put my catheter in. Thank you for waiting until I was numb to do that, by the way. At that point I was almost a 4, 70-80% effaced and my water had officially broken. 

 

At 4:30pm, I was a "stretchy" 4 and 90% effaced. By this point I was getting a bit disheartened. I was just really sick of laying on that bed! So the nurse switched up my position to almost a chair-like position to use gravity. 

By 5:45pm, I was only a 6 and my nurse thought lying on my side would help. She said the baby was sideways, so maybe if I lay on my side it'll help get him down into position. I nearly fell asleep in that position! Ha!

45 minutes later she came in to check on me because from the look of the monitors (baby's heart rate was dropping slightly during my contractions) it looked like I was ready to start pushing. Start pushing?! I was only a 6 last time you checked! Ahhh...sound familiar?? 

 

Sure enough, I was ready! Based on my last labor, she didn't want to do any practice pushes, so she gave me another hit of the epidural and called my OB. 

In the meantime, the room was prepped and family was called. Shift change was approaching, but the nurse that had been with us all day decided to stick around and take pictures for us. So glad she did, because she really captured everything beautifully!

Once my OB arrived, she geared up and I started pushing. 9 pushes later, exactly like with Jacob, sweet Judson was born! 

 

 

December 10, 2014 at 7:07pm. 7lbs. 15oz., 20". His APGAR scores were 9 and 9 and his jaundice level was 3.9. 

 

My OB put him directly on my chest and I kissed and loved on him for a few minutes before Josh cut the cord and the baby team took him for evaluation. 

Over the next 2 days we recovered in the hospital and had a few guests. Including the best big brother in the entire world.

 

My heart actually explodes with happiness when I look at this picture. I've had a lot of guilt over the past few weeks and especially now that we're home from the hospital. I just pray that Jacob knows how much we love him and how important he is. But looking at this picture, it reassures me that giving him a brother is ultimately the best present ever and we are doing the right thing.

According to our parents, Jacob was so excited to come to the hospital to "check on mommy and daddy and to see Judson". I could see it in his eyes. He really is the sweetest little boy and I thank God every day for him!

On Monday we took our first trip out as a family of 4 to see the pediatrician. Judson weighed 7lbs. 11oz. (he was down to 7lbs. 7oz. when we left the hospital), so he had gained 4oz. since leaving the hospital. We had a few concerns, including a wheezing sound that he makes and a bit of a gargle when he nurses. She said the wheezing was due to a soft trachea, which will harden over time. The gargle is because his suck-swallow-breathe pattern isn't quite in-sync yet, which I also think is making it harder for him to nurse. Its not that he's a bad nurser AT ALL (my nipples haven't gotten swore once), but it just seems like he's not as strong as Jacob, so he's clusterfeeding a lot to get full. Which she reassured me was completely normal for this stage, especially as my milk starts to come in.

So, like I said at the beginning of this post- we're home now and recovering. It's really been a blur and I'm not entirely sure what day it even is, but we're all alive and happy for the most part.

I pray that over the next month we can find a rhythm as a family of 4 and start to enjoy the time together. Right now we're deep in survival mode. I also pray we can get breastfeeding down and start to work on sleep, because I really cannot function without it.

All in all, sweet JudderBug, we love you so much already. You light up our lives and truly complete our family. I can't wait to see you evolve and grow, but right now- I'm going to enjoy your babiness while I can.