Baby Hudson

Sweet baby Hudson Christopher arrived just after lunch on Thursday only a couple hours after we arrived at Baylor.  Wednesday evening after spending the afternoon at the doctor and evening at the hospital, the Doctor on call decided to stop my contractions since they were slammed.  While they did not stop, they slowed and I was allowed I go home since I was due in at my doctor in 12 hours again. Little did we know that in less than 24 hours, 19 to be exact that we would be holding our son.

Thursday morning at 4:15 hit and I knew something wasn't right. Contractions weren't stopping, I could have sworn I was starting my period and  crazy things were happening. Turns out I went from a 1-3+ in a couple of hours, already thinned and there really wasn't any stopping it. Chris and I had both planned on making it a few more days and had already planned on what we needed to take care of.  Chris and I arrived at Baylor shortly after noon and at 2:31, Hudson Christopher was born. So two hours after arriving to L&D, the husband was holding our son. Craziness. 

Between my doctor appointment and the hospital.

Last belly picture with Hudson in my belly and last pregnant picture ever.

My pain management doctor/anetheologist was amazing. I had a horrible C Section experience with Harper after an amazing one with HG, a full 12 week recovery verses a 5-6 one. I had discussed all of this prior to the OR and he assured me that once the baby out out, he would keep me pumped full if stuff. That he did. My doctor and his partner had me opened much wider this time so it was a little uncomfortable. Ater delivery, he took care of a few things then on the way out to finish up, he found a blood clot. He and the other doctor went back through and checked each and everything they could see. Pretty scary. Not only was there a blood clot but my placenta was in bad shape upon pulling out. Placenta calcification and the blood clot could have been a bad combo. This showed us that God was watching over us through out this pregnancy, that he always is and how incredibly thankful we always are for that. 

HG meeting Hudson for first time.

Baby hair is amazing.

In the OR before anyone held him.

Hanging out in Daddy's arms, sitting next to Momma, waiting on Momma to finish surgery.

Oh dear, two big sisters for real?

First time to hold him.

Loving on little brother, we ended up taking Harper to hospital since she has been doing so well.

Meghan and Stephanie brought carrot cake and cheese cake. Yum!

Sweet friends loving on Hudson.

Mia and HG loving on Hudson.

We had to give a few extra calories one afternoon.

Jason and Jess came to visit and join in the craziness of two girls visiting their brother.

Proud big sister.

Miss Jess holding baby Hudson.

This is a blueberry cupcake that tasted like an amazing blueberry muffin topped with incredible icing. The husband and girls brought them to me along with two carrot cake ones . All were incredible.

Sweet baby Hudson.  I lived in this pajama set the entire time. I might have even worn it home from the hospital.

Ready to take on the world.

Bringing Mommy a chocolate chip cookie cake bite. 

Lots of sweet cravings. Delivering always throws my thyroid off and I crave sweets for a bit. 

She was so excited to sit next to me in her bed playing IPad shortly after I got home.

Getting ready to head. We went through all of our clothes we brought but Mia send this snuggly one with Daddy the day we went home.

Heidi came to visit and even takes great pictures with her cell camera. )

Comparison of pregnancies.

Hudson, a few hours before delivery.

Hailey Grace, a few days before (like 3).

Harper, day before.

Things are going well with us being home. The girls know they can't bounce or climb on me but sometimes forget my legs are connected to my body. My pain level is good and looking forward to feeling better each day. My mom and sister have been here helping and we all are enjoying the extra hands.

Hudson's stats

36w5d (whoop!)

7 lbs 4 oz

20 inches long

Harper's CT Scan

Harper was scheduled for her sedated CT Scan his morning in preparation for her sinus surgery and tube set 3 coming up.  As many parents know who go through this, no food or drinks after a certain time. Lucky for us, we were scheduled at 8 and had no issues leaving the house in plenty of time to drop HG off. We did her breathing treatments, got ready, gave her singular and loaded up all in 30 minutes with no tears from anyone. HG, the husband and I were even ready before waking Harper.  But.....between the baby sitter and the hospital, maybe 8-9 miles, Harper managed to find one Cheerio in her car seat. One! I even looked before putting her in making sure there was nothing in her seat. The hospital wasn't too pleased and wanted us to wait until 1:30, not allowing her food. Sorry, the husband and I were not going with that. She was already asking for milk, biscuits, pancakes, berries and waffles. I think she was a little hungry. Our only options were to try and reschedule or do it awake. No one thought she could do it awake and we were skeptical as well. This is her 4th CT Scan that we can remember so know what it entails and how still you have to be.

Against all the nurses and one Doctor's faith in her, she did AMAZING in her CT Scan and was 100% awake. No gas, no IV, no medicine of any kind. A sweet nurse found a vanilla pacifier that she loves, daddy got to go in the room, a nurse held her cell phone on You Tube and another guy had a spinning light. Yes, lots of helpers but it only took her tries. Three tries and less than 5 minutes. I think everyone was praying in that room. I stood and watched the guy snap pictures and videos of her tiny little face, nose and sinuses. It was really neat to see all that. He was talking about how small everything  was, how petite and cute Harper was. Of course she picked out her outfit last night as refused any shoes but her pink sparkly boots. So much for ever wearing her UGGs, she wants cheap $10 Walmart bling.

Breakfast of her choice since she was a rock star. While we thought it would be Chick Fil A, she opted for Dunkin Donuts. I am surprised they don't have lactose free milk yet but she got white milk and any donut she pleased. After finishing, she was yelling more donuts please. Now, she is spending the day with us while HG is at the sitters until later. Each girls loves soaking up one on one time with us. 

Hopefully we are just one two closer to handling her chronic sinutisis. 

Sweet over board

A love for Brobee and rain boots.

And tiny babies.

And a purple tiny bear.

She stayed home a few days last week with just the husband and I.

She was amazingly good.

We had to get over her illnesses even though she was released back for school Tuesday.
It isn't worth the risk for her, might not be again this week
Her age group carries so many tiny littler germs you aren't even aware of, including Harper.

Wednesday, we headed to the ENT to try and stay a head of Harper's ears, nose and throat issues. We love our ENT and she loves her babies (okay, kids!). While we can't really up her medicine since she isn't much larger weight than she was at 9 months, we did figure a few things out. She needs tube set #3, which we knew before the appointment. Some kids get tubes and never have another infection. Others, our ENT calls them trouble makers. They need more than one set. With Harper living in my belly for 5 weeks without fluid, her sinus development pretty much stopped at 29.5 weeks. My fluid was low  before that just not low enough to be admitted. So really, she could have been 10 weeks without fluid in the needed places helping her grow and mature. Then you add a mom who had multiple sets and still gets ear infections,  a sister who had one set and still gets ear infections and an Aunt who gets ear infections at nearly 30. Poor thing was just thrown into this all with no choice. :) Our doctor will check where her adenoids were removed, in rare cases these can grow back quickly, her tonsils and do a sinus surgery. We don't want to remove her tonsils as the recovery is long and no fun.  Instead of just washing and cleaning out her sinuses, balloons will actually be placed in her sinuses to widen them. While they are in place, the doctor will clean and examine the sinus cavities. Unfortunately, our insurance is one of the only ones who have issues with this surgery. So when we had hoped to rush in and have this done Thuraday before I deliver soon, we will now be doing pre certification stuff and waiting about 6 weeks. It has its benefits and its downfalls of course. Waiting of course means more meds, more sickness, more long nights, more being extremely strict the next 6 weeks trying to get her breathing and sinuses under control. The plus side, it would be one less time under general anesthesia since the clean out and expanding would be done at same time. I'll have delivered and somewhat recovered so we can schedule accordingly. While the surgery itself is a fairly quick recovery, babies need their Mommas to recover and this will allow me to hold/carry/sleep next to her. Plus, Hudson will be a few weeks old and we might not be so strict who comes in our house to help by then since it will be time for her surgery.  We are more worried about Harper catching a simple illness, turning into something big and giving it to Hudson.  This is why we have been so strict on we are around and where we have gone the past few weeks.  The girls, they just want to go anywhere or have anyone over.  Luckily, my sister is coming to entertainment soon along with both of our parents and my Aunt, who they worship like a queen.

He has big feet, my rib is right behind his foot. He kicked so hard one day last week that I fell over in extreme pain.  For a moment, I wasn't sure if it was broken or he just knocked the wind straight out of me.  Once I could get my butt off the floor, I was only sore for a bit.  We were thrilled not to be admitted on Thursday and allowed to go another week. Each week we get, I am incredibly thankful. We've never made it to this day in any pregnancy.  Hudson was breathing on the ultrasound, this put my heart and mind at ease. We are prepared to be admitted this week at my appointment if not before. My legs from knees down stay pretty swollen, I am having a hard time moving my feet or ankles after lunchtime, can't sit for any extended time,  hands tingle and go numb far too often, face tingles and a killer headache almost daily. I have to be extremely careful due to my previous stroke even though on blood thinners and have been on the ProCardia for a couple of months. Both lower my blood pressure to almost nothing.  Let's not forget the contractions that everyone is surprised I am tolerating so well. They hurt like heck now and I am always watching to pee on myself or for my water to burst during them.  But I would love to make it until Friday.

Harper was full of attitude and dumped everything back out after we has just cleaned it up. She told me to watch her do it.

Blueberry cupcakes aka muffins.

Cloth diapers are the best.

She told me not to talk because she was exhausted.....three hours later, she was still up.

A few good deals were found Saturday by HG and I. This is so Harper, HG says it looks like a clown but will be adorable on Harper love. It's from Neiman's, originally $90 but I paid $2.69. Brand new with tags. I got 23 tops (all GAP, Old Navy, Gymboree, etc) for girls for next fall, 4 size 3 T jeans for Harper next fall, 5 outfits in 3 T for next fall (3 still had tags, most are Gymboree) a rain jacket for Harper this Spring, 3 summer dresses that HG picked out, 1 purple long sleeve dress for HG, 1 purple play unicorn for HG, 3 outfits for Hudson in a 12 m, 1 Easter sweater for Hudson for next Easter with tags (like the ones my grandmother used to buy us, well over $100!) 2 shorts/skirts for HG and that $90 Neiman's jacket with tags for Harper. Whew! 2 hours but only spent 100.38!! I was beyond excited. :) everything except the summer dresses and spring items went into a plastic container marked girls fall clothes Indy for our move.

Morning play times

36.2 week bare belly shot.

35 weeks vs 36.2 weeks, he has dropped more.

Playing dolls while telling me she plans on being naked all day. ALL DAY mom, just not until 2 o'clock. 

Sweet Harper wet her panties during lunch.  It wasn't a big deal, she finished in her potty. This crushed her, big crocodile tears. When I offered Hudson's cloth diapers to her for all the fun characters, she ate it up. She kept saying they were so soft on her goods, she never wanted to take them off. It didn't cross my mind that when she pee'd in one because they were so soft, she'd just help herself to another. Panties and disposible diapers stay dry on her. At least she is cute sporting them and we are breaking them in some making them more absorbent.

Many of you all have seen this or have fallen victim recently in the area. Please, always take in your valuables or stuff that would be very upsetting if taken. We were home, both cars in drive way, they tagged team the cars until Camo , Chris and I let our presence be known. Thankfully, they got nothing but maybe a charger or two. We don't leave anything valuable in the cars. Our dog went nuts barking and we bounced up.  There is a different bark for various things and you know their barks, after all they are your kids too.

HG made red velvet cake brownies.

Seriously, so easy thanks to Pinterest. 

1 box Betty Crocker red velvet cake mix

1 large egg

1 soften stick of real butter

Simple as that.

Mix, then toss in the fridge for 10-14 minutes before spreading in a brownie pan. This will not be the consistency of brownie batter you are accustomed it. I just knew it was going to be a Pinterest fail. Bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or so, checking around 19-20 minutes. These were surpringsly good. First bite was a little dry but we might have forgotten to set a timer. Both girls loved their little brownie heart we let them have. Harper shoveled it in like a small puppy then proceeded to lick her plate clean.  The girls never get red velvet anything (cake balls a time or two a year) because of all the dyes but Hailey Grace had asked numerous times for red velvet anything mom.

HG also made chocolate pudding freezer pops with our lactose free milk. This is another thing they don't get often but the husband loves them. In the past, we have used certain chocolate syrup from Sprouts and mix with our lactose free milk then froze. When the husband asked for real pudding pops, the girls jumped ALL over it. We actually debated if Harper had ever eaten just plain chocolate pudding. They turned out delicious and both girls enjoyed licking the bowls.

Let's not forget plain ole chocolate chip cookies for the week either. These are the girls favorites by far but both would rather have the dough instead of the baked cookie. Oh yes, such a marvelous unbaked cookie with raw eggs, always tasting so heart stopping good in my girls opinions. I explain to them that raw eggs isn't good for them and they have to be very careful handling the eggs. I even began cooking all Camo's eggs so the girls couldn't question as to why he got them and they didn't. Being a dog has nothing to do with it right?!? Either way, lots of yummy sweets baked for after naps snacks or late night snacks for mom and dad.

 

For dinner, I had pulled out a Baked Ziti that I made a few weeks back preparing for Hudson's arrival.  While it wasn't thawed in time for dinner and we had to cook individual portions, it turned out SO GOOD.  I can't remember if we had thirds or just seconds, it was a great combination of sauce, pasta and meat.  Then add cheesey garlic bread, we were enjoying amazing fat kid food. Luckily for us, when I prepared it, I made a massive pan which means lots of yummy left overs today.

Carpet cleaners & strep

I love clean floors, that is no secret. I vacuum upstairs 2-3 times a week depending on my energy and sweep/mop the kitchen nightly.  We have ants that will show up looking for water and if there is anything anywhere, we will find the entire colony of ants have invaded. Yuk! The entry and living are close behind to being done each night. Thanks to my new Shark navigator from Santa, the girls can help. HG can actually help sweep now and well Harper, she tries hard. But nonetheless, dirty floors are just something we don't do well with.  Even in vacation rentals, I sweep and mop while renting it. 

With all the sickness we have had lately and Hudson being only days away from making his appearance, we had to steam clean carpets. It was amazingly easy and even more amazing the dirt and stuff it cleaned. Then strep hit again. Those who haven't experienced it yet with small kids, it can cause throwing up the first 14 hours. I was super thankful for having it. :)

35 week photo, on IG last week.  Man, it doesn't even look like same belly when I raise my shirt.

I see you.

Poor baby riding around on Saturday not feeling well.

Baby girl fit in a size 2T jean on Saturday. They might have been on the tightest loop and gave her the cutest tiny hiney but she kept them up. Heidi gave hem to her so she was very proud to let us all know where they came from.

Her quad four wheeler needed charging but she can make loops like crazy on this little thing.

We made after Christmas gingerbread houses from bass pro. Yep, they sucked. Seriously and they were still $2.50.

Saturday evening, she was miserable running a constant 101-103.5 fever even with a Tylenol/Advil rotation. 

Lowfat sausage balls. They were still 10 grams of fat per serving before the bisquick or cheese added. Gheez, they are so yummy! We are working on a lower fat version against the husband's argument. :)

Today is full of breathing treatments to hopefully prevent pneumonia from returning with this ugly and scary cough, packing hospital bags (maybe) and a little resting. Tomorrow, we have an appointment with our ENT to try and stay on top of the strep, sinus and ear infections. We figured out a plan previously and hopefully it just needs a little adjusting since Harper is older.

She is so tiny so we have trouble uppig her medicine since everything goes by weight.  HG was on higher doses at a year, Harper has been on most of the same dosages since 9 months!