Jude Michael's Birth

Sorry I haven't updated in awhile. In the last week I had little Jude and 4 days later we moved to Iowa. I now have the internet again and I am ready to be back to blogging. Here is how little Jude arrived!

I was all ready and prepared to be induced on Saturday. I had my list of things to get done on Friday so there wouldn't be anything to do once we got out of the hospital. Well Jude had a plan of his own. I woke up at 5:00 AM to go to the bathroom and had some minor cramping, I had been having this for the past couple of weeks so I was kind of annoyed. I thought to myself that if it wasn't going to turn into anything it just needed to stop and went back to bed. At 5:20 I realized that the cramps were turning into contractions and I should see how close together they were. Right away they were 4 minutes apart. I laid in bed til about 6:00 timing them. I then decided to go downstairs and drink a glass of water to see if they would slow down. They were still coming every 4 minutes and getting stronger so at 6:30 I decided to call the Dr and he said to come on in. We got to the hospital shortly after 7:00. They got me into a room and started asking me all these pointless questions all the while my contractions are getting quite a bit stronger. Around 8:00 they finally checked me and I was already 5 cm dialated. I remeber with Eli I went from 5 - 10 really fast so I went ahead and got my epidural. It kicked in quickly and felt wonderful. Unfortunately I didn't get to enjoy it for too long. The Dr came in to break my water and my contractions were coming one on top of the other and causing me to feel dizzy and light headed to the point where I was sick. I felt very weak and tired. That finally went away only to be replaced by chest pains. The gave me a shot of terbutaline to try and slow down the contractions. I was checked again and at 10 cm, baby Jude was still a little high so the Dr asked if I wanted to try pushing. At that point the chest pains were too bad to push so we waited a little bit. The nurse finally tried sitting me up just a little bit and instantly the chest pain was gone and it was time to push. With Eli I pushed for about 2 1/2 hours, with Jude it was about 30 minutes before he was born!!!!

He came out screaming, but had to be checked out immediately by the NICU team because there was meconium in my water. It was so heartbreaking that I wasn't able to hold him right away. Luckily they checked him out in my room and he was absolutley perfect. It was really only a few minutes until I was able to hold him in my arms.

The next few days in the hospital had their ups and downs. I was absolutely amazed at how well I felt. I had no problems getting around, and I barely needed any pain medicine. Jude did really well at each little check up, but he just wasn't eating the best. He just wanted to sleep all the time and wasn't taking to nursing. They kept checking his blood sugar and it was always fine and since he was going to the bathroom they weren't to worried. When the pediatrician came to visit on Sunday he said that he wanted Jude to have 2 good feedings before we left. We were supposed to leave after his 48 hour check at 12:30 PM. I kept trying to feed him but he just wasn't into it. Finally the lactation consultant suggested pumping and using a bottle. Luckily that seemed to work. We got him to eat 2 good meals and were able to leave around 6:00 PM and we were all very ready to go home.

We left the hospital on Sunday and took a couple days to rest and pack and on Tuesday we packed up and moved to Iowa. I know a lot of people were worried about me driving out to Iowa, but I really felt fine and just needed to be in my own home. The traveling went so well, better than we could have imagined. Mike had the dogs in his car and I had the boys in my car. We left in the morning and stopped for. Mike took Eli in and fed him. I fed Jude in Mike's car to keep the dog's cool and then I ate my lunch when we were back on the road. Jude didn't make a peep the entire ride. Eli watched his video before lunch and then took a nap after lunch. He was getting a little fussy the last hour but I knew it would be worse if we stopped. We are all so happy to finally be home and settled in and Jude is nursing just fine now.

My mom is here to stay for the week to help out with the boys since Mike will be starting school and work on Monday. I am so thankful that she is here. We are blessed with such wonderful families.

Here are a few pictures, there will be more soon!