My daughter was sooo excited for her baby brother. She kissed my tummy every morning and every night and said " I love you baby brother". It was beyond sweet and it melted me!
Four generations...how I love them so. I could not do life without my family.
This bubble...and this mama...were getting ready to POP!
These photos are by the incredible Shawna at Bleudogfotography. She is an angel and the perfect photographer. We all love her so.
We are missing about 10 members but this is a part of the family I cherish and love. My cousins, aunts, and uncles could not be more important to me. My son an daughter are luckier than they will ever know to be born into this big, loving, supportive family.
{blogged over MLB playoffs, popcorn and a root beer -- or as I call it, the nectar of the gods} I realized that I haven't shared too much of Hudson's birth story with you all, and time is sprinting by. First of all, we didn't have his name picked out until about four days before he was born, which caused me so much anxiety. Anyone who has been in this predicament knows how completely crazy it makes you. I was on every baby name website known to man. I don't know why choosing a boy's name was so difficult for me. I knew my daughter's name by about my fourth month of pregnancy, and it allowed me to get everything in her room personalized and monogrammed, and talk to her while I was pregnant by her name. This time around... not so much. I had a few names that I absolutely LOVED, but my husband didn't think they were a fit. I wanted a name that sounded a little different and a little southern and maybe a little distinguished too. It is so strange, but I can be in love with a name in theory but then when I think about naming my child that same name, it doesn't feel right (Atticus, for example). Anyway, I was getting panicky but we stumbled on Hudson and loved it. We've had both of his middle names picked out forever, in memory of my brother, and when we put Hudson in front of those names, it was the perfect fit.
My doctor (who delivered my daughter and who I LOVE, by the way--and is a woman #girlpower) scheduled me to be induced on my due date if I didn't already deliver. So on August 5th, we headed to the hospital at 3:30 in the morning (yes, this was my appointment time- yikes!) However, apparently August is a busy time to have babies β β who knew there was a busy time to have babies? β β and they didn't have a bed for me until 6:00 am. I wasn't in labor, so I just dozed in the waiting room. Once I got in there, got settled and they started the inducement process, my nurse told me that I needed to tell her when the contractions became too strong to handle and she would give me an epidural. Now, I am the kind of person that will basically grit my teeth and get through anything. I have a really high pain threshold. I got nervous that I would just lay in bed and grimace through the pain and it would be too late for an epidural. So I asked her "What kind of pain are we talking about here? When should I tell you?" And she said "When you are mildly uncomfortable" and I said "Umm, I'm mildly uncomfortable NOW". And so it began. My husband, my mom and my grandmother were all in the room with me (delivery rooms at Hoag are huge, so it wasn't crowded one bit) When I had my daughter, I breezed in, gave a few pushes and voila~ she was out! Not this time. For some reason, the epidural made my blood pressure drop and made me vomit. Not fun. He was facing up instead of down and his shoulder was sort of wedged in there..somewhere. I felt like I pushed and pushed forever, but it was really only hard labor for a few hours. I was worried the whole time that my doctor was going to just scrap it and do a C-section, but we kept at it and at almost 8 PM on August 5, with a great big cry, my precious little boy finally arrived.
They immediately put him on my chest for skin-to-skin and all I could do was cry. I cried at everything when I was pregnant. It was emotional for me anyway once we found out we were having a boy, not only because I knew I would name him after my brother, but because I knew Addison would be a big sister and there is no relationship in my life that I treasured as much as being a sister. All of this made me more emotional and sensitive than normal β β and normally, I'm a pretty sensitive girl! The rush of feeling that you get after birth is indescribable β β you are exhausted, euphoric, relieved, and welling up from somewhere deep inside, filled with love in every part of your body. It is overwhelming to look down at your child for the first time. His face was new to me but I looked into his eyes and he looked at mine and I knew him. I was finally able to hold the little being that twisted and turned and squirmed inside of me for 9 months. And as I softly spoke to him, he heard the voice that he had been hearing for so long from the inside. I didn't know it then, but he is the most mellow, accommodating, go-with-the-flow little man. Our days are unpredictable and I am constantly throwing him in his car-seat to go get his sister from school or run errands and he handles it all without a peep. I love my son with a depth and fervor that I would have not thought possible. I want so much for him-- to live his life with an open, generous, accepting heart and have his days be blessed with love. As for the love part, this little family of mine is just showering him with it! I am not sleeping, I am barely showering, but I am happier than I have ever been! Thank you so much for stopping by, dearest reader. Sweetly, Michelle