Hudson's birth story

Where to begin...well reading my thoughts on pregnancy 6 days before I was induced will tell you what mindset I was in before he got here. Get him out of me! I was so big and he was sitting so high in my ribs (just like all of my other kids) and I literally felt like I couldn't breathe. I had a serious meltdown one day because I felt so claustrophobic and felt like I just wanted to crawl out of my own skin but I couldn't. It was really weird. Anyway, I just felt like this baby was big for sure. The night before he was born I decided to have my mom take my kids to sleep over because we had gotten a call to be at the hospital by 7 am. We sat and chatted with my parents for awhile and I told my mom to mark my words that he was going to be a big baby! I was starting to feel a little nervous and anxious, knowing that in a few hours I would be having another baby. I know this is my fourth baby, but you never know how each delivery is going to go. I always worry and think something will go wrong. I had James give me a blessing to calm my nerves. I honestly felt so much better after the blessing and was just trying to get every last thing together before the morning. I finally fell asleep around midnight and woke up at 1am with extreme contractions like I have never had before. Usually I could change positions and it would make the pain go away. It was not helping this time. I was in so much pain! I thought, of course you are going to come on your own now that I am getting induced! We started timing the contractions starting around 2:30 and they were really close together. I wanted to wait awhile to make sure they would continue and of course they stopped around 4:30. I wanted to get atleast a few hours of sleep since I had a lot of work to do the next day. We got to the hospital, got all hooked up and had my pitocin started by about 8-8:30. I was at a 3 when I came in so it made me feel better that I had atleast progressed a little bit. As the contractions started to come I got my epidural which was the best thing ever! By 10:00 I was dilated to a 7! I couldn't believe how fast I had already progressed. Usually when I get to a 6 or 7 I am fully dilated within 30 minutes to an hour. So she checked me at 11:00 and I was at an 8. I kept feeling pressure but I wasn't dilating any more. The nurse was thinking he was caught up in the cord and wanted the doctor to come and squirt fluid in to my uterus to see if we could get him to get unstuck. His heart rate would drop with some contractions as well which was concerning. The nurse called the doctor to come over and we waited...and waited...and waited. I was getting so anxious and worried about my baby. Where was the doctor?! He finally came in about 12:50 and checked me and I was still about an 8.5-9 cm. He told the nurse that I was fully dilated and to get everything ready. He came over to me and said softly, "You aren't fully dilated, but I think you can just push him out. Are you good with that?" I said sure, I just wanted to get him out and safely in my arms. He had the forceps ready in case he got stuck. I pushed 4-5 really good long 10 second pushes with all my might. I have never pushed so hard in my life!! He was born at 1:11pm. He came out without needing forceps and I had no tearing either which was nice. That's the difference between the 1st and 4th kid. :) As he was coming out Dr. Jones asked what my biggest baby was? I said 7lb 14 oz. "He's gonna be a lot bigger than that!" That made me not feel so crazy for thinking the baby was so big, because he was! He came out and didn't cry for about 10 seconds. I couldn't see him and was freaking out! The cord was wrapped around his neck twice. He was fine, and let out the cutest little cry. He weighed 8 lbs 7 oz and had the cutest chubby little cheeks.They placed him on my chest and did skin to skin. I couldn't hold back the tears when I looked into his adorable little face. This was my last baby and I wanted to cherish every second of this time with him. I felt so thankful to Heavenly Father for this beautiful little boy that I was blessed with. I am still so thankful for Hudson. He is so sweet and the best baby! He is the perfect ending to our family. I love him so much!

Goodbye Preschool

 Preston graduated from preschool at the end of May. We loved Learning Dynamics and couldn't have asked for a better teacher than Mrs. Flack. She was such a sweetheart and taught Preston so much. He is reading almost as well as Carter now and will breeze through kindergarten. They had a circus day on their final day of school which he loved.

 This is the little girl who on the first day of school kissed him! Preston had a love/hate relationship with her. She drove him crazy sometimes but they also played well most days together.  He will never forget Sarah!

Here is Preston with a few of his classmated on the last day saying goodbye. We'll miss you Mrs. Flack but he is so ready for kindergarten!!