4 1/2 weeks old

Wow, does time fly when you have 2 kids! I have not had a chance to blog more due to being mommy to 2 wonderful children. Hudson will be 5 weeks old this Sunday. I try and take in every moment of the baby stage with him. I love to watch him sleep, eat, swing, and look all around when he is not doing any of the above mentioned things. Bailey is a huge help around the house and with Hudson. Bailey says, "I am glad we had a baby." I tell her, "me too." Bailey is very much into the why, how, what, where???? stage in life right now. Bailey loves to ask questions about fire trucks, fire, fire extinguishers, fire alarms etc. We have ventured to the library to try and find books on fire, DVD's etc. We only found one book and one movie, but they have kept her content so far. We were shopping one day in Carter's store for children's clothing and she found an extinguisher and said, "mommy this is like the one on my puzzle." She wants to be a firefighter when she gets older, she is almost 3 so we will see how many times her occupation changes until adulthood.

A princess party is in the making for her 3rd birthday. I will be making a Princess castle cake. I love making her birthday cakes. Last year she was into trains so I made a train cake, it turned out better than what I imagined it could. We will see what happens to the Princess cake. She has her Grandma Pat and Papa Larry coming from Nebraska to see her for her birthday and to visit Hudson too. I am going to keep this post short, because I need to get a few more things done before the kiddos wake up from their naps. I love being a mom, even though some days are challenging. God has blessed me with 2 amazing children.

Breastfeeding 101

I am a devoted breastfeeding mom. I breastfed Bailey my oldest until she was 17 months. It was harder for me to give up than her. It was the best thing for her though. Bailey rarely gets sick whether that has anything to do with breastfeeding her that long I do not know but I will bet on it. Since my new little one Hudson has arrived. Breastfeeding has been something I have had difficulties with and set backs. Hudson did not take to me for the first 24 hours of his life. I thought something was wrong with me, my boobs, my milk, something drastic. Hudson took in a lot of fluids when he was born and spit that up for the first 24 hours of life. He had to have formula due to his blood sugar being low, which he spit that up too. I told my husband before leaving the hospital I wanted to get him to latch on to me with no problems. A lactation nurse came in and he had no problems latching on.... so what was I doing wrong.

At home for the first 3 weeks Hudson has and continues to have difficulties latching on. God has been my rock through this. I have been in tears sometimes and almost given up, but then God reminds me to keep going and trying, Hudson will eventually get it. In the first week of life at home one day it took Hudson almost 45 minutes to latch on to get his milk intake for the morning. I was in tears and crying out to God to help me and to help him. I tell Hudson, "you can do it." Already cheering on my little guy just so he can eat! I got a call later that day from a neighbor who attends our church. She asked and had heard I had Hudson and wanted to make sure all went well. She also told me over her baby monitor she picked up some of our frequency and heard me when I was trying to feed Hudson. She asked if he was having problems latching on and figured it was Hudson and me that she overheard on her monitor. She said she prayed for me and for him because she had difficulties with all of her children in the breastfeeding department. Wow, stop and think.....This is truly answered prayers and God working in my life to strengthen me more through this difficult time. Praise God!!!!

A week later I woke up with a very tender breast and felt total engorgement. Through church it started hurting way worse than just engorgement. I then cried into my husband's arms after church telling him something was wrong with my breast. I called the lactation nurse at the hospital and left a message. I prayed she would get back to me soon. I was in a lot of pain and in tears. I could not feed Hudson on my right side it hurt so bad, I could pump on that side. The nurse called me back within 30 minutes. After hearing my message she was pretty sure that I had a clogged milk duct. I was relieved to know the pain was not just in my head. For the next 24 hours I put warm compresses on my breast and used olive oil on a cottonball at the end of my nipple to help open the milk duct up. Within 24 hours, I was feeding Hudson on the right side again. Praise God again!!! Hudson does much better with latching on, but I still stop and pray many times when things get difficult and when things are going good with breastfeeding. I am not one to really open up about the whole breastfeeding thing, but it is the experience I like to share where I put my trust in God alone. Breastfeeding is such a beautiful gift God gives woman and I am thankful I can breastfeed.

My LIttle boy has arrived

I will probably be leaving out some details but wanted to share my birthing experience the second time around.

Saturday January 24th, I started having contractions when we were having lunch in Seattle with my family and extended family. The contractions were 4 minutes apart and I had trouble walking, talking through them. We were headed to see my brother-in-law's new Restaurant Depot Store, but decided to take a detour to the hospital after lunch because the contractions were getting stronger and the nurse that spoke to me on the phone said come on in. My nurse who checked me said I was still 3 cm dialated and 90% efaced. I was in shock I had not changed any. She told us to walk for 30 minutes and come back and she would check. After the 30 minutes, no changes. I was almost in tears, okay I was in tears. She said she would call my doctor let him know and he would make the decision from there. I truly thought I would be going home. When she came in with the news that my doctor would be willing to break my water I was more than thrilled. My doctor broke my water at 5:50pm Sat. January 24th. My nurse had me walk and continue to move about. The nurse had problems getting my IV hadlock in, which was a valve if they had to hook me up to the IV for an epidural. I had in my mind I would be going this route. I did not take an epidural with Bailey and wished I would have, but after she was born the pain was gone.

I was progressing marvelously thanks to a little monkey I was focused on through my contractions and more walking and breathing through them. My nurse was the most helpful when they started getting harder for me. I asked her when I was 5 cm dialated what she thought about epidurals. She gave me her experiences with her children. She had 2 epidurals and the other 2 natural. She told me she did not like that her legs were numb and she had a hard time pushing. The other thing she said was an epidural could prolong my labor and they may have to use a vaccum or forceps to get my baby out while pushing. I took this all into consideration. Through my labor God was with me. I prayed a lot through my labor and concentrated on Bailey and how my body was designed for giving birth. God was my Strong Tower. A band called Kutless sings this song which is one of my favorites. I also had in the background, Jon played my favorite Christian artists throughout my labor. I could eat popsicles, drink water, and even have chicken broth if I wanted. Jon kept saying I was a witness to people in the room. My mom, 2 Aunts, and sister were in the room with me. About 7-8cm dialated my blood pressure shot up and beeping on the machine was going on. My nurse tended to me well and with God's guidance my blood pressure finally went down. The anxiousness was taking over, but I managed to get back on track with breathing differently through my contractions. My nurse talked me through each contraction and with locking in on her eyes I made it through each one the harder they got. With a technique of doing "hehehoo" and really forcing the "hoo" out is what really helped me. 8cm dialated my back started really hurting and I almost wanted to get the epidural and the thoughts of "what am I doing?" kept running through my mind. Again, asking God for strength to get me through this was my hope and strength.

I was finally to 10cm and ready to push. The pushing part I was not looking forward to, because I pushed for 3 hours with Bailey. I started out pushing against a bar that was connected to my bed. This technique only lasted one time, because it made me feel yucky sick. I then had my sister on one leg and my husband on the other and beared down and screamed like no other but his head crowned within one to two sets of pushes. On the next set I remember hearing her no more pushing and she called for my doctor. My doctor came in and with one more set of pushing and screaming my doctor said, next time no screaming on the next push and sure enough I beared down again and did not scream, focused on what I had to do to get my baby out and he was born the next push at 2:57am on Sunday morning January 25th. Tears of joy and relief came over me like you would not believe. I only pushed for 15 minutes which felt like to me an eternity!

Hudson Tait Anderson was born weighing 9 pounds 14 ounces and he was a week and a half early. Thank the Lord my doctor wanted to break my water otherwise he would have been growing bigger and bigger inside of me. What an amazing experience this was. I totally went natural. I took 2 Tylenol due to a headache that would not go away, but I don't think that counts. My husband calls me "Super Woman." I would say I was more of God's "Super Warrior" that through Christ I can do all things and all things are possible. I have a scripture above my mirror in my living room, "For with God nothing shall be impossible." Luke 1:37 this scripture went through my mind as I labored and delivered, plus others. I have other stories to share from at home and my walk with God strengthening me through my son, but I will have to blog another day about those. Enjoy some pics and Blessings to all!