Bradley - [One Month]

Time sure does fly. I can't believe Bradley is already a month old! He:

• Eats every 2-3 hours
• Already had his first cold
• Weighs around 10 pounds and already wears size 1 diapers and size 0-3 month clothes
• Looks pretty handsome when he goes to church

• Sleeps in his crib at night and for naps... and sleeps much better than his older brother did when he was a baby
• Still has all his beautiful dark hair

• Is generally happy
• Is adored by his older siblings and gets lots of hugs and kisses
• Grunts and groans almost every time I swaddle him until he manages to free his arms (no matter how tightly I swaddle!)
• Likes to poop when his diaper has just been changed

Introducing Bradley Morgan Hudson

Bradley Morgan Hudson was born September 28, 2015 at 8:12 pm. He weighed in at 7 lbs 3.6 oz and 20.5 inches long and had a full head of dark hair (just like his older brother!). We have loved him every second and are so happy to be a family of five. Here are a few pictures, followed by some details of the big day for anyone interested :-)

First bath - he wasn't a fan!

Kisses from Kylee and Tyler

Cousins! Chase and Bradley are exactly 7 weeks apart.

Grandma and Grandpa visited Bradley in the hospital.

Let's see... where to begin? As I mentioned in my last post, my doctor had started watching me pretty closely. She wasn't happy with where my blood pressure was, so she kept sending me to the hospital for labs. I ended up going over to the hospital FIVE times the few weeks before Bradley was born. I would be there for at least a couple of hours each time while they monitored me and waited for my lab results.

Luckily my labs always came back fine, but since my blood pressure was high (gestational hypertension), my doctor set up my induction for Monday, September 28th (39 weeks) at 5:00 am. Kylee stayed with her mom on Sunday night and Tyler stayed with my parents since Matt and I needed to leave the house at 4:30 am Monday! Once we got the the hospital, they checked me right in, got me to a room, and started the pitocin and my Strep B antibiotics. I was already dilated to a 3, so I was hopeful the process would move along quickly. I was wrong about that!

By 10:30 I was finally dilated to a 4.5 and I got an epidural around 11:15. I was grateful to get the epidural, but we started having a few issues around noon when they went to put my catheter in. Bradley apparently didn't like me being on my back - his heart rate plummeted. They had me get on my hands and knees and gave me oxygen and ephedrine. It took almost 9 minutes for his heart rate to finally normalize and I was able to lay back down... but I had to stay on my side for the entire rest of my labor. Each time from there on out that they had me roll from one side to the other to keep the epidural even, Bradley's heart rate would decrease and I would need oxygen again to get it back up. At 2:45 I was dilated to a 7 and was dilated to an 8 at 4:30. They checked again just after 7:00 pm and I was finally at a 10. They had me start pushing with each contraction around 7:15 and Bradley was born almost an hour later.

I was a little tired, but honestly, the labor/delivery wasn't as bad as I imagined it might be. Tyler was so little, so I figured having Bradley would be a completely different experience. I did have to push a lot longer, but that was about it. I feel lucky that I haven't really been that sore and have felt really good overall. I was so grateful to Matt for being there in the room with me the entire time and being my cheerleader. I appreciate his encouragement through the entire process.

The biggest difference between having Bradley and having Tyler was the part after delivery. Tyler was rushed right out of my room to the NICU. With Bradley, the nurses wiped him off and handed him to me for some skin-to-skin time. Bradley wasn't very happy at first... he cried and cried. He finally calmed down, though, and even nursed a little. I got to hold him for about an hour before they moved me to my postpartum room. Again, it was so different (in a good way!) having Bradley right there in my room. I got to watch the nurse give him his first bath and we got to cuddle a little bit more before I had the nurses take him to the nursery so I could get some sleep. I thought we would get to go home the next day, but they had us stay one more night... there were some tests that they needed to do on Bradley when he was 24-48 hours old, and my doctor wanted me to stay one more night to monitor my blood pressure. We were pretty excited on Wednesday to put this kiddo in his car seat and take him home. Again, SO different having him home right away, and SO nice! It made me even more thankful for a healthy, full-term baby!

Coming home!

Life the last 2.5 weeks since we've been home has been really good. We have had a bit of a rough transition with Tyler... the first day was the worst. He doesn't like sharing my attention, and decided he needed me every time I was feeding Bradley. Things have gotten a lot better, though. Tyler is figuring out the whole big brother thing. He loves giving Bradley kisses and hugs and like helping me with things like throwing diapers in the garbage, bringing me the burp cloth, etc.

Speaking of Tyler, look how much our two boys look alike (besides the fact that Bradley is more than twice the size of Tyler)!

And finally, one last picture - taken when Bradley was one week old. Jen took some beautiful pictures of Bradley that I will post soon!

Pregnancy #2 Update

It's been a while since I posted about being pregnant, so thought I would do a quick update! I am now almost 37 weeks... meaning I've made it more than three weeks farther than I did with Tyler. Hooray! Here are some highlights and lowlights:

Lowlights

• My last post talked about my nausea subsiding... unfortunately, starting about a week after that post (the beginning of July), I started throwing up again daily. The good news is that it has typically just been once each morning and then I am fine. I can handle that. MUCH better than the beginning of the pregnancy.
• I was excited thinking that I wasn't going to end up with acne all over again like I did with Tyler. Well, it showed up. It's all over my back and chest, and even a little on my stomach. I call it acne, but one of the nurses from the hospital said it was PUPPPs, which is described as a rash that some women get during pregnancy. The nurse said something about it being really itchy, which it is! I feel like I am always itching my back or stomach and the itch just doesn't go away. I looked up PUPPPs on the internet, though, and the pictures that it shows are much more disgusting looking than what I have, and I don't have stretch marks (one positive thing!), so I'm not totally sure. In an case, I hate this acne/rash. I can't wait until it is gone. With Tyler, it stuck around for months after he was born. Hoping this goes away more quickly this time.
• My blood pressure has started to creep back up again. I have been to the hospital three times in the last two weeks for additional lab work and monitoring. So far, my labs have come back okay (no liver or kidney issues), so that's good. My doctor doesn't want me to get as sick as I did with Tyler, so it sounds like she will be inducing me early, but not sure exactly what that means... except for the fact that she has put me on bed rest until this baby comes. Um, do you know how difficult "bed rest" is with a not-quite-two-year-old!? I know that it's good for the baby to continue to grow and develop on the inside, but I'm almost looking forward to being induced and having him join our family. I have a doctor's appointment on Monday, so we'll see what she says!

Highlights

• In my last post, I mentioned I would be having my glucose test soon... Well, I had it and it came back positive :-( That meant I had to do a 3-hour glucose test, staying at the doctor's office for the entire test. The reason this is in the highlights section is because the 3-hour test came back negative! No gestational diabetes here. Note: It's probably not a good idea to drink orange juice on the morning of the glucose test, even if it is before the required time you aren't supposed to eat or drink anymore. The yogurt with chocolate chips probably didn't help either.
• With Tyler being born about the same time of year as this kiddo will be, I didn't have a lot of stuff to get. All I really needed to do was wash some clothes to be ready to welcome our little boy home. We've got a new room all set up for Tyler, but we won't worry about that transition yet (from a crib to a full-sized bed!). I'll plan on keeping our baby in a cradle next to my bed for a while... unless he is as noisy a sleeper as Tyler was, then we might need to figure something else out :-)
• I think we have a name! I'm pretty sure his name will be Bradley. That was Matt's top choice when we had Tyler, and I'm getting used to the name. I've been trying to call him Bradley when talking to Kylee and Tyler so that he won't just be "baby" when he's born. We'll see how that goes!

And here's a bump picture! I am definitely bigger than when I had Tyler... but I am guessing Bradley is already at least twice the size Tyler was when he was born!

Kylee's First Soccer Game... Ever!

Kylee started soccer this week... with her first practice on Thursday and her first game today! She was pretty excited for the game! She did so well - we were so proud :-) She had a couple of really good stops at goalie and she also made a goal for her team. Her smile after making the goal was priceless - I wish we had captured it! I'm sure there will be more of those, but for now, enjoy a few pictures of our budding soccer star.

 

POST Graduation

Last summer, Matt decided to apply as a patrol officer with the City of Boise. After a several months long application/interview/background check process, he was offered the position! We were all so excited for him... but next came months of training. Matt started his training in March with the City of Boise (3.5 months). Next came 10 weeks of Idaho POST academy - Idaho Peace Officer Standards and Training. I remember when the background check person asked me if I was okay with Matt going to POST... I of course said yes, and honestly didn't really understand why he asked me. Well, at the time, I didn't realize that POST is 10 weeks long, and Matt would only get to come home on the weekends! He had to report Sunday evening and would get to come home Friday evening... even though POST is just a few miles down the road! We couldn't go visit and he couldn't leave. Let me tell you, it was a long 10 weeks! I think it might have flown by for Matt, but for me and Kylee and Tyler, we were counting down the days until it was over.

Matt learned a lot at POST and overall I think it was a really good experience for him. Part way through the academy, the almost 50 people in his class (from different agencies all over the state), voted Matt in as class president. That meant, among other things, that Matt got to speak at graduation! He gave an awesome speech, and the POST director commented that in the 10 years that he has worked at POST, Matt's speech was by far one of the best he has ever heard (keep in mind that there are quite a few academy groups to come through POST every year!).

Needless to say, we are proud of Matt and his accomplishments up to this point. We are so happy that he is happy and enjoying his new job. He just finished his second week of FTO (field training), where he drives in a car with another officer. He will wrap up his FTO the end of November and then will start on his own in December.

Here are a few more pictures from POST graduation: