Helllooooo Hudson!!

Meet Hudson Timothy Riddle!!

Born May 25, 2014 at 12:05pm
8 pounds, 1 ounce
21 inches long

 

Davis got to come meet his brother around 3:30 that afternoon!
He was (and still is) beyond excited about his baby!!

We were able to leave the hospital the next day after Hudson's 24hr test.

We are all so thrilled he's here and already so in love!! 

For those of you who asked about my birth story:

My WONDERFUL delivery team!
My nurse Liz is on the left and my midwife Hilary is on the right.
And Aaron was taking the picture, but he was by far my biggest support!!

Hudson's birth went as smoothly as we could have ever hoped for... and he was 6 days early and I'd been hoping for another early baby! I knew in the middle of the night (2am) I probably was in labor because I started having cramping that was obviously different from the Braxton Hicks I'd been having my entire 3rd trimester. But my contractions didn't actually start until 6am, so I woke Aaron up then to let him know.  Since it was a Sunday morning, he ran over to Westover to get last minute things prepared for the middle school that morning... it made me very thankful we live 3 minutes from his work.  :)  When Davis woke up around 7:45, Aaron fed him breakfast and got him dressed & ready and then my mom came around 9 & got him and took him to church. Meanwhile, I was having contractions but they weren't very strong - I could still walk around to help out with Davis a little and get last minute things together. Once Davis left, Aaron & I went outside and walked laps around the backyard - thankfully it was a gorgeous day with low humidity so it was very comfortable to walk around outside. We were outside walking from about 9:30 until 10:45 and then we decided we probably should head to the hospital to be safe. My contractions were now about 2-3 minutes apart (although mine were this close together for hours with Davis) and were fairly strong but still manageable. Aaron called my midwife to let her know we were going to come in and we went ahead & packed up the car and headed out. I had 3 contractions in the car (thankfully we only live about 5 minutes from the hospital) and although they certainly weren't fun, they weren't as bad as I expected. We got to to hospital at 11:15am and they quickly checked me in a triage room. At this point, my contractions were really strong and close together. My midwife thought I was about 7-8cm dilated and 100% effaced so they immediately took me to a labor & delivery room. A few minutes after we got into the room, I started feeling the urge to push so they checked me again & I was 10cm. My water still hadn't broken so they broke it before I started pushing. I'm not sure how long pushing took (maybe 15 minutes?), but it was much shorter & easier than last time! My midwife claims I only really pushed 1 or 2 times, but that's definitely not how I remember it!  :)  Hudson was born at 12:05pm, so overall I labored at home for about 5 hours and was at the hospital for about 45 minutes before Hudson made his appearance. This birth went a lot faster & easier than Davis's 14 hour birth. I think a lot of it was I was more mentally prepared for how tough an unmedicated delivery is, and my body was more prepared for a second birth. And I am so thankful for Aaron - he was so supportive and a great coach!! Aaron & I were both so pleased with how smoothly the whole delivery went and we're so grateful that our sweet Hudson is here safe & sound and in our arms! A huge THANKS to those of you who were praying for a safe & smooth delivery!