Mother's Day Weekend

We had a very low-key Mother's Day weekend. Saturday, Joseph's parents and sister came over and we cooked out. We enjoyed spending a few hours with them, and they enjoyed getting some Hudson time! :) We laid around the rest of the evening after they left and even got to take a little nap. Sunday, we had a very quiet morning.....it's not like you can do too much with a 2 1/2 week old. However, we did decide to get out for a quick outing Sunday afternoon. I needed to get out of the house and we needed some groceries, so we made a quick trip to the mall and to Publix. Hudson did great and slept the whole time.

He loves his carseat!

I mostly just wanted to get out and about since I've been cooped up in the house for weeks now. My hubby treated me to a few things while we were out. I got a pretty new dress, and these bad boys...

I love a beautiful pair of heels and I haven't worn any in MONTHS and I can't wait to get dressed up and wear these things to a wedding or 2 this Summer!! They're so pretty, and they're nude so they'll go with a lot! (which made Joseph feel better about the price tag...they weren't that bad, FYI) I also got some much needed Spanx..for the dress, and just to make myself feel better while I'm losing the pregnancy weight. I've never had Spanx before and am excited to try them out! After our quick mall outing, we picked up a few things at Publix and headed home. It was nice to get out in the real world again for a little while. ;-) I missed seeing my mom on Mother's Day, but I'm glad I got to spend so much time with her last week when we were staying with them due to the power outage from the storms. I have the best mother (& father) in the entire world and I truly don't know where I'd be without her. I feel so blessed to have her in my life.


Today we had Hudson's 2 week checkup (even though he'll be 3 weeks old in 2 days!). It went great! He has surpassed his birth weight and now weighs in at 8 lbs. 11 oz. His birth weight was 8 lbs. 3 oz. Not too shabby! It makes me feel relieved to know he's getting enough to eat! The boy's a hog, but I sometimes worry he's not getting enough. Well, I'm no longer worrying. ;) The doctor was very pleased with his growth and weight gain and said he's one healthy boy! We go back in June for his 2 month checkup. I'm dreading those shots!! :(


I hope y'all had a fantastic Mother's Day weekend, whether you're a mother or not! My first Mother's Day wasn't filled with tons of excitement, but it was filled with tons of time spent with the two men who made me a mother...and I wouldn't have it any other way!

I love these two more than anything!!

The Faces Of Hudson

I'm not sure where the bump on his face came from. It was there when he woke up from his nap. He tends to keep his hands on his face so there's no telling! :)

Have a fabulous weekend!! :-)

2 Weeks Postpartum

So, you know I gained more weight than I wanted to. I wanted to stick to 25-30.....well....I gained 45 pounds during the pregnancy! 45!!! That just seems like SO much to me....I know there are women who gain 60+, but seriously, I cannot believe I gained 45 pounds in 9 months! It's ridiculous!! Like I said in my last post, I think a good bit of it was fluid, especially toward the end, but still. Not acceptable. Well, it's been 2 weeks since I had Hudson and as of today I've lost a grand total of.......30 pounds!!! Not too shabby!! I can probably credit most of it to breastfeeding! Now, hopefully the last 15 won't be absolutely impossible to lose.

And because I always love to see postpartum pictures........

Here is my 39 week picture, taken on 4/18.


Here is my 2 week postpartum picture taken today, in the same outfit. (I realize I don't need the maternity shirt anymore, but it's so comfy! HA!)**Note how much messier the room is now after bringing a baby home! HA!**
I still have the stubborn belly that is slowly returning to normal, but I'm pretty pleased with the weight loss so far. I cannot tell you (well, unless you've been there) how good it feels to have MY feet and MY ankles and MY hands and fingers back...instead of an elephant's! HA! After I lose the pregnancy weight, I will set out to lose a few more stubborn pounds I needed to lose before I got pregnant. It will happen in time, I know. :-)

The Birth Story

Well, not the whole story, but ya know......

I apologize if this is a little ramblicious.....it's kind of like your wedding, it goes by so fast and you can't remember it all.
I had my 39 week appointment on Tuesday, 4/19. We went in determined to schedule an induction and that's exactly what we asked for. The doctor's appointment went well, with the exception of slightly elevated BP. I hadn't really made any more progress since my last visit. The doctor (not my primary OB, because she does not visit the Cullman office where I've gone since we moved) was fine with scheduling an induction for that week and we looked at doing it on Thursday, with us coming in Wednesday night to start things up. She was going to call the other doctor I had been seeing in Cullman to see if she was good with doing it. We were to wait for a call back to 100% confirm it would be happening. Well, we waited for a few hours and decided to call back. They hadn't heard back from her yet so they said they'd call us when they did. About 30 minutes later, I got a call from the nurse saying we needed to be at the hospital that night!! WHA?? I mean, we were excited and ready to get the show on the road, but we were NOT thinking it would be happening that night! We both panicked slightly, but we quickly gathered ourselves together, finished up our packing, tidied up the house, and got the dogs situated at a kennel. We set out for Birmingham but decided we needed to stop and get some dinner before checking in at the hospital. I wanted one good last meal before I couldn't eat anything for hours and hours. We had to be at the hospital around 8 and we were pushing it to get there, so my sweet husband called an Outback on the way and let them know what our situation was. The manager was SO nice, and had a table ready for us...it was a table for like 6, mind you....a waiter standing by ready to take our order (we knew what we wanted.....filet and lobster tail for this gal!! ;) and the kitchen had it out to us in FOUR minutes!! Yeah, you read that right. And it was absolutely delicious too!!! We ate every bit of our food and were in and out in about 25 minutes! The Outback of Fultondale rocks!!! The waiter and manager were tipped well, I promise! ;)

Once we got to the hospital the nerves set in. I had never stayed in a hospital before....ever, so I wasn't sure what to expect. My admitting nurse was so sweet, and funny! All of my nurses were amazing, actually. That is what I'll always remember about my stay, aside from the beautiful baby boy I had...the wonderful nurses. They are top notch. We took a couple of pictures of us when we got to the hospital, but mine is so gross of me I'm not going to share it. I was SO swollen. I had so much fluid by the end! (I've already lost a lot of weight in just 2 weeks because I'm pretty sure a lot was fluid...I'll do another post about that in a minute)

That night, the nurse put in the Cytotec (?) and gave me 2 Ambien to help me sleep...and boy did they!?!!? HA! I woke up, or was woken up, bright and early to get the induction started. This is where it all gets a little blurry. They gave me Nubain and I pretty much passed out. I remember getting the epidural shortly after, and that's about it. (and they're right...the IV is worse than the epidural!) Up until it was time to start pushing, I don't really remember much at all. I was told I was pretty much in and out of consciousness. HA! The labor was very easy....obviously, right? ;) I wish I could say the same about the delivery. I pushed for about 90 minutes and I didn't think Hudson was ever going to come out. I was sure I'd have to have a C-section. From what the nurse said, his head just wouldn't budge after a certain point. Our families were freaking out in the waiting room, wondering if everything was OK....our moms got scolded by the hospital staff for trying to listen for something from the empty room next door. HA! I was exhausted, had to be put on oxygen, and wanted to give up, honestly. It was only because of my nurse and husband that I was able to keep going. They were both incredible. It was just us 3 up until like the last 10 minutes. My doctor came in to check on me and at that point his head was still being stubborn. The nurse told her not to go far because it would happen any minute now. Well, what does she do? Goes up to her office and here comes Hudson!!! Not even joking....we're all freaking out and laughing...of course it doesn't help that I'm laughing and the nurse keeps telling me to stop! She had to keep Hudson in! HA! It took my doctor a good 5 minutes or more to get back, which felt like a week instead of just a few minutes! Once she got there, he basically came right on out.

It was the most exhausting, frustrating, amazing, wonderful experience I've ever had in my life and I'll never forget the minute I met him for the first time. It was all worth it. I know everybody says that, but it truly was. Once I saw him I forgot about all the pushing, all the discomforts from the last 9 months, and all the things I had complained about during the pregnancy.

Hudson Thomas arrived on April 20 at 1:58 pm. He weighed 8 lbs. 3 oz. and measured 21 inches long. He was (and IS) absolutely beautiful and perfect!

I feel like he's changed so much in just 2 weeks and he looks totally different now. I still can't decide who he looks like. Now that all of my rambling is through, I'll just leave you with a whole bunch of pictures.

We are over the moon in love with our sweet baby boy. He has already brought us so much closer and I feel blessed beyond anything I deserve to have these two men in my life. I can't wait to make sweet memories with my little family.