George Tucker Brady, or Judd as we are calling him, was born at 7:23pm on Friday July 20th, 2012. He weighed in at 6 lbs 14 oz and we thought he was 20 inches (according to the hospital) but the Dr's office confirmed he is in fact 19 1/2 inches.
Judd gave us a run for our money during labor and delivery, but I guess I wouldn't expect anything else considering all the scares that came up during my pregnancy with him. First it was bradycardia at 20 weeks, then early contractions and a month of bedrest at 30 weeks, and then the little guy decided to be content and just hang out until 39 weeks and 2 days. So, here is Judd's Labor and Delivery story. I'll try to make it as concise as possible. :) We arrived at the hospital at 7am Friday morning after having contractions all night. I was observed in Triage for a while and then at about 10am they admitted us and I got the most glorious epidural ever. The contractions were pretty intense and I was getting worn out since they started on Thursday afternoon. Everything was fine until they broke my water. We knew Judd had the cord around his neck from previous ultrasounds, and as soon as they broke my water he started having severe decelerations in his heart rate with every contraction. There I was, nearly paralyzed from the epidural, and every contraction they had me flipping from side to side and even up on my hands and knees to try to get his heart rate back up. It felt like there were ten people in the room as soon as they broke my water, all trying to keep our little man safe. They ended up putting fluid back into the uterus since he was doing better before they broke my water, and that helped a little. We found a spot on my right side where he did great so I laid there, not moving a muscle, for a good two hours. The Dr. came in to check me, said I was a 10, and we started pushing. Again, Judd was struggling and then I experienced the most terrifying moments of my life....in all reality it was probably only 15 seconds or so but it felt like hours. He had a probe on his head to monitor his heart rate more accurately and after pushing I couldn't hear the beeps on the monitor anymore. People were flipping me all around and talking and I didn't understand everything but I just felt so scared for our little guy. Mac squeezed my hand and said it would all be okay and then we started to hear the beeps on the monitor again. The Dr. decided to let the baby "labor down" on his own for 20 more minutes so that I wouldn't have to push for so long since Judd wasn't handling it well. When it was time to push again he did a little better, but still not great. The Dr. told us that we could try a vacuum assist delivery or go straight to an emergency c-section. Again, I was so scared and didn't know what was best, but we decided to try a vacuum assist and if it didn't work we were headed back for a c-section. The room was already ready for us. That's how close it came. Three pushes later, Judd was born and I broke down crying. I didn't get to hold him right away since they had called in a NICU nurse to check him out and make sure everything was okay with him. Mac got to go be with him while they cleaned him up and I got put back together. The cord was wrapped around his neck twice. We are so grateful that he made it to us safe and sound. It was by far one of the happiest moments of our lives and one I will never forget.
Judd is just about the calmest baby I've ever seen. He eats, sleeps, poops and pees. And in between when he is awake he is generally completely content to just look around and take everything in. Right after he was born he was so alert, the Doctors and all the nurses commented on what an alert baby he was. Mac and I are completely and totally in love with that little boy and are LOVING being parents. I miss my sleep a little bit but my mom is a champ and has been doing serious night time duty so I can just wake up to nurse and then go back to sleep. Mac is such a cute daddy. He sure loves his baby boy and it melts my heart whenever I see them snuggling or mac doing some crazy dance with Judd's arms and legs. He is the diaper changing master (who remembers mac planning to wear a gas mask and rubber gloves to change a diaper!!??) Since It has taken me a little longer to bounce back mac has been doing the majority of the diaper changing. He still has a few moments where the poop gets to him but he doesn't complain.
I've only had one break down so far. I was on some pain medication and ibuprofin and somehow just forgot to take it when I was supposed to, so it all wore off. Add that to the three first sleepless nights of being a new parent (I just wanted to stay up with him all the time or just sit in the glider and rock him when he fell asleep, so I wasn't sleeping much....or at all really) feeling physically like I'd been hit by a train....literally, I'll spare you the details but delivery was extra rough on my body...and you get an emotional breakdown. It was pretty pathetic really. My body hurt so bad and I just went and laid down. Mac came and snuggled me and rubbed my aching back and it just opened the flood gates. Everyone was asking me what was wrong and I honestly couldn't tell them. "I don't even know why I am crying!!!" I was so overwhelmed with joy and happiness, anxiety over being a new parent, overwhelmed with gratitude for finally having this sweet perfect baby boy in my arms, and I just had to let it out!! I had a good 30 minute sob session, then Judd woke up and I nursed him and was totally fine. I blame it on the hormones. :)
Anyway, I know this is long but I've been meaning to update everyone and finally had the energy this morning after a good nights sleep (again, thanks to my champ of a mom). We love our baby boy and this new adventure that we are on!! Here is a link to view the facebook photo album from delivery and his first few days of life: https://www.facebook.
Happy one week to our sweet Judd!!
