2 weeks

Here are some pics of our cutie at two weeks old!

Roman sayings

The other day Roman randomly pushed my belly and said, "Mommy, you're belly is getting smaller now that baby Hudson is here." That seriously made my Mother's Day!
We were riding in the car the other night with all three kids in a row. Which is not going well, by the way! Carmen pinches and scratches Roman the entire time! Anyways, Roman was holding Hudson's hand and said, "Mommy, he really can break." It's like it clicked in his head how fragile the baby really is. He tells the neighborhood friends that his baby brother can break. It's cute!
Last night, while I was cutting Roman's finger nails, I was talking to him about how much I love him and I do things to take care of him. He stopped and said, "Mommy, you're a superhero." I said, "Like who, wonder women?" He said, "Yes, because you work for me." Melt. My. Heart. I love the age four!

First

The first night home for little Hudson was my birthday. Matt made me feel so special by cooking a yummy dinner and getting a chocolate cake. The kids enjoyed singing to me and eating the cake, of course!
Hudson has been doing great while being at home. It's so fun to go through Roman's old baby clothes and dress Hudson. After his first week, he's been sleeping around three four-hour shifts. He's already starting to have some patterns. He nurses around 8:15-8:30 ish and then again around 12:00-12:30am, 4am ish and again around 7:30-8 am. I sleep after each of these feedings too, so I'm getting around 8 hours a night. I like his patterns so far!
The other night we gave him his first bath. I tried to bathe the other kids first. I turn around for 2 minutes and Roman had peed in the toilet. No problem, except Carmen decided to play in it and it was all in her hair and arms! Not to mention Hudson was screaming the entire time. By the time I bathe Hudson on the boys' bathroom sink, he shot pee everywhere and got all over Roman's tooth brush. Roman loves telling his friends that his baby brother peed on his toothbrush. It is absolutely non stop with three kids!!
Last night, I put Hudson in the baby Bjorne for the first time while the kids played outside. He did pretty good.
It's been an adventure adjusting to a family of five. We're living day by day and trying to embrace the craziness!

The hospital stay

The hospital stay was a little crazy! Because Hudson was over 9 lbs, they kept having to check his blood sugar levels to make sure they weren't too high. I wasn't able to try to nurse him right after delivery because the epidural made me so dizzy and nauseous. He also didn't get the amniotic fluid "squeezed" out of him, so he kind of kept choking up the stuff and wasn't hungry. It was really hard to get him to nurse and seemed like a 'Roman feeding situation' all over again! By the second night, I had to supplement a little formula because he kept loosing weight. After trying too hard not to stress and lots of prayers, my milk came in as we were leaving the hospital on Saturday morning. Yay!
We also had more drama. My mom stayed at our house the first night with the kids. Around 2:45 am, Matt gets a phone call from my mom saying that she kept passing out and couldn't get up and Roman had wet the bed and she needed help. Scary!! Matt left immediately to help her. It ended up being her blood pressure was too low, but we were really scared. Matt's dad flew in the next day to meet Hudson. Pam couldn't come because she was staying with Meg in Denver while Mike was flying. Baby Emmett was born just 8 days before Hudson. Matt ended up staying at home the second night to let my mom get rest. It was crazy being at the hospital with a newborn by myself, but the nurses were so great. I was offered to go home a day early, but quickly denied that when I remembered that I had two other littles at home.  The hospital was like vacation! ha!  I had my friend Leslie as my nurse the second night. We had lots of great conversation and I enjoyed the girl time!
Through all the drama, we were able to have the kids come up and meet Hudson on Thursday, his actual birthday, and on Friday. It melted my heart to see their excitement. Our lives are going to be crazy, have unexpected trials, and be very eventful, but we can get through anything with God's help. I feel so blessed. He's been so gracious to give us three healthy children. Thank you God!

The craziness has begun!!

Meema lovin time

Carmen kept yelling, "Baby!"

"Can I touch him?"  "Will he break?"

Our full family

Big brother gets to hold Hudson

Spider-man was so excited!

Brotherly love

Kisses for the baby

sleeping away

Pa is here!

Friday afternoon they came dressed in their matching outfits

So Sweet!  We have three kids!

Mommy is so in love!

Our family of five!

Three generations!

Getting all geared up to go home on Saturday

Ready to head home!

Headed home on my birthday!

Look at Roman's face!  They were jumping up and down with joy when we arrived home!

Hudson is here!

Hudson Matthew Franks

May 9, 2013

9lb 2oz

22" long

It all started on May 8th. I had a doctor appointment that morning and after checking me, there was no new change. I left a little emotional and frustrated. Later that afternoon, I started having lots of contractions off and on. At one point I sat on the back porch watching tons of neighborhood kids playing in our backyard with Matt and the kids whiled timed contractions. It was crazy. Matt had a tennis finals match that night and I kept telling him to go ahead and play. I actually went up there to watch him play after I put the kids down to sleep. I was still having strong contractions, but nothing timetable. I knew it was either going to happen that night or would just stop and be another week. Sure enough, after being asleep for two hours, I started having extreme painful contractions at 1:30 am.

I showered and got ready and we headed to the hospital around 3:30 am. We were exhausted. I was dilated to a 5, with contractions 5 minutes apart. We were staying at the hospital and no doubt Hudson was on his way! No false alarms this time! I got the epidural around 6 am and Matt and I both took a hour nap. By 8:30 am, the midwife came in saying that it was getting time to push. Crazy! We waited for a little longer and after pushing for around 12 minutes, Hudson made his appearance. The midwife had me lean forward and literally pull him out after his shoulders were out. It was a crazy, beautiful experience! Hudson arrived at 9:21 am!!
He felt big, but we were all shocked to hear he was 9 lbs 2 oz and 22" long! Our biggest baby yet! I was pretty nauseous and dizzy afterwards from the epidural, so it took a little more time to recover.
We feel so blessed to have a healthy beautiful baby boy to complete our family. God has truly blessed us! We love you so much Hudson Matthew Franks!

Contractions are strong!  I'm in labor and its 3am about time to head to the hospital!

I'm ready!

Almost time for his arrival

Our big boy is here!!

In love!

We're so thrilled!

Our big, healthy boy!

Proud daddy!

My heart is so full!

38 weeks!

We toured the hospital on Saturday afternoon as a family. It's so nice! So much better than the hospital in Dallas. The kids actually did great during the tour. I'm getting so ready to meet Hudson! Come on big boy! We're ready for you!

Unpacking fun

We have been doing a lot of unpacking lately. It's amazing how much fun the kids can have with paper and boxes!