Well all,
it has been awhile since I've posted but I'm going to do my best to recap the last couple weeks. The whirlwinds that they've been.
So let us venture back to Wednesday May 4th to get the complete picture. Ashley had been having more and more braxton-hicks contractions which we had become pretty familiar with. The tightening of her abs, while not painful, at least uncomfortable. Because she was having them almost every 10 minutes we started to think maybe...just maybe. Our dinner at J Alexanders consisted mostly of me timing contractions, doing the quick math and wondering what was to come. Then around 10pm Wednesday night there was a change. The contractions started becoming a bit more than uncomfortable. We tried to sleep but my mind was picturing the bag of waters busting around 3am and me in my pj's, half blind mind you, rushing around to grab our bags and delivery music mix. Ashley, obviously, was preoccupied with increasingly painful contractions. So we called the doctor, ended up waiting until 9am the next morning (no sleep for the Schots) go in only to find out Ashley had not dilated any further than a 1. Now Thursday morning we went back home, walked around reading road a few times and went back at 3pm. Again, the doc said Ashley was only at a 1 and that it could be days away. Brief side note here: she has been having very painful contractions every 5-10 minutes for around 15 hours. Before releasing us to go home though the Doctor said he was sending us up to L&D to have the babies heart monitored for an hour just to be safe. After an hour or two there the doctor comes in to tell us the baby looks great and it's time to go home. He goes to do a quick check and what do you know! Ashley is now dilated to a 4! She and I were both so relieved that all these painful contractions were at long last getting us somewhere and that we were finally going to meet our little baby soon!
It was around 6pm Thursday evening I think when we got settled into our Labor and Delivery room. All previous comments about Ashley being superwoman now put me in a position of having to think of a superior marvel comic because of how amazing she powered through contractions, kept her cool and even made jokes. Perhaps around 8pm she had dilated to a 6 and decided to go ahead with the epidural. From here it was a waiting game. Our nurses were amazing and Ashley was beyond great. Everything seemed to progress textbook. While contemplating having a quick margaritas to celebrate Cinco De Mayo the nurse did a quick check of Ashley around 11:50pm and said "you're fully dilated, still want a Cinco De Mayo baby?!" The looks on our faces must have been priceless. So the Doctor was paged, Ashley labored what I would guess better than any woman the Doctors or Nurses had every seen previously and at 12:24am Friday morning Hudson David Schot made his debut. Right on time just like his Daddy likes to be! For those of you that are parents you already know, and for those yet to be I just can't find the words to describe that moment. Between the shock of is this really real, the relief that comes from everything going so well and hearing a healthy baby cry and emotion of knowing you now have the most awesome responsibility God bestows on us. At 22" long at 9lbs 10oz even the Doctor had to say "this is a big baby!".
From there momma Ashley was glowing brightly and baby Hudson had captured our hearts more deeply than we knew possible. Around 3am we were ready to be moved to recovery where we spent the rest of our stay at The Christ Hospital.
Now 19 days later we are both still so blessed and happy with our little peanut. We don't keep much sleep, especially Ashley who wakes up every 3 hours to feed our little monster, but every moment spent looking at Hudson makes us fall more in love. I truly think that I can see him changing day by day and remember back to all those times my parents told me "it flys by so fast, just you wait..". Of course it doesn't help matters that Hudson outgrew newborn diapers before he was even born.
So here we are. Proud parents of a little boy. Looking forward to all the many chapters ahead of us. Hudson pretty much just sleeps, eats and fills up diapers but the moments he is awake and looking around are more precious than diamonds. He can hold his head up pretty well but is still working on figuring out what his arms are for and how to stretch his legs out. Check ups for both Hudson and Ashley have gone perfectly. I'll put a couple pictures on here shortly but you'll have to wait for most of them until we send out birth announcements.
I would like to give a big thanks to everyone who has brought us dinner. Being that the first few days we were home I realized around 3pm that I still hand not brushed my teeth or eaten more than a few bites of soggy cereal those dinners were our lifelines! Thank you Renee and Rhonda for all your help as well! Grocery shopping, cleaning our house, taking pictures..... You are so appreciated!
Typing this ended up carrying over a day so....Quick update: Hudson's doctors appointment today went great. He is now 10lbs 2oz. He has gained an oz a day since his last appointment. He also had his first full bath today! So fun.
Alright, we love you all and can't wait for those who haven't met our little guy to come give him a squeeze.
