And Baby Makes 4

Here’s what happened. It all started with THE DREAM…

Tuesday night (Aug 5th) I dreamed I went in the next day for my scheduled OB appointment and I was a 6. They told me I was going straight to the hospital but to eat something first because once there, I wouldn’t be able to. I pulled out a bucket of fried chicken and a bucket of french fries and said Lindsey had brought them. They looked at me like, “You’re eating fried chicken then going into labor?” Anyways, once at the hospital I had to hunt down the CRNA for my epidural and threaten to have my father bring an epidural kit if they didn’t hurry (either I was being a brat or in a lot of a pain). Reality – Wednesday Steve, Shannon, Lindsey and I headed to Hamilton Place to run errands before my doctor’s appointment, also near the mall. We stopped at Chick-fil-a for lunch and had a fried chicken sandwich and french fries. We then dropped Shannon and Lindsey off at the play center and Steve and I headed to my OB appointment. Once at the appointment I insisted they check me. When the midwife student checked me she had a funny look on her face and went to get her supervisor. They concluded I was at a 5-6, 90% and could head to the hospital and have a baby by 6pm, but that I should eat something first (oh yeah, I'd already eaten fried chix).

Lindsey took Shannon home and Mom ran our bags down. I was admitted at 1:30, by 3:30 had my epidural (there was a delay because my labs weren’t sent) and pitocin was started. I LOVE epidurals! It’s not just that my father’s an anesthesiologist, but after I got mine, the pain decreased, I got all warm and tingle, and I still had complete control of my legs. Apparently which ever side you are lying on, the tip of the catheter falls to that side. I guess I’d been on my left side because I started feeling back labor on my right. The kind nurse called for a redose and by the time the CRNA got there, I was feeling contractions on my right side, front and back. The nurse checked me after the redose and I was a 10. She had a slightly panic look on her face as she paged the doctor and told me repeatedly NOT TO PUSH. The baby started having heart decelerations and I was turned to my left side and given oxygen. When the doctor finally arrived (20+ minutes later) I pushed for 20-25 minutes and we had a baby at 5:56pm, just over 4 hours after arriving at the hospital. He weighted 7 pounds 2 ounces, was 20 ¾ inches long, and peed on the nurses. Because I had to stay on my left side shortly after the redose, my left received the majority of the redose and was numb for hours afterwards, which allowed Steve the chance to change the first 2 meconium diapers. My mother brought us dinner, so I didn’t miss a meal. (I love Steve's face as he changes the 1st diaper)
We feel very blessed to have a healthy baby boy. The Lord helped him come at a time when all the moving was done and it was the first chance we could focus on being a family. With one hour until discharge we turned in the social security/birth certificate papers identify our boy as

Adam Steven Hodgen.

What we know about him so far is that his days and nights are mixed up, he HATES anything cold or wet (cries every diaper change) and thinks that if he chews on his fists long enough, he’ll find milk.