New Photos....7 weeks already

Well, Sophia is now 7 weeks old. How is the time already flying so very fast? What with taking care of a newborn and me (Bethany) starting rehearsals last week, we've been a bit overdue for posting new pictures for you all to coo over. The good news is that we did take lots of pictures, and we just posted some of our favorites on our flickr site (link in previous post). Hope you enjoy!

In other news: Sophia has started smiling!! What a precious gift. She's also just begun making sounds that seem intentional, rather than involuntary (ie more communicative), but that isn't exactly a frequent occurrence yet. The doctor said to start watching for more of that this month and that she should begin trying to mimick our speech soon. What fun things to look forward to!

Sophia has officially outgrown her newborn clothes :( Mama was rather sad. Though, since they were mainly summer outfits and we're starting to see the beginnings of autumn weather here, it's probably well-timed. The 0-3 mo clothes still look rather baggy on her, but her poor ankles stick out of the Nb sizes. She's lookin' like her Daddy already: long and lean...except for the chipmunk cheeks and the double chin, of course.

Rehearsals are going very well. I love my cast and my director. There's a surprising lot to sink your teeth into despite the fact that The Importance of Being Earnest is a marvelously frivolous comedy. We're all having a blast, and I feel very blessed to be a part of this show. Besides, it's so nice to be practicing my craft again.

My father made us the generous gift of loaning us his other car. He shipped it cross-country and it arrived today. Now we have a safer car to put the carseat in and a second car so that Brian and Sophia will have one while I drive to rehearsals each night. It is a tremendous blessing to have it, and we are so grateful.

We hope that everyone is having a beautiful end of the summer and start of the fall. God bless!

Baby Pictures!

A picture is worth a thousand words, so 24 pictures are worth. . . well, you know - here are the photos! We've got a flickr account with lots of great photos for you guys to have a look at. We'll be adding more as we move along!

http://flickr.com/photos/hudsonfam

That's all for now!

The Journey Begins...

At last - our family has grown!

I'm proud to announce that as of 4:18 pm, after an amazing display of courage, Bethany Hudson delivered Sophia Christine Hudson at 8lbs, 1oz. Sophia was wide awake and aware almost immediality, measuring in at 20 and one half inches.

This photo was taken less than 5 minutes after she was born, and she really really liked that little hat :)

Bethany gets to hold Sophia for the first time.

Her little onesie fit perfectly, but how about those hammer-pants?

The details:

At 7pm on July 14, Bethany called the nurses at the hospital thinking she had broken her water. We were admitted at 11pm and slept through the evening. In the morning at 3am, the hospital staff needed to start a pitocin drip since Bethany needed to deliver as quickly as possible since her water broke. Bethany started having some pretty serious contractions by 5am, and by 4 o'clock in the afternoon she was ready to push! (Obviously I've omitted about 10 hours of hard work - Bethany delivered completely naturally without any medication other than the pitocin!).

The new star:
Sophia has been very quiet so far and taken naturally to feeding. She's sleeping with Grandma and Bethany is recovering quite nicely.

We're so thankful to the Lord for our blessing, and we thank you all for your continued prayers of health and safety for my girls!

37 weeks, 3 days pregnant: 18 days to go!

...or so they tell me. Really, we're looking at anywhere between 2 and 4 weeks. Please, not 4!!

My last appointment was pretty uneventful, and they should be from here out. The only large piece of news was that I am Group B Strep +. It's not a huge deal; about 30% of women are. In a healthy adult, this means nothing; there are no symptoms. But, very rarely, a woman with the bacteria can pass it on to her baby, and this can cause very serious problems like brain damage, meningitis, and even death. But, not to worry! In order to avoid these tragic outcomes, I just have to show up at the hopsital early and get put on a penicillin drip for at least 4 hours before Sophia is born.

We had our 4th and final baby shower yesterday (Sunday) with our small group from church. It was very sweet, and we got some extremely creative gifts. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring the camera, so no pictures!

I've been getting a lot of comments that I look ready to pop and that I look much bigger than I did even two weeks ago. I must say, I agree. I'll see if Brian will take a couple pictures this week so that I can prove it to y'all. Our final birth class is tonight: the one I've really been looking forward to. We have an hour of practice labor, and then we get a hospital tour the second hour. Then, with all our classes done and all our showers attended, I can tell you that I am more than ready for the labor to begin! I am so excited to see our baby girl and to start getting to know her. Besides, a couple extra weeks postpartum before starting rehearsals at the end of August would be nice :)

Take care!

36 Week Appointment Update

4 weeks left until Sophia is due! (Which, of course, means anywhere between 2 and 6 weeks).

We had our final Maternal-Fetal growth ultrasound. In an unexpected turn of events, our "little" girl now weighs in at an approximated 6 lbs, 6 oz! I don't know what percentile that is, but it means she would be "average" for 37.5 weeks gestation. We thought we were going to have a little peanut, and we just might end up with a big girl. It all depends on when I go into labor, really. The waiting game begins.

After that, we had our appointment over across the way with our normal caregiver. We've now joined the "Weeklies Club," meaning we've begun our weekly appointments. We went over our birthplan, and I got a culture taken to see if I test positive for Group B Strep. Everyone please pray that it comes back negative, because I really don't want to have to show up early on in labor to get hooked up to an IV to receive antibiotics. I'll let you all know the results once we get them back. I also got checked for dilation, and there's nothing to speak of as yet. Of course, that's no indication of when I'll go into labor or how fast it will progress, but just thought I'd share the news.

Love to all!

35 weeks tomorrow!!

Well, as of tomorrow (Friday), I'll be 35 weeks pregnant. That leaves only a month until Sophia is due to be born! We're having a great--if slightly stressful--time getting all the final details in order. The nursery is pretty much complete. We just have a few minor things like, oh...installing the carseat to do still. But, we'll get there. We're getting very, very excited about welcoming our little girl into the world. Oh, yeah, and I turn 23 on Tuesday. Funny how you forget these things, isn't it? :-P

Here are some pictures of what I look like now. The belly is getting very large!

Babymoon on Orcas Island

Brian and I spent Memorial Day weekend on beautiful Orcas Island in the San Juans, here in WA. We stayed at a B&B called the Turtleback Farm Inn, which is an old 1930s farmhouse and 80 acres of farmland. It was so much fun and extremely relaxing. We enjoyed exploring the little village, Moran State Park, and the rest of the island. We hope to go back to camp there with Sophia when she is older. Here are some pictures we took on the trip.

Views from Mt. Contitution

In Eastsound Village Observation Tower

More Pictures from Mt. Constitution

Pictures from Turtleback Farm Inn:

Coeur d'Alene Shower

This past weekend, Lyle & Roberta threw a shower for us in Coeur d'Alene. It was great to celebrate with everyone over there. Hope you all enjoy the pictures!!

The cake

Dock Jake & Greg

Gary, Lana, and Ethan Lyle & Roberta

Mark & Jodi Brian & Jim

Brian & Bethany Daisy & Mollie

Latest Ultrasound

Well, I was back at MFM (Maternal-Fetal Medicine) this week for the latest ultrasound and an NST (non stress test). I scheduled it with a different doctor this time, since I felt like my previous specialist wasn't listening to a thing I was saying and treating my pregnancy is though it was high risk, which it isn't. Right away, I could tell that my new doctor was much more attentive. He informed me that he needed to take a closer look at Sophia's kidneys because the sonographer hadn't seen anything. When I asked him what he meant, he seemed very surprised and said, "Didn't they discuss with you last time that they thought they saw something near her kidneys?" I said, "No," and he seemed rather taken aback, but I'm sure not nearly as much as I was! Of course, he didn't find anything wrong either. My previous doctor also "thought" he saw something in her large intestine last time. Curiouser and curiouser.

So, this new doctor didn't even go into percentiles with me. He said that my blood pressure has been exceptional throughout the pregnancy and very steady and to stop taking the baby aspirins in two weeks. He told me that Sophia is 3 lbs, 14 oz, and that she's right on track to be around seven lbs or just shy on her due date, and more around 6 lbs if she comes a week or two early. He seemed very pleased with her progress, and frankly rather surprised that I was still coming to the clinic. He told me I could wait a month to come in for my next appointment, and that it would probably be the last one.

Just a cute story: Dr. Wall was spending a lot of time checking out Sophia's heart at the ultrasound. Eventually he said, "I don't want you to be concerned that I'm spending so much time looking at her chart. There's nothing wrong; it's just so beautiful. It's not often that I get to see the heart so well, but you're slender and the baby is in just the right position. What a beautiful heart." It made me smile :)

Rochester Baby Shower

Hi Everyone! It's been a long couple of weeks. First, Brian was away speaking at MEDC in Las Vegas, which went very well, and then I was in Rochester for five days. I can't believe that I'm already 31 weeks pregnant! This pregnancy has flown by so fast and has been such a blessing so far. Brian and I are both getting really excited as we anticipate Sophia's birth.


Meg, Mom, Me, Aunt Pat

Opening Gifts



........ More gift opening...... close up of cake



....and more cake.... Me with the cake



Michelle & Me (she's due a week after I am)


Aunt Pat's tropical fruit tray and her amazing punch!


All the tablecloths were baby blankets and most of the decorations were clothing, books, and stuffed animals for me to bring home for Sophia. All the silverware was tied together with little pastel flower ponytail holders.

Thank you to everyone who attended the shower, and especially to Aunt Pat, Meghan, and Mom for throwing it!!!

28 Week Pictures... Trimester #3 Begins!!

As the title says, these are pictures of me at 28 weeks (and 2 days, if you want to be precise), also known as 7 months or the 3rd trimester. I can't believe we've only got 12 more weeks until Sophia is due to be born! It's going to be a very busy month. Next week, Brian will be speaking at the MED-C conference in Las Vegas for 4 days. Then, I'll be in Rochester for 5 days for Mother's Day and the baby shower. The following weekend, we'll be in Coeur d'Alene for a second shower hosted by my lovely in-laws, and the last weekend in May, we'll actually be going on our "babymoon" (ie. last trip before we have to wrangle a baby-sitter) on Orcas Island. And, then...no more travelling until this little one is born! Anyway, enjoy the pictures.