Another busy week!

The last month has been jam-packed with visiting people since Hudson was born. We have gotten to spend a lot of quality time with friends and family. Last week we had our 2nd "playdate" with the Smith family including baby Hayden who's just 8 days younger than Hudson. Although most of the day was spent with the boys sleeping and eating, we had a blast chatting with Joy and Dan about life with a newborn and posing the boys together for pictures! We can't wait until they're old enough to interact, our playdates will be so much fun then!!

Last weekend we made our first family roadtrip to Spokane to visit Andy's family! I thought we might be crazy for making the trip with a 3 week old and our crazy boxer but the trip went relatively smoothly! The drive there was a little obnoxious thanks to Maverick deciding to pant and whine the entire drive! We think it's because he was in the front seat (so I could sit in the back with Hudson) and he's used to having the whole backseat to himself. Other than that the ride was smooth sailing..Hudson slept the entire 5 hours (except for a quick pit stop in Ellensburg to fuel up and feed both him and us).

The weekend was a lot of fun visiting with Andy's parents, siblings and Aunt and Uncle. Us girls also got some shopping time in! Saturday we went to the mall where I found some awesome deals on a few cute outfits for Hudson. Sunday Katie (Andy's sister) and I went to the JBF Spokane sale where almost everything was 50% off!! I found some awesome deals, including onesies for 50 cents, pajamas for $1-$3 and a WSU tracksuit for $10! Although Hudson probably didn't NEED everything I found, I couldn't pass up the amazing deals on the cute stuff I got :) This sale made me excited to check out the one in Puyallup coming up in a couple weeks.

Overall we had an awesome weekend and feel so blessed to have such a great baby! He's so mellow and relaxed most of the time, especially on car rides!

Hudson's First Hospital Visit

Friday afternoon we had another dr. appointment to check Hudson's weight. At our appointment a week before that he was up 2 oz. from his last check, which the dr. said was ok, he just wanted to check in a week to see if it continued to go up. When we got to our appointment and weighed him he had actually gone DOWN another 2 oz. and was weighing in at 5 lbs 8 oz. Our dr. was on vacation, so we met with a different dr. at the practice who decided that we needed to go to the hospital and get Hudson hooked up to an IV for fluids.

I was pretty shocked at this response to the weight loss. Since it wasn't much, I just thought they'd have us start supplementing with formula to help his weight gain since he seemed to be breastfeeding just fine, I figured the reason he wasn't gaining was due to a lack of milk supply from me.

So we took the dr's advice and headed straight to Good Sam. We arrived and they checked his vitals and got us all checked in to a room in the Pediatric's Unit. The on call pediatrician determined there was no reason to hook Hudson up to IV fluids since he wasn't dehydrated, he just needed to get more calories in. We were relieved to hear this!

They started us on a strict feeding schedule at the hospital with me breastfeeding, then supplementing with formula after. The first night went fine and Saturday morning we expected to hear we'd get to go home on Sunday and spend Hudson's first Easter at home with family as we had planned. Unfortunately this isn't what happened. We continued a 3 hour feeding schedule through Saturday and the daytime nurse, Tristan was very knowledgeable and helpful in working up building up my supply. She started me with a breastpump and I started pumping several times a day to determine how much milk I was actually producing. We realized I was only producing about half of what Hudson needed, hence the reason for his weight loss.

Saturday night they weighed Hudson again and he was up to 5 lbs 11 oz, we were so happy to hear he had gained 3 oz since the afternoon before! We knew all that we were doing was worth it and we were happy to get him healthier :) Sunday we followed the same feeding schedule and weighed him again Sunday night when he was up to 5 lbs 15 oz!! The nurse said they fully expected the dr. to let us go home the next morning since his weight was steadily rising.

Monday morning, we woke up and followed the feeding routine until about 9 when I met with a lactation consultant. She was awesome with setting up a plan and getting us ready for what to do when we went home. I was basically going to follow the same 3 hour feeding schedule and document all the feedings before checking back in with her in a few days. After meeting with her, they checked Hudson's vitals for the final time and the dr. came in, checked him out and released us from the hospital!! We were sooo glad to finally get to go back home and continue the feeding routine there (since we knew all along it was something that we could've just been doing at home).

Unfortunately my milk supply still isn't in enough that I don't need to supplement with formula, but the prescription and Fenugreek are definitely helping a little bit with my supply. I'm still hoping and praying that my supply increases enough that I can exclusively breastfeed, but in the mean time I know I'm doing the best I can to keep my boy healthy and happy!!

We went back to Hudson's regular pediatrician yesterday for another weight check. His weight is now up to 6 lbs 4.5 oz, so just over his birth weight!! The dr. was amazed that he had gained 12 oz in only 4 days. He talked to us about what we would continue to do at home with breastfeeding and supplementing and we are content to keep following this plan until something changes with me :)

Professional Newborn Pictures

When Hudson was 4 days old my friend Keren came and took newborn photos for us. We got them back a few days ago and I wanted to share them, they turned out so cute!! And I'm excited to say that she's going to come and take more for us soon!! Check out her photography blog here.