Sullivan 3 Weeks

At 3 weeks, Sullivan is becoming a chunky monkey!  It's amazing at how quick they grow - and fatten up :)  I can tell he's getting heavier to hold and move from place to place.  When my family saw him this weekend, they immediately said "he's gettin' bigger and fatter"...he is eating 4 ozs at a time now - still about every 3 to 4 hours.  He wakes up about that same amount of time to eat during the night.  He still sleeps a lot during the day, but beginning to stay awake for longer periods at a time.  His belly button cord fell off the day he turned 3 weeks old.  I was beginning to think it might not ever fall off.  He also sat in his swing for the first time this week...he loved it...it "swung" him right into dreamland.  Here's my chunky monkey 3 week old...
 

 

 

 

 The day I turned 3 weeks old :)

 

 

I lost my belly button cord...finally!

 

 

 

first time in my swing

Sullivan's Baby Book

In the Womb - Pregnancy
Pregnancy Test: June 22, 2010
First Doctor's Appointment: June 30th, 2010
Week 14: Appointment (August 30) with Dr. Snowden, heartbeat 145
Week 18: painful round ligaments!, ultrasound - it's a boy!, first fetal movements, sinus problems, lots of headaches
October 1: 1st ultrasound - it's a boy!, heartbeat 150, transverse in mommy's tummy, you weighed approximately 9 ozs
Week 20: strong fetal movements!, half way there :)
October 16: daddy left me a sweet note that morning before he went to work telling me your name would be...Sullivan Tyde!  I was so excited :)
Week 21: felt baby kick for first time
Week 22: saw you kick my tummy for 1st time, major backaches
October 27: Appointment with Dr. Crowe, heartbeat 153
Week 24: daddy felt you for the first time on mommy's tummy
Week 26: November 26 - appointment with Dr. Crowe, heartbeat in 130s, sugar test, you hurt me when you kick and move
Week 27: getting miserable because I'm so big: 37.5 inches around!  Whoa!!!
Week 28: hips hurt so bad, start going to the doctor every 2 weeks, first time to feel hiccups, first heart burn, started wearing a pregnancy belt
December 8: Appointment with Dr. Crowe, heartbeat in 150s, advised to get a maternity belt
Week 29: Maternity pictures made by Misty Hall (December 18)
Week 30: 4D ultrasound (December 22), saw you have the hiccups through my tummy
December 22: Appointment after 4D, saw Dr. Hudson, heartbeat 157
Week 32: miserable, wondering how much more my skin will and can actually stretch: 40.5 inches around!
January 4: Appointment with Dr. Gunnells, heartbeat in 150s
Week 33: blizzard in Albertville - no school all week!
Week 34: Julie and I made name banner to hang above your crib, put bedding on your crib, worked in nursery, measured 42 inches around, nesting :)
January 19: Appointment with Dr. Crowe, heartbeat in 140's
Week 35: extremely itchy stretch marks, latter part of week began leaking fluid in very small amounts
Week 36: ultrasound in Birmingham to measure you - measured 6lbs 12ozs, heartbeat 142, estimated to be due February 21, head-down and very low
36 weeks and 1 day: Went into labor: February 4th - went to Birmingham to get checked to see if my water was leaking...AND...admitted to a delivery room.  Read about Sullivan's birth story on my blog! :)

Firsts

February 5, 2011 - First look at the world - 6lbs 11oz; 20inches
February 9th - First trip to the Pediatrician: weighed 6lbs 7ozs; saw Dr. Rutland
February 9th - First trip to Nanny and Paw-Paw's and to meet Nanny Simp
February 11th - First professional photo shoot with Mandy Owens - you didn't cry ONE time the whole time she was taking your picture...you were the best baby!  :)
February 12th - First trip to Nanna and Poppoo's house - there you met Anna and Lauren for the 1st time
February 13th - First time to stay with a babysitter...okay, I wouldn't call it a babysitter - it was Aunt Jana and Grandmother Roe...mommy and daddy went out to eat for Valentine's Day at O'Charleys
February 14th - First Valentine's Day
March 6th - First time to go to church - everyone was so excited to meet you

Sullivan's Here!
Week 1 (feb 12) - sleeps most all day, wakes up every 3-4 hours to eat, eating 1.5 - 2 ozs at each feeding, loves bath time, loves to be held and kissed on :)
Week 2 (feb 19) - sleeps most all day, wakes up every 3 hours to eat, eating 2 - 2.5 ounces at each feeding, loves bath time, started sitting in bouncer seat, loves to be held, kissed, and loved on :) 
Week 3 (feb 26) - belly button cord still hasn't fell off, sleeps most all day long, has longer periods of awake time (30 minutes-45 minutes) wakes up every 3 hours to eat, eats 3 - 3.5 ozs at each feeding, loves baths, loves bouncy seat, loves to be loved :)   update:  belly button cord fell off the day you turned 3 weeks old...yay :)
Week 4 (march 5) - still sleeps a LOT during the day, eating about 4 ounces (+/-) at a time, wakes up EVERY 3 hours on the dot to eat, loves bath time, loves to be held, loves bouncer and swing, beginning to pick and hold up head, looks at mommy and daddy in the eyes :)  Went for 1 month doctor visit - saw Dr. McCorkle - weighed 9 lbs 12 oz - 20.5 inches long.
Week 5 (march 12) -
Week 6 (march 19) -
Week 7 (march 26) -
Week 8 (april 2) -
Week 9 (april 9) -
Week 10 (april 16) -
Week 11 (april 23) -
Week 12 (april 30) -


January 24th, 2013:
Sully FINALLY said "love you" for "I Love You"!!!!! 
This is a biggie!  He says everything under the sun and we've tried for months to get him to say "I Love You" and he was just stubborn....hehe.  Tonight as Zach was bathing the boys...HE SAID IT..."love you." Soooo sweet! :)  

Long time = no updates!  Some things that Sully says and does!  January 5, 2014

1. When Sully wants to watch The Lion King he says "Please turn on "Haly-enga."  He gets this from the beginning of the movie where the song is played…no one can pronounce the real words and Zach sings it like "Heeeeeeeey, Jalapena, whatta nina, hatta beechy wah!  Oh that cracks me up just trying to type it.  Somehow, from Zach singing it that way, Sully things the title of the movie is "Haly-enga."  
2. He also LOVES to watch Peppa Pig; which he calls "Poppa Pig", Team Umi Zoomi; which he calls Toomie Zoomi, The Bubble Guppies; which he calls The Bubble Puppies, and Thomas the Train. 
3. Sully can say the prayer "God our Father" all by himself, and almost says all of Happy Hearts and God is Great by himself.  He can also sing all the words to Happy Birthday.  He's been doing these tasks for a few months now.  
4. Sully at 2 to 2.5 years old calls a belly button a "burnt"…how funny!  He also calls Justin "dun-dern" and sometimes "duh-dern"
5. He calls Corbyn "Corb" and "Corby"…we don't call her that.  He came up with that on his own.  
6. He LOVES dinosaurs and stomps and roars ALL the time!  He also loves trains and tractors…really anything that he can push or pull along the ground!  

Sullivan 2 Weeks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sullivan 1 Week

At 1 week, Sully sleeps a LOT.  Good thing for mommy and daddy I guess.  He wakes up about every 3-4 hours at night to eat.  A couple of nights he even went 5 hours without waking up.  The only way I even know he's hungry is because I can hear him smacking his lips together and making a tiny grunt sound.  It's so sweet.  I can count on one hand the times I've heard him let out a loud cry.  He is such a good baby!  We are so very blessed!

 

 

Labor and Delivery - Sullivan Edition

Well, I'm only supposed to be 38 weeks pregnant right now.  I can't believe I'm already writing about my labor and delivery experience.  I can't believe I'm already at home with my new baby boy.  I will be writing all of the details of my labor and delivery (except for those few things that only Zach and I know)...just so you know before you begin reading.  This post will be rather lengthy, too. And so...you have been forewarned!  This is mainly for myself to reflect back on or else I'll soon forget all those small details that I would otherwise want to remember.  :) 

It all started in the wee hours of the night of Friday morning February 4.  That morning, I got up and got ready for work and went as usual.  I told my friend Brandee first thing that morning that I wasn't feeling well and I thought I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for a while...but nothing serious.  She immediately began asking questions and said she could tell I didn't feel quite like myself.  I also told her that I had woke up several times the previous night leaking fluid more heavily than the other nights (okay, so I guess it really ALL started actually several days before as I had noticed that I had been leaking some kind of fluid unaware of what it really was).  Brandee and I discussed what we thought it might be...but I didn't know if I was ready to call the doctor or not at this point.  She finally convinced me to call and I went with my gut knowing that it was better to call and just tell them what was going on just in case it was something that needed to be checked out.  I called Zach from school and told him that I was planning to call the doctor during my planning time just to tell them what had been going on to see what they would say.  He said "ok" and to let him know.  I called and called and called for a solid hour during my planning time.  I stayed on the phone the entire time except for the 10 minutes I spent in Brandee's room telling her I could not get them to answer.  I almost decided to not call back and kept telling myself that if I was in labor, surely my contractions would get stronger and more regular.  After school, I decided to call once more.  I sat in the parking lot and called and FINALLY got an answer.  I explained what had been going on and the nurse's voice sounded very concerned.  She said "anytime you are leaking fluid, you really need to let us know."  She asked how far away I was from the doctor's office and when I told her "over an hour", she said "you need to go straight to labor and delivery because Dr. Snowden will be gone for the day."  It's something about those words "straight to labor and delivery" that seem scary.  It made me really nervous.  I drove straight home.  I had not told Zach anything yet because I never spoke with the doctor's office during the day.  I'm sure he had pretty much forgotten about it.  I walked in the door - voice shaking - and said "Zach, we have to go to Birmingham."  He was sitting in the recliner watching TV and turned his head around and said "why?"  He also looked just a teeny bit concerned.  I proceeded to tell him what the nurse said.  I was feeling very nervous and kind of like "should I have called, should I not have called."  I had a lot of questions and doubts racing through my head.  What if they send us straight back home?  What if they tell me it's normal to leak fluid?  What if they tell me that my bladder is leaking...how embarrassing would that be?  What if they monitor me for 2 hours then say that I'm not in labor?  What if this is a wasted trip? (I was feeling a little guilty because Zach had made plans to play cards with some friends and I didn't want to mess up his night).  All questions aside, we had to go get the situation checked out.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have stopped thinking and worrying about it all weekend - that or I would've went ahead into labor myself.

I called my mom and told her what was going on.  I asked her to come stay with Hudson - he was napping.  She came right away.  I told her I didn't want anyone else to know because I really felt like they would send us back home and I didn't want anyone worrying or getting too excited.  Zach and I were ready to get out the door so we could get there and get back.  We really thought they would send us back home because it just wasn't time for the baby to be here.  I was only 36 weeks and 1 day.  We left the house right at 4:00 and got to the hospital around 5:15.  Zach was really quiet on the way there.  I finally said "talk to me" so I would stop running all these questions and doubts through my head.  We calmed down and had a nice chat.  When we arrived at the hospital, Zach pulled in the special parking place for "patients in labor."  I said "we can't park here, I'm not in labor."  He said "you might be" and he parked.  I think he just wanted to take advantage of the close parking space and I'll admit, I didn't mind that much either.  Just days before, when we went for a 36 week ultrasound, I had only wished to be pulling in that parking space.  I never knew it would be just 3 days later.  We went "straight to labor and delivery" just as the nurse said and they were expecting us.  They got some information and took us to a triage room for monitoring.  I didn't know what to expect, because with Hudson, I was taken straight to a regular room.  I was assigned to Nurse Imagene.  She was so sweet.  Right off the bat, I was asked to get changed into a gown, use the restroom, etc. She then hooked me up to the monitor and wrapped my enormously large belly with a monitor for contractions and a monitor for the baby's heartbeat.  The whole time I was thinking "can't you just check my fluid and let us go home?"  I guess it all boils down to me thinking I was going to 'waste their time'...I don't know why I always feel like that...I even told her "I hope I am not wasting your time"...she assured me that this was her job and made me feel okay about calling and coming in to be checked.  I was hooked to the monitors about 5:30.  As I lay there, a gazillion thoughts were going through my head and Zach was sitting in a chair next to me.  I told him to call his buddy Jake and tell him he would be a little late to play cards...haha.  It's so funny looking back.  Zach called him and said "I might be a little late, but I'm still planning on coming."  As we were waiting, another couple came into the triage room.  It's like something you see on t.v.  Just a thin curtain between us.  It was another young couple who were expecting their 2nd child.  They were from Tuscaloosa.  She was scheduled for a C-section the following Wednesday if she didn't go into labor on her own.  Bless her heart, this girl wanted to be in labor so bad.  The nurse kept asking her questions and you could hear the frustration in this girls voice.  She didn't like what the nurse was telling her.  Zach and I even thought the nurse was being very blunt about things and a little discouraging to her patient.  They were assigned a nurse that I'm just glad to say wasn't assigned to me.  Isn't it amazing at what you can learn from the other side of a curtain. :)  By 6:00, Imagene came in to check me and said "wow girl, I can't believe how much you are contracting"...I was surprised but I guess it was good news.  She checked me and said "you are a 1."  Okay, so I was dilating....considering on Tuesday Dr. Snowden said my cervix was closed shut.  Imagene came back 30 minutes later (6:30) and said "you are a 1.5."  At that point, I kind of knew that I just might be in labor....true labor.  I mean, you don't go from a 1 to a 1.5 in 30 minutes if you aren't in labor.  Who knows when I had dilated to a 1!  After she told me I was a 1.5 she checked my fluid again...AND...the strip turned bright purple immediately.  She held it up and said "you see how it turned purple really quick this time"...we said "yeah" and Zach and I both looked at each other (I think we knew what it meant)...THEN....she said "I'm going to call Dr. Snowden and then I'll take you to a room!"  Zach said "okay, uh...so, we're staying?...okay, so all night?"  It was so funny to hear his voice.  I thought of the girl on the other side of the curtain (now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure her name was Amanda) who I knew heard my nurse tell me that I was indeed in labor and she was getting a room for me.  I felt sorry for this girl, knowing how close she was to having her baby but probably going to be sent home that night according to what her nurse kept telling her.  The thoughts of this girl left me quickly as I was snapped back into my own shocking situation.

Imagene left to get things ready...Zach and I were quiet for a second then we were like "OH. MY. GOSH."  We began calling our parents, other family, and texting our friends.  We had not carried a single piece of extra clothing, camera, notta, nothing!  The nurse came and put me in a wheel chair and wheeled me off to a room.  Room 309 to be exact.  We got into the room at 6:50.  She put me in bed and covered me with warm blankets.  Where do they keep those things anyway?  I was asked what time was the last time I had eaten anything...my response "11:15, at lunch"...Imagene's face said it all.  She felt sorry for me because you aren't supposed to eat anything once in active labor.  Well, my goodness, I didn't eat anything after school (which normally I go straight for a snack) but this day was just a little different.  I was too rushed to get to the hospital.  Plus I really thought I'd be coming straight home and was planning to get something on the way home.  She said "I'll go get you some ice chips."  She came back with some ice chips, water, dry cereal, and graham crackers.  Yeah, she felt sorry for me.  She said she wouldn't tell anyone if I wouldn't tell anyone that I ate a small snack.  I think I was so pumped up about actually being admitted and in labor that I couldn't even think about eating anything.  Well, I did eat the ice chips...those are good anytime!  Right after that, she started my IV (she did a great job and it really didn't hurt at all.) I'll need that note for the next time I have a baby to remind myself it's not all that bad.  She also started my meds and asked me all of my information to fill out the paperwork.  Pre-registering was on our list of things to do that following week - oh well, we never got to it.  After we got settled into our room, Zach started making a list of all the things we needed.  We asked my mom, Julie, and Zach's mom to go to our house to gather our things.  Thank goodness I had my bag half way packed and Sullivan's bag pretty much packed.  My mom and Julie arrived at the hospital around 11:00 and stayed until about midnight.  Zach and I were going on adrenaline and couldn't really get to sleep that quick....we were still in shock!  Neither of us slept much that night mainly because of being excited about what the next few hours would hold...that and my blood pressure monitor kept going off every 30 minutes....beep, beep, beep! 

I was assigned a new nurse around 11:00...Natalie.  She was so very precious.  She was just what a nurse should be...soft spoken and very caring.  She took great care of me through the night.  She checked me around 6:00 and I was at a 3...so she asked if I wanted the epidural.  I thought I might as well before I started feeling too much, right?!  So, I said YES...she called up the anesthesiologist and he showed up about 6:30.  I was feeling pretty calm about it since my last experience with an epidural was a good one.  I remember feeling only 1 little pinch and after that I didn't feel anything for hours and hours.  You know they say everything is different the second time around.  Boy oh boy, was it different.  Natalie was so sweet as I boo-hoo'd on her shoulder.  It felt like the longest 10 minutes ever.  Zach just had to sit in a chair and watch me cry.  I could tell by the look on his face he wanted to grab me up and comfort me...too bad he couldn't.  As they were finishing up the last of the epidural process, my third nurse, Lindsay came into the room to take over duties.  I was still crying and she said "the worst of everything is over."  I thought she was right so I finally calmed myself down.  I really thought I had felt the last of the pain until the feeling came back...that's the way it was with Hudson anyway.  I was SOOOO wrong.  I'll get to that in a minute.  Lindsay was so beautiful (and I was feeling incredibly disgusting) and so sweet.  I felt really blessed to have had such wonderful nurses.  Lindsay would be with me throughout the delivery and I felt really good about it.  Zach and I had told our families to take their time getting to the hospital, especially my parents who had Hudson with them.  Last time, they ended up waiting for hours before and waited 3+ more hours after I started pushing to meet Hudson.  So we didn't want them to have to do that this time.  Dr. Snowden came in just a little after Lindsay took over and checked me.  I was a 4.  Yay.  Things were moving much more quickly this time than with Hudson.  We decided to call our families since things appeared to be moving quickly told them the progress and suggested they come fairly soon.  As Zach and I waited and tried to rest some, I began to feel some pain on my right side.  I didn't mention anything to Zach at first because it wasn't too bad and I just kept telling myself that it was probably normal and I was probably making it out to be worse than what it really was.  After a while, I finally told Lindsay that I could feel my contractions.  She said "you are probably feeling pressure and that's normal, but let me know if it gets worse."  About 10 minutes later, I was feeling them more and more.  I finally told Zach that I was in a good amount of pain...but still, I kept lying there trying to make it through each contraction like a big girl.  Okay so I'm not exactly a big girl when it comes to pain...I told Lindsay that I was in a lot of pain on my right side and it really felt like the epidural didn't take on that side.  She "up'd" my epidural meds on the pump and said to wait about 5-10 minutes to see if it was better.  After 10 minutes I truly felt better.  I could still feel pressure from the contractions but no pain, so I thought I was in the clear.  I was good for maybe 30-45 minutes.  Lindsay soon checked me again and I was at a 7.  I was getting really close.  We were super excited and anxious.  Zach was a texting king that day keeping everyone updated on my progress.  My family or his family had not yet arrived.  I was getting nervous about that because I had planned for my sister to come in the room right before Sullivan would come out so she could get pictures...something I didn't have from Hudson's first minutes into the world.  After learning that I was 7 centimeters, I began hurting very badly, very quickly.  I told Zach that the pain was way worse than before and it was coming more frequently and WAY more intense.  It was on my right side mainly and I couldn't even describe how bad it was.  During this time, Lindsay was not in the room.  Zach and I had also heard an announcement "code red" in the hall.  We felt like maybe she couldn't come in to the room because of that since it had been several minutes since she had been in.  I finally asked Zach to call the nurse's station to call for her as I was in serious pain squalling my eyes out at this point.  Still, several minutes passed and she had not shown up.  Zach called again and told them "my wife is in a LOT of pain and we need our nurse."  Finally she came in... I couldn't even talk at this point.  Zach explained the situation and I think she could tell how bad it was by looking at me.  I seriously had not cried that hard in years!  YEARS I tell ya!  Zach was really upset for me, I could hear it in his voice.  He was very helpful in comforting me and standing near me and making sure I was able to get some relief.  Lindsay called the anesthesiologist back in to give me another full dose of meds right before 11:00.  That was absolutely the longest 30 minutes of my life.  I prayed that this time they would get it right and that I wouldn't have to have this baby with half of my epidural not working.  Thank the Good Lord for epidurals.  I can't believe how fast it worked.  Within 5 minutes, I felt some relief and within 10 minutes I was completely numb from stomach to toes.  Thank you, Lord!  Why do some people CHOOSE to go all natural??  For real, I can't imagine being in any more pain than what I was.   After the situation with my epidural, Lindsay checked me again.  She asked me to practice pushing 1 time to see if she could help baby Sully "move down."  I was caught off guard a little when she said "push" because I didn't think it was time yet.  After all, last time she checked I was at a 7, which was only about 30-45 minutes prior.  Not really being able to feel anything now, I pushed and she said "oh yeah, he moved down a good bit"...she looked and said "oh, Amy...I don't think you'll push long at all."  I said "really, like how long?"  She said "like, not long at all."  She said "I'm going to call the doctor!"  Holy Cow...this was it..Zach jumped up and was like "she's ready to push?"  Lindsay said "yep, she's a full 10".  Zach sounded surprised and said "so she's about to push?"  Yep, I was...and our families weren't there yet.  Lindsay went to call Dr. Snowden to tell her to be ready and Zach quickly called my mom first.  They were about 10 minutes away.  He called his mom next and told her the progress.  Lindsay came back in and had me push 1 contraction.  I felt like I was doing nothing but I could tell by her voice and her face that I was doing something.  She told Zach to look and he was so surprised.  He said "Amy, I can see him, he's right there!"  REALLY?  NO WAY!  This couldn't be happening so fast.  I push for 3 hours to get my precious baby boy Hudson.  Here we go again...Lindsay said "PUSH"...I pushed for 1 more contraction.  Dr. Snowden came in and sat down.  I couldn't believe it was time.  I mean it had been 10 minutes since I started pushing.  Zach called Julie and said "come straight to the room"...She just couldn't miss this...I didn't even know if she was at the hospital yet.  Well, she was.  She had JUST sat down in the waiting room only to get right back up and come in and grab the camera.  Dr. Snowden and Lindsay said again "PUSH, PUSH, PUSH"...and were so encouraging to me.  "ONE MORE TIME" they said...the next words were "head out at 11:36."  OH. MY. GOODNESS!  My baby is here...One more push and he was totally here!  11:37, my second precious baby boy Sullivan Tyde had arrived.  3 contractions = 15 minutes of pushing.  Whoa!!!  I literally was so surprised that me, the girl that had such a hard time with Hudson, was able to push for 15 minutes and have a baby.  This was only something I heard about from my friend's experiences.  I think I was the most anxious to see how much he weighed. 

They lay him on my chest and Zach and I cried tears of happiness.  He was so perfect and so tiny!  I could tell he was much smaller than Hudson was.  But he was absolutely beautiful.  They took him to wipe him off and get him warm under the heater.  I don't remember him crying that much.  I guess I need to go back and watch the video.  He earned an APGAR score of 8 the first time and 9 the second time.  His bilirubin level was a 9, which was good.  Pretty impressive for a 36 week baby.  Lindsay had warned us of some things they would need to monitor since he was so early.  She warned us about the NICU and lung problems that he might have.  We were hopeful that he would be fine and healthy.  I am proud to say that he didn't have to be monitored in the NICU and that his breathing was great.  The only thing they were concerned about was his body temperature being a little low, which they said was normal for early babies.  In the meantime, Julie got some great pictures and Zach was playing videographer.  They finally weighed him and he was 6lbs and 11ozs.  What would we do with such a tiny baby.  I had prepared myself during this pregnancy to have a 9 lb baby or more.  I didn't prepare myself to go into labor so early or to have a 6 lb baby.  I couldn't wait to hold him again and kiss him.  I couldn't wait to tell my mom and dad and everyone else the news.  He lie under the heater for quite a while to get warmed up.  Finally I was able to hold my precious baby and keep him warm.  I could not believe baby Sully was here so early and how tiny, but perfect he was.  We were able to call our family in a little while later.  Oh how exciting it was to show off our new baby.  We let Hudson come in first with only Julie so she could take family pictures.  I'm not sure how to describe what Hudson thought.  He looked at him and looked at me...and that's about it.  He didn't want to touch or hug or kiss his new baby brother.  That's okay, we knew it would take time.  It was a wonderful feeling to have our whole family there together in that moment.  Then my parents and Zach's parents came in.  It was time to show everyone what God had created.  It was one of the proudest moments of mine and Zach's life.  It is the best feeling as a mom to show everyone your baby and have your family and friends with you during this special time.  The rest of the day was filled with love and support from friends and family.  We had lots of visitors, too.  It was absolutely one of the most wonderful days ever.

Zach and I sent Sullivan to the nursery that night so we could try and rest.  Yeah right!  Me, rest.  No way.  It was a bad night for me as far as resting goes.  Zach was really good to get up and help me roll over from side to side during the night.  I love this man so much!  Sullivan was brought back to our room about 5:30 that morning.  He was so quiet so we continued to try and rest.  Sullivan weighed 6lbs 9oz Sunday morning.  He wasn't eating that much.  Only about 1/4 ounce maybe 1/2 ounce each feeding.  He continued this eating pattern throughout the day.  No one really seemed concerned or said anything.  I thought this was normal for young babies.  We sent him again to the nursery Sunday night.  We knew he would be well taken care of.  Again, they brought him back to the room Monday morning about 5:30 or 6:00.  He weighed 6lbs 6oz now.  I knew it was normal for babies to lose some weight while being in the hospital so I wasn't too concerned.  A new nurse was assigned to me Monday morning.  Her name was Erica.  She was so precious as well.  She voiced her concern about his feedings to us.  She said he wasn't eating as well as he needed to be eating in order for us to go home at lunch.  She also said the pediatrician wanted him to have 3 good feedings before he would released to go home with us.  This was news to us, but I'm glad they wanted to get it under control before we got home.  She took him to get his hearing checked and she fed him while she was gone.  It seemed like an eternity.  She was gone with him for over an hour.  She finally came back and said she was able to get him to eat about 1 oz and a half, but then he spit up a little bit of it.  She said 2 more good feedings and we'll get to go home.  So, we had to wait 3-4 hours in between the feedings.  We hoped the next two feedings would be good and that we'd get to leave to go home around 5:00.  The next two were good...he ate about 1 - 1.5 ozs both times and kept them down.  We were both discharged around 5:00.  While we waited on our nurse (yet another new one - Nurse Sharon...in fact it was the one that was nursing the couple in the triage room so we were glad we were being discharged...otherwise she would've been my nurse that night) to complete the papers, we changed baby Sully into his going home outfit and kissed him and loved on him.  It was finally time to go home.  Sullivan in his car seat and me in a wheelchair were wheeled out to the car.  It was a very cold and windy day.  We were heading home with our new baby and couldn't wait to see our other baby - or big boy - at home.  We were ready to be all together under the same roof as a family.  After all, the nights we spent at the hospital were the first nights ever that Hudson spent the night away from home.  He spent the night with Nanna and Poppoo on Friday night and with Nanny and PawPaw on Saturday and Sunday night.  He's yet to spend the night away from home since then.  What can I say, I like my babies to be at home with me at all times, especially at night.

I hope you enjoy the photos of my Labor and Delivery experience with Sullivan Tyde Hope.  It's like nothing else I'll ever experience.  It was one of the greatest, proudest moments of my life.