The Nicklaus Family: Baby Hudson

Baby Hudson!

Our newest little love has arrived and we are now a family of FOUR!

Hudson Wake Nicklaus was born on Saturday, February 6^th at 8:32 AM. He was 20 inches long and weighed 7 lbs.

Down below there are more pictures of Baby Hudson's first few days, first visitors, and first days at home!

About His Name
Hudson - We like the name! :) I've actually liked this name for years (long before Brian and I were even dating). Thankfully, he liked it too. We considered it when we were pregnant with Colton, but we just knew that Colton was the right name for him. In the same way, we just knew that Hudson was the right name for this new little baby!
Wake - In case you don't know, Wake is my maiden name. With Colton, we chose Brian as his middle name, 1. To continue the Nicklaus tradition of using the father's name as the first born son's middle name, and 2. My dad's name is also Brian (which works out well for us!). With Hudson, we wanted to honor the Wake side of the family too. We thought "Wake" would make a pretty cool middle name.

How He Arrived
I also wanted to share Hudson's birth story for those that are interested. We had a really wonderful birth experience and a lot of our prayers were answered: going into labor naturally, not needing pitocin, being able to have a birth without pain medicine, having someone who could watch Colton, etc. So here are two versions of Hudson's birth story: The short version for a brief summary, and a long version if you want the details and aren't afraid of words like "dilated" and "contractions". :)

Hudson's Birth Story: The Short Version
I started having contractions on Friday night, but we weren’t sure if I was really in labor. By 3:00am, we knew the baby would be making his arrival. My friend Sarah was able to come over and stay with Colton. We got to the hospital around 3:45am. and things progressed very well! I was able to labor with no pain medication and no other medicine to move things along. The doctor had to break my water and then Baby was ready to be born. After 5 minutes of pushing, Baby Hudson was here!

Hudson's Birth Story: The Long Version
To recap the third trimester: At my 34 week appointment, I found out I was measuring a couple of weeks behind. Because of this, I had an ultrasound at 36 weeks where we found out my amniotic fluid level was low. I was told I would need weekly ultrasounds and non-stress tests, and that I would be induced at 39 weeks. Nothing had changed at my 37 week appointment. At my 38 week appointment though, everything was back to normal! My fluid levels were normal and the baby was healthy. There was no longer a need to be induced or have weekly ultrasounds. ...Then four days after this appointment, Hudson was born!

On Friday, February 5th, Brian, Colton and I attended a surprise party for a friend. As part of the surprise, we did a very short little dance number to a song from Newsies. I joked that I was hoping this would send me into labor! I was only 38.5 weeks along, but at my 38 week appoint the doctor told me I was about 4 centimeters dilated and about 70% effaced. Based on this, I knew it was a possibility that he could be born early.

After putting Colton to bed around 8pm, I thought I was having a few contractions. I wasn’t sure if they were true contractions though or just Braxton Hicks since they weren’t very painful. Just like my labor with Colton, I had no Braxton Hicks contractions before this. To be on the safe side, I called my friend Sarah to see if she could come over if I did end up going to the hospital.

My contractions didn’t go away but were still pretty far apart. By the time we went to bed that night, Brian and I were pretty sure I was actually in labor. We tried to sleep a little bit so that we could be somewhat rested. Over the next several hours, I slept for maybe 30 minutes total. Around 2:30 or 3:00am, they started getting closer together. We decided we should probably go into the hospital finally.

Sarah is an amazing friend for being willing to watch Colton, especially to come over at 3:00am! We are *SO* thankful she was able to watch him! We headed into the hospital around 3:45am. In triage, the nurse said I was about 5 cm dilated. After some time in triage, we went to our actual room and met our nurse. I had mentioned to the nurse in triage that I was able to have Colton with no pain medicine and I would like to do the same with this baby. I had a really wonderful nurse and she never offered me an epidural or any pain medicine, which was great! (Because as much as I wanted a drug-free birth, it would have been very easy to accept medicine in the middle of a painful contraction!)

I was able to labor with minimal monitoring- they would check the baby’s heartbeat every once in a while, but mostly the nurse just let me labor how I wanted. Brian and I walked the halls for a while. The best part was that I got to labor in the whirlpool tub! This was wonderful. With Colton, my water broke right away so I was unable to use the whirpool tub. This time, since my water hadn't broken yet, I was able to labor in there for a while. This was amazing and I think it really helped me with the birth. I’ve heard this referred to as “nature’s epidural” and I totally agree!

Because I was progressing well, I didn’t need any Pitocin or other medicine to move things along. This was a huge answer to prayer and is exactly what we wanted! My contractions never got super close together- I was a little worried about that, but the nurse assured me that this was fine and that they were still effective. This ended up being a huge blessing because it gave me time to rest and recover between contractions.

By 7:00 or 8:00am I was totally exhausted- I hadn’t slept and I was literally falling asleep between contractions. I told Brian and the nurse that I was nervous for pushing, because I was so tired. I was worried that I wouldn’t have any energy. They both assured me they would coach me through it. :) The nurse told me that as soon as my water broke, I was going to have this baby. Her guess was that I would only push for about 10 minutes. …To be honest, I totally didn’t believe her. After pushing for 1.5 hours for Colton, 10 minutes seemed out of the question.

Since my water wasn’t breaking on it’s own, the doctor broke decided to break my water to move things along. After one incredibly painful contraction, I was ready to push. Brian and the nurse were amazing at coaching me. I pushed for about 5 minutes and the baby was born!

I was able to hold him right away- I couldn’t believe how little he was! (With Colton, the NICU had to check him over first since they were worried there could be meconium in his lungs). His Apgar score was 8 after 1 minute and 9 after 5 minutes- he was a very healthy little guy.

We love little baby Hudson and we love being a family of four!

And in case you are wondering about Colton... Sarah watched him through Saturday morning until Laura and Ken (Brian's sister and brother-in-law) arrived to take over. Laura's birthday is also on the 6th, so Baby Hudson shares a birthday with his Aunt Laura! Laura and Ken watched Colton for the weekend with some help from my dad when he came into town as well. Laura even took Colton to his library class! This was the first time I had ever been away from Colton. It was very hard for me but I felt so much better knowing that he was being taken care of by Sarah, Laura, Ken, and my dad! Overall, everything worked out really well, thanks to wonderful family and friends being willing to help us out!

Baby Hudson Photos!

Our little family