Welcome Hudson John Kirk!

As most of you know, in true Kirk fashion, this little man also had to make an early appearance. Hudson was born at 12:07 am on Tuesday, March 8th 2011. He was born at 35 weeks and 6 days gestation. He is absolutely perfect, and best of all we got to take him home with us less than 48 hours later, NO NICU! Such a blessing!

Hudson's Birth Story...

I had my 36 week appointment with my Midwife on Monday morning. Before my appointment that morning I was talking with my best friend, who is a L&D nurse at Athens Regional where I was planning on delivering. She was working that day, and I jokingly told her that maybe I would already be 8cm dilated and they would send me on over to see her.

Well, things almost happened just like that... At my appointment my Midwife asked me all the normal questions; how are you feeling, any contractions, signs of labor, etc. I told her I was feeling fine, just having a few "weird" pains, but I just figured it was pressure from the baby. After checking things out we soon found out that my "weird pains" were actually more than just pressure. I was already 5cm dilated and 50% effaced. She went on to tell me that if I started to have regular contractions or any other signs of labor that I was to head to the hospital, and call her on my way since we live about 40 minutes from there. So, soon after I left my appointment, I of corse started having contractions. I just figured it was because she had checked me and that they would soon subside. Well, that didn't seem to be happening. I got home, still contracting, put my feet up, still contracting, laid down, yep, still contracting. So, I figured I should at least time them... yeah, 2-3 minutes apart. So, I make the call to my midwife, and of corse she says she will meet me at the hospital. By the way, Nick is on set filming, and everyone else is at work at this time, so I have to make phone calls to get Nick here and my mom here to watch Liam ASAP.

We arrive at the hospital and get checked in, and I am happy to see that Stephanie (my BFF) was already assigned to be my nurse :). Because of my plan to have an unmedicated birth, I only had to have intermittent monitoring and didn't have to be hooked up to anything which was wonderful! When my Midwife first arrived and checked my progress, I was still only 5cm but now about 75% effaced. She didn't feel comfortable sending me home, so she had me walk the halls for about and hour and a half to see if things would progress further. After the walking my contractions were getting stronger and I was now dilated another 1 1/2cm. Because I did not want any medication, instead of giving pitocin she went ahead and broke my water. After that, things happened pretty quickly.

While I was laboring, Stephanie was working on getting me into another room that had a shower and tub so I could sit in the hot water for some pain relief. Someone else had just delivered in there, so once it was all clean, Steph said we could go ahead and go in there and get in the tub, and they could set up the room for delivery while I was soaking in the bath. That was the plan anyways. Well, I was in the tub maybe 5 minutes and Nick is in the bathroom with me pouring warm water over my belly and all the sudden I feel like I have to push. I look at Nick and ask him if Meredith (my Midwife) is in the room, and he say No, then I ask if Stephanie is there, and THANK GOD he said yes! She comes in and I tell her I have to push. She hurries up and gets me out of the bath, and keeps telling me "don't push" "don't push". The room was still not ready, and Meredith was in another delivery. For those of you who have had a baby, you know, when it's time to push, it is time to push. I have another contraction, and I begin to push. Meredith runs in the room with one glove on and is waving the other hand around yelling "I only have one glove" "I only have one glove" all the while trying to deliver my baby. It was crazy chaotic, but only two pushes and my little man was here! It couldn't have been more perfect! I must say, toward the end I did doubt myself, and if things would have lasted 5 more minutes I probably would have been begging for pain medication, but thank GOD I had a fast delivery, and was able to do it all natural!

Hudson was 6 lbs. 14 oz. and 19.5 inches long. He is absolutely perfect!