Day 1 in the Hospital

The nurses told me I must have had a really easy labor because my pain level afterwards was a 4 and it only got to a 3 during the entire delivery. I decided that they should keep the epidural in for the first 24 hours after you give birth. I am being a bit dramatic, it wasn't that bad, but it was definitely the most painful part of the entire process. 

When I first got up to go to the bathroom and caught a glimpse of myself in the mirror I was pretty surprised by the size of my belly. I had read that when you leave the hospital you usually look about six months pregnant, but that first night, I looked exactly like I had when I checked into the hospital. 

By the time our visitors left, they gave Hudson his first bath and moved me to our new room, it was so late at night. Nic finally left around midnight to get us food. I just held Hudson and stared at him the entire time Nic was gone. Once Nic got back with some food, Hudson woke  up to eat. We had every intention of keeping the little guy in our room over night, but by 1:30am when I still hadn't eaten and realized how exhausted I was, we decided it was better if we sent him to the nursery so I could get something to eat and we could both get some rest. I ate some Taco Bell (the only thing open in the area that late at night) then we had Velvet cupcakes (Rachelle brought them and man were they delicious!) and milk. We both actually got some sleep that night and I must admit that the first time the nurses came in and said, "We have your baby for you" I thought I was dreaming. I have a baby?!!! So crazy.

(Here is the video of Hudson's first bath):

On Thursday morning, I had a surprisingly delicious breakfast of french toast, scrambled eggs, and hot chocolate. 

Then I had a busy day of trying to learn how to breastfeed, trying to fit in a sitz bath and shower, and squeezing in a bunch of visits too. Our first visitors were my Oma and Opa. Hudson's great-grandparents. They brought flowers and said how beautiful Hudson is. I could hear them in the hallway before and after visiting with us bragging to all the nurses that they were coming to meet their first great-grandchild. :) 

Next Sheri stopped by. Then my mom and sister came and hung out for most of the day. My dad stopped by after work. 

Right when they took Hudson away for the nurse shift change, Rachelle, Judy, Uncle Eddie, Aunt Lynette, Brooke and Jeffrey came by to visit. The shift change took forever and Hudson was asleep when they brought him back so they didn't get to spend much time with him. 

Nic spent the day racing home to buy all the hardware for our kitchen drawers and cupboards. He ended up having to go to three different stores to get enough. He also had to do a bunch of errands around the house and squeeze in a shower before racing back to the hospital to be with the little man and me. Needless to say, it was a very exhausting day for both of us.