Judson Cooper McKay

Apparently, Judson wanted to come out and meet the world as soon as possible. My contractions came back around noon on Friday. They were pretty regular, so I called the Dr. around 1:15. He sent us straight to the hospital to be put on the monitors.

Meanwhile, we all had different plans at the big blue house. Lucy was all dressed up and ready to go for tea. Gus was in his Orioles outfit, counting down the time until he could go to the baseball game. Dave and I came downstairs and told his parents that we were going to the hospital because we might have a baby. We weren't quite ready for Judson. All the laundry was done, but nothing had been packed. We thought we had another three days, at least. We told Lucy that we had to go to the hospital and that we couldn't go to tea. Tears welled up in her eyes and we told her that she could have a tea party at home with Mama McKay. She recovered so quickly! Dave's parents were great, it was such a blessing they were here! As we were walking out the door, Lucy gave us both hugs and said, "Good Luck!" We rushed out of the house so quickly that we didn't get the standard leaving-for-the-hospital picture in front of the fireplace. The best we remembered to do was take a picture of the two of us before I walked back to the OR.

When we got to the hospital, they put me on the monitors right away. I was having contractions and had thinned some more. We just had to wait for a few hours on the monitors to see what was happening. I had eaten a NutriGrain bar (really a Trader Joe's So This Apple Walks Into a Bar...) at 11:15 and had half of a glass of water at noon, so the earliest we could have him was 8pm. At 5:30 the Dr. decided that we were going to have him that night. He scheduled the c-section for 9:30pm. Dave was able to go home and pack for the kids. Mom and Jim picked up the kids and brought them to the hospital so I could see them before Judson was born. Gus was having a really hard time last week. He knew something was happening, but didn't quite know what it was. On Friday morning he got up early and came into our room. He laid down next to me and held my hand for an hour, it was totally out of character for him. When Gus came to the hospital on Friday night, he wouldn't give me a kiss or come to close to me. He was super emotional. Lucy was so laid back and took everything in stride. She was so brave and excited and patient. We explained to her that she was going to have a sleepover with Mama Sandy and Papa Jim and she lit up. She already had an entire afternoon of being in the spotlight with Mama and Papa McKay and then she was able to have a sleepover, too.

I didn't go back to the operating room until 10:25. Judson came along at 11:01. He was 6lbs and 18.5 inches long. I guess he came out grayish/blue. After a few minutes he turned pink. I didn't have a good view of him, Dave gave me play-by-play commentary. He didn't cry right away, and when he did start to make sounds, they were little wails. They took him to the special care nursery and we were told that he would have to stay there for a minimum of six hours. By the time I got out of surgery, we were told that Judson would probably not come home with us, he was not breathing appropriately and not transitioning well. The Dr. told us that my uterine wall was very thin, much thinner than he thought it was, and that he was very glad he did the c-section when he did. The Dr. and nurses reassured us that Judson would be fine long-term. At 3:30 Dave went back to check on Judson and he was told he had not improved. At 6:30 they brought Judson back to us! They gave him a bath and finally got him to scream. His lungs had cleared out enough and he had stopped grunting long enough that he could be in the room with us. We were so relieved! Judson is perfect, absolutely perfect!