Hudson Chase Pratt

 On December 23, I woke up to a bit of a surprise.  My water broke just after Jeremy left for work.  I tried to call him, but didn't reach him until he got to his office and had to come all the way back.  I was surprised to be going into labor.  I was still 3 1/2 weeks away from when the doctor had said that I was due.

Jeremy came home and took me to the hospital.  I had already contacted Jeremy's mom and she met us at the hospital to watch Corbin.  We went in and were greeted by the on-call doctor who stated that I would need to have another C-section.  I had an amneo earlier that week to see if the baby's lungs were developed enough and had been told they weren't so we were a little concerned.

It wasn't long before Hudson Chase was born.  He was 9 pounds 3 ounces and 21 1/2 inches long.  He was a huge baby, especially considering how early he was.

 We quickly found out that Hudson's lungs were under-developed and that he was going to need some help and time to develop his lungs. Once I was out and in my room, the NICU doctor came in and told us that Hudson needed to be transferred to the Downtown hospital that was better suited for his lung issue and that I would also be transferred.

 Hudson and I ended up staying at the hospital for a while.  He had some initial hurdles in terms of lung development, which prevented us from being able to hold him until Christmas Day.  We were so excited to be able to hold him at last. We couldn't have asked for a better Christmas present.  The nurses kept telling us how good he was and that he was such a cuddler.

 While in the NICU, Hudson had to have some light treatment for jaundice, and got to wear these great glasses.

 He looked so cute in his pjs and hat.  It made it difficult that he was always connected to monitors to make sure that his breathing and heart beat were okay.

My mom came up the day after Christmas to help us with everything.  She was an amazing help.  Once I was out of the hospital, we had to come back about every three hours and do feedings.  Having Mom here helped so much with watching Corbin, going with me, and just helping things stay in order while we were constantly going back and forth.

After I had been out of the hospital a while, they transferred Hudson back to the hospital where he was born, which was much closer to our house.  It made it much easier to go in and do the feedings.

Jeremy's mom and sister came on New Year's Eve and got to help feed him in his room.

The last benchmark that Hudson had to reach was eating.  He had gone through so much trauma and had lost weight and needed to have a consistent period of eating enough that the doctor wouldn't be worried about him going home.