Party in the USA

It has been such an amazing and exciting summer for the Meise's.

WARNING: LONG POST AND LOTS OF PICTURES!

 We have been a lot of places and I will eventually get to writing about all of them. Summer started in June when Hudson and I went to the US. First stop was Pennsylvania where we spent a few days with Nanna and Pops (that's what we're calling him, right?) and started adjusting to the time change. Hudson did pretty well on the 7 hour flight. No crying but I definitely was exhausted by the end keeping him from pulling blankets off of the people sitting next to us and basically trying to crawl in to their laps. He is so darn cute though that I don't think they minded.

Then we headed on another long flight (about 5 hours) across the country to my family in Arizona. Hudson was a dream on that flight. We had an entire row to ourselves and he slept almost the entire time. Bliss for this mummy.

We spent 3 glorious weeks playing with Grammy and Grandpa, Aunty Christy, Uncle Jason and Hudson's cousins Jaden and Eli. Hudson and Eli are only 9 months a part so it was cute to see them interact. Hudson turned 8 months AND hit a big mile stone and started crawling. Here are some pictures from our time in Arizona-

Hudson with Grammy and Grandpa by the pool

Hudson and Grandpa watching basketball together

More pool time

He loves it!

Hudson was obsessed with the dog and would giggle each time he touched her.

Hudson with Uncle Josh and cousin Eli

Playmates

At the Phoenix Zoo

So hot and tired at the Zoo

Lots of toys to play with

Cousins Jaden and Eli

This turned into a tug of war with the toothbrushes

Hudsy and Aunty Christy

I was also able to go through the new Gilbert LDS Temple

After Arizona, our trip was only half way done. We got back on an airplane and flew to Pennsylvania again to spend more time with Nanna and Pops! For some reason whenever Hudson would see Pops for the first time he would get really scared and cry but by the next day they were the best of buds. It was just really funny every time he would react that way. Hudson had such a blast learning lots of new tricks here. Nanna taught him how to play catch and each time he caught it we would clap and say "yaaay" and he would clap and get the biggest smile on his face. It was pretty adorable. Here are some pictures from our time in Pennsylvania-

Hudsy and Pops are the best of friends

Nanna and Hudsy being silly together

Nanna time!

My little cutie!

It was so beautiful in PA that I had to do a little photo shoot in the backyard. The grass was SO green!

Up until this point (4.5 weeks) we had been away from Daddy and missed him lots. He had to go to New York for work so he met up with us in PA before we headed there. We got to celebrate Hudson's first 4th of July all together as a family.

So happy to see Daddy!

4th of July 

4th of July

We let Hudsy stay up late to do sparkelers

He thought they were pretty cool

The Meise men and their "smiles"

Then it was off to NYC for Jeff, Hudson and me! We spent a whole week there getting to see old friends and exploring the city we once called home. I told Hudson all about the time we lived there and how he was in my tummy then. Poor Jeff had to work the whole time so we didn't get to see as much of him as we would have liked but we kept busy!

Exploring midtown

9/11 Memorial

World Trade Center

9/11 Memorial Grounds

Hudsy loved to sit in the window in our hotel room and watch the cabs drive by

He usually sleep in a pack n play and so he kept standing up in the crib and wouldn't go to sleep. It was a rough week during the nights and he didn't get many naps. When he would be naughty we would stick him in "baby jail" 

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

I even got to go to the Manhattan Temple with my Aunt Dana who lives in Baltimore. I think this is my favorite temple.

Cookie shots with the lovely Kylee Maddux

 Getting ready to leave NYC and go back to Nanna and Pops

I told you it was a looong trip! Back to Nanna and Pops we went. Luckily they only live about an hour and a half from the city so we didn't have to travel far. We spent one more week with them going shopping at the outlets and playing at the beach in Jersey. Don't worry, I have lots of pictures of Hudson's first time at a beach!

Beach baby

He loved it right up until we tried to put him in the water. Then he was terrified...

Happy as a clam

Ready to go home. ha

Every trip has to end though, and so back to London we went.

Waiting for our plane to arrive to take us home

We had such a wonderful time getting to see our family and especially for me getting a little break here and there while Hudson was babysat. We are always so sad when it's time to leave but we know that we will see them again! 

Hudson Davis Meise

I am really really wishing I would have wrote this all down around the time sweet baby Hudson was born because this is going to take me a minute to remember the whole story. Not to mention I was in and out of it almost the entire time! Here goes though...

My induction date was Saturday October 5, 2013. One week from my due date.

Jeff and I woke up early that Saturday morning. I took a shower, we grabbed our hospital bag and the carseat and got on the tube to go to The Portland Hospital. 

My appointment was at 7am and we got there at exactly that. My information was already in their system so they showed me to our room and had me put on a gown. A few minutes later, a midwife (I can't remember her name for the life of me) came in and told me to put my clothes back on and go walk around Regent's Park and grab some breakfast. We had to be back in an hour I think. My doctor hadn't arrived yet and I wasn't going to be able to eat once I was induced. 

We walked around and had a delicious breakfast at this place called Villandry. SO GOOD! 

When we got back to the hospital, my doctor was there and checked my cervix to see if I was dilated at all. Dr. Subair had done a membrane sweep the week before and wanted to see if that had helped at all. I think I was at 1cm. He then inserted a gel in my cervix to soften it and get things going. Sometimes all you need is the gel, I guess. (not in my case) He told us we could go walk around the park for another hour or so and to be back around noon. (I think)

walking around Regent's Park trying to get things going!

We get back to the hospital and Doc checks me out. I'm pretty sure I hadn't dilated anymore but my cervix was softer and I may have been slightly effaced. He said he had enough room to fit the hook through my cervix to break my water. eek! This part was really painful for me so they offered me some gas and air, which is what they call laughing gas here in the UK. That stuff is seriously awesome! All I remember is feeling really dizzy and happy then feeling this POP. I started to giggle uncontrollably and of course that pushed out all of my water onto the bed and soaked it through. My midwife wasn't to happy about this. 

They hooked me up to all of the machines so they could monitor me and baby H. I think at this point is when they also started administering the pitocin to start my contractions.


large and in charge

all hooked up and ready to have a baby!

After that point I don't remember a whole lot so hopefully the rest of the story makes some sense. 

I remember that my doctor said he would check me in 4 hours and so Jeff and I watched some TV shows while we waited. I know I was having contractions but they weren't hurting too bad. I made it through until Doc came back and checked me again, hoping I had made lots of progress. NOPE! I had dilated 1/2 a cm. I was really sad but felt optimistic that the next time he checked I would be farther along. I remember sometime through the next 4 hours there was a switch in shifts and I got a new midwife. She was a lot nicer and I was happy to have her as the contractions were getting rough! She kept asking me if I wanted the epidural and I told her no for the first few hours, but for anyone who has been induced you know that the contractions come hard and with almost no time in between so I decided to get it before I wouldn't be able to sit still anymore. The epidural was so nice and kicked in very quickly. I was super scared to get it but it ended up not being bad at all. After the epidural Doc came back in and checked me... I had only dilated 1cm since the last time he checked. At this point we were in to the night and I was extremely tired from no sleep and hurting from contractions. Oh and I couldn't stop throwing up. I was so disappointed my body wasn't doing what it needed to do to get my baby out! Doc said I should prepare myself in case he needed to do a c-section. This was so depressing for me. I had told him that I would be okay with one if necessary but really wanted to have a vaginal birth and that that was my plan. They upped my pitocin and he would check me in another 4 hours. 

After about 2-3 hours, Doc came back in and cheked. HOLY MOLY, I was fully dilated and ready to go. At some point that I don't recall, the midwives got switched again and I had my girl from the day before. This woman meant business. She started having me do "practice pushes" (not really sure what the difference was because those pushes turned in to real pushes). I was so excited that we were going to meet our little boy soon!

baby H's head was turned to the side so they had me sit like this in hoped he would turn it the right way but it didn't work...

After pushing what seemed like forever, Doc said that I wasn't making much progress because of the turned head situation. Darn that naughty boy! He asked if it would be okay for him to use a vontouse (a vacuum device) to help baby turn his head so he could come out. Heck ya he could! I was so tired, I didn't know how I was funcionting. After he hooked that thing on to baby's head, Hudson was out within minutes! I remember Hudson crying before he was all the way out of me. 

Hudson Davis Meise

 October 6, 2013

9:47am

7lbs 2oz

20.5 in 

Mummy and Hudson meeting for the first time

fresh out of the womb

getting measured 

back in mummy's arms where he belongs

Quickly after he was born we were moved down in to our recovery room. We even got upgraded to a suite with an extra bed and lots more space. It was lovely. I got to finally eat again and we were just one big happy family. Life couldn't get any better.

 the best day of my life

The End.

Until next time...