The Hudson Storm is officially a Category 4

Bert and I are thrilled to be the parents to a party of five. And by party, I mean, rocking-all- nighter, PAR-TAY. We've had many fun moments since early Friday morning, but since I am now a milk cow to our newest little guy, as well as full time bouncer to protect him from his siblings, who love him to pieces, and would literally love him to pieces if we let them, I am finding my computer time is being cut short these days. I do want to record the events of Flash Flood's birth, for my own sake, before my brain made of complete oatmeal turns it into a mix of my story and something I watched several weeks ago on "A Baby Story."

Friday morning, 3am, I woke up on the couch after feeling several braxton-hicks type contractions. Exactly one week prior, I had contractions all night long, but after calling our Moms and putting our sitters on high alert, the contractions stopped cold turkey. I decided this time was probably no different, and went back to sleep. By 5am, I was still feeling contractions, but they were inconsistent. I tried to time them..... A whole episode of Full House later, I realized they had stopped again. "Good, I'm going back to sleep." I told Uncle Jesse, as he finally made his decision to tell off his band manager and record his hit video the way he wanted to. By 6am, I was having the spuratic contractions again, and this time they were more intense. But, not enough to keep me from getting Her Highness up and ready for school, packing her lunch and playing a game of "No you can't do it all by yourself" with Hail, who is now determined to do ALL things by HIMSELF. Gotta love a two year old.

By 7am, I told Bert to go ahead and call his Mother, who was going to be keeping the kids while I was in the hospital, but to let her know that since the contractions were still so unpredictable, it would probably be later that evening, so no need to rush. I believe that's what I told every single person I spoke with that morning. Bert asked if he had time to run to the gym, "Oh, yeah! I mean, they're getting stronger, but still no closer together, so it will be this afternoon at least. Go ahead and go!" I called my parents to let them in on the happenings of the morning and to stay tuned. "We're excited! We should be calling back sometime this evening with our news! Stay tuned!"

Around 8:30am, I spoke with one of my BF's who is also a pediatrician. While I was on the phone with her I had to take several deep breaths to get through what was now becoming an incredibly strong contraction, which was about 100 times worse than the previous ones. "Okay, it's over, but what I was saying was, I think we're definitely going to have our baby this afternoon. We'll keep you posted. I'll call when ever we do decide to head to the hospital...." not ten minutes later I had to take several more deep breaths and grab a hold of the wall. "Holly, call Bert NOW and tell him to head home from the gym, NOW. It's time to GO NOW!! We see this all the time with women who are delivering for the fourth, fifth and sixth time. Those babies come way faster than the first few. CALL HIM!" I almost laughed. Wait, I think I did laugh. "Those are the first real ones though, we've got time. But, I'll go ahead and call him."

I did call. I just didn't make it sound urgent. "Hey Babe, you need to wrap up your workout. I just had a couple of strong ones, so looks like we'll need to head in a little sooner than later." Bert did leave the gym, but then made a stop by Panera Bread, and went to check Her Highness out of school, so none of our sitters would have to worry with those details. Side note: The town we live in, all of these places are less than three miles from our house, however, Bert had Lightning with him along for the ride, so each of these stops was taking a little more time than usual.

The short amount of time it took for our sitter (one of my dear BFFs) to get here, and for Bert to get home with bagels and Her Highness, I was suddenly in so much pain that I could not even speak. I tried not to look quite so scary, for the children's' sake, but motioned to the car with giant eyes every time Bert asked any questions. I limped out to Bert's truck, after hugging a tearful princess and waving towards the backyard at The Storm. As Bert hoisted me up into the truck I realized then, I needed to push. That's not a feeling you can exactly hold in either. Through clinched teeth I said, "Don't hit any bumps. HURRY! I NEED TO PUSH! Slow down! Don't hit the bumps! HURRY! I NEED TO PUSH!!!"

Fortunately, we live less than 10 minutes from our hospital. Riding Dukes of Hazard style the entire way, I held tight to the handle above the passenger side and prayed for God to hold this baby in until we could get there. Bert Duke peeled into the circular drive, left the truck running and came around to my side to help me out. "Do I need to carry you?!" He asked excitedly. "Don't touch me." Was all I could mutter back. I heard a man say, "Oh, dear! I just heard him ask if she needs to be carried! I'm going to run get her a wheel chair!" I guess that's who helped me sit down in the wheel chair. I don't remember seeing any faces from this point on. Voices are all I really remember. Bert decided Dukes of Hazard was the theme of the day and rushed me to Labor and Delivery the same way he had driven the truck. Which by the way, was still running in front of the hospital. He realized this immediately as the nurse at the check-in desk began asking questions, "What's your social security number?" Bert rambled off his, and she typed it in. "NOT YOURS! MINE. SHE WANTS MINE!" Bert then ran back to the parking lot to make sure the truck had not been stolen and park in the correct area. The nurse called after him, "Don't worry. We'll take good care of her!"

I couldn't believe how slow time seemed to move. The nurse typed so gingerly on her keypad, then asked, "Have you delivered here before? Is this your first?" I shook my head and held up five fingers, then I said as calmly as possible, "I need to PUSH." "Oh, my! Okay, let's get you to the observation room." I shook my head again and said, "This is my FIFTH BABY and I need to push. NOW." The doctor on call heard my statement and stuck her head in the room, "Hey guys, she probably knows what she's talking about. We'll worry with the admittance papers later, let's get her in a room quickly." Thank goodness she heard me, and knew what she was doing.

I got to the room, barely got changed into the glamorous gown and literally fell onto the bed. Bert and the doctor walked in together. I faintly remember the doc saying, "Mrs. Hudson, I'm going to check you now." And responding about the same as I did when Bert offered to carry me. A voice I didn't recognize that sounded very demon possessed spoke up and said, "Don't you touch me." The doc stepped back for just a second then said with a laugh, "Well, you know I have to, right?" I gripped Bert's hand as she did her "check" and nearly cried tears of joy and pain when I heard her tell the nurses in the room, "Girls, don't go anywhere. Break down the bed. Get me dressed. She's complete and ready to push. Mrs. Hudson, your baby will be here in less than ten minutes. Take some deep breaths for me."

Even though I knew it was almost over, I was in so very much pain that I couldn't really think straight. I could hear the voices in the room chattering and laughing, "Well, this is how we like to do it!..." "Wait, don't break the bed down just yet. I'm not quite ready and if you put her feet in those stirrups, that baby is going to fall out... Don't worry with the IV, we don't have time for that....." "Mr. Hudson, help her grab behind her knees, are you ready?? PUSH 1-2-3-4-5...." "Breathe, Mrs. Hudson. Take a deep breath and go again... 1-2-3-4...."

Suddenly, I saw a bright light. I was walking toward it and couldn't help but wonder if this was it. Am I going to die in child birth?? Like something from the dark ages?? I panicked for a moment, and thought about how I was not even hooked up to a blood pressure monitor. "I'm seriously dying and no one here knows it. Good bye world...."

"HOLLY! HOLLY! TAKE A DEEP BREATH! BREATHE, HOLLY!!! Now, one more push and he'll be here. GO!! 1-2-3-4-5..... Come on, come on! His head is half-way out!"

Suddenly, I was walking away from the bright light. I opened my eyes and heard that same demonic voice say, "Then just grab him! GET HIM OUT!" Several nurses snickered. I'm sure I would have too, if that voice wasn't actually coming from me.

"Okay, but we need you to breathe and PUSH. GO!"

One more jump up the pain scale, and suddenly, he was out.

I immediately began apologizing to all who were in the room. I apologized to the doctor for fussing, to the nurses for being such a demon possessed patient when I arrived, and to Bert for being so mean all morning. Everyone just laughed. Except Flash Flood, who was screaming away.
There is no cry so sweet as the one heard in the delivery room. Tears filled our eyes as they handed Flash to me. He was perfect in every way. The doctor called out time of birth, "10:12am!" Wow, we didn't even leave our house until 9:45.


Flash immediately calmed down as Bert and I spoke to him. He's the most alert baby I have delivered. He laid on my chest and looked all around. He would let out a tiny cry for a moment, then as Bert would speak, he would quiet himself down, as if he recognized his Daddy and was happy to know he was still there. The nurses took Flash away for a moment to weigh him and clean him up. "8lbs, 8 oz, 21.5 inches long! You've got a big healthy boy. And look at those hands! They're huge!" All of our boys have had large hands and feet at birth. Well, and always for that matter. I just thought it was funny that the nurse made that comment.

It was fun to hear Bert's end of all the phone conversations as he began to notify our family and friends.... "No, I'm not joking. He's already here. I know, I know. We were here about 10 minutes when she started pushing. No, I'm not kidding! I promise! That baby you hear screaming is ours! YES!"

Her Highness gave the best reaction of all.

Me: "Guess who I'm holding! Your baby brother!"

Her: "Huh? You just left! Like, not even 10 minutes ago. Did you really already have him?"

Me: "Yes, sweet girl, I did. Can you hear him crying? He's got your lips. I can't wait for you to meet him."

Her: "Um, Momma? Why are you talking normal?"

Me: "What do you mean?"

Her: "Well, remember when we went to see Tracey after she had her baby? Well, she was talking kinda weird. I just thought you would too."

Me: "Well, that's because Tracey had a c-section and was on drugs still. That makes you sound a little funny. But, I'm fine and I'm feeling so good we may just come on home for lunch!"

Her: "No, no. You're not supposed to be back until Sunday. Me and Grandmama got plans. You can stay there. We're going to get a pedicure and go to Target!"

Flash Flood has been a dream baby so far. He's fitting right in with our Storm, and has been a super sport with his siblings who love to hold and care for him. The Storm and Her Highness did not get to meet him until Sunday afternoon, because of the swine flu outbreak in our area, there was a "No children visitors" rule. Not seeing him for three whole days made our Homecoming even sweeter.... more on that later, as this Milk Maid has been called to duty.

Special thanks to Dr. Pepper for urging us all to get our butts in gear and get to the hospital. Had I waited for those contrations to become five minutes apart, Flash Flood would have most certianly been born in the car. And thanks so much for all the millions of other things Dr. Pepper does for our family.

And thanks to Jara and Gwen for keeping my wild children while I was in the hospital. We love all of you!