The Bradshaw Clinic: April 2009

This is the story of the arrival of our 3rd child. There is the saying that boys can be more difficult and that proved to be true with our first boy! My pregnancy was the easiest of all 3. I had the preterm labor, which is normal for my pregnancies and very manageable. We had planned a fishing trip the day before his arrival. I think he didn't want dad to go fishing without him. I went in for a routine checkup that morning and ended up staying. And yes I had the car, car seats and had not packed my bags yet! I had not even begun false labor contractions, so I thought I had time.
Anyhow, our baby had a deceleration in his heart rate in the doctors office, and I was sent in to the hospital for further monitoring. At the hosptial he had a big deceleration and lots of smaller ones. His heart rate went from 120 to 60 in less than a minute and did not return very quickly. It was almost like on the medical shows- where doctors and nurses run as the monitors show there is a problem. Well, I wasn't going home that day. They induced me at 38 weeks and it was a long day. I didn't get a bed or pitocin until 7 pm that night. 8 hours in a triage bed is pure torture. I found that if you tell them you're ready for you're epidural you can get a room reallly quickly! Labor progressed slowly, mainly cause the baby was posterior.
At 4 am I was still at 5 cm. My doctor came in and put me on more internal monitors to get more accurate measurements. Alll in all the baby was not tolerating labor and at 5 am his heart rate dropped to 60 again. It was time for the baby to come out. The past few weeks before our baby came I had the feeling that I was going to have a c-section. Even the day I walked into the hospital I had the feeling of "I'm going to have a c-section" At the time I thought it was my nerves but now I know the lord was preparing me. I was nervous about the surgery but not scarred and I am grateful for the still small voice of the spirit. It seemed so surreal as I was being wheeled into the OR. It was really happening to me. Everything went well- Alot of prep work and nurses counting tools in the background. Our little boy turned out to be fine with a perfect apgar score. The doctors couldn't find any cord prolapse and didn't know why he had problems. We were grateful that our baby was okay. He came out crying and routing around. He didn't want to wait for me to come around. They gave me alot of drugs that made me nauseous and dizzy afterwards. He loves to eat and he knew exactly how to breastfeed. The recovery has been a lot harder than my other babies. I am grateful John was able to take some time off work and has been so helpful. Now that I am finally starting to get back to my routine, I just wanted to share our baby story.

We named him John Afton Bradshaw jr. He was born on 4/9/09 at 6:05 am. He weighed 7 lbs 5.5 oz and was 20 inches long. He is just so precious and just loves to be held. The girls are very sweet with him and Ashley calls him baby John.

Hannah's Birthday Presents and Cake!

Hannah is always stealing my chapstick, so I thought it would be perfect to get Hannah her own.

Who thought a liitle girl would get excited about clothes. I think she just liked to open up her gifts reguardless of what it was.

Bubble fun for Hannah!

Time to go Fishing!

I think I have started a new tradition in our family, not on purpose either. I thought it would be fun to make ashley a fun cake for her 2nd birthday and it has continued on. Hannah loves mickey and minnie mouse. She recognized the cake as minnie mouse, so I achieved my goal. One day I'd like to learn how to make a fondant cake. It was alot of fun and a whole lot of cake.