Hanging with the Huffmans: June 2011

We had a big and wonderful surprise on the morning of June 12th. It was Sunday morning, and I got up to pee for the sixth time around 6:30 a.m. I got back in bed to go back to sleep. All of a sudden, I felt a rush of water and jumped up and ran to the bathroom. I yelled for Ben, and he responded with "What?" from the bed. I told him I think my water just broke. In one second, he ran into the bathroom with me and told me to call the doctor. I called the emergency number, and she told me to go to the hospital to have them check me out. We were not expecting this, and we did not have a bag packed. Ben and I were running around like chickens with our heads cut off trying to pack a bag and get on the road. (I wasn't moving as fast since I was holding a towel between my legs, haha.) We finally had a bag packed, which I didn't wear any of it while at the hospital. On the way to the hospital, I started feeling mild cramping, or early contractions. We got to the hospital still in a frenzy trying to figure out where to park. Ben finally ran into the emergency room and asked them where to go. They came out with a wheelchair and showed us where to go. We got to the labor and delivery part, and I changed into a gown. They tested me to see if I was truly in labor, and sure enough I was. I got my IV hooked up, and my contractions started getting a little stronger. They moved me to the birthing room, and finished hooking up my IV. I was about 1 centimeter dilated at the time. Within the hour, my contractions got worse and worse. Over the next few hours, the were only 30 seconds apart and very painful! Ben was a WONDERFUL coach and partner! He held my hand, rubbed my back, gave me ice chips, and tried to meet all my demands (even if I was a bit crazy). By 10:00 a.m., I was 4 centimeters dilated and in a lot of pain. My doctor said that I could have a epidural now if I wanted one, so I jumped on that opportunity. The greatest woman alive, also known as the anesthesiologist, came in and gave me my epidural. While she was doing it and almost done, I asked "Can this paralyze me?" She told me that it was a little late now, haha. Everything was fine, and within minutes, I felt nothing. It was great, haha. Over the next few hours, my dilating stalled and I stayed at 4 centimeters. They tried having me switch positions every 30-45 minutes to have Connor move down and help the process along. At 5:00, I was 7 centimeters, so it was working. Then by 6:00 p.m., I was a little over 9 centimeters, and it was time to start pushing. It was a little hard with numb legs, but I tried my hardest and Ben was a huge help. We pushed for about 45 minutes, but Connor's head would not fit through the canal. The doctor finally made the decision to go ahead and do a c-section. He was not in distress, but she was worried about his head. The prepped me for the surgery, and gave me some medicine that almost knocked me out completely. We headed to the operating room, and Ben held my hand and tried to keep me awake for the surgery. Finally at 7:21 p.m., Connor Kenneth Huffman was born at 18 1/2 inches long and 6.92 pounds. I heard his sweet cry, and they brought him to me to see. Then they cleaned him off, and we took a couple of pictures as a family. Then Ben and Connor went to the nursery while I got stitched up. I had to go to the recovery room for 2 hours after, and this is when family came to visit me and try to see Connor. Since he was technically premature and I spiked a fever right before surgery, Connor had to go the the NICU unit to receive antibiotics. Since I did not have my strep B test results back yet, they treated us both as if I had it as a precaution. After the recovery room, we went to our post-partum room. I could not walk, eat, or drink for a while, so the nurse had to take care of me through the night. The next day, I couldn't wait to go see Connor, but I was told that I had to wait 24 hours due to my fever from the night before. I knew it was the best for his health, but it was the hardest thing I have ever had to do so far. Every second until the 24 hours was up seemed to take days. As soon as the 24 hours was up, Ben wheeled me down to the NICU to go see my baby boy. He was soooooo precious, sweet, cute, loving, innocent, and all mine! I kissed him, cried, hugged him, and loved on him for hours. We could not take him to our room since he needed the antibiotics, so we lived in the NICU for the remainder of our time there. Then Wednesday afternoon, Connor and I were released and we got to go home. Ben and I were so excited!!! Now we are all home and doing great! We just catch ourselves staring at him for hours and kissing him all over. We are in love!