Huffman Happenings: Brooks Birth

My sweet boy is here! Praise God for such an amazing little man! I couldn't be happier or more in love with him!

Here's the story of his perfect arrival:

On Monday, September 2nd, I woke up and went to the restroom. I quickly realized I had my bloody show and yelled at Shane to come quick. When I was pregnant with Hadley I got my bloody show and went into labor within a few hours. Suddenly, everything was real. The fear of labor and delivery, the fear of two kids and the fact that we didn't have our house unpacked hit me and I cried. It's not that I was sad he was coming, I had just wanted everything to be perfect for his arrival, and an unfinished nursery and a missed opportunity to have a last date as a family made me overwhelmed to the point of tears. We called our birth team as well as the doctor and we were assured that a bloody show doesn't necessarily mean labor would start immediately. With that information we decided that we were going to spend the day as a family. Our last day as a family of three. We got ready and went to lunch. We came home for Hadley's nap and relaxed as best we could. We went to dinner together then fed the ducks. Around 6 o'clock I began having contractions. We started timing them and they were consistently 10 minutes apart. After about 2 hours of these consistent contractions we called our doula, Mindie, and told her to start heading to Abilene. The contractions continued every 10 minutes the entire evening so around 11 o'clock we decided that it would be best for me to try to get some sleep and rest before his arrival. I was able to sleep until 3 o'clock when the contractions woke me up. They were getting more intense and closer together. Around 4 o'clock I woke up Shane to help me time them. By 5 o'clock they were about 6-7 minutes apart so we decided to get up and get ready to go to the hospital. I wanted to take a shower since I knew it would be awhile before I would able to again. When I was in the shower the contractions started coming pretty quick. I would call out to Shane when another one was coming and he would time them. When Shane saw that they were 3 minutes apart he became a little frantic and told me I needed to hurry and get in the car. On the way to the car I realized that I wasn't getting to say bye to Hadley so I started to cry. I know it seems silly since I was in labor, but I just felt so sorry for her since her world was about to get turned upside down. Shane and Mindie got me into the car and we headed out.
Shane drove 80 on the highway on the way to the hospital. My contractions slowed down to about 6 minutes apart, but the intensity didn't change. When we got to the hospital we went to triage to finish our paperwork and get hooked up to the machines to monitor the baby's heart rate and the contractions. They checked my cervix and I was a 6 and 90% effaced. Progress!
We were then admitted and transferred to a birthing room. My mom and Erin joined us in there. My labor experience with Brooks was so different then my experience with Hadley. I think this is due to a few reasons.
1. I wasn't surprised by the pain this time. I knew what to expect.
2. My friend Maggie sent me an encouraging message a few weeks before that reminded me not to fight the pain, but to give into it. That was my mantra the entire time.
3. I was in such a better mental state. With Hadley's labor, by the time I reached (and stalled out at) a 6 I had already been in the hospital for at least 10 hours. So to get to the hospital at a 6 was so encouraging. I had also been going on no sleep with Hadley's labor, and since I was able to labor at home with Brooks I had been able to sleep.
I really felt in control of my contractions. I was even able to talk and sometimes laugh in between them. At one point Erin made mention of how awesome I was doing and how different this was then the last time.

After a couple hours I was sure that I had made a ton of progress so my doctor checked me, but I was only at a 7. This is the bad part of getting checked. It really affects me mentally. The doctor offered to break my water and speed up the process, but I was too scared of the pain so I told her no.

As time passed, I had my nurse check me again, and I was still at a 7. I decided I wanted to get this show on the road so I asked to have my water broken.

My doctor came back and broke my water around 11 o'clock. I don't remember it hurting, but I do remember feeling the liquid coming out. I was stuck in the bed, due to having to be hooked up to the monitors, and going through contractions there. They were getting more intense and at one point my nurse came in and told me that the baby's heart rate was dropping during contractions. She asked me to lay down instead of sitting up during contractions so she could monitor them. I laid down and his heart rate went back to normal. On one hand I remember being frustrated that I was bound to this position while dealing with the contractions and on the other hand I remember being grateful that I was bound to this position because I didn't know if I had the strength to move around anyway.

Around 11:30 my contractions became so intense. Mindie and Shane would watch the monitor and try to encourage me when they saw the contraction was dying down, but before it went away completely another contraction would start. I remember telling them, "It still hurts!!" I had no break in between contractions. And I was having trouble staying on top of them. I remember telling them that something was leaking during contractions. Mindie would tell me that that was good and it meant he was moving down. I also told Shane at one point that this was impossible- that there was no way he could come out. Shane tried to be encouraging and reminded me that I've done this before.

After about 15-20 minutes of my contractions being on top of each other I started to loose it. I began trying to bear down during the contractions trying to get him out and end the pain. The doctor came back in and my nurse checked me. She said I was a 9, but bearing down. My doctor came and then 'stretched' me to a 10. This is the only way I know how to describe that: I remember that as soon as she stretched my cervix to a 10 it felt like I wasn't pushing against a wall anymore. Suddenly the room filled with nurses and they put my legs in the stirrups. This was all such a blur, because I was really loosing it. The doctor told me to push and I let out the most high pitched scream. It then dawned on me that screaming wasn't helping me push, so I bore down and pushed my hardest. They were all so encouraging saying things like, you're doing great, he's almost here, keep pushing. Nothing they said at that moment helped. I was ready to be done. I pushed twice before the doctor said she could see his hair. I pushed again and his head was out. At that point the doctor noticed his cord was wrapped around his neck. She gave nothing away and remained very calm and told me that this time we were going to push until we got him out. I bore down for the longest time and during this push yelled at my doctor to PULL HIM OUT. I bore down again and he slid out. (8 minutes total pushing)

I felt like I was in such a daze. The doctor instructed Shane on where to cut the cord then she handed him to me and I held my son for the first time. While I held him the nurses cleaned him and the doctor delivered my placenta and gave me one stitch. Brooks latched on like a pro and I was able to nurse him before they took him away.