Conner's Birth

So obviously I've been doing some catching up, and I am pretty sure that all of you know that Conner Ray Hinton arrived on December 1st at 2:26pm at 7lbs 8oz and 19 3/4 inch long. Here is a quick overview of our birth story.

We had been worried about when Conner would arrive because I had my interview for Physician Assistant school on December 9th and we wanted Conner to be as old as possible since he and Dustin were going to come with me so I could feed him since it was scheduled to be an all day interview and was the only day they were interviewing. So lots of walks! I went on a long walk November 30th, on his due date in the afternoon. I had been having contractions pretty close together for awhile now, but they would always stop after 2 hours or so for the past week. On the 30th I started getting some pretty hard contractions at 4pm. By 8pm they were every 5 minutes. We were planning on going natural using Hypnobabies and so tried to labor at home as long as possible. We got to the hospital when my contractions were every 3 minutes at 1am. We continued to labor, mom and Sarah came to the hospital and joined us, and Dustin was a great coach. I stopped progressing and so at 10am they broke my water, which lead to closer and harder contractions, and I had to stay in bed for monitoring (which was the worst position for me when trying to labor naturally) and then started vomiting and shaking, etc, so Dustin and I agreed it was time to get the epidural. Our goal was to do everything we could to not have a c-section and I was progressing again, and I needed rest. I hadn't slept the night before either and was of course exhausted. We got the epidural and 1 hour later I was fully dilated. Conner was super high up, even though facing the right way, and do the doctor said since he was doing so well he wanted me to sleep and let him labor down naturally to make pushing easier. So Dustin, mom, Sarah and I slept for 2-3 hours. By this time Jessica and Carter also joined us. Then we were ready to push, and 20 minutes later we had our little Conner!! It was an amazing experience and we feel so blessed for the opportunity to be parents, especially to such a sweet spirit. He is such a good baby!!

Here I am after the epidural and they are having me switch positions to try and move his head further down.

And here is Conner! Just a few seconds old!!

They let us do skin to skin and bond together for awhile before weighing and measuring him. And they did everything right in the room so we could be with him. Dustin never left his side. :) And they let Dustin get as involved as he wanted with cutting the cord and cleaning him off, etc.

A very happy happy Father.

Getting to hold Conner after he's all bundled.

Meeting his Grandma Shepherd!! He was extremely alert for whole time just looking around and taking everything in.

Meeting Aunt Sarah!!

His little face!! I just love him so much!!!

After his sponge bath. Dustin got to help here too.

Later that night everyone else came to meet the Little Guy! Here is he meeting his Great Grandma Shepherd.

Meeting Grandpa Shepherd! He sure loves his Grandpa and Grandma!!

Uncle Josh. He and David were so cute wanting to hold him and being so excited and good with him.

Ben getting to hold Conner for the first time. We had to laugh about how big Ben is compared to Conner. He was about as big as his hands!!

The hospital gave us a celebratory dinner, steak and potatoes. It was very good, and Dustin was sure glad that they fed him :)

Just one day old.

Going home!!!

"Mommy I can't put my arms down!!!!"

We came home to a sign on our door from some friends!

His first night sleeping in his crib.

Falling asleep in his swing!

We sure love this little guy! He is so sweet! And growing already! I know they say that they grow fast, but geez!! He is only 12 days old and is already beginning to be too long for some of his newborn clothes! But we sure love seeing him grow too and how much he's already learning and doing!!