Baby Zeke

Hi friends and family,

As most of you know by now, Ezekiel Thomas Huffman has arrived! Hooray!!! He arrived on August 4th at 1:25am after 25 hours of labor. He was 9lbs. 7 oz. 21.5″ long and had a 14″ head! I thought I would share his birth story for you guys because I know God had his hand in every aspect of it!!

Throughout the last months of my pregnancy, Josh and I were praying a lot about the labor and delivery. First of all, since we were moving to CO, if Zeke showed up late at all, we would face having a very young baby on the move down, as we needed to be in CO on a certain day for our new staff orientation. So we were praying for God’s perfect timing as it seemed that God alone would be able to orchestrate that. We also prayed every night that the labor and delivery would be peaceful and that everyone involved in the birth would be able to tangibly feel God’s peace and his presence when they were in our birth room.

So, during my last trimester, every time I would go to the midwives for my regular checkups, my blood pressure was slightly elevated. In pregnancy high blood pressure can be a serious thing. So the midwives decided at 39 wks of pregnancy that I should be induced. This was a definite God thing because my midwives would not have considered induction normally. You might think it weird that high blood pressure was a God thing to me, but I knew my blood pressure issues were not a real concern and really just a result of me getting stressed about showing up to my appointments late. Early induction was also a God thing because if Zeke had been allowed to bake any longer, the chances of him arriving as easily as he did would not have been as likely.

Josh, my mom and I went to the hospital in Whitefish at midnight on the 3rd to start the induction. They put me on the smallest dose of pitocin (the induction drug) possible and I reacted very well to it. So throughout the day I labored quite happily and progressed really well. That same day there were 6 other babies born and the birth center was chaos! And just as we prayed, our room was a place of peace. throughout the entire labor, nurses would come into our room to catch their breath and rest and would comment on how much they enjoyed it in our room because of how peaceful it was. Very cool!

Then came the hard part. I hit transition (hardest part of labor) around 7 or 8pm. I started having major contractions and thought the end must just be minutes away!!! But every time the midwife would check to see if I was dilated enough to push (10cm), I was only ever 8cm. So I had to labor on! By midnight on the 4th I had still not fully dilated and they discovered that Zeke was positioned improperly which was why I was not dilating. In order for him to get into the right position, my body needed to relax and I needed to lay in a certain position. But because the contractions were so strong and about 30 seconds apart, I could not lay still for that long.

So after prayer and discussion and lots of tears, I asked for some medication. I had been afraid to get medication because of some of the scary side effects that resulted from having needles stuck in the spine, but it seemed like this was the best option to be able to get Zeke where he needed to be. It ended up that they called the best anesthesiologist in the hospital. He left his home after midnight in order to come and give me the intrathecal medication (a low dose of epidural meds that takes the edge off the pain without completely numbing me). This was also a God thing because he administered the medication quickly even while I could not sit still, and he did so flawlessly!

In seconds I was able to relax and sleep in the position that was needed for Zeke’s head to shift. Within an hour of getting the meds, I had to push and Zeke was out less than 15min later. Never once in all of this did Zeke ever show signs of distress and never once did my blood pressure climb too high.

I also must say that Josh is amazing. Every second of the labor and delivery he was right there praying for me, reading me scriptures, encouraging me, making sure I stayed hydrated and supporting me in every decision! He is a gift from God!!!

I also have to say, for any of you pregnant in MT, please consider getting your maternal care from Glacier maternity and delivering at the Whitefish hospital. They are amazing people who love what they do and take the best care of their patients. If I had not been in labor, I would have thought I was on vacation at a spa or something . . . anyway . . .

Zeke is amazing! He is so adorably cute and mellow. He has been such a blessing to us! Please be praying for us that we would be directed by God in how we parent this awesome gift he has given us!

I will be updating again soon to share more God stories on our move down to CO, our new vehicle and our new home! Stay tuned . . .

And now, some pictures for your enjoyment. Thanks again for all of your prayers and support!!!

Just minutes after being born!

Biggest Cheeks ever!!!

Thinking reeeeeeeal hard!

Napping with his sock monkey friends!

Realizing maybe the sock monkies aren’t so friendly?

Just being a cute baby!

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