Bennett Grant Huntsman

My whole life I knew that I wanted to be a wife and a mother more than anything else in the world. Before Teddy and I got married we had the discussion of when we would like to try and start our family. Immediately we both knew that was something that we wanted to start right away. A month after we had been married we found out that we were expecting! We were so excited, but we kept quiet because we didn't know what to expect. 

I surprised Teddy with the good news. I tried to find a unisex "I Love Daddy" onsie, but I could only find them for girls so I wrapped the present in Spiderman paper to even it out LOL.

Unfortunately a few days after we found out, I began to spot and had intense cramping. We lost that sweet angel baby, but I feel that it was just preparing my body for Bennett. A month later I had a doctor's appointment with my primary care doctor. He decided to do a blood pregnancy test just because he had known that we were trying. The test came back negative, we were disappointed but we figured it would take awhile after our loss. A week after my doctor's appointment, I decided to take a pregnancy test because I was a few days late. I already expected a negative result only because the blood test was negative...and when are those ever wrong?? Much to my surprise it came back positive, as well as the following three tests!

Teddy and I were excited but also a little skeptical. We already knew the pain of being overwhelmed with excitement just to have it immediately followed by disappointment and heartache, so we decided to wait awhile before we told anyone. Soon following the news I began to spot again. How could this happen again? I went to the doctor's and found out that everything was fine and sometimes spotting occurs in the first trimester. We were so relieved. After finding out everything was good, we began to tell our families. Everyone was so excited for us, especially my family who were now expecting their first grandbaby! My first trimester was plagued with the typical "morning sickness", which seemed to strike me more in the evenings. My fifteenth week of pregnancy we decided to go to a 3D ultrasound place to find out our babies gender, because we just couldn't wait the extra five weeks for my doctor's office to tell us! My mom, dad, Jodi, Nana Shirley, Lynn and Chanae all came to find out what we were having. Teddy was convinced it was going to be a girl, I personally think he was preparing himself to not get disappointed if it was actually a girl because he secretly wanted a boy ;) It was such an exciting experience to see our little baby in 3D. We got to see it move around and place it's little hand relaxingly on it's knee. At the end of the ultrasound was when we finally got the news. As soon as she scanned over the parts I knew it was a little boy!! We were all SO EXCITED! IT'S A BOY! I have always wanted to have a boy first so my other children would have a big brother to look up to. I was so full of love for my little boy. 

These were taken at our second 3D ultrasound appointment when we were able to see his cute features! This guy loves touching his face!

 

 

Now we had to decide on a name. Teddy and I loved the name Rylan. We decided that was what we were going to name him, but we soon learned that Teddy had a cousin who had a son with the same name. At first we weren't bothered by that. We were already attached to that name and we were already calling him Rylan. About a month or so later I decided that we should change it. I wanted my son to have a name that was unique to him. We came across the name Bennett and fell in love. We liked the idea of being able to call him Ben or Benny for short. The rest of my pregnancy went pretty typical up until the 33rd week. The morning after Valentine's day, I woke up to find a lot of blood. I was in shock, what could this be? I called a nurse and we concluded that I had lost my mucus plug, a typical thing to happen at this stage of pregnancy. The rest of the weekend my body felt a little off. It was slightly crampy and I continued to bleed. I gave another call to the nurse who recommended me to go to the hospital just to be checked out. Me and Teddy knew that they would look at me and laugh and send me home just like all of the other paranoid mothers-to-be. When we arrived to Summerlin Hospital, they hooked me up to monitors to check my contractions as well as my sweet boys heart beat. He was perfectly fine, but my contractions were a little alarming. I was having more uterine activity than even a person in pre-term labor would be having. I was seen by a high risk doctor who decided to have me admitted because I was two centimeters dilated, 75% effaced and in pre-term labor. Me and Teddy were prisoners to the hospital for three days, but even though we were stuck there...me without solid foods, it was a great time for me and Teddy to grow closer together. We also got to watch most of the winter olympics ;)

Having "fun" during our three day stay at the hospital.

 On the third day we got sent home with medicine to stop the contractions as well as bed rest orders. They wanted me to make it to my 36 week and then I could stop the meds and return to my normal activities. In hind sight, bed rest was glorious. At the time though, it was nothing but boredom! The day of my baby shower I stopped the contraction medication. Three days later I had an appointment with Dr. Swainston. During my exam I could tell that my doctor was surprised. He asked me if I had been experiencing any discomfort and I told him I had been a little crampy, but nothing too intense. He then told me that I was fully effaced and five centimeters dilated. I was shocked, is my baby just going to fall out?? He warned me not to hang out at home for too long because my baby would be coming anytime. That scared me, I don't want to have him at home! I called Teddy at work and we decided to head to Summerlin just to be safe. They monitored me for a few hours and decided to send me home. I woke up the next morning due to a cramp, exactly 36 weeks along, and my water broke. Teddy came home immediately and we packed up and left for the last time to Summerlin. On our way there my contractions became more and more intense. By the time I got into the labor and delivery triage room the pain was unbearable. I became one of those crazy ladies you see in movies who scream their heads off during labor. I never thought that would be me. During the brief moments in between contractions I would try and apologize to the nurses for my behavior...it really was embarrassing :( We arrived around 9 am and I was dilated to 7. Around 9:30 when I got placed in a room I was at a 9 and was in serious need of an epidural. By the time I received my pain medication I was already dilated to a 10 and was ready to go. Lucky for me, Dr. Swainston was already at the hospital for another patient. He came in and told me to labor down, he pretty much just wanted Bennett to come further down the birth canal to make it easier for delivery. I pushed for an hour and a half. It was probably the longest hour and a half of my life. I was so exhausted. I was impatient. I wanted my baby boy to be here already! I tried to convince the nurse to let me stop and just go home and go to bed, but apparently that's not allowed LOL. After pushing for what seemed like hours, Dr. Swainston returned and, much to his surprise, Bennett was face up. He immediately went into super doctor mode and numbed me up and gave me an episiotomy and suctioned my little man out! Before I knew it he was crying in my arms, the moment I had been waiting my whole life for.

My sweet little Bennett Grant had a head full of dark brown hair and he was 6 pounds 12 ounces and 19 1/2 inches long. He arrived at 12:45 pm on March 5, 2014, a month before his due date! He was considered pre-mature, but he didn't have to spend anytime in the NICU and we got to go home the following day. I am so in love with this sweet little boy. I love the funny faces he makes when he stretches, I love the squeaky sounds he makes that sometimes sounds like he is communicating with dolphins, I love watching him suck his thumb, I love the way his hair gets super fluffy after a bath and I love giving him kisses, especially on his chubby cheeks. He is more than I could have ever asked for. I am extremely blessed to have brought his sweet spirit into this world, with help from my amazing hubby! :)