Introducing Cayden Dale Higgins!

Chad and I finally had our little boy on July 4th at 3:09 am. He weighed 8 lbs 15.7 oz (although some of the nurses rounded up to 9 lbs) and was 20 1/2 inches long. Cayden has dark blue/gray eyes and strawberry blonde hair. He has his Daddy's eyes and his Mommy's cheeks and face shape. We're not sure about his nose. For those that are interested, here is what led up to us celebrating the 4th of July in the hospital. :)

After my post last Friday I began having even more contractions (I didn't think it was possible). Chad's mom and sister were down visiting with me and as we began timing the contractions we found they were finally four minutes apart and were lasting about 90 seconds. Finally! I got to the hospital about 7 pm and found out at 8:30 that I was progressing enough so they would keep me; I was so relieved to not be sent home. Around 9:30 the contractions were too painful and so I got an epidural. An epidural is seriously the best thing ever and I think anyone who says they want to go natural is absolutely insane! There was a lot more pressure involved in getting an epidural than I anticipated, but it was so worth it. Minutes after the epidural I was sound asleep and didn't feel a thing! Funny story... while getting the epidural I thought I had peed all over myself, but it turns out that it was only my water breaking.

I slept on and off from about 11-2 am when the nurse came in again to see how far dilated I was. At that point I was at 7 cm and she said she would come back in an hour and check again. For some reason another nurse came in about 20 minutes later and when she checked me she found that I was at 10 cm! I went from a 7 to a 10 in 20 minutes! Sweet!

At 3 am the Dr came in and said it was time to start pushing. I was curious about how long this would take and was told by a nurse that for a first baby I should expect to be pushing for 1-2 hours. My initial thought was if that was the case I was going to die. Have no fear... nine minutes and two contractions later little Cayden popped out! After seeing how much he weighed and how fast he came out the Dr and nurses said I had bragging rights. Lol.

Chad was great through the whole thing. He thought it was pretty neat cutting the umbilical cord. I think the funniest thing he said during the delivery was in reference to the baby's head coming out... "Hey Amber, there's a lot of blood down here." Really. No kidding. Thanks dear, that's exactly what I wanted to hear.

Everything went perfectly and we now have a beautiful, adorable, happy, healthy baby boy! We love him so much!

Seconds after being born.

8 lbs 15.7 oz... big boy!

I just love his little frog legs.

Holding my little boy for the first time; I started crying.

Daddy and his boy. :) Chad looks really, really tired.

Cayden's first bath. He screamed the whole time.

Blowing spit bubbles. :)

Trying to suck on his thumb, which by the way he has become quite proficient at.

Cayden with both of his Grandmas.

Chad and Cayden.

My boys. I love them.

Our first family photo.

Absolutely precious.

P.S. Sorry about all the pictures. This is only a few of them, honestly. I just have a lot of favorites!