Liam’s Birth Story

We posted updates when I was in labor, but I wanted to write down the whole story of Liam’s birth day.

I was supposed to be induced at 7:30am on June 1st, 2016, but the hospital called at 5:20 to tell me that all the rooms were full and they would let me know later when they had availability. This was nice in the sense that we got to go sleep a bit more and have breakfast with Maya, but it also left us pretty anxious waiting for that call. I knew my doctor was doing an afternoon surgery so I was worried that they might push my induction to the next day if my doctor wasn’t available when a room finally was. I called and left a message around 10am asking what the plan was, luckily they called back right away and a room was ready at 11:30! I tried not to let my emotions take over as I said goodbye to Maya and we gave her hugs and kisses as she played with blocks.

My dad drove us to the hospital since they needed to have our car. We checked in and I got settled into bed. They let me order lunch and I told Billy he should go get food too since it might be his last chance. The hospital was so accommodating with a welcome bag full of snacks and $40 for Billy to spend at the cafeteria. While he was gone, and in-between bites of lunch, my doctor came by to break my water. Only a tiny bit came out which was the same with Maya, the head was a cork in the way! Billy returned to the room and only a couple minutes later at 1:12, I had my first contraction. Now remember, I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for most of the month of May, but as soon as that first contraction hit I was like “Ohhhhh yeahhhhh, this is what the real ones feel like!”. While Braxton Hicks is an extreme tightening of the uterus, sometimes with cramps, the real ones are way more about the cramping sensation and I felt it all over my uterus, lower stomach and butt. There was also a lot more pressure pushing down with each one.

I decided to walk since that helped move things along and get my mind off the contractions with Maya’s birth. It really seems like Labor & Delivery units should have a track to walk on! I walked around the halls but there wasn’t too far to go. We were surprised at how quiet it was no screaming mama’s or babies, especially since they were at capacity! We later heard there were a lot of epidurals that day, haha! My mom arrived after about an hour of contractions which was when they were getting to be about 3 minutes apart. I knew I wanted an epidural for sure this time (last time I was going to “wait and see”). Billy urged me to ask for it sooner than later since last time I got it so late and it failed. So I requested it around 2:15pm and about 20 minutes later the anesthesiologist arrived. I had some really intense contractions during the wait and during the placement of the epidural. I squeezed Billy’s hand pretty hard and my mom put lotion on my feet. They were so nice and helpful, but I was so glad real pain management was coming! We set out a picture of Maya when she was born so I could remind myself of the end goal. I also had a necklace that was made by all my shower guests at Maya’s shower with an extra bead added that said “sister” from Maya.

As the epidural was placed, I tried to be extremely descriptive about what I was feeling so that if it failed again they could fix it! Luckily everything went perfectly and after a few more contractions it started to do its job.They give you a little button to push if you want more medicine and I think I pushed it 3 or 4 times over the next hour, I was still definitely feeling each contraction but without nearly as much pain. There were actually a few where I had to ask if I was having a contraction since they can see the whole thing on the monitor. I laid on my side since every time I went on my back I got dizzy. I also was having to blow my nose a lot during the whole labor due to the dang cold I had! I warned the nurse that I would most definitely be needing oxygen during pushing since I was so stuffed up!

About an hour after the epidural was placed my nurse checked me and I was 9cm. They called for my doctor to make sure she was out of surgery. The timing was perfect and when she arrived I was at 10cm! I remember remarking “all I had to do was lay here!”. I was so lucky to start the induction at 5cm already and to have only needed my water to be broken. Pitocin (the drug used to induce contractions) really sucks, not only do you have to drag the IV around if you want to get up, but it makes the contractions so intense and so close together to the point of overlapping. So my doctor arrived and I very quickly felt the urge to push. At first she was telling me when to push, but then I let my body take over and I was in charge. I remembered focusing too much of my push into my face and holding my breath during pushing Maya, it is so hard not to! So I tried really hard to focus the push downward. I was yelling”come out Liam!” and I was very focused on meeting my baby.

After about 20 minutes of pushing, his heart rate started to fall to the 60’s. At this point I was completely focused on pushing, breathing and mostly had my eyes tightly closed. To the others in the room, this was a scary moment. They had to do an episiotomy and then at the very end had to use the vacuum to turn his head. I pushed so insanely hard at this point, I was just remembering Maya’s birth and then they threatened the vacuum at the very end I was able to use all my energy to push her out. Not this time, but it didn’t matter, Liam was OUT! He was born at 5:04pm. Billy assisted in pulling him into the world and placed our son on my chest. The NICU team had been called in due to his low heart rate but as soon as he was on me he started to howl! They quickly left and he was assessed to have an Apgar score of 8-9/10, a super healthy baby!

He cried and cried forever! My mom noted that we were speechless, but it was only because he was commanding the room with his cries! We were able to FaceTime with Maya, but she was more interested in eating berries than talking to us! As much as I wanted to hold him, I also wanted to see him and this is so hard when they are so tiny and floppy! Plus with the IV on one arm and the blood pressure cuff on the other, it is so hard to maneuver. So I had Billy hold him pretty quickly so I could see our boy.

With Maya’s pregnancy, I had so many ultrasounds and monitoring, I really wasn’t concerned at all about her well being. This pregnancy was so “normal” and low intervention that in comparison it seemed like we didn’t know anything about this baby! It was truly a relief to see how completely perfect he was. We held him for 80 minutes before they took him to clean him up and measure him.

I had guessed he was 6lbs 12oz and he was 6lbs 15oz and 20″ long. His head was 13″ circumference and I’ll have to look up what Maya’s was to see if that made a difference in needing a little more help getting him out. We let my mom go home, we all couldn’t believe she would make it back in time for dinner! As soon as we were all cleaned, stitched, bundled and packed, they wheeled me down the hall to my recovery room and my dinner arrived shortly after! Everything about the timing that day was just perfect!

We are so in love with our new baby boy and despite a few scary moments, overall it was a very pleasant birth experience. I had heard that second births are often half the time as the first, and that was exactly right with mine! I am so glad I went with the induction. If my labor had started at home and progressed at the same rate, it only would have taken an hour for the contractions to be excruciating. Who knows if I would have been at the park with Maya, or if Billy would have been 45 minutes away at work, or if I wouldn’t have been able to reach my dad for help with Maya… I’m just glad it all went really smoothly.  I’m also so grateful that my epidural worked this time. As I mentioned, with Maya’s birth I was going to wait and see about needing pain management. Since I really didn’t get it, I knew I wanted it this time. It just helped me so much to be in the moment and not absorbed with my pain. This is a day I want to remember every moment of, and during those insane contractions I was so closed off. Pushing is so much work and if I had been having painful contractions for hours leading up to pushing, it would have been so hard to summon the energy. So I am totally pro epidural now, it allows you to be present in one of the most amazing moments of your life.

So that’s Liam’s birth story. Pretty darn detailed, but that’s mostly for me and for him someday although I’m happy to share it here for the rest of you.

Tired, happy, sooooo in love