Liam's Birth Story

Liam Ray 

Born July 14, 2015, at 1:50 a.m.

8 lbs, 7 ozs & 21 1/2 inches long

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I was scheduled for an induction for 10 a.m Monday morning, July 13th. My doctor had been out of town the previous week but had said that if my cervix was favorable (meaning a 3 or 4), she would have the partnering doc put me on the induction list for the first day back from vacation. I had been excited and a bit relieved when the doctor told me I was a 3, 70% effaced at the appointment. 

As I was getting ready to leave for the hospital on Monday morning, I got a phone call saying that they were really busy and they needed to push back my induction time until noon. I decided that I would get some useful things done around the house. I had been feeling pretty uncomfortable all weekend but contractions weren't regular and would come and go as they pleased.

About 11:15 I got another call saying we could head in and didn't have to wait until noon. We got ready again and stopped by McDonalds on the way (Caleb was hungry and I wanted a smoothie!). When we arrived, we got all the paperwork done and waited to be admitted to our L&D room. 

Once we were in our room, they hooked me up to the monitors where we saw that I was having irregular contractions, but they weren't strong enough to really do anything more than irritate the uterus. When they finally got around to checking me, it was about 1 pm and I was stunned and confused to hear the nurse say I was a 2, 50% effaced. I asked if it was possible to go backwards, and told her what the doctor had said the previous week. She left to put a call in to the doc and get the game plan, and I then had a panic session when I realized I had started bleeding quite a bit. I called the nurse back in and she assured me everything was fine, but said they were having another nurse check me. 

Half an hour later the doctor came in and explained that we were going to wait a little while and see if my contractions would space out and become more regular, or if I needed to be given some fluids. She wanted to soften my cervix by using a cervical ripening agent, but that process often stimulates contractions and they were concerned that adding contractions on top of mine would put too much stress on the baby. In the mean time, they prepped me for an IV which took a ridiculous amount of time. I have stubborn veins and it is rare anyone can get a good one in on my left. The nurse finally got a good stick on my right, but after getting the blood for labs, the vein blew and we had to start all over again. She had a nurse from ER come in and help because she was known for being good at finding difficult veins. 

It was about 2 pm we started the fluids because my contractions weren't picking up on their own. The fluids slowed contractions enough that I was in a good place to start the cervical softening process about 3 pm. After it was placed, we had to wait three hours; two on the monitor, one walking. Two hours eventually turned into three, however, and my nurse came in to explain that somehow a note had been made that I needed constant fetal monitoring when I actually didn't. Until she could get ahold of a doctor to alter it, she couldn't let me off the monitor.  

It was a little after 7 p.m. when I was checked again to see how the ripening agent had worked, and there was a little progress, but not enough to keep me from feeling discouraged and wondering if I should have just waited and not scheduled an induction. I was still a 2, but close to a 3, so I felt like we still weren't even at the point I should have been to have a smooth and quick induction. Not to mention, I had come into the hospital already thinking I was at a 3, so I still felt like we weren't even at the starting line.  

The doctor said that we would use another cervical ripening agent, but this time it was a pill to be taken orally, and she thought that would be all I needed to get things moving along. It was about 7:30 at that point, and the kids had been with my mom all day. I decided that I would send Caleb home to put the kids to bed because he wouldn't be missing anything at all. I was having contractions, but they weren't much to talk about. I wasn't really uncomfortable, and they were so far spaced that it shouldn't even count as regular contractions. 

Shortly after 8 pm I began to feel stronger, regular contractions. I txt my mom with the update, telling her that they were about 7-8 minutes apart and I was feeling better about things moving along, and then I called Caleb and filled him in before requesting to talk to the kids on the phone. 

Caleb returned to the hospital shortly before 9 and contractions had sped up to about every 5 minutes. We decided to go for a walk to see if it would help. I was breathing fine through contractions, but had definitely reached the point where I felt it was picking up and I was inching my way up the pain scale. We walked about 40 minutes, then came back for 20 minutes of monitoring. After the walk and monitoring, my contractions had reached about 2 minutes apart and I txt my mom telling her I was really feeling it now, and I would update again after the next check, which would come about 11:20.

In that time while we waited, I did another round of walking, but this time it was a really, REALLY slow walk. We would go about 8 steps or so between stopping to lean on Caleb and breathe through contractions. The nurse had told us to be back to the room about 11 pm and to pee and be ready so she could check me on time, and by the end of the walk I knew I was ready for that epidural. 

When she checked me I was at a 4, and labor had kicked it up a notch since the walk. It seemed like the seconds crawled by as I waited for the epidural and contractions kept coming right on top of each other. It was nearly midnight when the epidural was placed and I was able to txt my mom the update. The nurse told me that the doctor wanted me started on pitocin. On a side note, I loved my L&D nurses... the night shift nurse was so sassy. She told me she personally didn't think I even needed the pitocin, but she would give it to me as the doctor ordered, but on the lowest dose. She even laughed when I told her, "I've got my epidural in, so I don't care what you give me. I don't have to feel it!." 

Pitocin was started about 12:15 and another check revealed that I was a 5, almost a 6, so things were definitely moving right along in the way they needed to. I was determined to nap a bit as we waited the process out, but I have a tendency of having my epidurals wear off, and I feel each contraction down low when I start nearing the transition stage. I had told my nurse this ahead of time, and she told me that if I started to feel bad pain to let her know and she would have them come top me off to see if I could keep it in a manageable state. I wanted to feel the pressure and not be overly numbed up like I was with Connor, but I didn't want to be screaming in agony like I had with Evelynn. I was pretty uncomfortable with the pain down there and it prevented me from napping. I was also really cold and itchy and felt shaky from the epidural and nearing transition, so the combination of it all didn't let me get the rest I had hoped for. 

I don't know what time it was when I requested to be "topped off", but I had reached a point where I was breathing through each contraction again and in so much pain that Caleb was telling me his hand was being crushed. The guy who came in said that he was being generous since it wasn't my first baby and I already knew how to push. I got just enough relief to take the edge off the pain, and I was so glad that my nurse had told me to let her know so that we could manage it before I was at pushing stage. About that same time, my nurse told me she was stopping the pitocin because she didn't think I needed it. It was obvious to her that I would do it myself at the rate my contractions were going. 

About 1:30 my doc came in to check me and I was at a 7. I told her that with Evelynn, I was at a 7 one minute, then less than 10 minutes later it was time to push. She said she thought I still had a little while, but I really wasn't so sure. She broke my water at 1:39 am and said she would be keeping close by, but figured we still had a bit of time, and then left the room. 

The door hadn't even been closed two minutes when I felt the pressure. I knew exactly what it meant! I told Caleb what was happening, and he told me he needed to pee. I'm sure my response of "don't you dare leave me" isn't a surprise. He apparently thought it would be good to say "you'll be ok, I'll just be gone a second. It's ok." Well, no shocker, but I didn't like that response in the slightest bit. I literally screamed at him through the pain, "don't you tell me it's ok, I AM NOT OK!!!!!!!!" Apparently my nurse heard me, because she came right in and took one look at me and said she was checking me. She said, "Oh, we are READY! Good thing the doctor didn't go anywhere. She's just outside the door." Now, folks, you're probably wondering... did Caleb get to go pee? Did he dare? Well, the answer is yes. He dared. I was shaking so bad and so nauseous that I didn't argue again, but I think he peed the quickest he ever has in his entire life to get back to me because he knew he would never live it down if he missed the birth because he had to pee.

It took 3 pushes, 4 minutes, and then little (or should I say, big) Liam came into the world at 1:50 a.m. There were comments about how big his head was and his size, but I just thought to myself that he was about what his brother had been, and it was no surprise to me. I was more concerned by how quiet he was being, and told him that mommy would really appreciate it if he screamed (haha!).

Daddy got to cut the cord while I held baby. He weighed in at 8 lbs, 7 ozs (two ounces less than big brother had been), and 21 1/2 inches long.