Liam is here!

Liam is a month old today! Time really does fly by when you have kids. Time already seemed to be flying by but now it's been sped up by 10! I thought I'd share Liam's birth story. I found strength I never thought I had!

It all started on Saturday, April 16th. I thought I had been leaking amniotic fluid but wasn't really sure. It wasn't like I was having that gushing feeling so I kinda wrote it off that evening and went to bed. I woke up Sunday morning and was eating breakfast, getting ready for church and I was still having that leaking feeling. I woke up Jay and told him (yes, I am bad and didn't tell him the night before). He told me to call the doctor on call and see what they say. I got Dr. Ramsey and she said to be safe I should go to triage and have it checked out. I went to go tell Jay we were going to the hospital and I broke out in sobs of tears. Everything suddenly became reality that this kid was going to come out! He calmed me down and we got our bags and headed to the hospital. They did this first test to see if I was leaking fluid and the nurse said "it's mostly negative" but we'll do another test to make sure. At this point Jay and I think we're going home and started planning our day. Jay was going to play drums and get a fix in :). They did the next test and it was positive! The nurse comes in and says "you're going to have a baby today". WHAT!!?? I just had planned out my day, what do you mean I'm having a baby! I had tested positive for Group B Strep so I immediately got a bag of antibiotics so it would not pass to Liam when he was born. I wasn't having contractions just leaking so I got the dreaded drug pitocin. I really wasn't too excited about this. I wasn't dilated very much and my cervix was still pretty thick. I didn't get contractions until about 3pm and then it sucked! The pitocin made them so strong and back to back. I tried to hold off on and pain med or the epidural as long as I could. I first just took some pain meds but that didn't do anything for me. So about 5pm I got my epidural and then I was great! I got to nap and Jay got to watch the NBA playoffs. At 11pm I was fully dilated and got to start pushing. I pushed until Liam was born at 3:24am on April 18th. He was sunny side up instead of facing down so getting him out was a little bit more difficult. Dr. Ramsey ended up using the vacuum and forceps to help him out. At one point Dr. Ramsey said "you're going to have to push harder than that". Jay immediately started coaching me because he knew I had been pushing for 3 hours at this point and been working my tail off. I think he was afraid I might give her my thoughts in a not so nice way. But it really didn't bother me, it was that final push I needed to give it all I had. Jay was really concerned I was going to end up in a c-section because how long I had pushed. But Dr. Ramsey came in and saw how hard I was trying and tried the forceps instead. I still remember when Liam finally came out they went to show him to me and I had my eyes closed shut! They had to tell me to open them and look at him. I don't know if I was scared to see my new reality or I was just so exhausted from pushing. Liam had a cone head from me pushing on him for 3+ hours. He still has some marks on his head from it. He was 7.5 lbs and 20.5 inches long. Jay has some other funny stories about his birth but I'll let him tell them.

While I was getting stitched and cleaned up, Jay was taking pictures and got to hold him. Liam came out ready to eat! He's like his daddy! He was rooting and looking for some food. Jay was funny and said, "you need to get her cleaned up quick, he's ready to eat!". He is great at breastfeeding! He immediately latched on and went to town. I used the lactation consultants a ton while I was in the hospital. By the time we left I felt really good about it. He's been doing great! He's gaining weight and eats every 2-3 hours. He went through a growth spurt and went from 7lbs 12oz to 8lbs 11oz in less than a week.

It's pretty cool being a mom, exhausting at times but still great. I love seeing how he changes every day. He makes the greatest faces and starting to make funny sounds.I love my little wiggle worm!