Liam's Birth Story

Here it is, Liam's story. And the events following up to it.

I'll begin at 30 weeks...

As in my previous post, at 30 weeks I started to get itchy, reeeeally itchy. I developed cholestasis of pregnancy so Dr. Rao said he planned on inducing me at about 38 weeks because during the last few weeks sometimes the placenta doesn't do it's job of keep the baby safe from the bile acids and it can be dangerous, sometimes fatal. Because of this, I started having weekly ultrasounds and dr. visits to make sure everything was A-Okay. Every week the little mister passed all the little ultrasound tests with flying colors. It put my mind at ease. I was put on medication that finally took care of the itching (thank heavens!).

At 36 and 1/2 weeks Dr. Rao did the cervical check and I was dialted to a 2 and 50% effaced. The next week it was pretty much the same story. Womp womp! I was hoping for a little progression, especially since I'd been feeling contractions (I guess they were just Braxton Hicks) all week. We then decided on the date Wednesday, Feb. 18. Woohoo! I had never had a scheduled induction. It was kind of nice to know that on that specific date I would get to meet my little guy!

Now fast forward to Sunday, Feb. 15. Trey was on call and I was just praying that the baby wouldn't want to come early. I'm laying in bed at 1am and I start getting intense cramps that felt like contractions but they were only on one side. They were happening every 2 minutes and they were painful enough that I couldn't ignore them. I got up and walked around, drank a TON of water to rule out the possibly of dehydration causing false labor, like what happened when I was pregnant with Ruby. I was still feeling them so I quickly waddled around my room and grabbed everything I thought I would need to head to the hospital that night. I called my neighbors who were on alert just in case this happened. I couldn't believe it was happening!! It worked out perfectly that their kids were at their grandparents so Carolyn was able to come stay at the house and Kyle drove me to the hospital. I still wasn't sure if I was in actual labor but because this was my 3rd kid I didn't want to take any chances and be stuck at home and it be too late! Oh and here's the best part, I kept calling Trey over and over and he didn't pick up! I was kinda freaking out and needed to be talked down and I couldn't get ahold of him. I figured he was asleep in the on call room. Carolyn convinced me to just go to the hospital. Better safe than sorry!

We made it to the hospital in record time. Kyle doesn't mind driving fast.:) We may even ran a few red lights just for fun. It wasn't like there was anyone on the road that early in the morning on a Monday. :) I got all checked in and into triage and I had the nurse track down Trey. Sure enough he had just fallen asleep in the on call room. And his phone was turned off! Which explains why he wasn't responding to my phone calls and texts.

They got me all set up and in a bed and started monitoring the baby and everything was good. The on call doctor arrived a while later and I hadn't progressed any so it looked like it was false labor. Womp womp! It was kind of a relief but kind of a bummer too. They were nice to let Trey off a little early at 5am so we went home together. We were both exhausted since we missed out on our sleep that night. It definitely was a walk/drive of shame home, ha ha!

I had a few nights to recover and be ready for the big day. They originally had me scheduled to be induced at midnight and I was like, "what the what?!!" I made a stink about it and they were able to switch it to 7am, thankfully! My mom flew in on Tuesday so we had everything covered with the girls being taken care of. Grandmas are such lifesavers.

When we arrived Trey and I were both pretty well rested and ready (as much as we could be) to welcome baby boy Banbury to the world. We came to the hospital with our top 3 names, as we have in the past with the girls. Would he be a Crew, a Liam, or a Cohen? Or would none of those sound right? Only time would tell...

They got me right in to a nice big delivery room with a window. We watched it lightly start to snow and then really start to snow and snow and snow! I had an older nurse, Caroline. She was pretty awesome and funny. I love people who like to laugh. I felt super comfortable with her. She got me all hooked up and IV'd and started Pitocin at 8am to get things rolling. Honestly, I think the hardest part of the whole birth was before and after. The actual labor was awesome! I'll get to that in a minute.:) But yeah, the worst part before was when nurse lady put in my IV, that needle was thick and she didn't get it in a good spot. I got all hot and light-headed. I thought I was going to pass out. I'm such weak sauce when it comes to needles and blood. Hence why I could never be a nurse.

I started feeling contractions but they were no big deal at first. We just hung out and chatted and dozed a little. I flipped through the bazillion cable channels but there was nothing exciting on. I landed on HGTV like I usually do because pretty much everything else sucks, ha ha! Good old Rehab Addict kept me entertained for awhile. Dr. Rao came in at 10:30 to check my progression and I was dilated 4cm. He said let's go ahead and rupture the membranes aka break my water. It's the weirdest feeling ever. You totally feel like your peeing your pants but like gallons of pee are coming out. It's fun. :)

After that lovely experience, the contractions started getting closer together and a little stronger so I thought well, I might as well just get the epidural rolling if I'm going to do it. With it being kid #3 I knew I could easily go from 4 to a 10 in no time. I told Dr. Husband to go get the anesthesiologist(which he wished was him but I said no I need you to solely be the supportive husband today). Trey made sure I got one of the best guys to do it. Definitely an advantage of having an anesthesiologist for a husband. He was super cool (can't remember his name!) and laid back (as are many anesthesiologists) and did a great job. He gave me just the right amount. I forgot about how funny it feels to have your legs numb. They got all hot and tingly.

After the epidural, I felt great! I was so relaxed. Trey and I both fell asleep for a good 2 hours! Who sleeps during labor?! Crazytown! I woke up and Dr. Rao checked me again and I was dialated 8cm and it looked like it would be really soon. I feel like it wasn't very long until I could feel the pressure from the contractions, where I felt the urge to push (like I needed to push out a huge poop basically) but it wasn't painful to me. I told the nurse who told the doctor who then came in, checked me, and said, "Let's do this!" I was so excited. The adrenaline was pumping. We got all set up, it was me, Trey, Dr. Rao, a resident, my nurse and a few other nurses to help with the baby when he came out. I don't even think I pushed for 10 minutes. I felt like it was just a few pushes and he was out. Maybe time slowed down in the moment for me. I'll have to ask Trey how long it really took. But it was the most calm labor I've had for sure. Like I would push because I could feel enough that I was able to push, but it still wasn't painful to me, just felt tons of pressure. In between pushes we were all just chatting and laughing. It was so odd but hilarious and awesome all at once. And in just a few moments my sweet little boy was out and in my arms! It was incredible and almost felt like an out of body experience for that first few moments. It was truly love at first sight for me. That little guy had my heart from the moment I laid eyes on him.

I remember my first thought when I saw him was he's so tiny! Just like Lucy was. I guessed he would be 7 lbs even, I was pretty close he was 6 lbs 14 oz. Trey noticed his huge hands and feet (like mine) right off. I noticed how much he looked like his daddy. We snuggled for a little while and then I let the nurse take him to get him cleaned off and measured and all that. Then they plopped him on me and the kid nursed like a champ! Instant relief right there for me. I'm so happy I had another good nurser, especially with him being so tiny. Oh those first snuggles were just the best. Just thinking about it makes me want to have another one, ha ha! How crazy is that!?

We relaxed for awhile and talked about names and basically narrowed it down to two, Cohen William or Liam but we couldn't think of a middle name that we liked enough to go with it. It took us all 3 days the hospital before we could settle on his name. It was way harder than it was with the girls for some reason.

I enjoyed the nurses there so much. They were all so nice and attentive. The lactation consultants were great, there was a lady that came in late one night, I think she was over all the nurses at Hillcrest. She reminded me a lot of my Relief Society President actually. Her name was Olga. She was so sweet and came and held Liam while I went to the bathroom and changed his diaper and just gave me a break for a while as she could see I was pretty tired. She even bounced him to sleep.

Hillcrest also had really good food. And you could order as much as you wanted! Good thing because I was starving!!! I don't remember ever feeling that hungry after I had Lucy or Ruby. Good golly miss molly! It all tasted amazing to me.

The most painful part of this whole experience was actually after I gave birth. The feeling of my uterus contracting felt just like intense labor pains! Like really REALLY bad cramps. I was like "Give me some Percocet, DANG IT!!" I didn't say that out loud, I politely asked for some stronger meds, but I was screaming that in my mind. :)

All in all it really was a great experience and I would totally do it again. Even with it fresh in my mind. How weird is that? The sweetness of that fresh little baby straight from Heaven is unparalleled. Heaven felt very near in those quiet moments I had with Liam, just us two in our room getting to know each other. It really is a miracle every time one of these little angels is born. I'm so grateful I've been able to experience it not only once, but three times. It completely outweighs all of the months of being sicker than sick, aches and pains of pregnancy, and the lack of sleep. It's all so worth it.