Liam's Birth Story

First of all, in case you missed the announcement, we did eventually name our son....right before leaving the hospital :-) William James Pollard. But we call him Liam. Today is his official due date and he is 10 day's old, so I figure it is about time I wrote out the story of his birth before I forget. I know I always enjoy hearing/reading the birth stories of friend's, so maybe you do too.

I was not expecting him to come early. So when I felt some weird stuff going on Tuesday night (the 25th) I brushed it off. Especially since I was looking for the same labor sign's I had with Hannah. The first thing I felt happened when I was doing dishes after dinner. I got this strong sudden pain in my lower pelvic area which looking back I'm pretty sure it was "lightening". This is when the baby drops into your lower pelvis. It can happen week's before going into labor so I didn't think it meant I would be giving birth in the morning. Right before going to bed at around 11pm I started feeling light cramping with what I thought were still braxton hick's contractions. Jake asked if I thought I was going into labor and I told him no. So we went to bed.

At about 3:30am I woke up to more contraction's with cramping. They were irregular at first but after Jake created a spreadsheet on his lap top and we noticed they were coming every 3-4 minutes and lasting about 50 second's we decided that I was definitely in labor. I called my dad to see if he suggested going to the hospital and he told me to go in and get checked. At 4:30am we called my great friend Kelli and she ran over with her baby boy to stay with Hannah while we went to the hospital. Shout out to Kelli, you are awesome.

When I got to the hospital I was at 2.5 cm. They checked me again in an hour and I was still at 2.5 cm. They gave me the option of going home which I immediately turned down because I could tell the contractions were getting stronger. They checked me an hour later and I had dilated from 2.5 to a 7. In an hour. That was intense. I certainly proved to them that I was indeed in active labor. They finally admitted me and at this point I was anxiously awaiting an epidural. But the nurse said I needed to be hydrated with an IV before the epidural. After 3 failed attempts to put an IV in she got another nurse who actually knew what she was doing :-) I didn't get the epidural until I was at a 9. Which was basically just in time to push. After the epidural I remember looking at the screen which show's the contraction's and being so grateful that I wasn't feeling them because they were coming so close together. It was nice to get a short break from the pain and regain some energy before it was time to push. The Dr broke my water and shortly there after I felt like I needed to push. I pushed twice and our little miracle was born at 10:31 am. 7 hours of labor and 2 pushes. We love our little Liam!