So it’s been years since I’ve blogged. I skimmed through a few of my old ones and - Yikes. I apologize for my younger self being so cringe-y.
I’m mostly coming back to have some record of Liam’s early days that I can look back on.
So here goes:
Liam was born September 13, 2020 at 3:17 PM. He weighed 7lbs 4oz and was 20 inches long.
After a fairly easy and complication-free pregnancy I was told a couple weeks before his due date of Sept 17 that it’s standard procedure to induce women of my age (39) between 39 and 40 weeks. Older moms have a higher risk of the placenta failing, so they want the baby out by the due date.
At first I was a bit upset about having to be induced. But after thinking about it I decided I liked having a definite end date to the discomforts of being 9 months pregnant. I was carrying pretty “internally”, so my belly never got super big. The downside of that was there was no room for my stomach, lungs, or bladder towards the end. I got heartburn after drinking water, would get out of breath talking, and constantly had to pee.
Check in time was 6:30 AM at Lone Peak Hospital. It’s waaay across the valley from our home in Magna so we had to wake up pretty early. While getting ready I had some bleeding and felt a bit of period-like discomfort in my belly, so it’s possible Liam would’ve come that day on his own.
Lone Peak has “birthing suites”, so they try to make the rooms feel as non-hospital as possible. The rooms are designed so you labor, deliver, and recover all in the same room. I’ve been lucky to not have to spend much time in hospital rooms, but I felt comfortable there.
Since it’s plague times, after I got changed and settled I got the swab up the nose to check for Covid. All clear, so I didn’t have to wear my mask in the room. I assumed they’d test Josh as well but they didn’t, so he had to have his mask on when others were in the room.
The IV was started after a little fuss. The nurse didn’t quite get the needle in right, and there were some impressive spurts of blood. I told Josh to stay where he couldn’t see since he’s not great about needles and blood. It looked much worse than it actually was, and the next attempt was successful.
The Pitocin was started around 9 AM. We just sat and watched TV and waited for the “fun” to begin. My OB, Dr. Kimberly Moreland, checked in from time to time. It was Sunday, so mostly we watched football. I was hooked up to the IV, a fetal monitor, a sensor that tracked my contractions, and one to track my vitals. Getting to the bathroom became a production with much unplugging, draping of wires so I don’t trip, and then re-plugging after getting back to the bed. Unfortunately being hooked up to the IV makes one need to visit the bathroom pretty frequently, so we did this several times.
I started feeling the contractions, and they weren’t quite what I’d expected. I thought they’d feel like the painful period cramps I’m used to, just more intense. But what I felt was a rhythmic, almost mechanical ratcheting of my muscles and I could see my belly changing shape as they tensed. Super weird. Never felt anything like that before.
As bad as I am at getting pregnant, I’m pretty good at getting un-pregnant. I had been dilated to a 3 and 80% effaced at my last check up earlier that week, and was at a 4 that morning before the pitocin. It felt to me like there was a whole lot of sitting and waiting, but every time I was checked the nurses were surprised things were processing so quickly for a first timer.
Progress was going fairly smoothly, with a few bumps. Liam’s heart rate sometimes dipped during contractions, so the nurses kept a close eye on us. The monitors were on the wall behind me, so I had to lean way back to see. I got stuck for a while at being dilated to 7, so the pitocin was bumped up. That’s when I started getting really uncomfortable. I requested the epidural and luckily the anesthesiologist was free and nearby so I didn’t have to wait long. It’s not good for the baby for a pregnant woman to lay flat, so I was being propped up slightly onto my left side in bed. Epidurals use gravity to work, so my left leg went completely numb and I couldn’t feel the contractions on that side. Unfortunately my other side was still feeling those contractions (Ouch!) and I could still move my right leg.
My nurse saw I was still hurting so they tried propping me onto my right side to let the numbing meds run to that side for a while. Nope. Liam’s heart rate immediately tanked, so they quickly tipped me back to the left. The contractions were coming pretty often now, so it was intense for a while. Liam’s heart rate continued to dip during the contractions. At one point the nurse came flying into the room, obviously having seen something concerning, but then relaxed when his heartbeat normalized. The head of my bed was lowered down and they put an oxygen mask on me. I remembered Manda having a similar experience with Emmy. The pitocin was paused while they watched how he did during the next few contractions. The anesthesiologist came back in about this time. He added more meds to the line, and the pain finally stopped. It was a huge relief.
After resting a little while the nurse checked my progress and immediately called my doctor to tell her it was go time. Dr. Moreland ran in and it was time to push. Josh held my numb left leg, and a nurse held my not-quite numb right leg and I pushed. Couldn’t feel much, which was fine with me. After a couple rounds of pushing, I was able to reach down and touch the baby’s head. 2 or 3 more rounds and suddenly there he was! Tiny and red and crying. So much hair! Ultrasound technology is pretty amazing, I recognized his perfect little face from the images. Pretty sure I cried a little. Once I got my hands on him I didn’t want to ever let go.
Josh has a tendency towards the squeamish, so neither of us were sure if he’d want to be down where the action was, but he handled it like a pro. Cut the cord and everything!
So all in all I was in labor for just over 6 hours. Dr. Moreland told me if I do have another baby, I need to head to the hospital at the first sign of labor instead of waiting for the contractions to be a certain time apart like they usually tell you.
But for now we’re content with our family as it is🥰
