Liam's Birth

The closer I get to delivering Brygit the more I think about my labor experience with Liam. It's the only reference I have (other than google) to sort out all of these symptoms I'm experiencing now that I'm so close to the end. Since I didn't have the blog back then, now seems a fitting time to tell Liam's story.

I had no symptoms with Liam. My due date came and went without any sign of an impending birth. My doctor put me on the schedule to be induced the following week. I really didn't want to be induced so I walked my swollen legs off trying to coax him out. It was a very rough week that felt like it was going to last forever. Three days before I was scheduled to be induced I went to disneyland. I walked until I couldn't walk anymore. I also enjoyed answering the question, "when are you due?" with, "oh last week." You should see how freaked out people get. So, anyway, the following day we went to Target to do some shopping and as I'm standing in the baby aisle I feel a tiny gush of fluid. I gasped and told Paul that I just peed my pants then went to the car to wait for him to finish shopping. I called my mom and she told me to go to labor and delivery. The problem was that my hospital was 45 minutes away and I was pretty positive it was urine so there was no way I was going to drive all the way down there to hear that I'm peeing my pants due to having a full grown baby laying on my bladder. Later that day it happened again but this time it was a larger amount of fluid. So I decided to give in and call the doctor. We drove the whole way down preparing ourselves for the inevitable, "it's pee," response but once they checked us in the doctor confirmed that he believed I was leaking fluid slowly. I didn't even know that could happen.

The doctor wanted to put me on pitocin and I complied because I wasn't having any other symptoms. I tried to get some rest that evening but I was too excited so Paul and I stayed up playing yahtzee while the nurses came in periodically to crank the pitocin way up. Finally, around 5am contractions started. And it wasn't gradual either. One moment I was laughing with Paul and the next I couldn't even talk. The contractions were one on top of the other and my room was hotter than Hades. Paul had to fan me with every contraction and the most distracting thing for me was those gosh darn itchy monitors they refused to take off my belly that weren't even measuring my contractions right. They finally moved me into a larger (and cooler) room where I gave in and asked for "ice chips... and an epidural." In that order. Even though I didn't want an epidural I can honestly say it was the best decision ever. I was now 7cm dilated and happy as a clam. I had some visitors and chatted away until transition hit and I started throwing up and shivering. I hit the goal of 10cm but Liam was still too high in my uterus to come out so I waited at a 10 for two hours. Thank God I had that epidural. They finally let me start pushing and I pushed for an exhausting hour and 45 minutes before meeting my slimy little baby.

This time around has been totally different thus far. I'm due on the 23rd and I'm pretty sure I'm not going to make it that far. I've been having a lot of Braxton Hicks contractions that seem to be getting stronger and closer together (yet still irregular) with each passing day. Brygit has been head down pushing against my pelvis for a couple of months now so it looks like all systems are go and it could be any day now. Of course, this charade can carry on for the next couple weeks and still end in an induction but I'm hoping it doesn't. My goal is to try it with no pitocin and no epidural so we will see how things go. I have an open mind and plan to go with the flow and make those decisions based on the current situation. More than anything I'm praying for a safe delivery, healthy baby and a very short hospital stay so I can get home to Liam.