Let me back up. I found out I was pregnant on July 9, 2014. I was waiting for my husband, Chris, to come home and decided to take a pregnancy test because I was late. The moment I realized the test was positive was one of the happiest moments of my life, up until that time anyway. I immediately grabbed two notecards and wrote a note on them and folded them up. I taped them to our dog's collar and waited for Chris to get home. When he got home, he noticed the notes on the dog and asked what they were. He opened up the first one that said, "We have something to tell you..." and the second one said, "She is going to be a big sister and I am going to be a big brother." Chris looked up at me and immediately hugged and kissed me. We were beyond excited. Later that night, we went to Wal-Mart and bought 4 more pregnancy tests and prenatal vitamins. All 4 pregnancy tests confirmed I was in fact pregnant!
Chris and I decided not to find out the gender of our baby from the beginning (I will just say, IT WAS WORTH IT!) I have no complaints about my pregnancy - Liam made things pretty easy on me. I never experienced morning sickness or terrible heartburn. I ended up without any stretch marks and I had no swelling during my pregnancy.
Fast forward. The week leading up to Liam's birth was the longest week of my life. I wanted to meet my baby so badly, I tried all the old wives-tales to trick my body into labor. Everything from eating spicy foods, to walking miles and miles, to bouncing on an exercise ball for hours (and everything in-between). Nothing worked.
On Sunday, March 15th at 10pm, I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid so I called the on-call doctor and she told me to go in. Chris and I were so excited! After being in the hospital for 6 hours (March 16th at 4am), I was sent home because the test for amniotic fluid was negative and my contractions (that I didn't even know I was having) were not close enough together. I cried almost the whole way home feeling embarrassed but most of all disappointed because I wasn't leaving the hospital with my baby. I didn't realize how hard that would be until it actually happened.
I worked from home the next day with no contractions, but was still leaking what the nurse told me was urine. Chris got home from work at around 5pm. Around 6:30pm, I was cleaning up after supper and began having contractions that sent me to the floor. After having contractions that were about 5 minutes apart for about an hour (I think they were anyway - I was in too much pain to actually time them), Chris and I got packed up again and headed to the hospital.
We arrived at the hospital at 8:00pm and I was dilated 3cm. I was making progress so they admitted me! I received my epidural at 12am on March 17th (St. Patrick's Day!) and the doctor broke my water shortly after that (he told me that I probably was leaking amniotic fluid - not peeing myself, so that was a small victory for me). Chris and I were able to sleep from 1am to 5am, which was a blessing because I had a long 6 hours ahead of me. At 5am, the doctor came back in to check me and I had gone from 4cm to 9cm in an hour. Within the next hour I dilated to 9.75cm. At around 6am, my epidural began to wear off and I could feel every contraction. The bump button did nothing for me and the anesthesiologist had to come up every hour to relieve my pain. The doctor informed me that Liam was head down, but his face was facing upwards (towards the ceiling) and it needed to be facing downwards. After 17 hours of labor and after pushing for 3 hours with no luck flipping Liam's body around, the doctor informed me that I would need a Cesarean. I have never been against having a Cesarean so I quickly signed the consent form (it was probably just a few squiggles because I could barely keep my eyes open due to the immense pain I was in). I remember seeing 11:01am on the clock in the OR as I was being wheeled in, but I was so exhausted I feel asleep while they were prepping me. I woke up when Chris came in and touched my forehead. Even though they had the blue curtain up, I remember looking at the ceiling and seeing my open body in the reflection of the mirror lights. It probably would have freaked me out, but I was so drugged up I saw it as an opportunity to watch my beautiful son (and all his dark hair) being pulled up through my stomach at 11:23am on Tuesday, March 17th. Everything is still so foggy, but that is one image I will hold on to for the rest of my life. The baby doctor brought Liam over to me and let me talk to him and kiss him before bringing him to the nursery. Thank God, Chris got the moment on video because I don't remember it.
After they sewed me up, I was wheeled to recovery. After about 15 minutes, Chris and Liam came in to be with me. As soon as my pain was under control, I held my son for the first time. He was so perfect and I was overwhelmed with love for my perfect baby. He immediately latched and began to nurse. I was finally a mom - I was Liam's mom. The hospital stay flew by and we had so many friends and family that came to visit. Chris and I were so blessed by everyone's generosity. The hospital staff was wonderful. I will never forget those first days with Liam. He went to hang out with the pretty nurses in the nursery while I got some sleep each night at midnight and they brought him back to me at 3am to nurse, then Liam and I would do skin to skin until 6 or 7am.
We were able to go home on Friday, March 20th at 12pm. Liam didn't like the car seat at first, but as soon as Chris picked it up and started walking, Liam immediately fell asleep. We picked up my breast pump and medications on the way home and Liam slept the whole time. I sat in back with him for the first week because I couldn't stand to be further than 2 feet away from him.I thank God everyday for Liam and feel so blessed that God chose ME to be his mother. I cherish every moment I have with him and I know that he is truly a blessing sent from God.
"Train up a child in the way he should go. Even when he is old, he will not depart from it."
Proverbs 22:6
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