Right before Christmas break on November 29, 2012, our family welcomed a second little boy into the family. Our little Liam was born! Here is his story;
At 34 weeks pregnant, I went to work as usual, upon my arrival I was told I was going to sit with a patient. I had been sitting an awful lot lately, but the charge felt it was better for me to be off my feet than running around the busy unit. Long story short, this was the patient from hell and I ended up taking a hit to the stomach and going to the ER and later admitted to L&D because of contractions. I was told by my doctor that because of this we should probably expect Liam early, around 36-37 weeks. He was ok at the time and I was released the next day, so we decided we should prepare our home for a baby. My doctor jinxed me. Liam didn't make his arrival until 39 weeks and that was with me giving him an eviction notice. 2 weeks prior to his arrival, I was trying every at home remedy there was to get that kid out, and nothing! I opted for an induction at 39 weeks because, well, lets be honest, I'm impatient and I wanted to see my baby.
The night before my induction I prayed that we wouldn't have to wait and wait to come in to get started on pitocin like we did with John. I was set for a 7am induction and Dr. Rice told me to just arrive there ten til unless the charge nurse called me. Thankfully my prayers were heard and we were able to get a room upon our arrival.
I was hooked up to monitors and the nurse did the normal run through (gown, urine,and IV). My nurse was beyond amazing! She got my IV in on the first try and kept the mood light and happy in the room. She asked what my birthing plan was and I laughed at her. I informed her, there was no plan other than get baby out, that just so happened to be her favorite kind of plan so our day was set. At 8am I was started on pitocin and things on the monitor looked good, I was even contracting on my own. Cindy, my nurse, was saying that she had a feeling things would go fast.
At 9am, Dr, Rice came in and broke my waters. William was still floating and hadn't fully engaged yet so it took her a while to break my waters and out of all 3 times I've given birth, this time getting my waters broken hurt. Eventually she got it broken and agreed with my nurse, everyone was saying by lunch time. So I cheerfully went about my morning browsing TV, walking around the room, and bouncing on the ball.
Around 9:30 the nurse noticed that the monitors weren't picking up Liam's HR any more so I was given in internal monitor. The prop is placed lightly into the babies scalp and usually stays there until birth. This gives an accurate reading of the heart without having to follow baby around. Later around 11, I opted for an epidural as breathing through the contractions was no longer possible. My anesthesiologist was very nice and because of my history of spinal headaches, he went nice and slow in putting the epidural it. Because he was going so slow, it took him 3 tries to get it in, yeah...awesome. But as soon as it was truly in, the world was awesome again.
At 1 they checked me and I was only a 6. Nurses were debating on whether they should up the pitocin or not when I told them I was having trouble breathing and if my epidural could be turned down. The resource nurse kinda laughed at me and said turning it down was a bad idea and wouldn't help me progress. My nurse on the other hand, said she's call anesthesia and have him reassess me. He turned it down by 60% and within 10 minutes I was able to take deeper breaths again and move on my own. at 2 my nurse came into prepare the room and asked how my epi was now. I showed her I was able to move again and she said that if I felt any changes to let her know and she would check me.
At this point I told a little white lie. I wanted her to check me, so I told her I was feeling pressure. So she gave me a quick check and to our surprise, I was 9 cm. She then walked from one end of the room to the other just to grab something and I told her this time I really DID feel a lot of pressure, BAM 10 cm in less than 20 seconds. Cindy called Dr. Rice and told me not to push until she got there, which was fine as I didn't feel the need to push, but the labor shakes started. Dr. Rice was there with in 5 minutes and 2 pushes later, William Charles Saunders came into the world, screaming his little head off.
He was 8lbs 5.8oz and 22 1/4in long. He is perfect! He didn't cry for long and was our only baby who didn't need extensive sucksoning after birth. He has been a wonderful blessing and addition to our family and we couldn't imagine life without him now.
