He's heeeeeeeeere...

Liam's Birthstory

Friday, August 25th was my last day at work before maternity leave. Last days are always something to look forward to, but as an added bonus it was "Jeans Day" (as if I had any that still fit) *and* my co-workers were throwing me a send-off breakfast. I arrived a little late (Hey, last day and all...) at 8:30, greeted everyone, set my purse down and made my daily first stop to the restroom. My water broke as soon as I finished, though I spent a good three or four minutes second guessing this fact and doing toilet tissue experiments. When it became certain, I loaded up my panties with paper and went to share the news.

When I returned, my boss and four co-workers were in the hall along with 2 HVAC guys and a janitor. I never pictured myself saying, "My water just broke" to such a crowd, but I was rather stuck. I left in a trail of squeals, even some from the HVAC guys.

I hadn't started contracting yet at all (Obviously, or I might have saved myself some gas). Getting into the car, I remember being giddy and nervous and oddly thrilled that I would finally get to sit on the puppy pads I'd been carrying around for weeks. I should say at this point that M's single biggest fear in the last weeks of my pregnancy was my 45 minute + commute, so I waited until I was ten minutes from home to phone him. As soon as he picked up, I said, "Stay calm. I'm ten minutes from home, my water broke when I got to work." His phone at work is one of those that's less of a phone and more of a PA system, so apparently several of his co-workers heard every word and started gathering around. He said, "I'm calm. Water broke. Leaving now." His cave man impression gave me the giggles, but I managed to say, "Stay calm" another time or two. He told me later that as he was leaving, everyone patted him on the back one by one and said, "Stay calm".

When I got home, I threw a few last minute items in my hospital bag and got the car packed and ready while I waited for M. Still no contractions--I felt nice and soggy but otherwise great. I went to give keys and phone numbers to our neighbors and started to wonder where M was. When he finally pulled up, he got out and said, "I got caught in traffic. I am so not calm." A few more things in the car and some deep breaths, and we were off by 10:30.

We checked in to the hospital and were taken to a triage room. I was checked for progress, and of course with no contractions my situation hadn't changed from the 3 cm I was at on the 22nd. We were moved to a labor and delivery room and I had the first of many great nurses who helped us finish our cord blood donation paperwork and laugh at some of the questions. I wasn't happy about being chained to the bed with tubes and monitors, but it was very cool to spend some relaxing moments with M and this cool lady. My doctor was willing to give me two hours before starting a Pitocin drip, and those two hours came and went pretty quickly. At that point, I realized I'd already had to let go of a number of the things I'd hoped for about labor--walking around, being at home for as long as possible--and it became obvious that my fear Pitocin was just another one of those things.

Cool Nurse eased my mind by starting the drip as low as she could, but she kept having to dial it up every few minutes and finally...finally at 2 o'clock things started working. They started working a little too well and I got an overwhelming feeling of wanting "labor" to continue the way it had been--crunching on ice chips with M and laughing while he called me Rush Limbaugh with my big bag of "Oxycotin". I asked for an epidural and we watched the clock. And watched. We continued to joke and marveled at the massive contractions I was barely feeling. At around 7, I began shaking pretty violently. I knew it could be a side effect of the epidural, but Cool Nurse pointed out that the sort of shakes I was having could also be indicative of transition. Sure enough, my progress was checked by the next (cool) nurse on staff and it was time to rock and roll. My doctor lived just a few minutes from the hospital, so we did two rounds of pushing to gauge when to call. I was feeling very little urge to bear down (a big concern of mine with the epidural) and it took me a bit to get into a groove. On the second set, things started to come back to me and my doctor was called. He arrived a short time later and I was still only intermittently feeling enough pressure to bear down naturally. M was at my side cheering me on, completely void of the squeamishness he thought he'd have. Not only was he "in there" taking in everything he could, he was grunting and pushing along with me in a fairly comical way. The first time he did it I nearly lost my concentration and started laughing, but then it became rather endearing (though we're both very happy that he didn't poop on the floor). I finally felt some good pressure and pushed a second time for my doctor, and Liam made his great debut. One more good push and he was on my chest...I think I stopped sobbing just long enough to take a peek and say hello.

M spent the next few minutes fluttering around the room like a caffeinated hummingbird. I kept hearing things like "Oh wow, he's got my earlobe dimples!" and "He's got ten of everything!" Every once and awhile he'd come over to me to emphatically tell me what a good job I'd done. He was so not calm, but of course it didn't matter anymore.

Rest assured that Liam is absolutely worth the heartburn, the stretch marks, the keg thighs, and the forty weeks. It's safe to say I am permanently smitten.