Our family grows...

...ON SUNDAY, JULY 15TH (MY ACTUAL DUE DATE), WE WELCOMED LIAM JACKSON TO THE WORLD AT 9:25PM.

THIS DELIVERY WAS COMPLETELY OPPOSITE OF KELLEN'S. INSTEAD OF A QUICK 3 HOUR LABOR AND DELIVERY AND ONLY BEING IN THE HOSPITAL FOR 2 HOURS BEFORE HAVING KELLEN, LIAM'S DELIVERY WAS AN ALL DAY AFFAIR. I STARTED HAVING CONTRACTIONS AT 3AM AND THEY WERE ABOUT 8 MINUTES APART. BECAUSE I DELIVERED SO QUICKLY WITH KELLEN, THE DOCTORS WANTED ME TO CALL WHEN I HAD CONTRACTIONS BETWEEN 6-8 MINUTES APART FOR AN HOUR. SO, AT AROUND 6AM I CALLED AND THEY SAID TO COME IN WITHIN THE HOUR. I HAD CALLED MY MOM AT 4 TO LET HER KNOW I THOUGHT TODAY WOULD BE THE DAY. SHE WAS COMING TO WATCH KELLEN FOR US WHILE WE WENT TO THE HOSPITAL SO I WANTED TO GIVE HER ENOUGH TIME TO GET TO OUR HOUSE. MY CONTRACTIONS GOT TO ABOUT 6-7 MINUTES APART CONSISTENTLY BY THE TIME MY MOM ARRIVED AT 8AM. WE LEFT FOR THE HOSPITAL AT ABOUT 8:30 AND GOT THERE AND CHECKED IN A LITTLE AFTER 9AM. WHEN THEY CAME IN TO CHECK ME, I WAS ONLY 3 CM DILATED. I COULDN'T BELIEVE IT, SINCE I WAS 2 CM AT MY APPT. 3 DAYS PRIOR AND HAD NOW BEEN HAVING CONTRACTIONS FOR SEVERAL HOURS. THEY HOOKED ME UP TO MONITOR CONTRACTIONS, ETC. AND SAID I WAS CONTRACTING EVERY 2-3 MINUTES SO THEY WOULD LET ME GO FOR AN HOUR OR SO AND SEE WHAT PROGRESS I MADE. THEY CAME BACK ABOUT 1.5 HOURS LATER AND I HAD ONLY PROGRESSED TO 4CM, BUT SINCE I WAS CONTRACTING SO WELL ON MY OWN, THEY ADMITTED ME AND MOVED ME TO A DELIVERY ROOM. I HAD NOT YET DECIDED IF I WANTED AN EPIDURAL OR NOT SINCE I DIDN'T HAVE ONE WITH KELLEN. WHEN THE DOCTOR CAME IN TO CHECK ME AROUND 1:00, I WAS ONLY 5 CM AND HAVING PAINFUL CONTRACTIONS. HE GAVE ME THE OPTION OF GETTING THE EPIDURAL AND THEN BREAKING MY WATER, SAYING THAT BREAKING MY WATER WOULD REALLY SPEED THINGS UP. AT 4:00PM, I GOT MY EPIDURAL AND THEY BROKE MY WATER AT AROUND 6PM. GETTING THE EPIDURAL WASN'T BAD BUT I HAD TERRIBLE SHAKES AND SOME NAUSEA, IT ALSO CAUSED MY HEARTRATE TO GO DOWN SO THEY HAD TO PUMP ME FULL OF FLUIDS. I DID DILATE VERY QUICKLY ONCE MY WATER BROKE THOUGH AND AT 8, I WAS FULLY DILATED AND READY TO PUSH. BUT MY BLOOD PRESSURE DROPPED AND THEY HAD TO GIVE ME MORE FLUIDS BEFORE I COULD PUSH. THE DOCTOR ALSO HAD TO DO AN ULTRASOUND TO CHECK ON THE POSITION OF THE BABY'S HEAD, WANTED TO MAKE SURE HE WASN'T FACING HEAD UP BECAUSE THAT WOULD SLOW DOWN DELIVERY. THE HEAD WAS FACING DOWN, SO WE STARTED PUSHING AT ABOUT 8:30. THE DOCTOR SAID HE WOULD LET ME PUSH FOR ABOUT AN HOUR, BUT HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT MY NARROW PELVIS AND CURVED TAILBONE. AFTER AN HOUR, WITH THE BABY'S HEARTRATE GOING DOWN EVERYTIME I PUSHED, HE SAID HE WANTED TO TRY THE VACUUM TO SEE IF HE COULD BETTER GUIDE THE HEAD. HE MENTIONED C-SECTION IF THAT DIDN'T WORK WHICH WAS ALL THE MOTIVATION I NEEDED TO PUSH HIM OUT, 3 PUSHES LATER, LIAM ENTERED THE WORLD. HE WAS 7 POUNDS 12 OZ AND 19.5 INCHES LONG. BY FAR THE BIGGEST BABY IN OUR FAMILY TO DATE. HE WAS BORN WEIGHING WHAT KELLEN WEIGHED AT ALMOST 2 MONTHS OLD. WHAT A DIFFERENCE! THE DOCTOR RECOMMENDED I NOT HAVE ANY BABIES BIGGER THAN LIAM...SHOULDN'T BE A PROBLEM.

I WAS IN RECOVERY FOR AWHILE - THEY HAD TO GIVE ME PITOCIN TO GET MY UTERUS TO CONTRACT AND I WAS STILL PRETTY LIGHT-HEADED. I THINK I FINALLY GOT MOVED TO THE MATERNITY WARD AT AROUND 11:30. THE BEST PART WAS I GOT TO KEEP LIAM WITH ME...NO NICU THIS TIME AROUND. MY MOM WAS ABLE TO COME VISIT ME IN RECOVERY AND MEET HER NEWEST GRANDSON. I WAS TOTALLY EXHAUSTED AND PRETTY OUT OF IT SO SHE GOT SOME QUALITY TIME WITH LIAM.