Liams Birth Story

Liam Tuimatangi Qaqa was born Wednesday July 20th at 11:34 am. He weighed in at 8 lbs 2 oz and was 20 inches long. I figured I should write about his birth so that we don't forget that wonderful day that he joined our family.

For about a week prior to Liam being born I was already dilated to a 5, so we knew he would be coming soon. Early Wednesday morning at about 4:30 am, I woke up to a hard kick from Liam. I got up and went to the bathroom. I started to feel really crampy, but I wasn't sure if it was contractions or not. Up til this point I hadn't felt anything and the crampy feeling started going away so I figured it was just an upset stomach. I went back to bed only to have to get up a couple minutes later because it was back. It was starting to get pretty uncomfortable so I decided to get up and take a hot shower. After the shower I started to time how close they were. The contractions were coming every 2-3 minutes. I woke Vito up and told him we should probably go to the hospital.

We both got ready. Vito got dressed in his work clothes just in case it was a false alarm. We left for the hospital and got there about 6:30. By the time we got there the contractions were pretty intense. I had to stop and bend over against the car before we could walk in. We checked into labor and delivery and they took us to a room for me to get checked. The nurse checked me and I was a 6, and she told us, "your not leaving". Vito was happy he didn't have to go to work!

I got hooked up to the monitors and got an IV. I was hoping to go as long as I could without an epidural, if getting it at all. The contractions were super close and I didn't get much of a break at all between each one. about an hour after being there she checked me again and I was at an 8. I asked the nurse at what point it would be too late to get an epidural and she said by the looks of how much pain I was in, I would need to get it right away just because I would have a hard time holding still for the epidural to be placed. I told her I wanted to wait through a couple more contractions and see what I thought after that.

The next 2 contractions were almost unbearable so I sent Vito to tell the nurse I wanted it. About 15 minutes later the doctor came and placed the epidural. It wasn't working at first so he had to come back and give me another dose. It finally started to kick in. I could still feel the pain of the contractions for a while though. About another hour later she checked me again and I was at 10 cm. The nurse called the doctor and she wanted me to rest for an hour to allow the baby to descend and to also let the antibiotics I had to take for group b strep get into my system.

At 11 the nurse came back and had Vito help hold my legs so I could push so she could see where the baby was. I pushed one time and they saw Liams head crown. Vito got so excited, but the nurse told me to stop because they needed to get the doctor there. The doctor got there about 10 minutes later. She got all set up and we just waited for the next contraction to start pushing. Three contractions later, Liam was born! I only pushed for about 15 minutes tops.

In between contractions they could see his head and all his hair. The doctor was even playing with his hair, giving him a mohawk while we waited for the next contraction. Start to finish, my labor only took about 5 hours and it was a great experience!!!

Liam is such a great baby! We adore him so much. Everyone says he does not look like a newborn, he is always very alert when hes awake. He is such a blessing and we love him so much.

We were able to skype with Vitos family right after Liam was delivered and every time he hears them talking to him he gets so focused and alert. It is so cute!

We love our little boy and can't imagine life without him!