Liam’s Birth Story

On Friday, August 11th, I had my scheduled prenatal appointment and I was so anxious to get an update on Liam since I was so ready to give birth. My OB said I was only about 1.5 cm dilated and told me that he may go past his due date. Week 39 was so long that I couldn’t imagine having to wait a whole week past my due date but I knew Liam would come whenever he was ready. We even scheduled an induction date so I assumed we’d at least have a few more days with little Liam in my belly.

Well, little did we know… fast forward to 4 a.m. that morning, I woke up to contractions that were moderately painful. I’ve been feeling Braxton Hicks contractions all week, which aren’t painful at all so I had a feeling that this could lead up to labor soon. I ended up staying up and downloaded an app that keeps track of contractions since I know I wasn’t supposed to head to the hospital until the contractions were at least 1 minute long and less than 4 minutes apart consistently for an hour.

My husband had to coach 2 basketball games that morning and before he left, he asked if he needed to get a last minute sub so he could stay home with me. My contractions were still far apart and based on the past 2 births, we waited around forever in the hospital waiting to give birth so I told him to go to his first game (totally regret this now) and I’d keep him posted if he needed to come home before the 2nd game. An hour after he left, contractions got more and more painful and they just escalated so quickly. The kids were being needy and I was beginning to be in so much pain when a contraction came that I couldn’t tend to them. I asked my mother-in-law and husband’s grandma to come over ASAP to take care of the kids while I get ready to go to the hospital. I usually don’t like to bother people unless I really need to and that time, I needed to.

I texted my husband and told him he needed to come home ASAP and as soon as he got home, we have to rush to the hospital. The contractions were as painful as I remember them to be so I pushed through and got myself to take a shower even though with every contraction, I literally had to take a moment to try to breathe through it. After the shower, I laid in my towel on my bed trying to get through each contraction that just felt so unbearable. Even though my husband got home 15 minutes after I told him to come home, it felt like an eternity! I was in tears from the pain at that point but I knew I had to get moving because the sooner I could get to the hospital, the sooner I can get an epidural! It took all of my will power for me to get up and change but eventually I did because I knew I had to and I made my way to the car, not without some painful contractions along the way though.

So the dreaded car ride… YOU GUYS, at this point I literally was yelling through every contraction, and the movement of the car was just adding to the intensity. I got mad at Leo for driving too fast, stopping too suddenly, going too slow… etc. It was all bad lol. Leo called the Labor & Delivery on the way there to let them know we will be coming in soon. They said they had no rooms available and that if I were to give birth soon, it would be in one of the small triage rooms. Usually I would be upset but at that point, just get me to a darn hospital where they have epidural!

So after what felt like the longest car ride of my life, we finally get to the hospital which is only 15 minutes away from us. I told Leo to park right in the front and I don’t care if we have to pay for a ticket. He got me a wheelchair and it took so much effort to get out of the car since my contractions were pretty much back to back. Those who know me personally, know that I can hold my composure in public but I was a HOT MESS. I remember making eye contact with the security guard when we parked in the front, and I just stared back at her with that ugly crying face and continued to deal with my contractions haha. She came walking towards us and I was so ready to put up a fight if we were going to have to move our car. Instead, she offered to escort us to Labor & Delivery on the 3rd floor since I’m sure she felt my agony lol. What a kind gesture!

Everything from leaving our house to giving birth was a blur so I didn’t even get to enjoy the beautiful new Kaiser hospital we just entered. I vaguely remember Leo racing me to the elevator. The door actually closed on the wheelchair and I remember just kicking it open while yelling about how much everything hurt. We got to Labor & Delivery and Leo just rolled me right in… thank goodness! I was dreading the check-in process because of the unbearable pain I was in. All of a sudden I was in a triage room and a nurse told me I needed to lay down on the bed to get checked and all I remember was telling them that I can’t and that I need an epidural now. They kept saying I have to get checked first and at one point, I think I was begging for an epidural like “please? Can I get an epidural please?”… lol (we can laugh about it now but at the moment, it was like a matter of life and death for me).

I ended up laying on the bed because I had no other option haha. One of the nurses checked me and said that I was 9 CM dilated and that the baby is ready to come out NOW! I was like you gotta be kidding me… I continued to ask, I mean, demand for an epidural and the sweet nurse kindly told me “honey, you’re 9 cm and I’m sorry but we cannot give you an epidural.” I remember looking at Leo helplessly and he was just trying to stay strong for me. Mind you, I have a very low pain tolerance… like I almost cry when I get leg cramps during pregnancy haha. So at that point, I just tried my best to breathe through each contraction because with no possibility of an epidural, there’s not much I could do anymore… they’re just going to keep coming stronger and stronger. The nurse broke my water and all of sudden, there were like 10 people in the tiny triage room along with the baby incubator they rolled by my side. It seriously felt like a movie. Then I was advised to start pushing during every contraction… all a blur… I believe I pushed for less than 5 minutes and I heard Liam’s cry… the cry that brought me joy, peace, and because of what I just went through, relief.

We got to the hospital around 1:30pm and Liam was born at 1:53pm. CRAZY! That was definitely the wildest experience of my life thus far. The fact that I gave birth without an epidural is still hard to believe even almost a week after. Shoutout to all the mamas that plan to go ALL natural because wow, that pain is unreal. It’s also crazy to think that if we had left our house 15 minutes later than we did, I literally would’ve given birth in the car. So because things happened so quickly right when we got to the hospital, we don’t have any photos leading up to the birth so majority of these pictures were taken in our beautiful postpartum room. Quick shoutout to my amazing hubby/birth coach, Leo, for his endless patience, support and strength. I couldn’t have done it without him. Not to mention, he held down the fort with Scarlett and Landon while I was in the hospital for 2 nights (Love you babe)!

We were discharged from the hospital 2 days after and took our little Liam home on Monday afternoon. To say the transition to a family of 5 is easy would be a lie but it’s not as bad as I expected. Yes, there are moments (already) that I want to pull my hair out with 3 under 3 but there are the sweet and peaceful moments when they are all asleep and I am reminded how blessed I am that God chose me to be their mommy… My hands are full but my heart is fuller <3

Thanks for reading my birth story everyone! It’s definitely one for the books. I’m just so happy Liam is here and is as healthy as can be.

P.S. The delivery/nursing robes I’m wearing are from PinkBlush. They were not only super cute but also extremely comfortable! Click here for the black/pink floral one and click here for the geometric print one. For Liam’s coming-home outfit, click here 🙂