Noah is such a good big brother. I will admit that I was nervous at first, giving how Noah had been acting the last few months, but he is doing so much better than I ever thought. He loves Liam more than anything. He loves to kiss on him, hold him, help change him and just watch him. I do get nervous over how much he does "love" Liam. I am constantly watching out for Liam's little head to make sure "Brudder" doesn't love on him too strongly.
It's amazing how you can go from looking like this ......
to this ......
in just a matter of time. The preggo pic is me the Sunday before Liam came on Thursday. I was exactly 39 weeks pregnant in the picture.
Dr. Hoover agreed at my 38 week appointment to induce me on Thursday, March 7th. Having never been induced, I was unsure what to expect. She told me to report to the hospital on Wednesday evening at 5 pm. We convinced the family that there was no need in coming to the hospital that night. Keith and I looked forward to starting the process that night and then a good night of rest. Boy was I wrong! Gigi and Granddanny came and picked me, Noah and Maggie up and took us to UAB to meet Daddy. He got off at 4 so we had plenty of time to grab a sandwich at McAlisters before heading up to Labor and Delivery. Dr told me to eat a light dinner and that is just what I enjoyed (with a huge glass of sweet tea!!)
We got into our labor room (LDR 8) about 6p. The lovely hospital paper work, doctors talking to us and iv sticking began. The nurses changed to night shift at 8p so nothing else really started until after shift change. I had the sweetest night nurse that night to help take care of us. I wish I remembered her name but she was very young (apparently all of my nurses were super young ... they were all younger than me!!) She and the on call doctor came in about 8:30 to start the process. They put in some kind of catheter (not the real kind) to try to make you naturally dilate more without medication. At the time of arrival, I was 1 cm dilated. The procedure that they did was more painful than the actual delivery part. Mental note: if I ever do this again and they induce, ask for pain meds BEFORE the procedure!!! Oh my word. And it didn't help that she had to do it 2 or 3 times (I lost count) because the placenta was tilted. Who knew?
After the painful procedure, we were set the for night. I got to enjoy my tea until midnight then it was ice chips only. Keith went right on to sleep while I stayed up texting with my momma and the staff wives. Thank goodness for group text! Texting lasted until almost 11:30 when we all decided that we must get rest - after all, I had a BIG day ahead of me and needed rest. But I could not sleep. My mind would not shut down. I was excited, anxious and nervous all at the same time. I missed my little buddy more than anything. Keith's cell phone rang about 2 am with a phone call from Gigi. I instantly had a panic moment wondering what was wrong with Noah. Well, it wasn't Noah. It was Maggie. She was having a breathing attack and Gigi wasn't sure what to do. Once she settled down we headed back to sleep. Ha - yeah right!
The night slowly crept by. My nurse came in at 5 am and helped me take a shower and they started my iv of pitocin at 6a. Overnight I had dilated 2 more cm. Shift change happened a little earlier than 8a but I had a precious nurse again. How funny is it that my actually LDR nurser lives about 5 minutes from us - in Corner!! We know a lot of the same people and it made for a fun and easy day! Epidural came about 8 am when my contractions really began to pick up. The epidural had to be done twice because the first one when into the wrong place. Nothing like 2 big sticks in the back in between tough contractions. And of course they make the hubby leave during this part.
Family began to trickle in about 9:30. Pain eased up but I got to where I didn't feel too good. Liam's heart beat was a little higher than everyone wanted it to be. Once my water had been broken, Dr. Hoover realized that Liam had pooped. She was a little concerned and wanted to have Peds in the delivery room just to make sure things were good.
Waves of nausea passed by me, tried to sleep, couldn't sleep. It felt like we had been going at this for at least 24 hours and it really had only been about 3-4 hours. Dad had to work that morning but planned to leave work at noon. We realized things were progressing a little faster than expected and so Dad left Riverside at 11:30. He made it to UAB in record time - by 12:30. I was at 10 cm and ready to push about 12:15 but Dr. Hoover said we could wait a few minutes to give Dad time to get there to see us before. What a blessing she was. In the mean time, she went out to check on Noah and played with him and his monster trucks for a few minutes. Papaw made it just in time to kiss me before it was time to start pushing.
Pushing lasted through 9 contractions - 25 minutes - and Liam was here at 12:54 pm. When he came out the cord was wrapped around his neck 2 times. Talk about scaring his mommy and daddy (and doctor!) Fortunately everything was fine but that was the reason for the elevated heart rate during the contractions. Fortunately we had a huge team of pediatrician in the delivery room and they were right on making sure he was ok, which he was. He actually was better off than Noah was when he was born.
Littlest Man weighed in at 7 lbs 11 oz and was 20 1/2 inches long. I call him my little "odd baby" because his birthday is 03-07-13 and he was 7 - 11. HAHA! He looked just like Noah only he has a head full of dark hair! So opposite from the rest of us!
Our new little family of 4
Mommy, Noah and Liam
Little BB - ready to go home on Saturday
Brothers - waiting on our discharge from the hospital
Noah and Liam on Friday, March 22nd at Gigi's house
Liam is 2 weeks and 1 day old
Everything was perfect. I could not ask for a better delivery story, team of nurses or a better doctor. I absolutely love my new OB and don't see me changing any time soon, unless she goes somewhere else. The care at UAB was wonderful, the security measures are impressive and they get high stars in my book.
God blessed us yet again with another precious baby boy. He is perfect in every way. He is eating good and sleeping good. He reacts well when he hears his brother. We could not be any more happier with our little blessing.
~Randi
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