Liam Ender Burton

 That name rolls off the tongue nicely don't you think;)

Well Liam arrived to us at 3:51 am on the 29th of January weighing 9 lbs 4 oz and 21 inches long after a very interesting labor, well to me anyway.

On Saturday afternoon I called my midwife, Jen Krebs, because I was having a sharp pain on my right side that persisted for over a day and was getting worse. She ordered me to go to the hospital just for an NST (non stress test) to monitor the baby to make sure he was doing ok. Dan was at work so my aunt took me to the hospital and I text Dan on the way telling him where I was but to not worry since they were just doing testing. Despite my un-alarming text Dan called me a few minutes later to tell me he was on his way to the hospital. After being monitored for a couple hours the nurses informed me that everything looked fine (baby was healthy and all my labs came back "normal") and that my midwife would be coming in in a little while to talk to me. My midwife recommended that we induce immediately due to pre-eclampsia and if I waited then I would be risking causing illness to me or Liam. Because I wanted to deliver naturally I was very hesitant to induce due to the amount of pain the petocin could cause. Dan and I thought about it and agreed that it would be best since we were both healthy and he was considered full term. Luckily I had grabbed my hospital back on my way out the door just in case.

    The nurses moved us to the "natural" birthing room (it had a birthing tub in it which I was very excited for) and started the labor process. To my dismay they had an intern take a whack at putting my IV in, I almost asked that she not be the one to do it but I talked myself out of it and soon wished I hadn't...she missed. The nurse tried 2 more times with no luck so they brought in the big guns and she got the one it my wrist (restricting me from moving my hand) whoo hoo. At about 10:00pm they started the petocin. Over the next couple of hours the increased the petocin up to the maximum dosage and I still was not feeling contractions although I was having them.

Shad really is a proud big brother

   At 12:30 Jen suggested that we break my water to move things along so that the overall labor was not longer than it needed to be to save my energy. I reluctantly complied. I think that part was one of the coolest feelings. Almost immediately I started feeling contractions but they were very mild. As the contractions got harder I stared breathing through them and managed them just fine. At this point I was feeling like, "I can do this". At about 1:30 I had dilated to a 5 so they turned off the petocin at let my body take over. Since I was no longer attached to the IV I got into the birthing tub. I really thought that the tub would be more of a relief than it was. It was nice because it was easier to move around but it really didn't do much for the pain. At this point I started saying things like, "I cant do this" or "I dont want to do this anymore", "this really sucks" and Dan and Jen just ignored me and encouraged me which I am now very grateful for. I think it was when I was about a 6 when I would have like to get the epidural but I was committed to doing this naturally so I wasn't about to ask for the drugs.

Shad made a fort to share with Liam when he got home.

    Jen was not about to accurately check me in the tub so she had me get out at about 3:00. I had a couple of contractions while getting dressed and to the bed and I actually had an easier time managing he pain while standing up but I wanted to get into bed so she could check me, I was at a 7. I wish I had stayed standing because "laying down" proved to be much more painful. Shortly after getting into bed I started going through "transition" by far the worst part. What made this worse was the back labor I was feeling and nothing would alleviate that pain. During transition I was completely un-aware of what was going on around me and couldn't have cared less.
   After about 45 mins the pain was more than I could bare, I wanted to die or at least pass out so that I didn't have to feel anything anymore. It was then that I turned to my father in heaven and said "I NEED THIS TO BE OVER!" Within moments Liam's heart rate dropped dangerously low and they needed him to get out as soon as possible. Jen got in my face and offered to push back my cervix through the next contraction so that I could start pushing. I agreed. That next contraction is more pain than anyone should ever have to experience and I recall making a not so pleasant sound (totally involuntary). The pain totally paid off because I did in fact feel like pushing. The first push did nothing, I wasn't doing it right, I guess I was a little out of practice. I was determined to make the next one count. Through the next contraction I pushed and pushed and pushed and wondered why is no one counting or telling me to take a break... oh yeah I can feel all of this, I am in control and can do whatever I want. So I took a break and I would have fallen asleep right then but another contraction came too quickly. I pushed for a few moments and his head came out. This pushing part was such a good feeling, I hardly felt any pain except for the "burning ring of fire" which is very real and present. Through the next contraction the rest of his body came. The feeling of him coming out was by far the best feeling EVER.

All locked up ready to go home

   I was immediately alert and surprisingly full of energy, joy, relief (kind of hard to explain exactly how I felt). The put Liam right on me so I could watch as they cleaned him off. I was also able to feel his umbilical cord pulsing before they cut it which was unfortunately cut earlier than I had hoped because they needed to try to get him to breath better. We were all surprised to hear his weight which was totally unexpected compared to Shad's mere 6 lb 14 oz birth weight. The next couple of hours were the well earned reward. I was able to hold and nurse my little one uninterrupted in a quiet room.
   I am so grateful for a happy healthy little boy, for an incredibly supportive and patient husband who was with me every step of the way, for the mercy of my father in heaven and for a midwife that handled my delivery with such grace and sensitivity. I am extremely proud of myself for pushing my own limits and allowing myself to experience to full beauty of bringing a new life into this world. That being said I don't know if I have it in me to do a natural delivery again (Dan would prefer I didn't) but we will see.