Liam Matthew Collins

Soo it turns out that my due date definitely did not mean much to my little man. I was due February 23 and Liam decided to grace us with his awesome presence on February 1 at 2:53 pm. I thought I would blog about my labor experience since I am even more awful with keeping up with a journal.

On the night of January 31 Keith was at work and I just had this urge to keep cleaning and straightening things up in the house. The week before that I had been making sure everything was ready because I just knew Liam was coming before his due date I just didn't know when. I guess you could say the nesting had settled in. Well, when I went to bed on January 31 I was feeling fine nothing out of the ordinary just the routine heartburn I had been experiencing for the last 4 or so weeks. Well as the night went on I woke up every 2 hours having to use the restroom as usual because the baby was probably using my bladder as a pillow or squeeze toy. At around 4 am I got up again to use the restroom and came back to bed and within 20 minutes it felt like I had peed in my pants. Gross I know, BUT my eyes popped wide open and I was just HOPING I had peed my pants because I knew if it wasn't that then this baby was coming! HOLY CRAP! I did not even have ONE contraction before hand. Well I went to the restroom again to check and sure enough my water had broke. For a moment or two I was questioning what I should do. Keith was asleep and I wasn't sure what to do. I think I was in denial that I was actually going into labor. So I ended up waking Keith up and saying "My water broke we need to go to the hospital!" He of course got right up, but as he was getting into different clothes he looked at me and said, "Are you sure this it it?!". Well of course it is, my water doesn't break just to break. hahahaha. I got changed too and we got everything ready and were off to the hospital. Once we got there Keith ran in to get someone to bring a wheel chair to me because by then my contractions were kicking in. Before I knew it we were in our room and I was getting my IV hooked up and my contractions were coming faster and more intense. While I have it fresh in my mind they feel just like really strong menstrual cramps.I know women never know how to describe it when they are asked so I wanted to make a note of how they felt. Well anywho they checked to see how dilated I was and I was already at 5 cm so I was able to have the epidural within 2 hours of getting to the hospital! It really wasn't that bad! Well then I was able to just enjoy laying around waiting to be fully dilated. Keith's mom and sister got to the hospital about 6 am and waited til I got my epidural to come in to see us. My sister had shown up by then so by about 7 730 they were all in there visiting while I just sat and saw my contractions on the monitor and didn't feel a thing:). My mom ended up showing up around 8 830ish. Well it turns out my body was preparing pretty fast for this baby and by around 1030 11 I was fully dilated. I was suddenly scared because I knew this was it! No turning back now! lol. Well by 11:45 they had me start pushing. It really wasn't a bad experience at all. Well little did I know I would be pushing for the next 2 1/2 - 3 hours! I had made no progress! The baby's head would not pass the pelvic bone. So my doctor said we would need to proceed with a c-section. I was pretty upset at first because this wasn't in my plans at all considering how fast I had dilated and everything. Well by 2:30 ish we were getting ready and heading down to the OR. By 2:53 Liam Matthew Collins was born weighing in at 8 lbs 3 oz and 21 inches long and it was one of the most amazing experiences I had ever had in my life. Keith and I were so emotional and I couldn't stop crying. He was so beautiful and I will never forget the moment that this beautiful baby boy entered our lives.

Life since Liam got here has been great. My recovery has been pretty fast and Liam is changing everyday. He is such a joy and I am so grateful that Heavenly Father would send this special spirit into Keith and my life.