Our Birth Story...

We thought we'd share a bit of the story of Liam's entrance...

Thursday morning, Jenn woke up feeling a "bit funny." We went to see Cindie, our midwife, who declared that Jenn was in early labor and we should be having a baby within 24 hours.

To help time pass and for labor to progress, we went to Carkeek Park for a walk. Samuel loved throwing rocks (as usual) into the water, while Jenn continued to battle regular contractions.

At 3:30, we saw Cindie again and decided to head home to try and relax as labor continued to progress. Samuel stayed with Jen and Tucker for a few hours so that Jenn and Mike could get a short nap and begin preparing for baby.

Around 7:30, Jon and Annie graciously brought Quiznos for dinner and stayed to watch Samuel while Jenn and Mike packed up to head to the birth center.

We arrived at the birth center around 10pm. Jenn was still in early labor, but was seeming to progress well. We spent time in the tub, walking around the parking lot, and sitting on birthing balls.

About 3am, Jenn was hit with the full onslaught of labor. Her contractions hit very hard, very quickly, causing her to vomit in between and during the sometimes overlapping contractions. She did amazing for during this period.

By about 4:35am, Jenn made it over the hump and was completely dilated and began to push. 11 minutes and 5 pushes later, a head emerged.

Here is Liam's debut.
He came out very peaceful and calm, wide eyed and taking in every aspect of his new world. After the discovering that he was a boy we all took a calming breath as he explored and let out a wail.

For the first 30 minutes, Liam rested on Jenn's stomach while he was getting the last of the yummy nutrients from the umbilical cord. He was content and happy, but ready to eat. Mike was able to cut his umbilical cord and Liam had his first meal at only 39 minutes old. Amazing!

We then spent the next couple of hours just being together. Liam was wide eyed and alert most of the time. He scored wonderfully on his Apgars and all the newborn screening. Jenn also was healing amazingly fast and was up moving out of bed less than an hour after Liam was born.

Mike and Liam shortly after birth.

Once we were up and moving we started preparing to go home. It was wonderful to know that everyone was doing so well and that our own beds were only minutes away.

We got all packed up and Liam was put into his car seat around 7:30am. We walked out of the birth center and began our trip home to introduce Samuel and Liam.
What an amazing morning!