Dear Liam,
This is the story of your journey into this world. From the beginning I knew that you would arrive before your "due date". You were supposed to be here on October 21st. I was worried because their are a few days in October that I didn't want you to be born, one of them being my birthday. I wanted you to have your own day. I think you knew how I felt and maybe even felt the same way because you came two weeks before you were supposed to.
The day was Thursday, October 7th, 2010. Dad left work and picked me up, we had an appointment with our obstetrician, Dr. Tai. We listened to your heartbeat and talked to the doctor about how excited we were to welcome you into the world. We also asked her if it would be alright to go to Windsor for the weekend, because it was thanksgiving and I wanted to spend it with our family there. She said it would be fine, that she didn't think you would be coming for at least a couple more weeks. I was pretty excited to be able to go home for the weekend. Daddy and I left the appointment. Daddy dropped me off at home and went back to work for a few hours. I was pretty tired so I decided to have a nap until daddy got home.
It began...
I woke up from my nap around 4:30pm. I went to the washroom. After I was finished I stood up and felt a big gush, like I had peed my pants! I knew I didn't though because I just went pee :) Mommy set into panic mode, your car seat was still in the box and daddy was at work, he wouldn't be home for an hour! I started getting all of our stuff together. I text daddy and told him we may need to go to the hospital. He came home but we had to go to the metal yard, daddy needed to do something for work. We went and I still felt leaking. When we got home I called the hospital and told them how I was feeling. The nurse on the phone said it sounded like I was in labour. She told me to eat, have a shower and then come to the hospital. I called my mom and let her know what was going on.
At the hospital...
We got to the hospital around 7:00pm. I still felt leaking. We waited for what seemed to be forever until the nurse came to see us. It was a pretty busy night in maternal triage. She checked my pad to see if the fluid was because my water broke or something else. The results came back inconclusive. She wasn't sure, but I was sure. She told me to go walk around for an hour and see if anything changes. I did. I went back an nothing changed. It was still the same inconclusive results. I went back and forth until about 11:00pm with the same nurse, checking me and telling me she wasn't sure. I was sure all along but no one was listening to me. We even took a trip to Shopper's Drug Mart (mommy in her hospital gown) and even tried to get some sleep in the truck. We could not find comfort anywhere. Finally I got to see the doctor on duty. She did her checks and told me that I had just peed my pants, that it was normal for pregnant women to pee their pants and she was going to send me home. I got really upset. I knew that I didn't pee my pants. I am not a child, I told her that and she did an ultrasound right there and checked to see if, in fact my water did break. I wish they could have done that check 5 hours ago because by this point I was really tired and cranky. You had barely any fluid left around you in my tummy. She told me that I would be staying now and if my contractions didn't start on their own soon, she would give me pitocin to help them along.
The contractions...
The contractions started to come where I could really feel them at about 12 that night. I definitely was not prepared for the amount of pain I felt during these contractions. Nothing seemed to ease them. I tried walking, a birthing ball and even a shot of Demerol in my side and nothing worked. Daddy felt helpless at this point because I was in so much pain and he couldn't make me feel better. We spent the night in maternal triage. Lots of other mommies and daddies came and went to have their babies but Daddy and me stayed their all throughout the night. The whole night is really a blur for me because of how much pain I was in.
The next morning...
We finally got to have our own room the next morning at around noon. I called my mom and told her she should come now, since she had to drive from Windsor. She called all our family and let them know. We got our room and by this point mommy and daddy were so exhausted. I got a comfier bed and daddy had a bench to lay on. The nurse helped me through my contractions but by this point I was so tired that the pain was dulling. I finally caved and got my epidural around 2, I needed to get some sleep. A little after I got the epidural I sat up for some reason and your heartbeat dropped. The doctor and his student rushed in and told me that if it dropped again I would have to get a c-section. I did not want a c-section or an epidural, I wanted to have you naturally. Now mommy and daddy both went to sleep and slept until our family started to arrive. First came my mom, Jodi and Brooke. I was so happy to see them. After Judy, Aunt Laura and Keith came. They didn't stay though. After they left Glenn and Nana Joan came and then my dad finally showed up. Throughout all this the nurses came in and checked your heartbeat and mommy's contractions. Everything seemed to be going so slow but now everything was going smoothly too. No more heartbeat drops.
It's time...
Around 7pm the nurse came in and did a check. She told me that I was 9cm and would be ready to push in about a half hour. Daddy started to cry and gave mommy a big hug and kiss, we were both so excited that we were going to meet you soon. Our family came back in the room and seen daddy crying, they were worried but we told them that it was almost time to meet you and that is why we were crying and everyone else got excited and started to cry too!
Time to push...
The nurses came into the room around 8 and told me it was time to push. At this point it was me, daddy and Grandma Karen in the room with the two nurses. The nurses turned off my epidural Grandma and daddy held up my legs and I pushed! I pushed for about half hour and then your head started to come out. The nurses told me I had to stop pushing and wait for the doctor to come deliver you. This was the most painful part of the whole thing. It was so hard for me not to push you out and you were coming out but I did my best to wait for the doctor. Finally he came and he said ok one more push and push slowly, I did and out you came!!! You were born at 8:47pm Friday, October 8th 2010. We were all so happy. You weighed 6.6lbs. After they weighed, cleaned and wrapped you up I was finally allowed to hold you. It was the best feeling in the entire world. I will never forget your big eyes look up, staring at me. The rest of the family came into the room to meet you but I didn't want to let you go. I held onto you. They could wait until tomorrow to hold you.
I hope one day you get to experience the feeling mommy and daddy experienced when we brought you into this world. I hope I get to be apart of it.
I love you Liam Sean Gallagher.
