Welcome Baby Liam

Hey everyone!  Our first blog posting and we are excited to finally start our life as a family together.

Liam Kevin Holt arrive on January 21, 2011 at 12:48am via cesarean section. Here is the story of his arrival:

On Thursday morning, January 20th, I woke up to let the dogs out at 6:45am.  On my walk down the stairs I noticed that something was a little funny.... turns out my water broke! Called the doctor and went in to their office at 9am.  The doctor checked me and I was already 5cm dilated and 90% effaced. Sure enough my water did break and he sent me to the hospital telling us, "someone will have a birthday in the next 24 hours."

We checked in to Poudre Valley Hospital around 9:30am and got settled in our room.  My nurse Kathy was great and I was feeling fine; actually surprised when she told me that I was having a contraction. I definitely had had these feelings in the prior weeks but I never knew that they were contractions.

Fast forward to 4:30pm, watching Oprah and walking around the hospital did I start to feel some stronger contractions. Between then and 6:30pm I dilated to 9cm and the pain became a bit much for me to handle.  I asked for an epidural and shortly after it was administered.  There was a slight moment of panic afterwards, where both my and Liam's heart rate dropped. I was put on oxygen and turned on my side, which seemed to help Liam's heart rate get to where it needed to be.

My labor slowed down after the epidural and around 8:00pm I was dilated to 10cm and ready to push.  I pushed for 2 hours and the Doctor was not happy with the progress I had made, also telling me that Liam was "sunny side up" making it that much more difficult to push him out.  The doctor suggested a cesarean and I told him I wanted to push for a little bit longer before making that decision.  Still no progress after another 30-45 minutes of pushing.

We decided to go ahead with the c-section and was prepped and wheeled into the OR.  The surgery went well with no problems.  He was delivered at 12:48am and after what seemed to be an eternity, we heard Liam's first cry.  He was 7lbs 10oz and 21" long with a full head of red hair.  They whisked him away to the baby station and that is where the problems began.  Liam was having problems breathing on his own and his Apgar scores were only a 5 and 7. They immediately let me see him and told me they were taking him to the NICU.

Jeramie went with Liam to the NICU and he was given a bunch of oxygen treatments.  Thank goodness I didn't realize what was happening, I definitely would have been a wreck if I knew how bad it was.  He was put on a feeding tube and a ton of monitors along with the oxygen apparatus and antibiotic drips. The doctors and nurses at PVH were amazing! Thank god we decided to deliver at this hospital as it is the only Level 3 NICU unit from Billings, Montana to Denver. I cannot speak highly enough of the staff that took round the care clock of my baby boy.

The first 24 hours were a bit rough but our little man fought his way through and made a turn for the better. The oxygen tube was taken out and each day another monitor wasn't needed.  We found out later that my placenta was sent out for testing after Liam was born and tested positive for Group B Strep, a bacteria that could have been treated during delivery but my original test (performed 2 weeks earlier) came back negative. So that infection was part of the problem that Liam had.

It was extremely hard to be away from Liam during our stay at the hospital, but I knew that he was in good hands. Jeramie and I spent as much time as we could with him during the day, and got as much rest as we could at night. We were discharged on Monday afternoon and with all your thoughts and prayers, Liam was discharged the same day.  It was so exciting to be able to bring him home with us and start our life as a family together at home.