Our sweet baby boy Liam was born on Christmas <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.glow.android.eve">Eve</a> at 37 weeks 3 days. He was 8lb 9oz and 21 inches, and he is just perfect!

I started what I realized was early labor on Friday at 2:30 a.m. with irregular contractions all day. They died down by night, and I slept great. Saturday morning, I woke up to find that my mucus plug and bloody show had occurred and continued to lose it all day. I waited until my contractions got more regular and were painful enough that I couldn't concentrate on anything else before finally telling my husband I thought we should make the hour drive to my hospital. They found me 2.5cm dilated and contracting every 2-3 minutes and admitted me.

I labored through Saturday night with only IV fluids and made it to Sunday morning 6-7 cm dilated, and after spending a few hours there and not having slept, I decided to opt for an epidural... 3 failed placements and many painful contractions later, I had my epidural. I was hoping to avoid having any pain medication, but I'm so glad that I decided to have the epidural because I was able to have some naps between the pressure and nausea.

By 4pm, I was fully dilated and effaced, but my little man was not far down enough yet for any practice pushing to be effective. I was repositioned, and by almost 7pm, I felt so sick, the uncontrollable shaking I'd had since the start intensified, and the pressure was making me push. So, the nurse turned me to check me, and his head was on the verge of crowning.

20 minutes of pushing, a second degree tear, and my first baby was on my chest before I realized what was happening.

My husband and I are so blessed that our big boy is here (even moreso because of how big he was expected to be if he'd gone full term).