The Danguy Family: Momma's New Man

Sorry Charlie, but you'll have to step aside because my new little man is finally here, and oh do I adore him!

Liam Andre Danguy

March 15th, 11:52am

8lbs 10oz and 21 in.

Isabelle was 10 days late, Anya, 4 days early, so when this little man would decide to join us was anyone's guess. The week prior to my due date I did everything I could to make things happen, working out, going to Disney, etc. Nothing worked. Once my due date came and went I decided to bump things up a bit. I hit the gym hard three days in a row, doing an hour plus of weights each day and 45 minutes of cardio. By the time I was leaving the gym on the third day I knew I was going to go into labor by that night. I had a doctors appointment in the afternoon, I packed my bags hoping they'd accidentally break my water, but that didn't happen. I was a little more dilated than the week before. They stripped the membranes...again and sent me home. I proceeded to give piano lessons that day as my contractions grew closer together. By about 8 at night they were pretty regular, but still 9 or 10 minutes apart. By about 10pm they were about 5 or 6 minutes apart. I told Charles I wanted to go for a walk to try and speed things up, so we decided to walk to the new WalMart that had just opened that day. We bought some shoes for the baby blessing and some stamps so I could finally mail off a bunch of thank you cards. The contractions at this point were about 4 minutes apart, but I still wasn't in excruciating pain like I had been with both of the girls. I'd slow down during the contractions, but that was all. When we got home, I figured it would be the true test. If it was real labor the contractions would keep coming once I sat down, if they slowed down I knew it was false labor. Well they sped up to 3 minutes apart. They were coming in hard at this point, but still not super painful, just hard. Everyone kept telling me that the labor for a 3rd child is a lot faster. Knowing that my first two were both 14 hours, I had my doubts. I decided to go ahead and get ready to go to the hospital, just in case it was faster. It was almost midnight by the time we got to the hospital. They took me to triage and checked me, I was dilated exactly the same amount as at my appointment earlier that day. So much for a quicker labor with the 3rd! The nurse checked me again a little while later and sure enough...same thing. She saw that my contractions were now about 2 and a half minutes apart and hard, so she called the doctor and said "she had a feeling that this was it." The doctor agreed to admit me. Within an hour or so I was admitted and had my epidural. I was one happy camper at how much quicker things went this time being admitted and all compared to last time with Anya. Once the epidural kicked in we all tried to relax and rest up. Erin and my mom and baby Bruce had driven over from Tampa (my mom had been there for a theatre field trip for Laila). They got there soon after I got the epidural. So they made beds and went to sleep on the floor. I had a hard time sleeping because I kept hearing a sound that sounded like a cat meowing. I was convinced there was a cat in the room or stuck in the vent or something. I kept having Charles look around and on the window ledge, but never found a cat. Finally I asked the nurse about it and she said it was the drip from the epidural that made that sound. Maybe if I had asked sooner I could have slept better instead of thinking there was a cat in my hospital room! Throughout the night I didn't dilate much, although the contractions kept coming. I kept telling the nurse that I wouldn't really dilate until my water broke (I knew this from my first to kids), but only the doctor could brake the water and they wouldn't be in till morning. They considered giving me pitocin, but we decided to hold off on it.. The doctor came in in the morning and broke my water, I think I was about a 5 or a 6 when she broke it. I dilated faster after that. At one point my epidural wore off on my left side, that wasn't fun! They tried to give me some more meds for it, but I could still feel the contractions, they at least took the edge off. By 11:30am or so I told the nurse I felt like it was time to push, sure enough I was fully dilated. She called to get the doctor in. We had to wake up Charles, who was sound asleep on the couch in my room. He almost missed the grand finale. The doctor came in and had me push. Little Liam started coming out. I may not be good at dilating, but when it comes to pushing, I am a master! I got his head out and the doctor told me to wait till the next contraction to push him out the rest of the way. Well I guess Liam didn't like the idea of that cause he just wiggled his way out the rest of the way. The first thing I said when I saw him was "He's huge!" I couldn't believe how big he was. After holding him for what seemed like only a second they took him away because he was having problems breathing at first so the had to work on him a little bit, but then they finally brought him back over to me. I immediately fell in love with this little man. For some weird reason, I think I had worried about being able to love a little boy as much as my girls, but that fear went away immediately. I was completely smitten.

The little man had a bit of a rough start. First when they took him back to clean him up and do some tests he started spitting up amniotic fluid. They had to pump his little tummy to try and drain it out. Then that night Liam was projectile vomiting and couldn't lay down without choking. They took him back and did an X-ray to see if there was some type of blockage causing this. Fortunately, after seeing the X-rays they determined it was just air pockets that needed to work their way out. Then the doctor told us he tested coombs positive. I wasn't familiar with this condition, but they explained it as when the baby has a different blood type than the mom. While pregnant my body was trying to fight his blood since it was a different type. The main concern they had was that it makes him more at risk for jaundice. They kept us in the hospital for an extra day to keep an eye on it. His jaundice levels were elevated and we had to go back to the doctor a few times to have it tested, but after a little time they went down and he is just fine.

Having just gone through all of this herself, Erin came and gave great support. She even did my makeup to try and help me look somewhat decent for the pictures that we would be taking.

So exhausted and ready to be done. Wish I could have slept like Charles.

Charles and Bruce sleeping while waiting for Liam to come.

Bruce waiting patiently for his cousin. You have to wonder what is going through a babies mind at this moment. I wondered if he remembers this scene and when Erin gave birth to him.