Liam Padraig McBride joined the clan January 10, 2015 at 1:50 a.m.  He was more than ready to come earthside!  Sit back and grab a quick snack while I tell you his story.

Friday, the 9th started like any other crazy morning with a 2 year old.  I was pretty sure labor was soon to start, so my mom came over to sit with Finn just in case I needed to leave.  Well, it turned out to be a nice visit with Nannie.  Nothing happened all day!  Fast forward to 10:30 p.m.  I had just lay down to get some sleep when they began.  I quickly installed the contraction counter app.  Sure enough, consistent contractions a few minutes apart for an hour.  I had just heard Brendan start to snore downstairs, so I decided to go wake him up!  🙂

We called my mom, who must have made it to our house in record time!  We called Mari, our wonderful doula, and said “It’s time!”.  By this time it was going on midnight.  My contractions were getting a lot closer, but were masked a bit by the wonderful TENS unit provided by Mari.

Brendan started warming the car around 1 a.m.  (Remember a couple paragraphs up that mentioned what time Liam was born?!)  When we arrived at the hospital the valet service wasn’t being offered.  So, we parked in the garage and hoofed it to registration.  You’re supposed to walk while in active labor, right?!  Once checked into triage, the nurse checked and told me I was 8 cm dilated!  All of a sudden, I said to myself “I can’t do this, I need meds!”.  It was at that moment I felt this amazing urge to push.  My water broke and all hell broke loose!

Nurses came running, they pushed Brendan out of the way and began rolling me ever so quickly to labor and delivery.  It, seriously, felt like a scene out of ER!  Man, I do mish that show.  But I digress.

Meanwhile, Brendan had received a text that Mari had just gotten to the hospital and he quickly gave her our room number.  She tells me that she had come off the elevator and could hear me yelling so she started to run a bit!  I had always heard that second babies were faster, but never really understood.  I kept telling the nurses I needed to push and they kept telling me to “Wait, hold on”.  Like I had that option!  Mari made it just in time to remind me that the hardest part was already over and baby would join us soon.

Three short pushes later…

7 lbs. 11 oz. 21 1/2 inches long!

Finn absolutely loves being a big brother!  First thing he asks when he wakes up in the morning “Oh, where baby, daddy?”.  All day long, it’s “I hold baby, mommy.  I kiss baby, mommy!”.