Liam's Page

Liam's First Day at Preschool

2008-08-27T15:25:00.003-05:00

Today Liam had his first real day at preschool! Roger and I stayed for the first hour and a half or so, but he did the next hour and a half on his own!! He didn't even cry when we left.. I couldn't believe it. He was playing with everything in the room and was so excited, but definitely kept his eyes on us while we were there.. the teacher said that once we were gone he was exploring and playing with all of the toys just fine! Phew! I am glad to have the first day over with, we were all pretty anxious about how he'd respond. I took a quick video with my phone that made me laugh - here he is playing with a doll in a highchair (these are things we don't have at home, so it amazed me that he went right to it and started feeding the doll! Of course, he also started to eat his hand, so I guess he's not exactly sure what to do with it yet!). My favorite part of this clip is his reaction to the other little boy that comes over. I don't think he's used to other kids playing in 'his space'. He looked confused, but I think he warmed up to him. He was worn out, he fell asleep in Allison's car on the way home (it was less than a 10-min trip!). He's such a crazy kid :)

A lot more information than you probably need...

2008-04-27T20:44:00.011-05:00

I know! I know! Don't yell at me, it has been way too long since we've posted (Roger's been promising to update for quite some time now, but again, I finally gave in and did it first -he plans to add some stuff soon). I guess it's been almost 3 months, yikes. Sorry! Not only has it been busy, but our old digital camera started to poop out on us, and we just weren't getting many good photos. We have just purchased a NEW camera, which is a million times better and we already have about 500 photos from the past 2 weeks. Don't worry, we won't post them all, just a sample.. but expect more where these came from!

First, here are some facts about the new and exciting things going on in Liam's life: He's got tons of teeth! He went from zero to eight pretty quickly, and now has his 4 top and 4 bottoms (if only he'd realize they are for chewing - he scares us pretty regularly by stuffing everything into his mouth at once without using those handy new teeth). He understands so much of what we say now! You can ask him to get his toys (Glowie is a favorite) and he'll run over and fetch it and bring it to the person you asked him to give it to. Oh wait, did I mention the biggest milestone of them all? He's walking! All over the place... he started on his 13 month birthday and has become more and more of an expert. Now he walks, runs, and has started climbing on chairs, stairs, and anything else he can get his hands on. He mimics so much of what we do. He will make noises with his mouth and lips, he'll brush his hair, pet the dogs, growl like a lion... pretty much whatever we do repeatedly, he'll now give a try. He also knows certain routines.. when it's time to go outside he'll get his shoes and bring them to us to put on. When we say good-bye to anyone not only will he spontaneously wave, but he'll also give kisses! He can point to his nose, lift up his shirt to show off his belly, and when you ask him where his head is he'll slap himself right on the top of it. He can point to himself in photos, point to his froggy clock, and point to most people that he knows. He is so affectionate.. the other day at his gymboree class he got a hug from his friend CJ, and then he proceeded to chase him all over the gym trying to give him a hug back! But whenever he'd catch him he'd hug only his head, which wasn't exactly comfortable for CJ, so they had to be quick, but he had the right idea. What else? He seems about ready to talk but hasn't really said any real words yet (sometimes he'll say mamamamam or dadadaada but not at the exact right time) and he will put the cell phone on his neck and say "iiiiiii?". His hair is getting longer and curlier by the day. It's just amazing to us that he's no longer a baby! He's a real toddler now - the way he plays, and climbs, and whines!.. he's definitely a little boy. I can see the future now, and it's exhausting. But, he makes us laugh every single day and we are loving every moment.

Here are a few pics from the past weekend visiting Mema and Poppy in Washington, NC. They have a river in their yard as well as a lot of land, so Liam was ecstatic. You can see the 'little boy' I am talking about.. he ran right for the river, with no fear at all, and waded up to his waist (with help from us of course!), he hid behind bushes, brick walls, in tubs, and he even poured a pile of dirt over his head. He was on cloud nine!

Here we are experiencing the river for the first time - we wonder if he thinks it's just the biggest bathtub EVER!

As discussed above, here he is in a tub, by a brick wall, checking out some new flowers, playing with his dogs, and then cleaning up the dirt he tracked into the house (we are very strict about clean up!)

It's been a very fun few weeks for us, because right before our trip to Washington, we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa! Here is Liam taking a drive in the car that they gave him for his birthday! We had so much fun during their visit...

And of course, more toys.. they are very generous when it comes to giving Liam gifts. He especially loves the singing animals (with crazy outfits)! We'll be visiting NY twice in June, so expect plenty more pics to come.

And last but not least, his favorite new thing to do (and so safe, too!) is to empty out the lego bag - not only to play with the legos, but also to wear the bag. Note to worried grandparents: The bag never stays on for more than a few seconds! It is not a toy! But I couldn't resist taking this one picture. He thinks it's really funny... and we kinda do too! Sweet dreams til' next time!

Spring has sprung

2008-04-24T06:40:00.001-05:00

Happy First Birthday Liam!

2008-02-07T15:20:00.001-05:00

As you can see from the ticker on the right, today Liam is 365 days old! We will be celebrating with family this upcoming weekend, but here is a pic of his very first piece of cake that he had during his crazy-fun party with his friends. He's having quite the week, party animal. No big surprise, he loved the cake. Definitely our son :)

Photo Album from Liam's First Year (try it with the volume up!)

2008-02-01T19:44:00.001-05:00

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

First attempts at dancing...

2008-01-30T21:05:00.000-05:00

Over the past few days Liam has really started to take an interest in dancing! Certain songs come on TV (he loves Moose A. Moose .. for those of you who watch Noggin) and he really just starts jumping and shaking and twisting. It's so cute, and he just loves it! So, when Roger picked up the banjo and started playing yesterday, we were not surprised that Liam just couldn't help himself... it's a dark video, so you may miss the subtle nuances, but you get the idea. We thought he was going to be a chef (due to his obsession with the Barefoot Contessa), or a linebacker (due to his husky build), but now we are thinking professional dancer? Stay tuned....

The Holidays and Some Good Eatin'....

2008-01-24T20:34:00.000-05:00

Well... here are more photos, late again! We always feel like we are somewhat on top of things and then I realize it's almost the end of January and these holiday photos have still not been posted! Sorry for the delay... here are some from Christmas at the Koonce's, a visit to NY for Chanukah (although you may not be able to tell since most of these photos are just of Liam hanging out, not really holiday themed!), and some of him showing off his new skills (standing on everything) and new trendy outfits (he's got a new pair of pretty awesome jeans!). Enjoy, and pretty soon there should be some photos of his First birthday! Where did this year go?!
Love to all, Cathi

But first, a video... this is a pretty typical scene at mealtime. Very happy and excited about his food... angry (about something?)... but then remembers his food and is happy again.

This was at Grandma and Granda's in New York for Chanukah.. the birthday balloon was from Cousin Charlie's party. The balloon may have been his favorite new item of the trip..

Turns out Liam just LOVES sweet potatoe pie.. he ate several slices all on his own! With a bath to follow every meal. Mema and Poppy served a lot of delicious pies over Christmas, and Liam has already started to partake....

He is starting to really take an interest in the dogs. He and Kayla spent lots of quality time together crawling around the floor and exploring.

We bundled up and got nice and cozy for the cold North Carolina Holidays (low of 50?)

He's also a complete terror on wheels. He finally learned how to walk in his walker and now he's unstoppable.. the dogs just love it ;)

And of course, the most exciting part of the holidays.. the presents. He got lots of them and has been enjoying them ever since.

And we finally did get some snow... several weeks after the New Year, but we'll take it!

Bundled up again, and cuddling with new friend Big Bird.

Standing on everything... the laundry basket, the magazine rack, the TV stand. He gives us a mini-heart attack everyday. I hope we can survive this stage.

Oh, and here are those cool jeans I mentioned... he's very hip for an 11-month-old!

Thanks for viewing! Next time I'll see if I can get a video of him blowing kisses, brushing his hair, and saying ma-ma-ma-ma or da-da-da-da... which are some of our other new favorites! Hope to see you all soon!

A forgotten moment from when Liam was born...

2008-01-03T20:15:00.000-05:00

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Noooooo! and Teeth

2007-12-27T20:12:00.000-05:00

We think that Liam has heard us yell at the dogs so many times that he's learned his first word/gesture. If you say "noooo" he'll shake his head. Note that he doesn't always do it as vigorously as he does in the video below, but he was very excited at this moment, so he was happy to show off his new skill! Now we just need to teach him 'yes', we don't want him to be too negative! There are lots of Christmakuh pics on the way, once we sort through them we'll post them here. We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!! Liam certainly enjoyed it... It was full of food and lots of attention, his two favorite things!

Oh, and one other new development, he finally has teeth! He has one big tall one on the bottom, a shorter one next to it, and a little one just coming up! Here's a couple of photos where he's showing off his pearly whites with a big smile:

The past 2 months in 6 photos

2007-12-04T20:17:00.000-05:00

As promised, here's another update! Just one day after my last one.. getting better already.

So, to summarize: over the past couple of months Liam has experienced many new things, such as!!

Spending the day with BOTH sets of grandparents at the same time !! Liam loved all of the attention.. he has such a great time with each of them, everytime he sees them his face lights up!

Eating Cheerios. They were shot out of his mouth and across the room on his first few attempts, but he's getting the hang of it now.

Riding in a golf cart! Yes, Liam is a lucky little boy, his Mema and Poppy own their very own golf cart. So, I've been learning how to drive and we take leisurely rides around the neighborhood.

Sitting in the grass... When the days were warmer, he was so excited by sitting in the grass - touching it, crawling on it, and especially attempting to eat it.

Using a sippy cup! This skill also took time, and a lot of very wet shirts, but now he's a juice addict.

And lastly, this isn't such a new thing, but I just think he looks so cute in this pic that I had to share it. He takes his baths in the full tub now and he loves splashing around and playing with his bath toys. He's always so surprised when he gets splashed in the face or accidentally wrings the washcloth full of water into his mouth.. but he's quick to recover and continue on with the playing. We think he's extra cute when he's wet :)

That should make up for a little bit of the lost time.. but we'll be back to share lots of photos from his first Christmakuh! Stay tuned...

The not-so-mad cow

2007-12-03T21:38:00.000-05:00

I know, I know!! We have been absolutely terrible about updating our blog. Will it help if I promise that we will get better? The problem is that I keep waiting for Roger to have time to do it, because he's just way more entertaining than I am, and he keeps waiting for me to do it.. and thus, it never gets done. So, one day soon you'll see a huge entry, full of stories and photos galore. Until then, here's a belated Halloween cow.. moooo.

Liam was happy for all of about 5 minutes with his hooded cow costume, but that's all we expected for his first halloween. It was time for him to go to bed before any trick or treaters came around anyway! He did love climbing on the pumpkins in the pumpkin patch, and trying to eat our candy though...

Overall, it's been a great few months. He has just become such a little boy! He crawls and stands and is into everything.. he's got one bottom tooth! And he says "ba ba ba ba ba" and "ga ga ga ga ga" all the time. He is so affectionate and is constantly hugging us or trying to suck on our face or arm or whatever he can get into his mouth. He makes us laugh constantly and we just can't wait to see what comes next!! We'll be sure to share it, I promise!!

October Happenings....

2007-10-26T21:16:00.000-05:00

Here are just a few recent photos to hold you over until we have a chance to tell you more about Liam's newest developments. Here he is playing, eating, shopping, and hanging out with his family.. pretty much his daily routine - he's a very busy boy!

Becoming more active everyday..

2007-10-06T22:34:00.000-05:00

We know we've been terrible about posting new pictures and vidoes lately and we are VERY sorry... I (cathi) have started working again, and now we are both just crazy and exhausted. We promise to be better.. and Roger will start posting again soon (he has gotten many requests, apparently I am not nearly as entertaining! And I agree... once he's rested up I'll started nagging, he loves when I do that). Anyway, just a brief update: Liam is doing many new things these days. He sits up on his own, he can pull up into sitting position from laying on his back, he can almost pull up to stand and can balance himself by holding onto a chair or other sturdy surface, he babbles all the time, holds his own bottle.. and most important of all - he sleeps through the night!!!!!! This is our favorite development. He goes to bed around 7pm and usually sleeps until 5 or 6. Yes, it's an early morning for us, but worth it to get all of those uninterrupted hours. So, that's all for now, here are some new photos and a new video clip that we love (since he was born, Liam has watched a tv show on the food network called the Barefoot Contessa.. he has always loved the colors and the music. When the theme song starts he'll whip his head around to see it. This video doesn't give a great example, but you can see how he concentrates on the tv when it starts.. it's the cutest thing). He's growing up, and perhaps will be a great chef one day? More to come!!

Just some new photos - stories to follow shortly!

2007-08-27T13:52:00.000-05:00

Liam and CJ on a playdate (his "BFF")

2007-07-23T19:23:00.000-05:00

CJ is Liam's very best friend... he is the son of our friends Katherine and Kevin. We hang out with them, and CJ's big sis Ellie, all the time and have lots of fun. Liam is the aggressor of the two, but CJ is pretty cooperative and let's him paw at him and chew on him all the time... they aren't even embarrassed to hold hands in public :)

Oh Tigger, you don't scare me... yawn.

2007-07-23T19:21:00.000-05:00

Playing with a fun bouncy gift from Grandma...

First time in the backyard olympic-size pool

2007-07-23T19:16:00.001-05:00

Where the heck am I?

Developing like Crazy

2007-07-23T19:12:00.000-05:00

These past few weeks have been huge! Liam has developed so many new skills... Usually Roger posts on this blog, but the next few videos are from the mommy-cam. You will be able to tell because I am not nearly as clever, but I actually report on the facts and the little things that Liam is doing that only a mother (and those that love him) will care about (eating food, rolling over.. things we all do, so you wouldn't think it would be this exciting!). So, enjoy the next few videos because by next week he'll probably be on to something new and this will be old-hat. He's a quick study. We think he's pretty advanced, but that's just our opinion ;) Enjoy.....

Roly Poly Boy

2007-07-23T19:09:00.001-05:00

This is our new favorite activity! Liam has learned to roll over! And now he just won't stop. He did it once on Friday evening and we gave him a lot of applause and fanfare. He appeared to like that because he did it again, and then again, and again, and now.. we put him on his back and he just flips right over. It started as back to tummy, but now we are even seeing some tummy to back. The best part is how proud he is of himself when he does it. I think he wants us to get excited for him everytime. He'll be crawling any day now. Oh boy, and I thought this phase was exhausting.

Yummmy, what is this stuff?

2007-07-23T18:58:00.000-05:00

Another new development... we are starting to move to the world of solids. Don't get too excited, Liam is still primarily a 'boob-man', but we are starting to teach him that there is more to life than milk. He has been showing a lot of interest in our food.. he watches us chew and smiles and laughs like it's the best thing ever. We think he's ready but we are starting slow and will really work on it after his 6-month-birthday, which is right around the corner! Cereal and mushy fruit, here we come...

Thighs Of Steel

2007-07-23T18:24:00.000-05:00

Liam just loves his exersaucer.. He hangs out in it ALL the time! He's really strengthening his legs, we worry he's going to stand up and just start running one of these days. Who knew those chubby little legs had so much muscle underneath!

This is what really happens when Liam is supposed to be napping...

2007-06-20T13:33:00.001-05:00

Roll Bounce

2007-06-20T13:32:00.001-05:00

Traveling, traveling, traveling...

2007-06-20T12:35:00.000-05:00

We've had a pretty busy couple of weeks... we made our first trip to New York so that Cathi's family and family friends could meet Liam (it also happened to be her brother, Greg's, graduation from law school (so if anyone has any unpaid traffic tickets you know who to call...). The trip went really well, we saw most of the town of Rye, NY and some point or another and Liam got to show off all of his super-baby skills. Unfortunately we don't have any pictures because our camera memory was maxed out from the graduation ceremony. So, in its place is my artistic rendering of the visit...

Once we were back home, we turned around to make another trip, this one to Roger's parents house. It was a quick trip, but we did get to go out on their new boat and give Liam his first nautical experience. If you think this picture is cute, you should have seen him water skiing...

Mr. Clean

2007-06-20T11:59:00.000-05:00

Liam's first day at the spa...

A few new pictures with more to come!

2007-06-12T05:53:00.001-05:00

Jennifer and Liam on the red carpet...

2007-05-04T18:21:00.000-05:00

Hey, I know this is silly. I mean really. I told her no one would take this seriously. Who's going to believe this? But once she made up her mind there was no stopping her... she's both pretty and pretty pursuasive.

Seriously, when Jennifer told me that she wanted to take Liam to the Golden Globes, I was like, "Yeah, he's a 3 month old baby. I'm pretty sure he should not be going to hollywood and hanging with crack-head actresses and scientologists."

But after she promised to give us her bag of swag and to not let him play with Suri Cruise, we figured what harm could be done?

But she let's him out of her sight for one minute, and then this happens...

And then this...

And Oh-My-God this...

And that was it... we were afraid that Courtney Love had tried to smoke him, but then we heard that he was crashing at Nick Nolte's place. Hopefully we'll find him before Kevin Federline does, apparantly he thinks all babies equal $$$.

Introducing... Mr. Burka Baby 2007

2007-05-04T17:25:00.000-05:00

Liam's coo-coo-coollage

2007-05-04T17:21:00.000-05:00

Observing the world from a new perspective...

2007-05-04T15:09:00.000-05:00

Liam "having a laugh"

2007-04-09T20:22:00.001-05:00

Just showing off a little...

2007-04-09T18:59:00.000-05:00

A little early babbling for ya...

2007-03-12T16:49:00.000-05:00

And now for the floor routine...

2007-03-07T23:18:00.000-05:00

Around the house: Week 4

2007-03-07T22:45:00.001-05:00

Here's just a few casual, completely unstaged shots from around the old homestead...

Liam with his friend, Barry McBerry...

A few reaction shots...

Just taking a snooze while daddy works...

Just doing a little channel surfing...

Attack of the Baby Einstein hordes!

Whew! Another long week at the office...

Out and about... a trip to the lake

2007-03-07T22:42:00.000-05:00

So we're off to get some fresh air and decide to head out for Lake Lynn which is a few miles from our house. Although I remembered this lake as having a really nice paved trail for walkers and joggers, I had forgotten exactly how long the trail was. Needless to say we got some serious exercise...

... pushing around Liam and 34 pounds of blankets... seriously, you would think that we were hiking through the klondike.

And here are Cathi and Liam in a nice pose...

And here is me running from the paparazzi...

We also bumped into another new family along the way. (It turns out they practically live there.)

Another successful trip... and this time we remembered to buckle Liam's seatbelt!

The First Official Bath

2007-03-01T01:50:00.000-05:00

Well, in truth, the "actual" bath was too traumatic to make the footage public as orginally planned. Seriously, our little bath party turned out to be somewhat like THE Bathe Party... yikes!

So here are some shots of the after-bath...

Can you believe what they just did to me?

Oy, I did not see that coming!

Even Cathi got wet... but we all survived.

Out for a Stroll...

2007-03-01T01:22:00.000-05:00

So, here is our first big trip out... we went for a stroll around a neighborhood in Chapel Hill... Good Times!

We're packed and ready to stroll...

... Hey fella, watch the road!

Seriously people, two hands!

Glad to be home and in the driver's seat...

Just trying out some video...

2007-02-22T14:21:00.000-05:00

The Big Day - February 7th, 2007

2007-02-17T20:47:00.000-05:00

12:50 am

Cathi gets up a little before 1am on Wednesday morning to go to the bathroom (it had been an hour, so this wasn't entirely unexpected). I'm beginning to drift off to sleep, when I hear her say "Uh, something just happened."

I'm pretty trained at this point, so this wakes me up instantly. Cathi is standing in the doorway with a slight look of terror. "Either my water just broke or I peed myself." Either way, I knew this night had taken a new turn.

12:51 am

I panic, but just a little bit. Then I get myself together and try to help her to the bathroom, which she doesn't want to do because the water is still coming. Apparently, very few women actually have the "big break" like you see on TV or in the movies. Cathi had the big break, and it wasn't done. Needless to say, several towels later and a few slight misadventures and we had made it to the bathroom.

About this point I start to freak out a bit more, not because I'm scared (although I obviously am), but because it's three weeks early and we hadn't prepared nearly as much as we should have at this point.

12:55 am

Cathi tells me to quiet down so that I don't wake up Maddie. Oh yeah, did I mention that our friend Colleen and her 15-month-old daughter are downstairs asleep? They're staying with us because Cathi's baby shower is happening in about 18 hours. Good timing.

1:00 am

Cathi suggests that we call the doctor on-call to see what we should do. Of course, the on-call doctor is the one doctor at the OB-GYN practice that we really don't like. He tells us that we can either come on in or hang around the house for a few more hours, whichever is more comfortable. We opt to split the difference- not rush in immediately, but rather get all of our stuff together, make sure we're ready, and then head on in.

So... we both shower, pack clothes and toiletries, reference books for labor and delievery, and some paperwork for the hospital. During this time we both continue to freak out (albeit quietly... remember the houseguests).

2:15 am

All packed and ready to go, we sneak our bags out into the car and we're off to the hospital.

2:30 am

We arrive and check in at the emergency room. The ER was a bit of a disappointment for me, I expected everything to be crazy like on TV ER with people running around and gun shot victims flying by and helicopters chopping off hands. But no, things were pretty sedate- people were watching other people play solitaire. SEDATE. Although good for us, it was a bit of a let down. This is Durham for heaven's sake, is it too much to expect at least a good knifing?

3:00 am

We're all checked in and Cathi is up in the delievery room. I have gone down to move the car and get the rest of our bags. Unfortunately, no one told me that the front of the hospital is locked at night and that I should park outside the emergency room and return there with our stuff. Instead, I drive around front, unload the car, and drag our stuff to a locked door (with a very friendly sign telling me to go to the ER entrance). At this point, the smart thing to do would have been to return to the car and drive back, but I was committed to keeping the primo parking spot in the main visitors lot, so I decide to schlep around the hospital carrying all of our stuff. This was a mistake. It was cold, it was far, and I'm sure I looked like either a raving lunatic hobo. Oh well.

3:15 am

The nurses examine Cathi and she isn't dilated, nor is she in labor yet. This is good and bad because 1) Cathi's not in any pain yet but 2) since her water has broken there is an increased chance of infection for her or the baby the longer it remains in the womb without the amniotic fluid.

P.S. - Who knew that amniotic fluid is largely the fetus's urine? That's why it keeps coming even long after the amniotic sac is broken- because the baby keeps peeing. Just a little trivia for ya.

3:30 am

The doc says that if Cathi doesn't go into labor on her own, that they will give her pitocin (the synthetic version of oxytocin, a hormone naturally produced by the body to start labor, among other things). So we get to lay around and rest for a while.

8:00 am

The nurses hook Cathi up with an IV and pitocin drip. They start it off at what they call a "moderate" level to see what happens. Within an hour or so, Cathi starts to feel what she described as "intense menstrual pains." The doc says that this is a good sign and that she's in early labor. Of course, we start to celebrate because 1) Cathi's officially started having contractions and 2) they're not really that painful. Over the next couple of hours these contractions start to get a little more painful, but still not overwhelming. Again, we are silly enough to think things will stay this way.

10:30 am

The nurse decides that she needs to "rev up" the pitocin dosage to really get things going. This should have been a sign that things weren't going to continue to be as easy as they had been. Of course, the fact that every time we laughed and said "this ain't so bad" she responded with a snicker and a "just wait" should also have been a sign.

11:00 am

Yup, the nurse was right. Labor is not fun. It's definitely not fun to watch, so I can't imagine how it is to actually experience. Cathi's contractions started to grow in strength and frequency. The nurse had her get into several positions that are supposed to facilitate dilation and the downward movement of the baby. I had to balance her and give her support, which I'm sure looked pretty scandalous at times.

About this time the woman in the room next door to us started screaming bloody murder. I pointed out to the nurse that they should probably make these rooms sound proof. This observation was met with what I found to be an incredibly overused expression in the delivery ward- "no pain, no gain." This became taxing very quickly.

Eventually we decided to get Cathi into the jacuzzi (yes, the delivery room has its own jacuzzi; no, I was not allowed in it). Once in, Cathi really seemed to enjoy this. It was sort of like being at a spa, a very strange spa. While this gave her some relief from the labor pains, I decided to run down to get some refreshments for us from the cafeteria.

12:00 pm

I'm intercepted on the way to the cafeteria by my parents who have just arrived at the hospital. Because I'm in full out "oh god, Cathi's having a baby" mode, my parents suggest that I take our stuff quickly back to the room and that they will have a more leisurely lunch downstairs and then come up to the waiting room and, well, wait. I should point out that about this time Cathi's mom was trying to get on a plane to fly down from NY that afternoon, and her father was making plans to join us in a few days once he had wrapped up some business. Needless to say, things were getting nuts.

12:15 pm

I get back to the room and the doctor has just left. GOOD NEWS! The doc that we don't like has gone off duty, and our favorite doctor has come on and will most likely be there to deliver the baby.

The nurse had told the doctor that the jacuzzi was working so well for Cathi that she shouldn't come out of it, and following this advice the doctor did the exam while Cathi was still in the tub. This apparently was something she had never done and that seemed to wierd her out, so imagine how Cathi and I felt. The point is Cathi was now dilated between 3 and 4 cm (out of 10), so the pitocin was definitely doing its thing.

It was about this time that Cathi decided she was ready for the epidural. We had already discussed this issue and both whole-heartedly agreed that medicinal pain management was the way to go. In fact, I would like to use this opportunity to recommend that everyone who can take the epi to TAKE THE EPI. It is safe for mother and baby, and there's just no good reason not to take it. To those people who want to experience a natural child birth I say - are you freaking crazy?!?! Why? Seriously, isn't the point of this whole thing to have a baby? Its not to go through labor. Its to have a baby. It shouldn't really matter how you get the baby, it could fall from the sky or arrive FedEx- who cares! The point is, if you saw what I saw, you wouldn't be having this debate for long.

I digress, the point is, Cathi gets out of the tub, and now we wait for the anesthesiologist.

3:00 pm

After an hour of waiting the anesthesiologist arrives (is there only one at Durham Regional? Seriously...). At this point Cathi is in pretty serious pain. The contractions are INTENSE. They are off the chart (literally, I could see them on this little machine she was hooked up to). They were also coming right on top of on another so that there was hardly any time in between contractions.

To her credit, the anesthesiologist did a good job and did a fairly quick job. I know that they teach doctors to be friendly and to engage and talk with the patients. However, when you're in a lot of pain, anything other than "this will take away the pain" is really unnecessary words. Also, you can't help but feel that this extra talking is slowing down the job that needs to be done.

By the time she was done, Cathi was in intense pain. I was pretty much in awe this whole time. She didn't scream or cry or complain, she just barreled through those contractions and kept right on going. The anesthesiologist wrapped up and suggested that the nurse do another exam because she thought Cathi had progressed considerably during the epidural procedure. Sure enough, Cathi was almost fully dilated. That's right, she had gone from 3 to almost 10 cm in about an hour and a half, the entire time without any pain relief (the epi had yet to kick in). For those of you who know Cathi, know this- She kicked those labor pains square in the business. It was a bit scary, but overall pretty awesome.

4:00 pm

The nurse has Cathi "labor-down", meaning that she stops pushing and tries to relax. They gave her an extra boost of pain medication and she was actually able to sleep a little. This was somewhat disturbed, however, by her blood pressure dropping to 70/30, which freaked us all out a little. But they upped her fluid intake and gave her a shot of something that brought her back into the normal range. So she slept, and I worked on a Sudoku (arg... Sudoku!).

5:10 pm

We had asked the nurse when the next phase would begin (the pushing the baby out phase) and she said that when it was time, that we would know it (thanks Nurse Miyagi, but something a little more specific would be helpful). Sure enough, about an hour after Cathi started to relax she complained about having more contractions. I went to find the nurse, and she said this was the sign. We asked about the epidural and why Cathi was again having such strong labor pains, and the nurse told us that the epi couldn't reduce the discomfort of having all of that pressure on your uterus, birth canal, etc., and that the pain of the actual pushing part of the delivery wasn't really alleviated by the epidural. Yikes!

5:30 pm

Cathi starts pushing. This was sincerely the most amazing thing that I have ever seen. On the one hand, Cathi is literally pushing a baby into this world. On the other, I'm sitting here watching my wife do something that I cannot even imagine, and she is going to town. She's pushing, she's breathing, she's pushing some more. She was pushing like it was a hobby. Awesome.

6:30 pm

The pushing has been going on for a while, and now we can start to see the head. Unfortunately, something has gone wrong with the IV and the pitocin is no longer streaming into Cathi's system. This is bad because the pitocin is causing the big contractions, and its the big contactions that are helping Cathi push the baby down and out of the birth canal. So the contractions start to weaken and get further apart. The nurse compensates this by having Cathi do things that naturally stimulate the production of oxytocin, and we're back in the game.

The next 30 minutes is a blur of pushing and breathing and pushing and breathing. Cathi was pushing so hard that I was convinced she would have an aneurysm. I seriously thought that her eyes were going to burst out of her skull and that her head would explode. Every now and then I would yell "Breathe!" because I thought she was going to go nuclear on me. But she kept going, and the nurse kept yelling at her to keep going, and it went and went and went.

7:00 pm

Finally the doctor arrives. The head is about 1/4 out and the nurse is in the hallway yelling for the doctor. Meanwhile I'm trying to get my hands under the head because I'm afraid its just going to fly out and no one will be there to catch it.

Cathi is getting very tired. She's been going at this for a while, and again, with little to no pain killers when she needed them. She's been pushing for a long time, and the nurse says that if we need to that they can use the vacuum to pull the baby out. This was apparently all the motivation Cathi needed to finish up the job (I mean, I know that Cathi doesn't like to vacuum, but this was really taking it up a notch).

7:08 pm

The next thing you know Cathi is pushing like a mad woman, and within minutes the baby was out.

I was the first person to see it was a boy, and as soon as it was out the doctor immediately gave him to Cathi to hold. This was amazing to see, and something we are very grateful to the doctor for. She could have taken him and washed him up a little and cut the cord and all that, but instead, she gave him immediately to Cathi, who had definitely earned the right to hold her new son.

The doctor had me cut the cord, and Liam clearly seemed to recognize his mother because once he was in her arms he nestled in and looked completely at ease. At this point both Cathi and I were exhausted and crying, Cathi was glowing and I was taking pictures of everything (some of which probably weren't well advised...). It was definitely the most amazing 18 hours of our lives so far, something that we'll never forget.

10:57 pm

Oh yeah, I almost forgot... Carolina beats Duke at Cameron (79-73). Can you ask for a better day than this?!?!?!?!

Introducing Liam Zachary Mills-Koonce

2007-02-17T20:22:00.000-05:00

Not the most flattering photo... but its has the honor of being the very first!

But Cathi takes over and things get better pretty quickly...

Waiting to pounce... Grandparents!