On March 16th, 2020 the world was shutting down. Schools were closed, playgrounds were being taped off, people were being sent home from work, stores were closing, the world was FREAKING OUT
... and I was having baby Leo.

What a wild ride it was.

Here’s the short story:

Leo John Liira was born on March 16th 2020 at 11:29am, weighing 6lbs 14oz and 19 inches long.

Scroll down for the long version ;)

This pregnancy was by far the hardest of my three pregnancies. I had awful nausea 24/7 July-October. My body ached more than it had before and then in January my left leg started swelling and aching and by the time I was sent in for an ultrasound, I couldn’t even walk…I was diagnosed with a DVT. My blood was clotted all the way from my groin to my ankle. I immediately started blood thinners (a shot into my love handles every single day!)..and the recovery from that was worse than labour! I was on pain killers for weeks and had to use a cane to walk.
My low risk pregnancy was now high risk and the birth had to be perfectly-ish planned out.

I met with a Maternal Fetal Medicine OB and an anesthesiologist at 38 weeks and they were going to make a plan with my hematologist once they got my leg ultrasound back. Those last few weeks I had SO many appointments because there were so many elements/people involved.

The tricky thing about the birth would be timing my blood thinner injections. Once injected, they lasted for 24 hours and then I would inject the next one. Ideally you don’t want to have blood thinner in you when you’re giving birth, because there can be complications if you needed an epidural (which I MOST CERTAINLY WANTED ONE) or an emergency section.

My only birth plan was to be able to get an epidural, ha. My body responds wonderfully to them and I praise God for the amazing person that invented them. As I said before, you cannot get an epidural if you still had blood thinner in your system. So I did NOT want to go into labour naturally. Normally I’d be doing allllll the things to go into labour but this time, I just wanted to be medically induced.

When the MFM doctor checked me, I was only at 1cm so his plan was for me to take my blood thinner at 8am on Sunday, March 15th and then go to the hospital that evening to be induced with the balloon catheter. This induction method is a mechanical one and it slowly opens you till you’re at 3cm and then it falls out. Also, sorry if this is TMI but what do you expect, if you’re reading a birth story??

Let’s just say I WAS NOT EXCITED ABOUT THIS PLAN. I thought it would be super uncomfortable, and most likely, we’d have to drive back to the hospital in the middle of the night. So I prayed hard that I would be at 3cm before that appointment ha.

When I got to the hospital late that afternoon, it was a GHOST TOWN. Things in the world were really scary and it seemed like people were holding their babies in. Normally VGH Labour + Delivery is a bustling place but that evening it was dead and even the nurses commented on that!

I met my doctor there and she checked me and I was at 2cm but she got the ob to check again and miraculously I was at 3cm!!! PRAISE, thank you Jesus. We got to go home and they said they would call me the next morning. My only instruction was to not take my blood thinner the next day.

I had two prayer requests for this birth.

Not have to get the balloon catheter (which God already answered!)
Be able to get an epidural (I just had to make it till 8am!)

Oh and of course, for Leo to be healthy and strong!

So that night I went to bed nice and early around 9pm. Hospital bag was packed, grandma was on standby for when we needed to leave and I was so ready and excited to meet my little man, my last baby.

But it wouldn’t be a birth for me if I wasn’t up most of the night before, ha. (I was up all night the night before both Luca’s birth and London’s birth!!) I woke around 2am with contractions. I really should have just taken tylenol and tried to sleep but I didn’t even think about it. It’s so long ago, but I remember reading and trying to sleep and timing the contractions and praying I’d make it to the epidural ha.

I woke up James around 5 and he made us some breakfast. I remember not eating too much and the contractions getting stronger. We called his mum and she came over just before 6.

We got to the hospital around 6:30am and it was STILL a ghost town. I think there was maybe 1 other birth over night…just insane. We got settled into a room and got the BEST nurse. Oh my goodness, I could go on and on about the amazing nurses at VGH. Every one we had was so kind and so boss.

I think they checked me around 7ish and I was at 4cm. Contractions weren’t crazy strong but they were starting to ramp up. I remember watching the clock praying I’d make it to 8am, and thank you Jesus, I did!

The anesthesiologist came around 8:15, got the epidural going and then just after that they started me on oxytocin. LOVE THAT EPIDURAL LIFE. I tried to sleep and rest a bit more because I knew I needed to save my energy for pushing.

My doctor came and saw me at 9 and saw that I was progressing at a good rate. I honestly can’t remember if she broke my water or not. I think she did but I need to check with her at Leo’s next appointment because it’s killing me that I forget ha.

She then went back to her office to see some patients and planned on coming back a few hours later. Everything seemed chill for awhile and James went and got some food for him and snacks for post labour for me (bring snacks to the hospital!! Post birth, you’ll be STARVING!)

But by 11am things started getting CRAZY. The nurse checked me just before then and I was at 6cm but I started progressing verrrry quickly. By 11:10 I was feeling the urge to push. They checked me again and I was almost at 10!!! They called my doctor to come back ASAP. I remember thinking, oh my goodness, my doctor isn’t going to make it here in time. I tried my best to resist the urge to push but ahh that was so hard.

The nurses kept me so calm and I knew they would be able to deliver Leo but my doctor ran in around 11:25ish? She scrubbed in, put her gown on and 4 minutes later, Leo was born at 11:29am! He came out in two pushes ha.

He was the most beautiful baby just like his brother and sister. He was my smallest babe at 6lbs 14oz which I think is why he was so easy to push out ha. He had light hair and blue eyes and ahhh it felt like heaven to hold him.

We had already been through so much, and finally I got to hold this little pandemic baby in my arms and kiss his little fingers and toes.

It was a crazy time. I remember not kissing his mouth for a week because no one knew if they had gotten covid when everything was still open. I was an anxious mess in the hospital and had to stay an extra night and day because Leo was jaundice. I could have taken him home but then I would have to go back to the hospital to get his blood tested and I would rather just put him in the bilirubin blanket and get those jaundice levels down.

No visitors were allowed in the hospital and James slept at home at night with the big kids. It was a quiet time in the hospital and I remember overhearing nurses talk about building an isolation wing for covid moms and babies, it was WILD. We were all expecting this huge surge of covid and thank goodness it wasn’t crazy in our city.

But even in that crazy time, when anxious thoughts tried to take over, I felt peace. I felt God near me, I felt His presence in that hospital room, I felt his protection over Leo and I. I played a lot of worship music and read scripture cards that I had made the week before and I knew a lot of people were praying for us.

The bilirubin blanket was a Godsend. It got his levels down and then the next day I nursed him as much as I could, topped him with formula and put him in the sun as much as possible. Thank goodness, that all worked and his levels went down! (come to think of it, he was my least orange looking baby ha)

When we left, it felt like I was being released from prison. Breathing fresh air outside was such a relief. I just wanted to get home, be with my other babies and hide away from the world…..and I got that for many, many months ha. But looking back, I’m so thankful for that extra bonding time with my three treasures.

It’s wild to think that Leo’s entire life has been lived in a pandemic. He has only been to church a few times, has only met a few other babies and hasn’t even been to a play gym BUT he’s been cuddled and prayed for and sung over and loved. He’s been so so loved and really, isn’t that all that babies really need?

Leo John Liira, you are such a gift to me. Thank you for giving me the privilege of being your mama.