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It may be 2 months later BUT I still need to share my sweet boy Theo with you! We love him so much and he has fit perfectly into the family seamlessly!

Theo’s Birth Story

I never really thought I’d be the kind to share a birth story because I actually don’t enjoy reading them, if I’m being honest! It always seemed there was something that went wrong during the labor process and that would petrify me so much and have me spiraling into a deep anxiety attack! I had to watch what I was seeing & reading while pregnant and protect my peace before having our sweet boy! And let me tell you, I would have to DIG to find positive birth stories. Praise the Lord, I had a short, simple, safe and lovely labor and delivery and I want to share it for any fellow moms out there who are preparing for their little ones arrival and needing to hear a positive birth story too!

I had a scheduled induction for a week before my due date (December 18th was the scheduled induction, December 25th was my due date!). And with not feeling too well this pregnancy, I was all for being done a little bit early! 😊

I had a gut instinct that baby boy would arrive on December 10th, 15th or 17th. Liam came early on his own and I just knew this one wanted out early too! On Friday the 16th, I had my final OB check up and got a cervical check and was 3 cm dilated and 75% effaced. With Liam I stayed there for weeks and even hours into labor, I was a tad discouraged but at least it was a start!

By Friday evening I was feeling a little crampy but not too bad! We worked on some house stuff to finish up before the big day on Sunday and I made my list of rooms I wanted to clean the next day. (This is what did it! 😅) I woke up at 2:30 AM with some strong contractions but this was pretty normal for the last few weeks so I tried to sleep through them as much as possible but they were coming on stronger and closer together – like immediately 5 minutes apart, lasting longer than 1 minute each. After about an hour of this I decided I needed to wake Nick up and maybe head to the hospital! I tried to hold off as long as possible because there’s nothing worse than one, the contractions stopping once you get to the hospital (this happened with Liam! Ha!) or laboring for a long time at the hospital (also happened with Liam!). Your second time around is such a different experience because you know what to expect and what happens so you try to stay comfortable as long as you can!

We left the house at 4:00 and got into the hospital by 4:45! Liam was such a sport getting up that early and gave me such a great distraction for the car ride in between contractions. 😊 Once they took me in, the contractions were so strong and I just prayed I was moving along with dialating! I was at a 5 and 95% effaced! Woo hoo – I was getting admitted!

Being the second time around, I knew how to breathe through the contractions much better this time but was very happy to get that epidural by 8:30 that morning! And I just have to take a moment to talk about how amazing my labor and delivery nurses and anesthesiologist was! I mean truly, they made this experience SO wonderful!!! I was progressing so well with Theo and the doc came in around 10:30 and said we will have a baby by lunch time! I was so shocked – it took HOURS for Liam to come, I couldn’t believe how quick it was happening!

When it was time to push, 20 minutes passed and our sweet boy was here! Minimal bleeding and no tearing! Hallelujah! (Maybe that red raspberry leaf tea & pineapples did help!!) And after Theo was here, I forgot all about the pain from the contractions and thought I could do it all again! 😜 But I’d like to not! Lol!

Choosing Theo’s Name

Theo didn’t have a name prior to being born. We had a few names that we liked but we just wanted to see him first. Liam’s favorite names were Axel (he then decided he wanted to change his own name to this instead lol), Beef (😆) and Theo (one of the names we were considering). And since we couldn’t really choose and we REALLY wanted to be discharged, we went with Liam’s choice of Theo! Theo Graham (my favorite name choice but we wanted a shorter first name!) 🤍 I do love the meaning behind his name –

” Theo is a gender-neutral name of Greek origin meaning “God’s gift.” “

And it all just felt so right but poor kid, we have called him Leo so many times on accident, starting to say Liam and changing it over to Theo half way through that he probably won’t really know his name for sure for a few years! Haha!

And so that’s that! That’s the story! 😀 My maternal instinct was right too about his birthday! I felt like we should have played the lottery. 😉 We are so thrilled to have our family complete. I can’t wait to watch my boys’ relationship grow as they get older and become the best of friends. 🤍

Hi sweet friend, I’m Brittany! A motherhood photographer specializing in maternity, newborns & families based in Ohio. You can find out more about me here!

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