The Hennigan Tribe

Liam has been a pleasant surprise even before he was born. I was horribly ill my entire pregnancy with Ellie. No one really seemed to understand how ill I was with her. I kept hearing “It’ll get better in the second trimester” and “Oh yeah, I had morning sickness and threw up a few times when I was pregnant too” but I had severe nausea all day every day. I threw up anywhere from one or two times a day on my REALLY good days but it wasn’t unusual to throw up ten to fifteen times on a lot of days. I struggled to keep any food or drink down. Thankfully, I had really understanding employers and Esquire was a really good nurse in the evenings.

I finally broke down and started taking Zofran in my second trimester. I had to call into work because I literally couldn’t move without throwing up. I couldn’t walk two steps without throwing up and I knew I wouldn’t make it through the ten-minute drive to the house where I was a nanny. Zofran was a game changer for me. While I still had lots of nausea and vomiting, I could manage to keep more things down and on the really bad days it seemed to take the edge off. Still, I was ill until the day I delivered my sweet little girl. As soon as she was born, I remember being like “BRING ME A CHEESEBURGER!”
My brother-in-law brought me a bean burrito from Taco Bell that I scarfed down like a starving street dog. Zero nausea! Hurray!

With Liam, I had what I would say was ridiculously mild morning sickness compared to Ellie. I think I threw up twice the whole time. During the second trimester, my nausea faded away and I was able to function like a normal human. It was glorious.

With Ellie, she would press her tiny little baby booty up against the side of my stomach and push with all her might. It got to be so painful that I started using ice packs on my stomach to make her uncomfortable so she would move out of that position. Liam was a dream. Calm, quiet, didn’t try any crazy gymnastics or circus routines.

My labor with Ellie was from 7 am to midnight. Liam was more like midnight to 6:30 am…and I wasn’t even sure it was “real labor” until around 2:00 am!

Ellie screamed bloody murder a large portion of the day for the first year of her life. Liam’s days are napping with small breaks to fuss quietly if his diaper is full or he’s hungry. 

It feels surreal. I was trying to prepare myself for another baby that cried and screamed nonstop, but this quiet little chipmunk is just what I needed. I loved Ellie as a baby (and even enjoyed her!), but I'm enjoying Liam's infancy so much more. I'm so grateful for this little guy!