Logan's Birth Story

I should start with the weekend before he was born since a lot of people (including us) thought that we were going to have Logan on Saturday or Sunday. As I mentioned in my previous posts, my mother in law was leaving to go to North Carolina on Monday June 29th and she has been at the births of all of the kids so she didn't want to miss it. My Doctor told me at my appointment the previous Thursday that he was pretty sure that if I went into the hospital that weekend with constant contractions that they'd be able to admit me even though I wasn't quite 39 weeks. He thought they'd be able to call me in active labor and just have the baby before Peter's mom left. So Friday night I started having REALLY painful contractions and when Peter and I went out to dinner we had to stop walking in the parking lot a few times because my contractions were so strong. They kept up through dinner and so I called my mom, who was planning on leaving to come up the next day sometime. I let her know that there was a chance that this was really it since they were so strong and close together and not "castor oil induced painful contractions". She left and drove through the night. That night as I went to bed they were still really painful and consistent, but I could tell they were easing up. I didn't sleep well until about 3am. When I woke up the next morning they were still there but back to "bearable" contractions. I didn't want things to slow down because I was worried that I wouldn't have him before Monday, so I blended up a nice castor oil shake and my mom got in a few hours later (around 12:30). We decided to just go into the hospital while they were so strong and close together (still 2 minutes apart). So we got the bags all ready and had Sterling and Katie (my brother and his wife) came out to watch the kids. Peter's brother Tim came by a few hours later and brought pizza for dinner. My mom had driven straight through the night so we sent her to bed as soon as she got here and figured that while we were getting things ready and then getting to the hospital and getting checked in and monitored and all of that, even if we WERE going to stay, she wouldn't need to be there for at least a few hours. So anyway. Peter and I went in and got checked and I was STILL at a 2+ (not quite 3 cm) and 80% effaced! After all of those hard contractions, no change at all. So they monitored me and my contractions were still 2-3 minutes apart the whole time I was there. They monitored me for an hour and then checked again and still no change. Our cute nurse, Melissa, called the doctor and he said that we'd have to wait until the contractions got a little stronger to stay. I asked her to remind him that my mother in law was leaving town Monday and wasn't there ANY way we could just stay? When she came back from talking to him she told us that she was pretty sure that if we came back tomorrow (Sunday) that he wouldn't send us home, especially if my contractions kept up until then. So that's what we did! We went into the hospital again Sunday morning but this time we got a grouchy nurse named Hollie that was annoyed that we were there! She checked me and I hadn't changed at all and she called the doctor after monitoring me for an hour and my Doctor informed me at my appointment the next morning that she was REALLY rude to him and told him that I was way too comfortable still and she was way too busy to keep me and told the Doctor that she was going to send me home. He kind of put her in her place and told her that it wasn't all about her and that if I needed to stay, I was going to stay and it was up to him in the end. He told her he was going to come in and check on me, but I never got that message. She hung up with him and told me that she was sending me home. The Doctor was on his way to the hospital and when he got there we were already home. Anyway, we called my Mother in law and told her that we weren't going to be able to have Logan before she left town. It was sad, but of course she understood. I mean, really what can you do? So the Doctor called me the next morning at 7:30 and left a message saying that he wanted me to come into his office that morning. I had an appointment scheduled for Tuesday and was scheduled to be induced on Wednesday, so I wasn't sure why he wanted me to come in, but I went anyway. He just wanted to make sure that I was okay emotionally mostly, since the nurse was so rude and when you are that pregnant, let's face it, you get really emotional. I was fine since I knew I'd only have 2 days at the most left. He checked me and said that I was still not quite 3 cm and 80% effaced. So anyway, we spent the next 2 days eating spicy food and going for long (3 to 4 mile) walk/jogs along the river trail by our house and spending good quality time with the kids.

Tuesday night the hospital called and told us that we were 2nd on the list to be induced in the morning, but because I was an elective induction (not being induced for medical reasons only for sanity and emotional reasons) they would have to wait and see how busy it was in the morning and call me in sometime between 5am and 1pm. What a window huh?! Anyway, I couldn't sleep because I was so excited about meeting little Logan. Peter gave me a blessing and I finally got some rest. I did wake up at 5:30am though, too anxious to fall back asleep. So I got up and showered and ate some breakfast and then started waiting!
They called around 9am and said to come in as soon as we could. So I woke Peter up (he was up super late the night before and not sleeping well with allergies and stuff, so he slept in until they called) and he showered and we left. My mom stayed at the house with the kids while Katie and Sterling drove up from Provo, we figured we'd get settled in and get things going before my mom and Katie came to the hospital since it was going to be awhile.

We got to the hospital around 9:45 and they checked me and I was STILL at 2+ and 80% effaced. No change. I was having contractions but they were about 7 minutes apart (it's been a LONG time since they've been that far apart) and pretty mild. They also said that Logan was pretty high up and they didn't want to break my water because they were worried that the umbilical cord might drop out if they broke my water when he was up too high. So they called the Doctor and decided to start me on pitocin for awhile to try to get things going and bring him down a little farther so they could break my water. They started pitocin at about 10:15 and then the Doctor came in and broke my water at 11:20. He checked me and said that I was a solid 3cm and 90% effaced. We decided to stick with the pitocin for awhile and get things really going before we turned it off. We called my mom and Katie and they came over and we just hung out talking and reading books and waiting. The contractions stayed right about 2 minutes apart and were pretty hard because of the pitocin. I could still talk through them for several hours and at 1:20 they checked me and I was at 4 cm and it was starting to get hard to talk during the height of my contractions. At 2:45 I was only at 4 1/2 cm and the contractions started getting REALLY hard and I started needing to breathe through them. They were about 1 1/2 minutes apart. By 3:00 I stopped talking during contractions and started to "zone out" by closing my eyes and breathing through them. Things were progressing but kind of slowly. About this time we decided to do ETA's for Logan, Peter guessed 4:27 by seeing how focused I had to be during contractions, he was sure that I'd start progressing a lot faster. I thought it'd be after 5 for sure. My first guess was 5:18 and then I later changed it to 6:20. Katie guessed 5pm and my mom guessed 7:40pm. At 3:40 I started to get really light headed and started to feel clammy. During one of my contractions I almost passed out and we lowered my bed and turned up the IV. My blood pressure had dropped kind of low and that combined with the contraction was just a little too much. I was sitting upright during that contraction too, so I think that had something to do with it. I have a tendency to get lightheaded and pass out pretty often. In High School I'd pass out about once a month and since then it's been anywhere from 2 to 5 times a year. Not enough to worry about but just enough to be familiar with what it feels like and be able to catch it by laying down or drinking some water or at the very least, telling whoever is closest to me that I'm going to pass out and be prepared to catch me. Anyway! So I almost passed out, no big deal. The nurses weren't concerned since it seemed to be just a result of the low blood pressure that wasn't alarmingly low. At 3:45 the nurse checked me again and I was at 5 1/2 almost 6 cm. Contractions still 1 1/2 to 2 minutes apart. My blood pressure was back to normal and I was feeling fine again. Well, I had to go to the bathroom for awhile but was not excited about getting up and walking during my contractions, so I kept putting it off. At about 4:20 I finally realized that things were not going to get any easier and I needed to just go while I still could. Peter helped me up and after I went to the bathroom I got back into the bed and my contractions started to really ease up and were almost 4 1/2 minutes apart. We had turned the pitocin off awhile back (I forget what time) and so we decided after things slowed down that we should probably turn it back on if we wanted to have this baby. Logan was just way too comfortable in there and didn't seem too anxious to come out on his own! So we turned it back on to a really low dose but it was enough to keep things going. At 5:15 the Doctor stopped by to check on me and I was at 6 1/2 almost 7 cm. Since things had progressed really slowly to this point he decided to go ahead and leave. He lived close and had his pager so we weren't concerned. He said since I was having an un-medicated delivery he knew I'd be able to tell when I started getting close. He did tell me to be very descriptive and with the nurse keep her informed of any amount of pressure so that he'd be able to make it back on time. Well, I think him checking me at that point got things really moving, because with the next contraction I started feeling pressure. Not much, but some. And with each contraction I felt more and more. At this point Peter was the only thing that kept me focused. Having him holding my hand or stroking my hair made everything bearable! I love my sweet husband so much! By 5:30 I was pretty zoned during and even between contractions just trying to rest as much as I could before the next one started. By 5:45 I told them to call the Doctor back and I felt a lot of pressure with each contraction. I just kept my eyes closed and focused on relaxing and just before 6 I started saying, "ow" just once during the contraction. Sometimes, "ow, pressure." or "pressure. Baby" In my cryptic contraction speak that meant, "Wow, these are really really hard contractions and they hurt. I feel a lot of pressure. I'm pretty sure I feel the baby right there." Then I had 4 contractions back to back that didn't stop. They would START to ease up and then the next one would set in. At this point I knew that it was time. The Doctor walked in right at 6pm and he checked me and said, "There's the baby!" They broke down the bed and then he said to me, "Do you want to have a baby with this contraction or the next one?" to which I responded, "I don't know." I was totally zoned and not thinking about pushing, only about not breaking focus and trying to relax. My sister in law Katie had the video recorder on at this point (from up behind my head so it's modest I promise) and when the Doctor asked that question to the time I was holding Logan was 1 minute and 18 seconds! I'm glad I have that video because I'm not really sure what happened after he asked me that question. I don't remember pushing, only focusing and then holding Logan. After watching the video I saw that I kind of sighed "okay... okay..." telling myself, 'it's okay you're almost done' and then Doctor Willis asked me if I wanted to have the baby with this contraction or the next and then I said, "I don't know" and then started breathing again through the contraction and then my breathing changed for a second (I think it could have been a push but nothing huge) and then I kind of groaned a little (I think that was another push) and then Peter said that his head was out. Which completely shocked me! I had NO idea that I was THAT close! Then he came all the way out, peed on the doctor and then I got to hold him. I was relieved and excited and felt so great! It was 6:03pm when he was born. I love the high that comes after a natural delivery because it's such a sudden stark contrast. The pain is over 100% once the baby is out and you can just completely enjoy your new little one and the sweetness of the experience. As soon as they put him in my arms I knew he was much smaller than my other kids and I was amazed at how much he looked like Peter! I could kind of see the resemblance in my other kids when they were born but with Logan it was startling to see how much he looked like his daddy! I LOVE that about him! It makes my heart just melt whenever I look at him because he reminds me so much of Peter who I fell so deeply in love with all those years ago. Anyway!

I was SO excited that they brought in a hot meal so quickly after I delivered. I hadn't eaten anything since 8am and was STARVING!! Sterling brought the kids in and they got there about an hour after he was born. I'm SO glad that we caught that on video because it was the sweetest thing EVER! Tyler came in first with a HUGE grin on his face and then when he saw Logan his eyes and little heart just melted and he said, "Awwww!!!! I want him! I want him! Can I hold him?" and he was followed closely by Maddie who was so excited that you'd have thought that SHE had just given birth to him! She kept saying, "I think I'm dreaming! I'm dreaming, I know it!! He's actually here! He's so cute! Mom, can you believe that you actually had him?" and then there was Nathan who's never smiled so big in his whole life and he kept saying, "I want to hold him! I want to hold him! It's my turn! It's my turn!" and every nurse that came into the room would get an introduction by Nathan, "Dis is my baby brudder, Yogan. He comed out of my Mommy's tummy!" so so sweet! And Emily was a quiet observer with the sweetest shy smile on her face the whole time! You could see how much she adored him from her little expression but the only talking she really did (except when you asked her a direct question) was to ask about the IV in my hand and the buttons on my bed! So so sweet! I loved having my whole little family together with me for the first time. It felt so good to have all of us piled on my little hospital bed loving on little Logan together! Sterling and Katie and Peter took the kids to go get some dinner and my mom stayed to be with me and Logan for his first bath and everything. After they all left I got cleaned up and felt so great (I didn't tear or anything and could already feel the difference in the recovery because of that) so I helped the nurse gather things from around the room and got everything ready to go to my recovery room. I was amazed at how great I felt so soon after delivering and how easy it was to walk around and everything. Truly a huge blessing! It was such a perfect day and I couldn't have asked for a better delivery or recovery. Logan is 1 week old today and I feel like I was never even pregnant (as far as recovery from the birth). Logan is sleeping 4 hour stretches at night and eating about 3 oz every 3 to 4 hours. He is so so so cute and skinny, like all of my other kids. His little legs and arms have skin rolls instead of chub rolls! I love it! His little cheeks are starting to fill out though and he's started to smile in his sleep just today. I'm loving every minute and trying to capture as much as I can in pictures and video since I'm still pretty sure that he is our last baby. I don't want to ever forget how wonderful it is to have a new baby. I don't want to forget what it's like to smell their skin and look into their perfect little innocent eyes. I just adore everything about being a mother to a newborn and I'm still so high off of the experience that any sleep deprivation hasn't set in. I love getting up with him and seeing his bright eyes looking up at me at 3am. Life couldn't get any better for us right now, that's for sure!
Well, here are some pictures (a lot of pictures) from the hospital:

Here are a few pictures from the next morning when the kids just couldn't stay away any longer!

These last few are right before we left the hospital. We just love our little Logan and we are so very happy to have him as a part of our family. He has such a sweet spirit and we are just soaking it in! I have a ton of pictures of all of the fun things we've been doing since he was born but that's another post and this one took a pretty long time, so it'll have to wait.