Birth Story: Logan James

About a week before Logan's due date I was really getting anxious to meet him so I thought I would try some natural inducing tricks that I've heard help get your labor moving along. I'm not sure if any of these actually helped labor to progress or were just a coincidence, but I tried everything from eating a whole fresh pineapple (apparently there is an enzyme found in fresh pineapple that helps to soften the cervix), walking everywhere (I went on at least one walk a day around town with Steve), and paddle boating (this isn't on any list of ways to induce labor, but we were at a church activity and we thought why not?), these are just to name a few.

Saturday, July 26th, I started having more frequent Braxton Hicks contractions, but I thought it was nothing and I would just go about my day. We went on a short walk in the morning before it got too hot and then hung out around the house the rest of the day. I tried to stay on my feet all day to see if the contractions were really true contractions because I've heard if they are true contractions they won't stop if you're standing. I called my mother-in-law Diana, who is a Medical Assistant at an OB office, and asked her some questions because I couldn't really find the answer online and my doctors office was closed. She really helped me to understand a bunch of things and told me to start timing my contractions.

At 5:41 pm that night I wrote down the time of my first contraction...9 minutes had passed and I started to feel the start of my next contraction. The next contraction wasn't for a while after that, but I still continued to write them down to see if they became more consistent. After an hour, the average length of time between contractions was 10 minutes. During our birthing class they told us to walk into the hospital if your contractions are 5 minutes or less apart for at least an hour, so I knew I still had some waiting to do and to not get my hopes up about them being 10 minutes apart. After about 1 1/2 hours the contractions weren't as consistent and I thought we would go on a walk to see if we could get them consistent again. I was just planning on going on a quick walk around town but while we were out I was doing fine and wasn't in a lot of pain, so we kept going. We got home and I tracked to see how far we had walked and it was a little over 2 miles.

I started timing my contractions again when I got home and they were a little more consistent then earlier, most being about 7-9 minutes apart. I text my mom telling her how close my contractions were together and she said I will be having my baby tonight. I laughed and said well maybe within the next day or two, but not tonight. I then asked how long her labor was with each of us kids and she said never over 6 hours. I was texting my mother in law as well and she said with my family history and short labors I should be going into the hospital as soon as I could because my contractions were getting closer together.

I was literally pacing the house getting last minute things together because I couldn't sit down and the contractions were slowly getting stronger and stronger. I told Steve to hurry up, shower, and get ready because my last contractions were 5 minutes apart. The car was already mostly packed with our things so we didn't really have a lot to gather.

11:44 pm we were on our way to the hospital (hospital is only a 5 minute drive from our house). We walked up to the 3rd floor where the Maternity Wing was and we checked in around 12:30 am. It was all dark and quiet on the floor and it seemed as if no one was working (well it was midnight), one of the lady's asked me if they were expecting me....I said no and whispered to Steve "was I supposed to call to make sure someone would be here?"....he then said it was probably just to check to see if I had a scheduled induction or something. They put me in a room, had me change into the lovely hospital gown, checked my blood pressure, and put the contraction/baby heart beat straps on my stomach. None of this was new to me because I went in on Thursday thinking my bag of water had a leak in it, but that wasn't the case and I was sent home.

After all of the checks they said I was dilated to 3 1/2 cm and was 75-80% effaced. My contractions were pretty inconsistent and were about 2-6 minutes apart. Prior to coming in I was 3 cm and 60% effaced when they checked me on Thursday. The nurse who checked me said I needed to be to at least a 4 to be admitted and my cervix needed to be a little more softened. She said I can walk around or stay in the bed, but I wouldn't be checked again until 2 am. I knew I didn't want to go home because my contractions were getting closer together and I didn't want to have to try to sleep through the pain that night so we started walking.

Steve and I walked around (pretty much in circles) the maternity floor for the next hour or so and the contractions were getting closer and closer together and were very painful. I couldn't walk or talk during them so I knew they were real and I just had to wait each of them out. Steve was very supportive during all of my contractions and told me to focus on breathing rather than feeling the pain. I remember feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom every couple of minutes but nothing would come out. The pressure was getting worse and worse and I could tell he was trying to move more and more down into the birth canal. Each contraction seemed to be getting worse so we headed back to our room and I tried to sit down but the pain was too intense to feel comfortable. We hung out in our room still going through each contraction until the nurse came back in to check me.

They hooked me up to the monitors again and watched my contractions for 15 or so minutes and checked my cervix and I was 4 1/2 cm and 100% effaced. It was 2:22 am and I was told I would be admitted!!! I was so happy, but nervous for what was lying ahead. I was scared for the contractions to only get worse and worse, but I was happy that I would be holding my son in a few hours if things went well. They hooked me up to an IV (this really wasn't that bad, I only felt a small pinch) and walked me through everything that was about to happen. They called my doctor to let him know how I had progressed. They asked me what my pain was on a scale of 1 to 10 and I said I was at about a 6 or 7.

15-20 minutes later the nurses came back in the room and asked how I was doing and if I had planned on getting an epidural or how I was doing pain wise. I said I couldn't take the pain anymore and I wanted them to call the anesthesiologist. They said he would be in, in about 30-45 minutes later. I didn't think that was super long so contraction after contraction I focused on my breathing and thought to myself...it's almost over. Those 45 minutes of waiting seemed to go by relatively fast but once that doctor was there I wanted the epidural in right that minute and my contractions kept on coming every time he tried to do something.

I was most nervous about the epidural because I've heard those horror stories of women being paralyzed because they flinched or something during the procedure. I strictly followed the anesthesiologists instructions and had never been so stiff in my life, ensuring that I didn't flinch or move. The epidural was in at 3:43 am and all I really felt was 3 short pinches and it was done. The nurse checked me again after the epidural and asked me what I thought I was dilated to and I said a 5....just throwing a number out there because they had just checked me not long before that. She said I was dilated to a 9! I couldn't believe I made it all the way to a 9 before getting the epidural. If I would have known I was at a 9 before the epidural I still would have gotten it because I did not want to feel the pain anymore and I especially didn't want to be pushing and feeling the contractions. The pain of the contractions didn't go away for like 15 minutes and I was shivering/really shaky (one of the side effects) for the next 1 1/2 hours.

The nurse told me that even though I was at a 9 I would still be waiting a little bit until I was at a 10 and then they want the baby to move down a little bit on his own before I start pushing. The epidural usually slows things down and it did, but I would rather be waiting with not much pain then wait with lots of pain. They told me to get some sleep, but I couldn't because I wasn't super tired and I was too anxious to meet my baby boy.

Steve getting some sleep while I couldn't 

I was at 10 cm 2 hours later, but it was still a waiting game. At 6:45 am they told me I could start pushing. The epidural didn't take away all of the pain and I could feel a lot of pressure with every contraction (this is normal). With every contraction he would get closer and closer to going under my pelvic bone but by the end of the contraction he would just slide back up. It was so frustrating to me because I was trying so hard to get him out of there and he would go back to where he was. My doctor got there once Logan's head was getting closer and he broke my water. It felt really weird because I had the epidural and I just felt warm water.

After almost 2 hours of pushing he was really close to coming out and they asked me if I wanted to feel his head....I said sure.....sure enough he was right there and in a few more pushes he was out. Steve was watching the whole thing and said once the baby's head was right there he came out so fast. Steve cut the umbilical cord and right away my doctor put our son on my chest and I immediately cried. The nurses around me were wiping him off and he was just laying skin to skin on my stomach. Logan was looking up at me and I could tell he had gas or was going to poop or something and sure enough a few minutes later there was poop from my little guy laying on my stomach. It was really funny.

At 8:39 am Logan James Boyd was born. He was able to lay skin to skin on my chest for the first hour and we also tried breast feeding. This hour seemed to go by so fast and right after that they had to do all of his vitals and measurements. He weighed in at 7 lbs. 2 oz and 21 inches long.

Always has at least one hand up by his face :) I love it

Originally they said he was 19 inches long, but Steve watched them measure and it looked a little short, but didn't want to say anything. We went to his first doctors appt. on Wednesday and he was 21 inches long. I think it is a little impossible that our son grew 2 inches in 3 days so we're just going to say he was 21 inches long when he was born. The nurse asked us what our guesses were on how big he was going to be and I said 7 lbs 10 oz and Steve said 7 lbs....turns out Steve was closest. Everyone thought Logan was going to be a huge baby some people threw out 8 lbs - 9 lbs. I knew he wasn't going to be that big. I mean I was showing a lot, but come on I'm 5' 3"...where is he supposed to go, but out??

Having my son on my chest for the first time was probably the purest, most beautiful experience I've ever had. My son looked so perfect and all I could do was cry. I knew he came to Steve and I from God and that he is supposed to be in our family. All I could do was stare at him and try to comfort him because he was crying. I couldn't believe my son was now here in my arms and that he was created from Steve and I. My whole pregnancy I was always fathomed at how women can create human beings and have them develop inside of them. It is honestly the greatest gift that women were given.

First family picture

As you can see I was super tired and could barely keep my eyes open....love my tan line?? Classy. 

After I held Logan for a while Steve got to hold his son for the first time and it was so precious. I looked over at him and wanted to take a picture and his back was to me because he was gazing at his son and got really emotional. I've never really seen Steve cry before and this definitely made me cry as well. It was such a special moment for our little family.

Dad holding his son for the first time

I really wish I had some good pictures of the delivery (cutting the cord, Logan being put on my stomach for the first time, etc), but the blurry ones we have will have to do. I text my friend Brooklyn when I was 9 cm dilated and told her "sorry for the late notice, but I'm 9 cm and I'm going to have my baby soon." We planned for her to take my delivery pictures but I knew with my late notice she probably wouldn't make it on time (she lived 40 minutes away). Brooklyn got there about an hour after delivery and took some pictures of us with our new son (see bottom of post).

Family of 3 

Isn't he just precious?

I woke up Monday morning to this sight :) 

Daddy loves his boy

The rest of our hospital stay was perfect. We got to spend a lot of time with Logan and we had them do most of the routine things in our room. We even had them do his first bath in our room and he peed on the nurse (all over her shirt). Steve and I just stared at Logan for the rest of our stay. We did not want to put him down!

After lunch on Monday we decided to pack up our things and bring our son home. He looked sooo tiny and cute in his car seat!

Our celebratory lunch...It was so good!! Steve obviously didn't want to go romantic and get Sparkling Cider with me but got Mountain Dew instead. :) 

The clothes we packed for him were too big. The only thing that fit was his onesie. He's such a long, narrow little guy and none of his pants are tight enough :) Love my little man. 

I'm so glad that during my pregnancy I was 100% healthy and didn't have any complications at any point throughout. I am truly blessed and hope that I have the same luck in the future. I'm also grateful that my delivery went well and went the way I had planned. I knew I would probably get the epidural and I did and I don't regret it. The pain I was in was something I wouldn't want anyone to go through and if it's there being offered to you why not take it. I was not myself during the contractions and after I got the epidural I felt that I was calm and somewhat myself again. I was blessed with only a 6 1/2 hour labor and have a perfect baby now. God has surely blessed our little family with a miracle and I can't help but stare at him all day. I'm so grateful to be his mother.

Post - Delivery Photos