Logan's Birth Story
Click here for my doula's birth log
I woke up around 8am on June 9th to head to the bathroom, and as soon as I got out of bed I felt a trickle running down my leg. I was a bit embarrassed that I peed myself, but as the trickle kept on coming, I thought it might be something more than pee. I headed out to the living room to sit on my birth ball and bounce for a bit and see if I could get some contractions established. That didn't work very well, so I tried using my breastpump instead, and that did work. I had contractions on and off the rest of the morning and called my midwife around 11:30 to let her know what was going on. She said to keep up with the nipple stim and come into the hospital around 4 to start the antibiotics.
I called Kelly and had her start heading down, and we also called Shawn's mom to come and watch Ethan. When Kelly got there she had a few suggestions for other things we could do, including manual nipple stim, and that got some intense regular contrax going. We got ready to head to the hospital, and dropped Ethan off at Julie's house on the way, since MIL wasn't there yet.
When we got to the hospital, I hadn't had a contraction since we left home. I was a little worried as to what that would mean, but after I got settled in and hooked up to the antibiotics, Rose (the midwife) had us do some more nipple stim, and sure enough, it worked! Before we started (around 6pm), she checked me and I was 2-3 cm, 50% effaced, and -3 station. Long ways to go!
We dealt with the contractions for the next 4 hours, changing positions occasionally. Kelly was amazing - every time I got tired of a position she was right there to suggest other positions to try, and kept both Shawn and I encouraged to keep going. I surprised myself by dozing off between contractions - something I thought only people who had received pain meds could do. At 9:30, they hooked me up to the monitor to make sure Logan was handling the contractions well, and he passed with flying colors. After that, Rose checked me again and I was 5cm, 80% effaced, and -1 station. Progress!
After that the contractions were getting a little more intense and harder to breathe through. We were lucky enough to get the room with the big tub, and I decided to get in the tub around 1am. Contractions were absolutely brutal in there - I was thinking the whole time how it's total BS when they call a tub the 'midwives' epidural', but Shawn pointed out to me this morning that they could have been a lot worse if I wasn't in the water.
I got my second dose of antibiotics while I was in the tub, and when they were done I was SO happy to have that stupid heplock out of my hand. When that came out I was able to be on my hands and knees in the tub, which was much better than sitting, but still really awful.
At around 3, I had had enough of the tub and got out. I was a bit lost for a while - I couldn't decide where I wanted to be and decided to try the toilet. As soon as I sat down I had an uncontrollable urge to push, so they rushed me to the bed and checked me - sure enough, I was complete! Pushing was the best feeling ever - it still hurt, but it was a different kind of pain. The first couple of contractions I was standing up and leaning on the birth ball, which was sitting on a chair. At some point during the second contraction I remember dropping into a squat to push, and after that they put the squat bar on the bed. After one contraction on the bed I could feel that he was getting close, and with the next one he was crowning. I felt the 'ring of fire' but it wasn't as painful as I thought - I was probably so busy concentrating on pushing that I didn't care. Shawn didn't have time to wash his hands so he threw on a pair of gloves just in time to catch Logan as I pushed him out.
Logan Patrick came into the world at 3:47am on June 10. He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20" long. His Apgars were 8/9/9. I was in labor for a total of around 19 hours, with around 3 hours of active labor, 1 1/2 hours of transition, and 20-30 minutes of pushing.
I held him for a bit after they got him breathing well, and Shawn cut the cord. We cuddled for a while and then the nurse took him over to weigh him and do all that other fun stuff while I dealt with the pain of delivering the placenta and getting stitched up. I had a small first-degree tear and just a few stitches. Holy cow, those hurt, even with the local anesthetic. I don't remember third stage being as painful with Ethan, but of course I had an epidural with him so it wouldn't have been painful.
After Rose was done with me, they brought Logan over and we tried nursing. He was kind of poking around and exploring and looking at us, and not really interested in nursing, which was OK by me. It was so cool seeing how alert he was right afterward - he didn't cry or anything, just looked around. Eventually I dozed off and Shawn says he latched on and ate a bit, but I don't remember a thing. LOL
We moved to our postpartum room around 6:15, and Kelly left shortly afterward. The three of us napped until 9, then got up and started to get ready for visitors. We gave Logan his first bath, and tried nursing again without much luck. My mom and sister got here around 10:30, and MIL brought Ethan by around 11:30. They all stayed the day and Shawn and I dozed on and off while they cooed over Logan. We finally got in a few good nursing sessions, and were rewarded with a bunch of poopy diapers and his first wet diaper. Ethan was a bit rambunctious, but he seems to understand that Logan is his baby brother, and he gave him a few kisses and pats. I think it'll be a bit of an adjustment for him, but I'm sure he'll do fine.
Around 5pm poor Shawn went to change a poopy diaper and ended up going through about 15 wipes catching a never-ending stream of poop. It was kind of funny, actually. We had our 'celebration dinner' of filet mignon and other stuff from the hospital food service (don't be fooled, it really wasn't that good), and now the three of us are just hanging out in the hospital room watching TV. We'll be heading home around noon tomorrow.
Here's our adorable little guy, shortly after his first bath.
Click here for my doula's birth log
I woke up around 8am on June 9th to head to the bathroom, and as soon as I got out of bed I felt a trickle running down my leg. I was a bit embarrassed that I peed myself, but as the trickle kept on coming, I thought it might be something more than pee. I headed out to the living room to sit on my birth ball and bounce for a bit and see if I could get some contractions established. That didn't work very well, so I tried using my breastpump instead, and that did work. I had contractions on and off the rest of the morning and called my midwife around 11:30 to let her know what was going on. She said to keep up with the nipple stim and come into the hospital around 4 to start the antibiotics.
I called Kelly and had her start heading down, and we also called Shawn's mom to come and watch Ethan. When Kelly got there she had a few suggestions for other things we could do, including manual nipple stim, and that got some intense regular contrax going. We got ready to head to the hospital, and dropped Ethan off at Julie's house on the way, since MIL wasn't there yet.
When we got to the hospital, I hadn't had a contraction since we left home. I was a little worried as to what that would mean, but after I got settled in and hooked up to the antibiotics, Rose (the midwife) had us do some more nipple stim, and sure enough, it worked! Before we started (around 6pm), she checked me and I was 2-3 cm, 50% effaced, and -3 station. Long ways to go!
We dealt with the contractions for the next 4 hours, changing positions occasionally. Kelly was amazing - every time I got tired of a position she was right there to suggest other positions to try, and kept both Shawn and I encouraged to keep going. I surprised myself by dozing off between contractions - something I thought only people who had received pain meds could do. At 9:30, they hooked me up to the monitor to make sure Logan was handling the contractions well, and he passed with flying colors. After that, Rose checked me again and I was 5cm, 80% effaced, and -1 station. Progress!
After that the contractions were getting a little more intense and harder to breathe through. We were lucky enough to get the room with the big tub, and I decided to get in the tub around 1am. Contractions were absolutely brutal in there - I was thinking the whole time how it's total BS when they call a tub the 'midwives' epidural', but Shawn pointed out to me this morning that they could have been a lot worse if I wasn't in the water.
I got my second dose of antibiotics while I was in the tub, and when they were done I was SO happy to have that stupid heplock out of my hand. When that came out I was able to be on my hands and knees in the tub, which was much better than sitting, but still really awful.
At around 3, I had had enough of the tub and got out. I was a bit lost for a while - I couldn't decide where I wanted to be and decided to try the toilet. As soon as I sat down I had an uncontrollable urge to push, so they rushed me to the bed and checked me - sure enough, I was complete! Pushing was the best feeling ever - it still hurt, but it was a different kind of pain. The first couple of contractions I was standing up and leaning on the birth ball, which was sitting on a chair. At some point during the second contraction I remember dropping into a squat to push, and after that they put the squat bar on the bed. After one contraction on the bed I could feel that he was getting close, and with the next one he was crowning. I felt the 'ring of fire' but it wasn't as painful as I thought - I was probably so busy concentrating on pushing that I didn't care. Shawn didn't have time to wash his hands so he threw on a pair of gloves just in time to catch Logan as I pushed him out.
Logan Patrick came into the world at 3:47am on June 10. He weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and was 20" long. His Apgars were 8/9/9. I was in labor for a total of around 19 hours, with around 3 hours of active labor, 1 1/2 hours of transition, and 20-30 minutes of pushing.
I held him for a bit after they got him breathing well, and Shawn cut the cord. We cuddled for a while and then the nurse took him over to weigh him and do all that other fun stuff while I dealt with the pain of delivering the placenta and getting stitched up. I had a small first-degree tear and just a few stitches. Holy cow, those hurt, even with the local anesthetic. I don't remember third stage being as painful with Ethan, but of course I had an epidural with him so it wouldn't have been painful.
After Rose was done with me, they brought Logan over and we tried nursing. He was kind of poking around and exploring and looking at us, and not really interested in nursing, which was OK by me. It was so cool seeing how alert he was right afterward - he didn't cry or anything, just looked around. Eventually I dozed off and Shawn says he latched on and ate a bit, but I don't remember a thing. LOL
We moved to our postpartum room around 6:15, and Kelly left shortly afterward. The three of us napped until 9, then got up and started to get ready for visitors. We gave Logan his first bath, and tried nursing again without much luck. My mom and sister got here around 10:30, and MIL brought Ethan by around 11:30. They all stayed the day and Shawn and I dozed on and off while they cooed over Logan. We finally got in a few good nursing sessions, and were rewarded with a bunch of poopy diapers and his first wet diaper. Ethan was a bit rambunctious, but he seems to understand that Logan is his baby brother, and he gave him a few kisses and pats. I think it'll be a bit of an adjustment for him, but I'm sure he'll do fine.
Around 5pm poor Shawn went to change a poopy diaper and ended up going through about 15 wipes catching a never-ending stream of poop. It was kind of funny, actually. We had our 'celebration dinner' of filet mignon and other stuff from the hospital food service (don't be fooled, it really wasn't that good), and now the three of us are just hanging out in the hospital room watching TV. We'll be heading home around noon tomorrow.
Here's our adorable little guy, shortly after his first bath.