Logan's Birth Story

On Tuesday, January 11th I woke up around 7:30am and immediately started having contractions that were 30-45 seconds long and 5 minutes apart. We were out of school on a snow day, which turned out to be quite perfect since I would spend the entire day in labor and Jeremy was able to be home with me. The contractions were very mild, but noticeable. I timed them on my Contraction Master app all day. Beth and Elijah Freeman came by to visit for a while, which was a lot of fun! We were in touch with our doula, Amy, keeping her updated on my progress throughout the day. Around 6pm the contractions were still mild, but I decided to call in a sub for school the next day… just in case this was the real thing. Amy dropped by for a visit and checked my cervix. I was only dilated to 2cm. So she gave us some suggestions on how to rest and keep my energy up for the road ahead. Around 9pm my contractions kicked it into high gear, immediately jumping to 1 minute long, 2 minutes apart. These were intense! Jeremy helped me work through the contractions for a couple of hours before we called Amy to come back to the house. When she arrived she again checked my cervix and I had progressed to 5.5 cm. It was time to head to the hospital! We arrived at Baptist Hospital around midnight. As we were walking across the sky bridge from the parking deck into the hospital, I had a big contraction and my water broke! Now, this was no trickle. When I say “broke” I mean busted like a water balloon! My socks and shoes were instantly soaked, thus beginning my freak out moment! It took me a bit to calm down. I guess reality set in at that moment and I realized I was about to have a baby!

It was now Wednesday, January 12^th. We got situated in the hospital room, met our nurse, Holly, and got a visit from Dr. Breniman who happened to be on call, thankfully. I prayed that he would deliver Logan. Since we didn’t know how much longer I would be contracting, I decided to spend some time in the Jacuzzi tub. I’m sure it helped with the contractions for a while, but the longer I was in the tub, the more intense the contractions became. About an hour later I decided, out of fear of the unknown that I should ask for an epidural. But before my nurse called the Anesthesiologist, she wanted to check my cervix again. Low and behold I was 9.5 cm! All I could think was, “Holy Crap! Time to woman-up!” I had almost made it through transition. Needless to say, the rest of the delivery went very quickly and there was no time for an epidural… so I opted for a little bit of morphine, which I don’t think helped at all, but is a safe option for baby. My nurse said the morphine would “take the edge off” the contractions. Believe me, the “edge” was still there! Ha! It took me just over an hour to dilate from 5.5 cm to 9.5 cm. Then it took another 30 minutes or so for my cervix to totally disappear. Logan was very engaged and ready to go! I pushed for an exhausting 1 hour and 20 minutes and he was born!

Now the question everyone asks me is, “What did you think the first time you saw him?” My honest answer: “He’s HUGE!” He looked so big to me! It was a while before they weighed him to confirm my suspicion… 8 pounds 3 ounces and 20.5 inches long. How on earth did he get so big 11 days before his due date? When I went into labor so early, I kept thinking, “Oh yeah, this is going to be easy… surely he’ll weigh 7 pounds or less. I can push out a 6 or 7 pounder- no problem.” Well, Lord have mercy, he was a big boy! And we love every ounce of his precious little body!

Beth and I are officially introducing Elijah and Logan while I was in labor.

A few hours after delivery at the hospital

Daddy and Logan together at home. I love this one!

Uncle Ryan and Chelsea with Little Man

Proud Gigi and Papa holding Logan