Birth Story Part 4 - The Finale

Okay so it has taken me an entire week to write this! I guess that's what happens when you have a lot to write down and a two week old who's going through his first growth spurt.

Check out part 1, part 2 and part 3 if I've missed them.

Since it was the middle of the night, we had to enter through the ER. A girl from labor and delivery came down to get us, and I opted to walk rather than taking a wheel chair. Things weren't that bad! I didn't realize how slow I was moving until the girl had to keep stopping or slowing down for us to catch up.

This time there was no triage for monitoring, we were taken straight to a room. The nurse left so I could get changed into the gown and Kevin made a comment that 'it's like we're on vacation or something.' Haha, maybe for him, but I don't consider being in a hospital a vacation. I guess the room reminded him of a hotel or something.
I was just super excited that within hours we would finally be meeting our little one! (And I would no longer look like I swallowed a basketball)

Around 3 am I was hooked up to the monitors and checked. Everything looked good and I was at 4 cm and 90%. Woohoo!!! Once they were sure that everything was alright they unhooked me and we were free to do what we wanted. We decided to once again hit the halls. It's amazing how long the loop seemed to me this time around opposed to Wednesday. It seemed to take forever just to complete one lap. Shortly after the first lap we ran into Dr. Delaney, apparently she had another patient there as well, so she would be back and forth between the two of us.

By the time we finished our 3rd lap I was done. I didn't want to exhaust myself and I was hurting. I decided that it was time to hit the shower. I think I spent half the time in the shower. The warm water felt so good and relaxing, I don't know if I would have been able to do it all natural if it wasn't for the time I spent in the shower.

Around 5:30 I was hooked back up to the monitors and was at 6cm and 100%! Woohoo! I was still feeling good, well, I should clarify that I was feeling as good as someone in the midst of labor could feel. Of course that's when Dr. Delaney informed me that once I hit 7cm I would be able to tell because things would get more intense and painful. Great.

***This is where everything starts to blur together for me...***

And more painful in got. It was back to the shower. I had been informed that while the baby was facing the right way, he had his chin completely tucked to his chest, so instead of the top of his head coming out first, he had the back of his head. Dr. Delaney wanted me doing squats to try to get him to move. As difficult as it was, I did the squats. I was hooked back up for monitoring, and everything was still looking good, but he still didn't move his head. Right after being unhooked from the monitor, I had to make a mad dash to the bathroom, as my tummy decided it didn't like the grape juice and Italian ice I had earlier. They say your body empties itself before giving birth, so I guess it's true...I was just wishing that I was able to empty the other end (sorry for the TMI) because if you ask Kev I prolly spent the last hour or so before pushing saying that I just wanted to poop. lol.

Once my tummy calmed down it was back to bed since the contractions were coming to fast and furious for me to want to leave it. I was laying as far on my side as I could without being on my stomach to try and get him to shift positions. That didn't work either, but I was at the point where all I wanted to do was push!

So that's what I did. For almost 3 hours. Remember what I said earlier about his head? Yeah, he still had his chin totally tucked, and kept hitting it and getting stuck on my pubic bone. Luckily I didn't have the epidural so we were able to try any and every pushing position possible. My doctor jokes that she had me twisted up like a pretzel! By the time we finally got him past my bone, I was exhausted. I could feel that he was close, but I was just didn't have the strength. Time and time again I would hear them say how I needed one more big push and just physically couldn't do it. I could hear talk going on in the room, but was too focused to really piece together what was going on. I heard something about not being able to use the vacuum/forceps because of the way his head was positioned. At that point Dr. Delaney told me that if I wanted to have this baby my way, I'd have to "push my a$$ off".

So that's what I did. I guess years of playing sports helped to train me to pull out strength that has been long burned out, for one final sprint. Again, thanks to not having the epi I was able to feel how close he really was to making his entrance. I could feel him crowning! I did it!!! My baby was basically here! One (too) big push later and he was born!

I heard his little cry, saw this gray creature and heard, "it's a boy"! Within seconds a pink, quasi wiped down little babe was on my chest. The crying creased and we just stared at each. Totally love at first sight. So much so that I was unaware that I was hemorrhaging until they grabbed my hand to start an IV of pitocin to help me stop bleeding. I also had a 2nd degree tear, but none of that stuff mattered to me because I finally had my son in my arms! We were officially a family of 3!

Kevin immediately messaged our family in the waiting room that it was a boy. Technology is amazing because the first message on facebook about him was 4 minutes after he was born! Four minutes! Everyone wanted to know his stats, but it was a good half an hour later till he was taken to the other side of the room to be weighed and measured and bathed. Mr. Logan weighed in at 8 pounds 6.7 ounces and 21 inches long. No one guessed he would be such a big boy!

Little did I know that I had been mere minutes away from having a c-section. So close that they were actually prepping the room for me! I believe that not having an epidural and being able to feel what I was doing kept me from going under the knife. Apparently they only allow you to push for 3 hours as long as the baby isn't under any distress. Logan was born at 2:07, about 20 minutes shy of the 3 hour marker. They said he could be a poster child for good/healthy babies. Never once did his heart rate dip or spike, he passed all his test with flying colors and actually had the lowest bili rubin levels they have seen in years! I was told throughout my pregnancy what a good and healthy baby he was, but I just figured that was something they said to everyone, until I heard all the nurses at the hospital saying the same thing.

That's the best I remember, I'm sure I left out somethings, because even though I was in L&D for 12 hours the time flew by like whoa.