Monday, May 13, 2013

Wow...Life has changed!

Wow...I think that's all I can really say right now. Life has certainly changed...A LOT...in the last 2 weeks. It's changed so much that this little blog has been neglected for quite a while. I think often about things I keep meaning to post (like pictures of Logan's room!!), but obviously those things just get put on the back-burner when you have a new little baby in the house. One, because you really don't have time to get on the computer and two, you just don't want to get on the computer because you just want to sit and snuggle your little baby ALL the time (that, and SLEEP!)

Well, I guess that just over two weeks is enough time to kind of get settled in and find a quick minute to share Logan's birth story. Plus, I figure I better do it while Andy is still home and he can watch Logan. Because I think I'll have even less time to do personal things once he goes back to work.

38 weeks (this was the Sunday before Logan came)
So here we go... It all started on Wednesday, April 24th. It was my last day of work and I was so looking forward to having some time off before the baby came. I made plans to go to Ikea and lunch with my friend on Thursday and then to have a girls night on Friday with another friend. I was so excited! But apparently Logan had other plans for me. It was around 10:00 on Wednesday night, I was laying on the couch with my legs up, trying to get the ever-present swelling of my ankles and feet to go down, when I felt a little "leak". I got up, and went to the bathroom and everything seemed normal. I had a thought that it could be my water breaking, but I didn't want to jump to any conclusions. So I just headed back to the couch and put my feet up again...and again I felt another leak. I was a little more suspicious now, but I just always thought that my water breaking would be a huge gush, that's what they make it sound like, and they also told me that only about 10% of women actually have their water break. I didn't mention anything to Andy at the time, he was on the phone with his friend so I just kind of kept it to myself and started researching online if this could be it. Everything I found was saying yes, possibly, but to just watch it and see how often the feeling comes. I hadn't felt anything for about an hour so I just decided to go to bed. And I was still debating if I even wanted to tell Andy... I didn't want to get him worried over nothing, so I just laid there in bed not saying anything. And then, I felt some more leaking. At this point, I figured I should tell Andy and we should talk about what we should do. I should not have been worried that Andy would freak out. Because he honestly did not think that there was any way that it was my water breaking. We just hung out talking and looking stuff up online and eventually I just decided to call my doctor and see what they thought. The on-call doctor said that it could definitely be my water, so she suggested we head to the hospital right away.

Luckily, Andy and I like to be super prepared, so we grabbed our bag and our list of the extra things we needed to remember and we headed out the door not too much later. The whole drive to the hospital, Andy kept saying "well, I'm excited to turn right back around in about 10 minutes". He just couldn't accept the possibility of having the baby right then. It was pretty funny! We got to the hospital and they did a test to see if my water had broke. It took about half an hour to find out the results, and during that time I felt a few little contractions, but nothing big. After the 1/2 hour, the doctor came in and said the test was positive and that we were going to have a baby! We were both kind of in shock! Immediately, Andy left the room to call his parents, who were actually in Utah. He wanted to let them know right away so that they could start driving back if they wanted to. While he was gone, I had kind of a scared moment. I was holding back my tears until he came into the room and just held me. I just got pretty freaked out about labor and having to go through that pain. But after a minute, I felt better and just imagined our little guy in my arms soon.

They took me back to my labor room and we just kind of waited it out until about 6:00 am. They decided to start me on pitocin because labor hadn't really started, but oh boy, once that pitocin kicked in...I definitely felt the contractions then! At first they were totally tolerable. I was able to do my breathing with Andy and just kind of push it out. But they got worse...for sure! I had decided that I was going to go natural, or at least try, but after 3 hours of contractions, I had certainly changed my mind. They finally checked me and I was at about 4/5 cm dilated and so I decided that I needed the epidural at that point. And boy, was it wonderful! Almost immediately after I got it, I felt no pain. The nurse mentioned that I was having a contraction and I didn't feel a dang thing. The whole room just felt bright again and I was able to be my cheery self again. I feel good for lasting as long as I did, but I just decided that I wanted to be able to enjoy the experience and "be" there, instead of just suffering through. And after I got it, Andy was able to relax and enjoy it too, instead of having to watch me go through that pain.

So then we just waited around a little bit more, maybe 3 more hours, and they checked me again. I was at about an 8 and 100% effaced; it was exciting to be soo close!! And then just a little bit after that, I was at a 10 and ready to go! We had to wait for the baby to drop a little bit more, so I could start pushing right away, but when it was time to push, I was ready! I didn't hold back at all! Well, they actually had to tell me not to push so hard, because we needed to wait for my doctor to get there... But they brought in a mirror so that I could watch and it was amazing to see little baby's head just right there and knowing that he is so close! I only pushed for about 45 minutes and then he was there! The doctor and nurses were all telling me to reach down and grab him, and I was so confused. I didn't understand why I had to grab him, why couldn't they just put him on my chest for me? I wasn't quite ready to hold a baby yet, especially such a tiny and slimy one. Ha! But it was super neat to just grab him and hold him on my chest. I couldn't believe he was out of me!! Andy cut his cord and I just got to snuggle my little guy forever! They didn't even take him off my chest for the longest time. I was in love (but at the same time, super emotional and not really quite knowing what I had gotten myself into...). So they measured him, and he weighed 8 lbs 3 oz and he was 20 3/4 inches long. Such a big healthy boy! My doctor kept saying that if anyone had asked him if he thought I could deliver that big of a baby, he would have said no. I showed him! :) I was super proud of myself, is that weird to say? It definitely helped that everyone around me kept telling me what a great job I did, I'm sure they say that to everyone. Because you would need that kind of encouragement to keep going, right?



I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since he was born. The whole 9 months went by so fast, except the last 2 weeks or so. Once he was out, it just felt amazing to not be pregnant anymore. The best part - definitely not having swollen ankles and feet anymore! It took a few days for all of the swelling to go down, but a few days after we'd been home, I remember looking down at my feet and realizing that I actually had ankles! And that there was bone there, not just nasty puffy feet. It was amazing!

Logan has been the best little baby. He really doesn't cry that much, only when we have to change his diaper or clothes and then right before he eats. It already feels like we've got him on a pretty good schedule, he only wakes up a few times in the night to eat, so we get about 3 or 4 hours of sleep at a time. I know that everyone says to sleep when he sleeps, but that is really hard to do. It always sounds so easy, but when it's the middle of the day and you're used to being busy and doing stuff, it's so hard to just slow down and take a nap. Andy has to remind me to nap sometimes, or else I would probably just go and go and then after a while I would have a major crash. I'm so grateful that he's been able to take off so much time from work. He has one more week at home and then he has to go back. I'm super sad and I wonder what I will do without him.

Okay, since this is a super long post already, I'll stop there and just post some pictures now of our little Logan. We just love him so much. It's so hard to put him down so that we can actually get stuff done. And we could just kiss his little chubby cheeks all day! It's amazing being a mom. But at times, it just doesn't feel any different, like the reality hasn't set in yet or something, it's kind of weird. Or maybe I just don't think about it because it's so natural? :) Anyway, here are some more pictures.

Brand new baby!

Love that the nurse swaddled him with a hood. Ha!

All ready to go home! 


First bath...not a success. Ha! Definitely need some practice.

Sleepy daddy. But he is the BEST dad!


Logan with my most favorite stuffed animal, Scruffy