Since Logan decided he wanted to stay in his Mommy's belly FOREVER, we had to force the little guy out. On Saturday morning (April 11th) I was scheduled to be induced. My doctor had warned me it would be a long, drawn out process and that I probably wouldn't have the baby until Sunday. The cool thing about this was my doctor was the attending in the hospital on that day - which meant she would probably deliver me(and she did). For anyone familiar with Kaiser, you know this is rarely the case. I got up early on Saturday(6 am) and called the hospital. They told me they would call me back at 7:45 am with instructions on when to come in. By 8:30 am I still had not heard from them, so I called them again. They told me I could come in anytime I wanted. So, we got ready and packed up and headed to the hospital. This is us just before leaving and the FINAL belly shot at 41 1/7 weeks.
We got to the hospital around 10 am. They checked us in, did a whole bunch of paperwork and checked my vitals. My B/P was elevated(they didn't know if it was just due to excitement/anxiousness) and there was some protein in my urine. They started my IV and sent pre-eclampsia labs(fortunately these all came back normal). The doctor came and checked me and I was STILL only 50% effaced and dilated to 1 cm. She did an ultrasound which showed the baby had turned anterior (HALLELUJAH!), but my placenta was showing some calcium deposits - a sign it was starting to break down (thank goodness I was getting induced!). Based on my exam, they decided to start the induction with a prostaglandin to ripen my cervix. They gave it to me around 11:30 am and said they would check me again in four hours to see if I would need another dose. Here I am hanging out at the hospital before anything really started to happen.
By 3:30 pm I had started to contract quite frequently and they told me I was contracting too much to get another dose of the prostaglandin. So...onto the next step of the induction process. They told me they would use a catheter to dilate my cervix, by filling a balloon with saline after inserting it. At the same time they started Pitocin. They told me the catheter would be slightly uncomfortable and I could have some pain medication before hand if I wanted. They didn't make it sound that bad so I passed on the pain meds, BIG MISTAKE! It was seriously the worst part of the whole labor - SO PAINFUL! After they insterted it and started the pitocin, my contractions really started picking up - they were getting stronger and they were one after another. By 5 pm I had peed out the catheter, which meant I was to 3 cm, Yippee! But... I was dying of pain. I got a dose of Fentanyl, but it only took the edge off for about 30 minutes and I could only get a dose every hour. The second dose only lasted about 25 minutes and by this point I was VERY ready for my epidural. The doctor examined me once again and told me I was only 3-4 cm. She said I should try to wait a little longer if I could, so I could progress a bit further. So...for one more hour I paced by my bedside, dealing with contraction after contraction, with very little breaks between each one. At 7 pm they started a fluid bolus in preparation for the epidural and at 7:30 pm they gave me one more dose of Fentanyl before I got my epidural. I barely felt the doctor put in the needle, and all I know is one minute I was feeling every painful contraction and the next minute I didn't even know I was having them. I decided epidurals are one of the GREATEST gifts Heavenly Father has given women! Here I am in my happy place after the epidural.
At 11 pm I had my water artificially broken and a fetal monitor was placed on the baby so they could more closely monitor my contractions as they were turning up the Pitocin. From 11 pm-7am they slowly increased my Pitocin and they placed me on some oxygen, because the baby was having some decels with the contractions. They said it wasn't that big of a deal, but they wanted to correct it since I was still in early labor. Luckily, the oxygen worked. I don't really remember much else that went on during this time. I was just enjoying my epidural and sleeping. At 7:30 am the doctor checked me again and I was only 5 cm, but almost 100% effaced. They put some fluid back in me to help with the variable fetal decels. I guess the fluid sort of cushions the baby. They continued to increase my Pitocin as well. At 11:30 am my own doctor, Dr. Weiss, was there to check on me and I was 7 cm and 100% effaced but the baby wasn't dropping. She said he was not fully turned anterior. So, they placed me way on my left side and by 1 pm the baby had turned and dropped dramatically and I was 9cm. At this point they knew I was getting close to pushing, so they turned my epidural down so I would be able to feel a little better. At 2:45 pm, I was 10 cm, FINALLY! They told me I could start pushing, but I got sick around this time so I didn't do much pushing from 2:45 pm to 3:30 pm. Around this same time I spiked a temperature of 101 degrees so they had to start me on antibiotics. From 3:30 pm to 5:14 pm I was truly pushing. My doctor was in the room almost the entire time I was pushing - trying to help me. I started pushing just on the bed with Eric and the nurse holding my legs, but I wasn't making much progress. I asked them if I could try the stirrups and within 3 contractions in that position Baby Logan was born at 5:14 pm on April 12th, 2009(Easter Sunday). Unfortunately, when he came out the fluid that came out with him had meconium in it. He wasn't breathing when he came out either. So, they quickly called the ICN team to the delivery room(several of my co-workers were there). They intubated Logan and suctioned out the meconium from his trachea before he could breathe it in. Then, they had to give him some help with breathing for a few minutes. But, he quickly started breathing on his own and pinked right up. Thank goodness! I go to deliveries all the time for this, but it is very different when it is your own baby and you know everything that could go wrong if the baby aspirates the meconium. Eric got to cut the cord with a little help from my co-workers.
Then they weighed and measured the big boy at 8lbs, 1.6 oz and 21 inches long.
Finally, I got to hold Logan for the first time.
Then Logan got cleaned up a little bit
and I got to hold him again.
Then everyone else got a chance to hold him too!
Here is our first family photo with Logan:
Logan had to have some labs drawn by the ICN staff to check for infection since I had a temperature and he was 100.4 when he was born. While he was there my co-workers gave him a really good tub bath.
The rest of the hospital stay was pretty uneventful. For the first 24 hours Logan was really sleepy - I think he was pretty worn out from the long delivery. My recovery in the hospital and since then has been easy. I had a TON of swelling from laying on my back and not moving due to the epidural for so long, but other than that I only slightly tore and I didn't get any hemorrhoids from pushing, THANK GOODNESS! Logan got circumcised and did really well with it. He also got his hearing screen done and PASSED!
Logan spent one night in the ICN with my co-workers so I could get some sleep -they made him a cute little name tag. Here is our little Easter baby with it:
Logan's pediatrician, Dr. Woo(my FAVORITE pediatrician that takes call for the ICN at nights sometimes) happened to be there the second night we were at the hospital and he came to meet his newest little patient. My all time favorite lab tech also drew Logan's labs the morning we were discharged and he didn't even cry. It was really neat to have everyone I work with help so much in Logan's care. Here are just a few other photos of the little one while we were in the hospital:
On Tuesday morning we were given the go ahead to be discharged from the hospital - here are a few photos of Logan in his going home outfit and with his Mommy:
Although the delivery was long and had few ups & downs, everything turned out fabulously and we are so greatful to have our new happy and healthy baby home with us!
A lot of people have been asking how Rocco is doing with the new baby...the truth is he is STILL quite stressed out! I don't think he quite knows what think of the new addition and he really hates it when Logan cries. He will just go and lay by the front door until he stops. The thing is Rocco loves kids, so we know once we get past this newborn stage he will love Logan and I am sure they will be best buddies!Here are a few cute photos of the lil' pup from these past couple of weeks:
And here is one more of Rocco and Logan together:
