Logan's Birth Story

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 a picture of our little guy right after his bath -

So there's this chick in my pregnancy group that's driving me up the damn wall. First of all, she was on bedrest forever because of preterm labor - now she's being induced before her due date. I don't get that. Why go to so much trouble keeping him in, then kick him out at the end? There's no real reason for the induction, she's just uncomfortable. Give me a fucking break. We're all uncomfortable.

I started a thread a while ago for people that were planning natural births. She comes in and says that she's had the epidural twice but it didn't take either time. She wants one this time and thinks it'll be 'fun' to have a labor where the epidural actually works. Again, give me a fucking break. And stay out of my natural birth thread!

Now she's posting a couple of random breastfeeding things that are pissing me off. First, another girl in our group had her baby earlier this week, and he's jaundiced. Her ped told her to supplement with formula - surprise, surprise. *rolleyes* She posted a thread asking for advice on what to do about engorgement - she "can't" feed him all the time because she's supposed to alternate feedings. However, yesterday he had 4 poopy diapers and 4 wet diapers, so it sounds like he's getting plenty from the breast alone. I told her to tell her doctor to shove it, that formula doesn't have any magic ingredients that make bilirubin go away any faster. But this other chick is spouting off crap about supplementing. Just fucking shut up already!

Then she posts in the breastfeeding support thread, saying that she had an easy time of nursing her first two kids, but she liked giving the bottle better with her second so this time she just wants to go straight to the bottle, but wants to give as much breastmilk as possible, but doesn't know how to best go about this. Fine, whatever. At least she's not going straight to formula. But it's annoying the crap out of me that someone that had an easy time of nursing just doesn't want to. That on top of everything else that annoys me about her, and I just want to reach through the internet and smack her around a bit.

To top it off, she's naming her kid Wesley. I fucking HATE the name Wesley. As someone on another board said, it's the name of a sniveling little brat. Who names their kid Wesley in this day and age? Ick.

Contest!

Win a Free Ergo Baby Carrier from Along for the Ride

More pregnant annoyances

My pregnancy group has been talking a lot about inductions and c-sections lately, and it's driving me up the wall. At least one of the inductions is purely for convenience, and while I understand that it's nice to have childcare lined up for older kids, it still bugs me.

And I saw a post in another group tonight that's driving me up the fucking wall. Someone was induced at 38 weeks (no apparent medical reason, just because baby was big) and her baby was 9 lbs. 15 oz. And of course, along with that announcement came the "Good thing her doctor didn't let her go to her due date!" Because heaven knows, once a baby gets to 10 lbs. there's just no way they can be born vaginally. *cough*bullshit*cough*

For crying out loud. I'm sure if his lungs hadn't been fully developed and he was in the NICU, there would be no "Good thing her doctor induced early!" Actually, though, I'm sure there would have been some spin about how thank goodness they got him out when they did or he might have DIED. Hooray for doctors that stick their noses in where they don't belong!

You know what? I kind of hope our munchkin weighs 11 lbs. Because I want to push him out and tell everyone to kiss my ass. Then breastfeed him exclusively, and again tell everyone to kiss my ass. Because I would just be a goddamn medical miracle on BOLU!

Then again, I have some cute newborn-size stuff that an 11 lb. baby won't fit into, so 8 lbs. is fine, too. LOL

Pregnant Lady Ranting

I'm a very strong advocate of natural birth. Inductions/c-sections out of convenience piss me off more than just about anything.

So it's really bugging the shit out of me that I'm in a pregnancy group with an assload of people who are talking about scheduling their inductions, and if their doctor won't go for that, scheduling a c-section. A couple of them came into my natural birthing thread to post about how they want an induction, or how they walk in the door and ask for an epidural. STAY OUT OF MY THREAD, FUCKERS! UGH! I don't want to hear about it! You don't see me going into the c-section support thread and talking about how I want to go natural (meaning sans drugs), do you? No! Because I DON'T BELONG THERE.

Rant over...for now. I'm very rant-y lately.

Reviving this

Giving this blog a little kick in the pants - partially by request, partially because I want to bitch about things that I can't bitch about on my board-based journals.

First of all, I'm 18 weeks pregnant today, yay! My ultrasound is in 2 days, and I can't wait to find out who is in my belly! Things have been going quite well lately - still the odd bout of nausea, a few aches and pains, but nothing too horrible. I had to take the 3 hour GTT yesterday, so I'm crossing my fingers that I don't have gestational diabetes.

Ethan is awesome - learning new stuff all the time and cracking me up on a regular basis. We taught him how to play hide and seek the other day - he doesn't really get it, but he likes covering his eyes and counting to 10, then saying Here I Come! He's getting his last 2 molars in, so he's been chewing on his clothes like mad. I've been giving him Hyland's teething tablets, and he chows down on them like there's no tomorrow.

I've been in a total funk lately - one of the message boards I run has been depressing me. I feel so disconnected from it - there's a big inside joke that I'm not a part of, which sucks. I guess karma is biting me in the ass on this one. Can't say I don't deserve it, but it sucks anyway. I'm starting to doubt who my true friends are, which is an awful, awful feeling to have. I need to distance myself from it, but I'm at a loss for how - I'm slightly addicted. I've contemplated banning myself. We'll see how this week goes.

He's *finally* here!

Announcing the arrival of...

Bryce Anthony!
August 4, 2007
1:22pm
7 lbs. 1 oz.
18.5 inches

Bryce Anthony made his appearance at 1:22pm this afternoon! Mandy said that it was a long, hard labor and her epidural wore off, but I'll let her share the details. LOL She'll be home from the hospital on Monday. Welcome to the world, Bryce! Congratulations Mandy, Tommy, and Lauryn!!