Logan’s Birth Story

Logan’s Birth Story

It’s been almost two weeks since I had Logan and I’m already forgetting some of the details about his birth. Like I said in my original post, his birth was one of the most difficult and traumatic experiences of my life.

Let’s start from the beginning. On Friday, September 29 I ran 3 miles with my friend Kristen, took Allie to Gallery park and played for 2 hours while waiting for my 39 week appointment. My appointment was over 2 hours long (thank goodness for Netflix on my phone and lots of snacks for Allie). They did a non-stress test since Logan wasn’t moving much and his heart rate was still low (it had been low for awhile) and an ultrasound to make sure my fluid was okay. My doctor checked my cervix and said I was dilated almost to 4 cm and she thought the baby could come soon. At this point, I was having cramping, but not painful contractions. I left the appointment with a feeling that the end was near.

The rest of Friday was just a typical day. I did laundry, cleaned the house, and tried to get everything ready in case the baby came soon. By 7:30pm on Friday night, I started having more painful cramping/contractions so I decided to take a bath with Allie. I wanted to make sure I showered and did my makeup before we went to the hospital. 😉

I knew I needed to rest so once Allie was in bed I went to sleep and I was able to sleep from 9pm-2:30am. At 2:30am the contractions woke me up and I couldn’t fall back asleep. I laid in bed reading, pacing around the house, and watched Wedding Crashers. Tony didn’t get any sleep either because we were both waiting for the contractions to start being more painful and closer together.

At 7am I was having some stomach issues and lost my mucus plug. I called the doctor and she said it sounded like early labor, but I might want to hang out at home until the contractions started coming closer together.

I called my Mom and told her that I was in early labor so she decided to come over and hang out with us. She arrived at our house around 10am and that’s right around the time my contractions stopped being so consistent. All night they were happening around 7-10 minutes apart, but it slowed down to every 15-20 minutes. I was getting frustrated and wanted to get out of the house so my Mom, Allie, and I went out to brunch at Jaspers while Tony watched the Wisconsin Badger game. After brunch I took Allie to the park for a while. I’ll never forget pushing her in the swing and thinking about how the next time we’d be at the park, we would be a family of 4.

We came home, I put Allie down and I tried to nap. I was able to sleep on the couch while my mom rubbed my head for about an hour. After Allie and I both woke up we decided to go to AT&T so I could pick up my new iPhone 8. It gave us something to do and I wanted a new phone because it has a really good camera.

We came home and I played with Allie and gave her as much attention and as many hugs as I possibly could. I knew I would be leaving her soon to go to the hospital and I had never been away from her overnight so I was feeling very emotional.

Around 6pm my contractions starting coming 7-10 minutes a part again and they were a lot more painful. We decided it was best we got some food so we went to Portillos. We all wanted to enjoy our dinner, but we couldn’t. My Mom, Tony, Allie, and I were all super stressed and I think we just ate our feelings – lol. My contractions started coming every 5-7 minutes at dinner so we decided it was best to go to the hospital. The plan was for Tony to go home and put Allie to bed, my Mom and I would go to the hospital, and my MIL was driving down to come stay with Allie so Tony could eventually meet us at the hospital.

Last picture of us as a family of 3.

Stressful dinner at Portillo’s

We went home to get my bag, I put Allie in her pajamas, brushed her teeth, gave her lots of hugs, and snuck out of the house bawling my eyes out because I knew how much I was going to miss her.

We arrived at the hospital at 7:30pm and we were told to sit in the lobby because there wasn’t a room available. My contractions were coming every 5 minutes, but they weren’t super painful yet.

Last bump pic while waiting in the lobby at the hospital

At 8:30pm my twin sister arrived and I finally got a bed. The doctor checked me and I was still only 3-4 cm dilated. Labor and delivery was super busy that night so I got sent home. 🙁 I begged the doctor to let me stay, but she said there weren’t’ enough beds and the women in active labor needed the room I was in. In my gut, I knew it was a bad decision. We should have fought them, or I should have stayed at the hospital and walked the halls.

We left the hospital and my Mom dropped me off around 10pm. Wendy, my MIL was at our house which made me feel so relieved knowing that she could be with Allie while my Mom and Tony would be at the hospital.

I tried to go to bed because I knew I needed the sleep, but as soon as I laid down my contractions became a lot more painful. I knew things were progressing and I wasn’t going to be able to sleep. By midnight, I told Tony this was the real deal and I called my Mom to come back over. I called the doctor and I told her we were coming back to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital around 12:30am and guess what, there were still no rooms available! Labor and delivery was packed and there was not enough staff or rooms for everyone. Since there wasn’t a room available they put me in the recovery room. The recovery room is just a big open room with curtains so you can have a little privacy.

Right when I got a bed I told the nurse I was in a lot of pain and I wanted an epidural as soon as possible. The nurse kind of laughed and said it would probably take 2 hours before I got one because there’s only one anesthesiologist and he was busy doing c-sections. I started to panic and told her she needed to call someone else. There’s no way I wasn’t getting my epidural. I was already in so much pain and my doctor always said I could get one if I wanted one.

By 1:30am I was in so much pain I could barely talk to my Mom. And at 2am my water broke and then the pain became unbearable. I started screaming at my Mom telling her to get help. We didn’t have a nurse or a doctor and we were in a room full of other people. I could tell this baby was coming! My mom tried to get someone, but they were so busy. Eventually my doctor came to check me and I was 6 cm dilated and screaming that I was dying. This was also around the time Tony arrived at the hospital. He heard me screaming and went straight to the bathroom and threw up.

I was screaming in pain and my poor Mom had to watch it and she felt so helpless. Whenever my nurse would come check on me she would tell me to breathe and I would tell her I couldn’t breathe, I was having a panic attack. I never took birthing classes, I had no idea how to deal with this kind of pain. I can’t even begin to describe the amount of pain I was in. It felt like my body was being ripped in half.

I was screaming for an epidural and my doctor finally found the anesthesiologist and begged him to come give me an epidural before his next c-section. He came in around 3:15am and I was so thankful to see him, but right away he told me it would take 30 minutes for him to get everything ready. Right when he said that I knew there wasn’t enough time. I was going to have this baby without an epidural. This man was the slowest freaking man I’ve ever met. If felt like days for him to get everything ready. By 3:45am while he was giving me the epidural I had so much pressure and I kept yelling that he was coming. It was too late and the epidural didn’t work.

The doctor had my flip over and started scrambling to get tools and supplies. Since I was giving birth in the recovery room that didn’t have everything in there. I had the urge to push so I started pushing and quickly felt the ring of fire when Logan’s head was crowning. The pain was excruciating and I’m really not sure how I got through it. After 5-6 pushes Logan Henry was born at 3:52am, weighting 7 pounds 4 oz.

I was in shock when they put him on my chest. I didn’t have any emotion. I just couldn’t believe what just happened.

Now 2 weeks later, I still can’t believe that nightmare happened, but I’m happy we have a healthy baby boy.

About Sara

Comments

  1. Wow, what a story! I’ve never heard of the ring of fire, but it doesn’t sound comfortable at all! I can’t believe you gave birth in the recovery room and without an epidural (that worked). At least your doctor was able to be there for the delivery. Sounds like Logan picked a busy night to pop out!
    Pete B recently posted..Run For Gus 2017 – Race Recap

  2. The ring of fire???
    OH GOODNESS.
    Congratulations on your little boy–I think you’ve been through enough to get him into your arms!
    Susie @ Suzlyfe recently posted..No Permission Needed: Be YOUtiful (Running Coaches Corner)

  3. Why didn’t you take any birthing classes? They are so helpful to prepare for his type of thing.

  4. Oh my goodness, Sara!!! That is a crazy experience. I’m glad you are okay! For both my birthday, I didn’t have any epidurals or medical interventions, but having the classes, etc before and helped immensely in knowing what to expect and how to manage the pain. Going through that experience without that knowledge would be so much harder. I’m glad you’re ok and that you have a healthy little boy now, but goodness, how scary that must have been for you.

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