For those of you who read this blog regularly, you probably know that I have been pregnant with our fourth baby while writing for families.com. Our baby boy, Logan John, was born on Tuesday, July 25. He weighed in at 8 pounds 9 ounces and was 19 1/4 inches long. His three sisters are completely in love with our little prince, as they call him.
Logan arrived eight days past his due date. I was waiting impatiently in the last week of my pregnancy. The day he decided to join our family was the day I was to visit the doctor to make arrangements for an induction. As it turned out, labor started on Monday evening.
I had taken my two oldest daughters to cheerleading practice. While at the field, I had a few contractions. The coaches and I thought it was a good sign that labor was starting. I prayed it would start, as I was nervous at the thought of being induced. We came home from practice and the contractions began to get more regular. I decided to try to go to bed and get some rest. I knew I’d need the energy later.
I slept for a few hours and woke at about one o’clock in the morning. The contractions were getting stronger and I couldn’t rest through them any more. I came downstairs and made some tea and toast. I stayed downstairs because I didn’t want to wake the girls and I knew that my husband would drive me crazy timing the contractions and asking me a million questions. I let him sleep too.
Around five o’clock in the morning, I decided to call my mom. She lives about two hours away and we had planned on having her come to watch the girls while we went to the hospital. I told her not to drive like a maniac, but to come soon. She said she was on her way. At this point, I decided to wake my husband.
As usual, our three girls had joined us in bed the night before. It wasn’t more than an hour before they woke up and realized we weren’t in the room. They came down stairs to investigate. We told them that their little brother would be born today and they were so excited.
I decided to get in our Jacuzzi tub in our bathroom to try to get some relief. The pain was getting very intense. I stayed in the warm tub for about an hour. It really did help and I didn’t want to get out. I just didn’t have the energy to pull myself out of the water. My mom called from her cell to tell us she was near and would be here in about fifteen minutes. My husband helped me out of the tub and I got dressed. By the time I dressed, mom had arrived.
My husband was nervous and wanted to leave for the hospital. I started to feel really sick and threw up several times between getting dressed and leaving the house. This upset the girls and I felt really bad about making them upset. I cried as I kissed them all good bye and went out to the car.
We got to the hospital around nine o’clock in the morning. Within two hours, I was completely dilated. I was so ready to have this baby. Logan wasn’t as ready as I was. His head was still very high and not engaged at all. We tried moving positions and pushing, but he wouldn’t budge at all. He just wasn’t coming. Soon his heart rate began to drop and it was off to the operating room.
Logan was born at 12:48 in the afternoon by c section. I was very nervous about the surgery and worried about his dropping heart rate. It turned out he was healthy, and absolutely perfect. After some time in recovery, I was taken to my room. They brought my baby boy to me and he breastfed for the first time. He latched on perfectly and I was exhausted, but very happy.
My husband brought our girls to the hospital to see their new brother. They were instantly in love. My oldest daughter said, “Mommy, I never knew I could love a boy!” They can’t get enough of him. Logan is lucky if he can get a nap without being picked up by one of his sisters right in the middle of sleeping.