Logan Lawrence Dickinson was born on November 25. For a week or two before he came, I felt like labor was beginning and I was waiting for things to kick into high gear. I thought Sunday might be the day, but I went to bed exhausted from contractions and feeling defeated. Monday morning came and I told Peter that I must have been dilating with all the contractions and that I did not want him to go to work.
We called Lori to come and babysit so that we could go to the hospital and make sure everything was okay. I was afraid active labor would kick in and that we wouldn't have time to get there.
At the hospital, we were very surprised that I was only at 2 1/2 centimeters, which was the same as at my doctor appointment the previous week. I did not want to stay because I did not want a long drawn out labor in the hospital. The nurse was pretty worried about that because I was contracting and this was my 7th child. She talked us into walking for an hour and then "we'll see".
I started to have a little bit of hope that this could be it.
Peter and I walked around and around the labor and delivery unit like we were on a mission with something to prove. Peter would push the start and stop button on the contraction app on my phone and I walked through them, until I couldn't. After 45 minutes or so we returned to the triage, worn out and in much more pain. After another check I was a 3 1/2. Hmm. I knew that 4 was the magic number so once again I was ready to leave. The nurse got very worried this time because she could see that my eyes were tearing up during the contractions now. She consulted the dilation chart and said that "Actually, I think you are a four." Pretty sure she was fibbing, but it got me to stay.
She left to talk to the on call doctor and came back to tell me that they wanted to check me in and that I could get my epidural whenever I was ready. Peter and I looked at each other and it finally sank in that we were having a baby today.
By this time it was a little after noon. We got checked in and texted our families.
Around 3 I was comfortable with an epidural and the doctor came in and broke my water. A whole lot of fluid came out! The nurse and doctor kept saying, "oh, wow!" as it kept coming. They told me that was why the contractions were hurting a lot but were not making me dialate very much. I could feel the baby moving down after that.
Lori brought the 4 older kids and my sisters came to welcome the baby to the world.
I knew the time was close so I thought I would take a quick rest. Just then the doctor came in to check on me. He said I was a ten and it was time to push! He asked if I still wanted a nap. I thought about it for 1 second before saying, "No, let's do this thing." By the next contraction I was feeling lots of pressure so I was glad the doctor was getting ready. By the time everything was in place I knew it would only be moments before I would meet my little babe.
It took only about a minute for the little head to be out and another minute for the rest of him. The kids were very cute through the whole thing. I was so happy when I could finally hold my sweet little Logan. There is no better feeling than that. Every time he kicked and I could feel his little feet inside me, I longed to touch them. I was completely filled up with joy and instant love for him.
Eden got to cut the umbilical cord. She was nervous but Peter reassured her and she went for it. Logan was very healthy and stayed on my chest for the first hour while everyone admired him. I think the kids liked being there. It was wonderful having my sisters and Lori there as well. My sister haven't been to one of my births before, but since my mom couldn't come this time it was a real comfort. Larry showed up shortly afterward as well. Logan's middle name is Lawrence, after him.
Dallin learning about the monitors.
