Club409
Logan Dane Winter
The hospital has a photography company ("Dimples" pretty awesome branding if you ask me) that comes in and stages the baby in various ways (none of which resembled the creepy weird stuff you often see on FB or in Angela's baby calendar from The Office). She snapped a bunch of good ones; we bought the whole set. It's like I made up for all those times I refused to buy the semi-manditory photos that are taken when you first get in to an amusement park / museum / aquarium.
I think I'm going to move some of these posts out of this thread into its own so we can both focus more intensely on Logan and stay up with other notable news without getting derailed with cuteness / poop stories that are inevitably on the way
This post is long overdue. (haha pregnancy pun)
Logan's birth story
I. Exposition
I feel like I should have posted most of this on 409 in the months and weeks leading up to his birth but since I did not here it is in condensed form.
For all but one of the prenatal tummy scans Logan was right-side-up (aka breech presentation). As the original due date of August 13th drew closer we knew that meant he would most likely be delivered via C-Section. When we reached 36 weeks (July 16th) and he was still feet-down-head-up we went ahead and scheduled the surgery for August 7th (as noted in V's post above). At that stage of the pregnancy the checkups are no longer monthly but weekly so we were back in Dr Brody's office the morning of the following Wednesday July 23rd.
II. How it Went Down
It was Wednesday morning and Rachel and I were very excited -- only two more weeks until we would meet our baby boy! It was also his Uncle Mark's birthday and we were planning on going to Kobe Hibachi for dinner to celebrate. But first it was time to see Dr. Brody for another checkup. The last checkup went well except Rachel's blood pressure was a little high. The previous night we had prepared all sorts of questions we suddenly realized we had about the next two weeks and the surgery.
When we arrived at the office Rachel went back to pee in a cup and check her weight and blood pressure. The sonographer came in to let us see what was going on in Rachel's tummy. Logan was looking comfy as usual with his hands up by his face. Then Dr. Brody came in to talk about the screening results and answer our questions. Before we could get started on our list he said "Well let me say what I have to say first and maybe that will do away with some of your questions. We're having a baby today."
(I didn't actually say that but that's a pretty good approximation of what was blasting full volume in my head)
Dr. Brody has a way with deadpan humor ("Ah yes this indicates your baby should be born sometime between today and Halloween") so I waited in vain for any indication he was joking. As it turns out Rachel's high blood pressure and protein-laden urine were telltale signs of preeclampsia a condition for which the only cure is delivering the baby.
To put it another way Baby Logan just couldn't wait any longer to meet us so he was coming a bit early!
It was time to call our family with the news -- Grammy Winter started driving from Mississippi right away so she could be here when Logan arrived. We went home to finish packing our go-bags and Uncle Mark's birthday present clean the house for last minute "nesting" and sit down together to wonder one last time what the rest of our lives would be like. Then we loaded up the car (complete with car seat) and headed for the hospital.
The next few hours both took forever and passed by in the blink of an eye. We checked in to the hospital met other happy couples in the triage waiting room and made our way back to "Labor and Delivery." This is where Nurse Hadleigh checked up on baby Logan and prepped Rachel for surgery. Quite a few people stopped in to see us -- Mimi (Alisa) and Shepherd Aunt Dee and Emily Aunt Hannah and Uncle Mark Nana and Pop. I got some dinner downstairs in the cafeteria hoping to prevent any passing out during surgery.
When it was time to go I got to put on a coverall jumpsuit mask and hairnet. I waited outside for what seemed like an eternity (while Rachel was getting her spinal anaesthesia -- this story will probably be amended with her thoughts on that process). They finally called me in to sit next to Rachel and hold her hand. Before I knew it Dr. Brody was giving me the two minute warning to get the camera out and ready. After nine months of waiting and over a year of trying prior our son was finally here! I couldn't believe it. It really was a magical moment and I don't think I can describe or enumerate all of the emotions that passed through me just then. What I can describe is what Logan passed which was a baby-bladder full of urine all over the doctors. The NICU team took him over to their table with hot lights and monitors to check him out clean him up and give him a cute little hat. He peed on them too. It was during that time that we first heard him cry and boy was he a good cryer! Once the speedy NICU team was satisfied Logan's footprints were put onto an ID card (and my shirt!) and he got some bracelets. Since mom was still getting sewn up I was the first one to hold him. They tucked him inside my shirt; he was warm and squishy and perfect.
Since then things have gone pretty smoothly (not that I have much to compare it to but you know). My parents were able to come -- Mom was here by that evening and Dad got here Friday just after we were discharged from the hospital. My memory of the hospital includes lots of friend and family visits diapers pictures diapers snuggles and naps. And hand sanitizer.
Because he was delivered via C-Section Logan didn't have the pleasure of having all the mucous and amniotic fluid squeezed out of him. He had two directions he could send it out of his body and he used both of them plenty. This meant lots of dirty diapers the first day (typical newborn baby is like 1 we had more like 6) and some coughing up (this was more scary and sleep-preventing because we had to act quickly to make sure he didn't aspirate it). That was all out of his system by Saturday morning and from then on the only thing he spit up was milk which is much easier to deal with.
Breastfeeding was a little difficult to get going and I'm absolutely convinced that it would not have happened had we not taken the breastfeeding course (just 4 days prior!). But two weeks later it's almost automatic. Tomorrow we might even try a pacifier which we delayed to prevent any complications it might cause for breastfeeding.
Sleep is definitely something we're actively trying to manage and I think we have a handle on it now. I get ~7 hours of continuous sleep and Rachel seems to gets 3+3 hours overnight plus one or more naps during the day.
Yeah I liked that shot with the footprint -- this was taken by one of the nurses; she did well with our camera.
Thanks for the details Matt and congrats again. I may need to get back on fb. I feel like I'm missing everything
Any updates? Has Logan kept you up all night? has he pissed (or just urinated if no malice was detected) on you yet? Have you prepared the bbq sauce for to eat said baby?