He's Here!!

Logan Garrett arrived Tuesday, October 1st at 2:13 am. Steve, Steven and I are so happy to have him here! He was a big boy weighing 9lbs 3oz and 22 inches long! Even bigger than his big brother!

Baby Logan!

First family pic of us 3!

We are all doing really great! Steven has taken to his brother so quickly and is SO sweet with him. He loves to help and take care of Logan and snuggle his baby brother. Every morning he wants to know "Where is my baby?" and give Logan a kiss. It's the sweetest thing to watch! At first we had some problems with Steven understanding being gentle or accidentally being rough, but everyday is getting better and I really think it is going great!

Big brother was SO happy!

I'm doing awesome too. I was so nervous to have a painful delivery and recovery like I did with Steven but this time was SO much easier and I have felt really great almost right away. I was up and walking later that day and have really felt pretty great since. Its amazing the difference in how I feel this time!

For those that are interested, I'll give a birth story. My OB and I decided on an induction at my appt. on Friday. I had been dilated to about 1.5 for 2 weeks now so he said it would be fine to induce. In fact, the Dr. was like, "Want to go to the hospital now?" Whoa!  Steve and I decided to give ourselves the weekend with Steven and also to hopefully go into labor on my own. We decided on an induction Monday morning, Sept 30th which was my actual due date.

40 Weeks! On the way to the hospital.

Of course nothing happened over the weekend (my body likes to hold onto babies apparently). So Monday morning we went in for the induction at 9:30am. It took a while to get settled, when they finally started me on pitocin and IVs everything got going around 10:30am. At first I was contracting but not feeling it at all. So that was a good sign. The nurse kept saying she wanted to see me in more pain. (gee thanks!). But seriously all the nurses at St. Luke's were amazing. They were so supportive and helpful. I really can't say enough about that. After being on pitocin a few hours they checked me again and I hadn't really made any progress. She said I was probably about 1.5 to 2 cm dilated but not much different than when I came in. Sometime in the later afternoon the Dr. called and wanted to know how much progress I was making. By this time I was contracting and feeling it at about 4 or 5 on the pain scale, so painful but not horrible. (at least that was my interpretation of 4/5). But I hadn't made much progress dilating. So the nurse said he wanted to send me home to try again another time but she really thought we hadn't given it enough time to know. I had been in painful contractions for a few hours at this point and really didn't want to leave and have to start all over. I agreed with her that I didn't think we gave it enough time but I thought if my Dr. wants me to leave then that's probably whats the best for me.

The Dr. actually called my room to talk to me and gave me the options to leave (which he recommended) or to stay and give it a few more hours then they could break my water. But he said if they break my water and nothing happens then I'm headed for a c-section after a certain amount of time due to risk of infection. I talked to the nurse and we agreed to try for 2 more hours and see if I'd made progress, and the Dr. agreed to this option. It was about 5pm at this point. So Steve and I walked the halls over and over and over trying to make some progress. Finally after 2 hours the nurse checked me and I was about 3cm dilated! That was progress so the Dr. said I could stay and they would break my water at 8pm. The nurse said this meant I wasn't leaving the hospital without my baby. I was so happy and excited!!

Of course, I was also really nervous. I had a really not great experience with Steven's birth and was in a ton of pain during labor and after so I was really nervous that I would have the same experience this time around. I was paranoid about the epidural and it not working like it did last time. I was also not wanting to get it too soon to slow down labor. So lots was going on! The nurses recommended I get the epidural before they break my water but I declined. I was trying to be tough and really wanted to be about 4 to 5 cm dilated before I got the epidural. Boy, was I wrong! Ha ha! Get the epidural before they break your water, if you have the chance because dang! It seemed like immediately after they broke my water the pain level went to 8 immediately. Like, super painful horrible contractions. The nurses again were awesome and made sure to contact the anesthesiologist right away which happened to be just before she was going into surgery (where she'd be unavailable for like 2 hours). I could not have imagined taking those painful of contractions for 2 more hours! OMG.

So the epidural went in and it was great this time. The anesthesiologist was really nice and understanding when I explained how I was nervous for what happened last time to happen again. So with the epidural in, I kept contacting for a few hours and was able to watch them on the monitor but not really feel them. That part is great! Over the next few hours, we had to do some adjusting of the epidural when I started to feel the contractions again a few times but everyone was really great in making sure it didn't get out of  control like it did last time. They checked me again and I remember being a 6 and then being a 9 not long after that. It was probably around midnight at that point. It was crazy how fast I dilated after they broke my water. The nurses said some people are like that, it takes them forever to get to 3 or 4 but once they get there its off to the races!!

I was ready to push but the nurse said we wouldn't start pushing till the Dr. got there. Steve and I both thought she was nuts but she said that she thought it was going to go fast this time. Boy was she right! I started pushing about 1:45am ish and in only 3 contractions (so 9 pushes) baby Logan was out!! I couldn't believe how fast it went and neither could Steve. We were both shocked! I don't know if it was related to not being in pain or being my second baby but I'll take it! I was even more shocked to hear from the Dr. that I didn't have any tearing. That was a huge blessing because I tore really badly with Steven which made recovery long and horrible.

They had a 2 hour recovery after labor where they check you and get your fluids back up and make sure your uterus is shrinking and blah blah. Then they make you try to stand up and go to the bathroom. Last time I couldn't even really stand up or walk on my own it was so painful. But this time I had no problem! It was amazing. I felt really good, sore but good. I can't believe what a different labor I had this time. I'm so glad! After that they moved us to a recovery room because of some construction going on in the hospital.

It was actually really nice to get into a clean room and try to get a bit of sleep. Of course we didn't get much at all! They think Logan may have taken a big gulp on his way out because he kept spitting up and didn't really want to eat. So that was concerning but Steven was the same way and he eventually woke up and ate so Steve and I weren't too worried. Eventually Logan did eat and we got back on track.

Family of 4!

The grandparents brought Steven up to the hospital and it was just too cute to see him with his brand new brother. They said he was missing us but he ran right by us to see the baby! We were old news! He was so happy, you could see it in his face. It was the cutest thing ever. We were so blessed to have a ton of friends and family visit us in the hospital. Everyone was excited to see Logan! He's so loved, lucky guy! Big bro was missing us though and I was feeling so good Steve and I decided to leave the hospital a day early. We were ready to be home with our big boy and baby boy!

Holding baby brother for the first time.

Like I said everythings been going really well so far. We are so lucky and blessed to have 2 beautiful boys!