911

Whenever I hear an ambulance I wonder two things. First, where are they going and second what are the feelings of those waiting for the ambulance to arrive. Now I know the answers to both of those questions. . . they are coming to my house and the feeling is absolute panic.

Only fifteen minutes after my mother had left, did the crisis erupt. I was checking something on the computer downstairs and heard a faint cry. Babies do that, so I wasn't too worried, but I thought I would run upstairs and check since Logan was still under the "lights" and sometimes he pulled the blanket thing over his head or rolled too close to the side.

When I got upstairs I saw that he had spit up, rolled to his back, and was somehow choking. His arms and legs were stiff out in front of him and he was tomato red. I wasn't too worried though, I mean babies spit up alot too. Hyrum was the king of spitting up and choking.

So, I calmly lifted him out of the box and did the usual patting on the back ect. He coughed a little, but still seemed to be struggling. My panic level raised a little, but I was still in control. I ran into Ella's room and grabbed the bulb syringe and tried to suction out the problem.

I was able to get a little out but he still seemed to be going through stages of breathing and no breathing. Now I was panicking. It had been several minutes and he still wasn't doing great. His eyes started to roll to the back of his head and he was foaming at the mouth. His color was turning a grey/purple now and I had tried everything I knew.

I quickly called Ben to see if in my panic I had forgot something. Through all my sobbing I was able to recall him saying "call 911" over and over again. I hung up and called 911 still trying to help my struggling son.

The fire station is only 2 blocks away so I heard them the minute they left the station. Logan was doing a faint breathing by the time they arrived, but he was no longer choking and had regained some of his color.

The paramedics were so nice and understanding and re-assured me that Logan was going to be fine. They checked his lungs and breathing to make sure no fluid was in his lungs. Ben arrived just seconds after they had left. Then I fell apart.

I think I single handily ended the draught in Utah with all the crying I did that night. Every time I thought about Logan's distressed little face, the water works started. I called my mom and she was just outside of Salt Lake, so she turned the car around and ended up staying until Saturday.

The first couple nights were hard for me. I kept running out to the living room (he was still in the box) to make sure he was breathing. My mom slept on the couch and checked him anytime he made a noise. It was a restless few days.

Fortunately, the drama is over now and hopefully we can start to get things back to normal. Logan is out of the billi lights and sleeping in his bassinet, so I can somewhat sleep at night. The choking incident appears to be one of those freak things that sometimes happen, but thankfully someone was watching over us and this 911 call has a happy ending.

My Story

I finally have a spare minute and thought I'd post some new pictures and write down everything that I'm sure to forget a week from now. The biggest surprise was that this labor was so different from my other two (and that's a good thing!)

I started having somewhat regular contractions on April 30th around 7 o'clock at night (even with all my vacuuming and cleaning, I still didn't start contractions until night time). I held off until around 9 to go to the hospital because I was just sure the minute I decided to go, my contractions would stop. Of course a few minutes after they hooked me up to all the machines they did stop, but I had changed from a 4 to a 5 so they decided to keep me!

The first pleasant surprise was they got my I.V in on the second poke. That has NEVER happened. It took them 2 1/2 hours with Ella and they finally had to call a specialist in to do it (darn those tricky veins!) I was so relieved. Of course the biggest hurdle was still to come. . . the epidural.

Any of you that have heard my epidural horror stories will understand why I was a little apprehensive. With Hyrum, my epidural came out and by the time they figured it out and gave me a second epidural, it was useless. With Ella they punctured my spine and had the epidural in the wrong spot. It did absolutely nothing and I had to go to the hospital a few days later and get a blood patch (worse than labor).

So, naturally when they started to put in my epidural I went completely white and started to pass out. I didn't completely crash, although I was really embarrassed. Then I felt the weirdest thing, NOTHING! They had pumped me up with pitocin and I was having contractions on top of one another, and I felt nothing!

Two hours later they came and checked me and I had only changed to a 6, so I figured this would be a nice long labor like the other two (although I didn't mind too much since I was pain free). Ben decided to take a little potty break since I had tons of time left and in the half hour he was gone I jumped to a 9+. Fortunately, he got back in time, which was good since ten minutes later I was at a 10.

They grabbed the doctor and I probably pushed (again pain free) for 20 minutes and then I had my baby! I just couldn't believe it! I was telling jokes in between pushing and just taking it easy. Now I understand why people rave about epidurals. I mean it still wasn't a spa treatment or anything, but it was the best labor ever! I didn't tear or anything, so although I'm a little sore and really tired, the recovery hasn't been that bad.

I came home on Friday night and my mom got here Saturday, so I've had lots of help. She leaves today, so we'll see how I do later on in the week.

Logan has had to be under the billi lights the last couple of days, but hopefully he will be able to get out of the stupid "suitcase" here soon.

As for the kids, they have been pretty good about things. Ben got me a wii for our anniversary so they have had a blast playing Mario Kart and bowling.

Anyways, here's a few of the million pictures we've been taking this week:

She looks so big now!

The proud big brother.

Not my best family photo.

Isn't he precious?

Going home

I swear we have the exact same shot with Ben holding Hyrum

New Baby

Hi everyone. This is actually Ben writing this. Arin's still in the hospital but she wanted pictures of Logan up so everyone could see him. He was born this morning at 3:25 am, 19 inches long, and 6 lb 9 oz. Enjoy the pictures. I'm sure there are plenty more to come.

Progress

Today was my 37 week visit and my worst fear was the doctor was going to say "no change". However, he said I'm dialated to a 4 and should have the baby in the next couple of days. This is just an estimate of course, and I still could go for weeks and weeks, but I'm going to take the optimistic road and hope I have a baby here soon.

Things are finally starting to get a little less crazy around here, so I guess it's a good time to have a baby. Ella finally got over her "leprosy" and is looking so much better. Ben caught the same virus on Sunday (although he didn't break out in a rash) and is finally feeling a little better today too. I'm so relieved because I really didn't want to drive myself to the hospital and do it all alone. How did women in the 50's survive?

The only down side is our anniversary is on Sunday, so it looks like I will either be in the hospital, home really sore, or worst case scenario STILL PREGNANT. We were kind of hoping he'd come before now so we didn't have to juggle 2 birthdays, an anniversary and mother's day all in one month, but I think at this point all I can think about is having this baby and not being pregnant anymore.

The Chicken Pox Imposter

I had a real scare today when I was helping Ella out of her pj's and saw that she was covered head to toe in red bumps. My first thought was it was a really bad rash, but then I remembered that she had had a fever just a few days ago and began to worry it was chicken pox. She seriously looked like a red and white giraffe.

II immediately called Ben and the doctor and paced around the house for an hour until I heard the verdict. I started to wonder if this was what Job felt like. I'm about to have a baby any day and if Ella had the chicken pox I wouldn't have anyone to watch the kids and I wouldn't be able to bring the baby home. I was trying not to let the panic settle in, but pregnancy tends to bring out the crazy in women.

Ben finally did call and to my relief it wasn't chicken pox. Ella had a virus, and her body was just reacting weird to that type of virus. Fortunately, that meant that Hyrum was still able to go to pre-school and after a few days Ella would probably be just fine.

It's been a long couple of days with contractions coming and going and no baby and I was starting to feel really frustrated, not to mention I was in so much pain since my muscles haven't done anything for 3 weeks. (I seriously felt like I ran a marathon!) However, the doctor said something that made me feel very grateful that this baby hasn't followed the usual pattern. He mentioned that if I had the baby right now we'd have to be a little careful for a day or two, but no real harm. If I already had a newborn at home, then he could of been in danger of contracting the virus when it was strongest. So I guess like Job, our trials can sometimes be our blessings.

36 Weeks!

Free! I'm free to get up off the couch and do whatever I want. I made it to 36 weeks, which means I don't have to have a million restrictions. After three weeks of bed rest you can imagine what my house looks like. Ben's actually done a really great job, but let's face it, he's at work all day, then comes home to take care of two kids and a whiney pregnant wife. He usually doesn't go to bed until midnight or later. He's been working really hard, but still he's just one person and parts of the house were in some real need of help.

So what have I done with all this freedom? Clean! I've been fighting the nesting instinct to get things ready for three weeks now, all I want to do is fold laundry, do dishes, and dust. I tell you pregnancy is a sick, sick thing.

I also had my 36 week visit today and I figured I would be at least at a 4 since I've been having contractions constantly for about a week now. Nope. I'm still between a 2 and 3 and 75-80% effaced. AUGH! I actually wouldn't mind not having the baby for another week or two, if I didn't have these contractions. Every night around 5 o'clock I'm in absolute agony until about midnight. We are talking 5 minutes apart contractions so bad that I can't stand up.

Now it's the waiting game. I wish my body would just make up it's mind. I think if I am having contractions, then I should be entitled to a baby. Right? I just keep telling myself that Logan must not be ready to come yet and God must have some supreme reason for keeping him in. Now if He could just keep the contractions too.

The Inevitable

Today was my 33 week visit to the doctor and unfortunately it didn't go quite as I had hoped. Apparently I'm still 70% effaced, but I've dialated to a 2 and the baby has moved to a +1 station. The doctor informed me if I had any plans this month, I don't anymore because I'm on total bed rest.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised since I was on bed rest at 28 weeks with Ella, but since I was doing so much better I was hopeful that I might be able to avoid it with this one. So, now I have to figure out what to do with my other two darling children, while I spend my time laying on a couch staring at the wall. I've contacted the relief society president in our ward, so hopefully they'll be able to help. It's times like these that I really wish I had some family nearby.

So, please keep me in your prayers. If the baby comes before 36 weeks it means time in the NICU. My safe day (36 weeks) is April 22nd, so let the countdown begin. 20 more days!