The Birth Story of Logan Henry. May 7th 2010

Logan's birth was my most difficult physically. I suppose it was natures way of preparing me for what was to come in the weeks ahead. I went into labor at 37 weeks. On Friday morning the 7th of May. We were fortunate enough to have been blessed with amazing nurses who were so supportive and excited for us to have a natural birth.(This is rare in our local hospitals) Things had gone so quickly with Noah I hurried to the hospital as soon as my contractions were steady with Logan. We made the decision to strip my membranes and we did a lot of walking and some slow dancing to Ben Harper. Still things were slow. I expected a short easy birth, but it just goes to show you each birth is different. By early evening I was stuck at 7 and contractions had all but completely stopped. The doctor had stopped asking to break me water because we had told him from the beginning we wanted as little intervention as possible.
At around 7 that night we decided to go ahead and allow him to to it. I then practically flooded our room! I have always had a ton of amniotic fluid, and my water has never once broken on its own. I set on a stack of towels that I kept soaking through. Things were moving again. I immediately had strong contractions just a minute or two apart and an hour later I felt the urge to push. The doctor brought several nurses in who were scattered around the room silently watching. Josh later remarked how it had annoyed him and he saw no point in having that many people in the room. (At that point, things were going smoothly and they was so reason to anticipate any problems during the birth or with Logan.) I pushed a few times and I heard a nurse say it looked like the baby had a lot of hair. The doctor then asked if I wanted him to do a pundendal block. I said "No, that's OK." like he was asking me if I wanted more coffee or something. I had told him repeatedly I didn't want one earlier and that I would rather tear than be cut. Also, I knew if he didn't do the block he wouldn't give me an episiotomy. And it worked! No tear, no epsiotomy. I pushed again and tried holding my legs back but it didn't feel right. I instinctively put my hands down to support Logan's head as it started to crown. Then the doctor asked me if I wanted to catch him. Of course I said yes! With a few more pushes my beautiful Logan Henry was born, 7 lbs 10 ozs, 20 1/2 inches long.I pulled him up onto my stomach and was just in aw of how gorgeous he was. Later, it was even more precious and sacred to me that I was given to opportunity to catch him and be the first to touch him. Because it would be days before I could hold him again. Logan is such a little fighter, he has a warrior spirit. We are so thankful and blessed each day that he not only survived but is thriving.