Welcome to the world Logan Leigh!

July 11, 2012 at 1:02am weighing in at 6lbs 7oz and 18" long our beautiful baby boy was born... So here's my birth story (how I remember it) I'm sure Adam could add in a few details that I don't recall. On July 10th I went in for my appointment to just check out how our little boy was doing. And to see what my blood pressure (BP) was up to since it had been pretty high the last few weeks leading up to my delivery. Once my BP was checked and still was high..actually higher than it had been my DR decided he wanted to send me up for a few more test. I had been tested for pre-elcampsia a week prior and it came back boarderline with a score of 280..300 is considered dangerous and I would have had to be induced no matter. But with 280 I was being watched..I went up to L&D for a further testing and they decided to admit me and start induction. At this point my mom was with me and Adam was at work...Adam was reached and arrived right when I was eating my "Last" meal before induction would begin..or so I thought. Here I am, still feeling great and not in active labor, yet :)

Before they started induction I went into labor on my own..YAY! I was very happy since I know that when being induced it can sometimes lead to complications and become a difficult L&D. Something Adam, my mom and myself didn't want to happen. From the time I went into labor until I delivered I was 12 hours total of labor but really only 3 hours of active labor with intense contractions. Me again- Adam must have snapped this at some point- this was probably right before my contractions started getting pretty intense..Sorry mom Im sure your reading this and saying why is that picture of me up?!

For most of my labor I was pretty active. Adam and I walked the halls of the maternity floor (I rather say "floor", than "ward"- ward sounds so unwelcoming), once my contractions were closer together and more intense I decided staying my room would be best. We headed back to my room, and I used a birthing ball for a good portion of my labor too. For me a birthing ball was amazing. It was such a good tool to use during my labor. I was able to bounce on it and it helped with contractions. Now while walking, and using a birthing ball were great- Adam was the best thing to happen during my labor. I would not have been able to have such a great experience without him.He helped make sure I continued doing the breathing exercises that we had been working on the last few months, and they helped during the really big contractions when I felt I could no longer physically stand. With each major contraction, Adam and I would breathe through them. At some point I had asked for something to help with the pain I was having- which in my opinion only made me feel dizzy. I wouldn't take this with any future L&D's because I really didn't like it. There was some confusion as to how far a long I was...the DR on call kept saying I was only 2cm dilated. So when I asked my nurse for an epidural she kept telling me how normally they wont give it to anyone before 4cm because it can slow down labor. By this point I said I didn't care because I was very uncomfortable. My nurse decided to check and see how far I was (even though the DR had just checked) and she said "Theres no way your only 2cm, your more like 6cm! Once she said that she called back in the DR, and they called for the epidural to come up. By the time they came up with the epidural, Adam had to hold me for them to give me the epidural. Once I had the epidural, I was checked again and I was already at 10cm. I jumped from 2cm to 6cm to 10cm in the matter of like 40 min. at most. I went from 6 to 10cm in such a short time that my epidural never fully worked the way its intended to. Right when my nurse had said I was at 6cm I asked if she could call MY Dr in. Now, I forgot to mention this but my DR had come up to see me around 4:00pm and said even though he wasn't on call he would come in to deliver me no matter what. He only lives 10min. from the hospital. So when I was told I was at 6cm I asked her to call him. When they said I was at 10cm, my nurse said she was going to run to use the bathroom since she didn't know how long I would be pushing for... I didn't realize women could be pushing for several hours..bad Alisa for not reading up on that, oops! Right before I was about to push my nurse (who I should probably use by name..Nurse Miranda) explained how to push and I vaguely remember what she said because I fell asleep while she was talking. Is this normal? Im not sure but I felt so calm even though I was still in a lot of discomfort. I was also VERY hungry- I had a sandwich around 12pm, and about 5pm one of the other nurses said I was allowed to have chicken broth, jello and tea. And in between that and after my "dinner" I was allowed to have as many ice pops as I wanted. Thank god Adam brought 4 boxes to the hospital!! Anyway, by 12:40 in the morning I was HUNGRY..and tired..and just wanted my baby. So when Miranda said I could be pushing for a few hours I told her there was no way because I was so hungry that I wanted to eat..food at this time? Really Alisa-is what Im pretty sure she was thinking, along with my mom and Adam. Who thinks of food as their about to start pushing?? Hey- I was hungry! Time to get that baby out of here! Guess what Logan your being evicted! Miranda looked at Adam and my mom told each of them to hold one of my legs to help with pushing. My mom had no idea she was going to be in the room but everything progressed so fast that, that's just how it was going to be..so with my mom and Adam each on one side of me and Nurse Miranda telling me to breathe and start pushing..my little boy was on route to coming out! One push, two push.... DR. Bernstein walks in any takes over! Yay my favorite DR ever made it like he said he would to deliver the baby...three push,four and he's here! Logan Leigh Chase came out on the 4th push and in under 10min. Did I mention that my epidural never really worked? It only helped with some discomfort. I felt most of my labor...oh well who cares, now bring me my precious baby! Logan was brought straight to me as per my request...I didn't care how "gooey" he was- I just pushed out my beautiful little boy after carrying him for 9 months I better be the first person holding him, theres time later for him to be cleaned up. Adam cut the cord..and after holding him for a little- the baby nurse took him to get cleaned up. At this point Adam and my mom were taking a million pictures and I was eating oatmeal..because yes, I was still hungry. Good thing I packed food with me! And here's our sweet boy :)

Best DR ever! Dr. Kevin Bernstein

Best Nurse Ever! Nurse Miranda...and even though I might not have expressed how amazing this nurse truly was - I'll say it here. She was! She was another factor into me having such an amazing L&D.

First family photo!!

Family photo + Mimi!

Right after these pictures I breast fed Logan for the first time. After his first feeding I put him in his bassinet, and this new mommy and daddy passed out! We slept for a good two hours before Miranda woke me up again to feed Logan. Sometime around 7am I was eating and took my first shower since I had delivered and it felt AMAZING. Probably the best shower I have ever taken in my life... Overall I feel like I had the most amazing experience with my nurse, DR, family support..and just with myself. I felt so positive about everything and am truly so happy how it went. Well thats all for now..this mama is tired and Im going to get some sleep before Logan wakes up for his late night feeding.