Logan is here!

Logan Gregory arrived safely at 7:32 am on Saturday, May 10, 2008. He weighed 8 lbs. 12 oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long.

Logan came fast and furious. We were actually supposed to induce labor at 9:30 that same morning, because our doctor was afraid that by the time I felt contractions it would be too late to get to the hospital. She was almost right... :) Four days before Logan was born, I was already 6cm dilated and almost fully effaced but hadn't felt contractions yet. So, the plan was to induce a week before my due date to avoid safety problems. I was feeling really uneasy about it because I felt a little like we were messing with God's timing, but several people were praying for me and Logan was my hero for coming on his own! :)

I woke up at 5:00 Saturday morning to use the bathroom and couldn't get back to sleep. Then my lower back started to ache. I wasn't sure if it was because we did a lot of walking the night before, so I woke Adam up and had him massage my back. It didn't help and I felt kind of funny, so I finally said at about 5:30..."I think we need to go now.". Sweet little Ava was still sleeping, so I called my mom, she was here within 15 minutes and we got in the car...where I finally started to feel regular intervals of pain. They became more and more painful SO quickly...I was afraid we weren't going to make it. When we got to the hospital, we parked under the drive-up awning and checked in. They got me right into a bed, determined I was about 8cm dilated and called the anesthesiologist. He and the doctor arrived at the same time and both looked at me like, "What do you want to do?" I asked the doctor what would be best...get the epidural and wait for it to take effect before pushing or just get it over with. Well, in her honest opinion, since I was by this time 9cm dilated, she thought if I could make it through a few more contractions we could get this baby out. That's about the point we realized that we still hadn't parked the car in the parking lot or gotten my bag or the cameras. Adam ran to take care of that and I got ready to push.

So, after three excruciating pushes and 15 minutes later, we welcomed our big boy into the world! We were in the hospital a total of 1 hour and 3 minutes before he was born. :) I never thought I could do a completely natural birth (especially for an 8 lb. 12 oz. baby) but I'm pretty proud of myself. It was almost hard to believe he was already there...it went so fast.

The hospital was very nice and our stay was pleasant. It was also pretty nice that the labor went so quickly...we only really spent two days there instead of a full day of labor PLUS the two days required. Ava was sick the day Logan was born, so really didn't get to interact much with Logan :(, but the next day (Mother's Day) was great! She got to meet him and start to get used to him. She's doing great with him so far. She'll bring him things and talk about him and kiss him. She's a great big sister, and he's a good baby! He just goes with the flow so far and I have to say that Adam and I are a little more experienced this time around...which probably helps a great deal.

And other Ava news...she also used the potty for the first time the day after Logan came home, and has used it five more times since! What a big girl! We're so proud!

We thank all of our family and friends for your prayers, support and love! We can't wait for all of you to meet Logan Gregory!