Our Birth Story

I have several blog posts I’ve started and plan to share in the upcoming weeks about pregnancy and new mom life, but I think the topic I am asked about most often is my birth story. I know women absolutely love to share this because I think I heard about 5 bajillion of them while I was pregnant! Not that I minded. It was sort of like research! I won’t lie, I’m pretty modest and a little uncomfortable with sharing the intimate details, so I won't.  I also refuse to invite criticism and judgement from people who would’ve done things differently. You do you, boo.  SO, albeit a little out of my comfort zone, nonetheless, here’s how it went down.

We knew from about half way through my pregnancy that Logan was going to be a big boy. He started measuring a couple weeks ahead of schedule in his ultrasounds around 30 weeks, but we also knew that those measurements can be off by a pound or more, so we weren’t too concerned about it. At 36 weeks they were estimating he weighed almost 9 pounds, so we talked about inducing a little early and possibly scheduling a csection. I made it clear to my doctor that a csection was the absolute last option. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, but I did not want surgery because I am a big scaredy cat, nor did I want a longer hospital stay, again, because I am a big scaredy cat. 

So, the decision was made to induce labor on February 12th. We arrived at the hospital at 2:00p.m. and 5 doses of the cervix softening medicine and 20 hours later, I was *almost* at 1cm, he still hadn’t moved down, and it was looking like we were in for a longggg ride. At around 6:00p.m., on the 13th, we moved on to plan B which was a foley bulb catheter. Now, I thought I had heard of/googled every scenario possible...nope! If you’ve never heard of this, its like a balloon that goes in your cervix and gradually stretches it as they add water every hour. Yes, it is just as uncomfortable and eventually painful as it sounds. Around 10:00p.m. my water broke (although I was having a meltdown because I thought I had popped one of the balloons 🤦🏼‍♀️) and we thought things were going to finally start moving. 4 hours later, I was having all the major pains, but none of the progress. 36 hours in and I was at only 2cm. My doctor called my cervix “Fort Knox” which was definitely accurate. 

I was starting to realize things weren’t going to happen the way I had hoped they would.  Contractions were getting unbearable, but at 2cm I thought it was still way too early in the game for the epidural. I tried to suffer through as long as I could, but Matt finally sat up, looked at me and said “uhh, ya ready for that epidural yet!?” to which I sobbed back “YESSSS, hit the call button!” I thought the epidural was pretty painful for about 30 seconds, but totally worth it.  After that everything was sunshine and rainbows, but I started noticing my nurse paying a lot more attention to Logan’s heart rate monitor and my blood pressure. She must’ve checked it 100 times in 10 minutes. She left to call my doctor and came back around 3:20a.m. to inform us that Logan’s heart rate was dropping and he couldn’t handle pitocin or anymore labor. She said my doctor would be there in about 15 minutes to do a csection. I quickly texted our parents and Tara and tried my best to calm myself down with some prayer and breathing, but I was extremely nervous. At 3:45a.m. they wheeled me back to the OR, and the anesthesiologist talked me through everything. 15 minutes later they pulled him out and the whole room erupted with “whoa!” and “holy cow!” as our chunky boy made his entrance into the world and changed our lives forever.

Logan Rhys Lilly made his big debut on February 14th, 2020 at exactly 4:00a.m. He weighed 9lbs 5.2oz, and was 21 inches long. We were absolutely exhausted from almost 2 days of no sleep, so we spent the day napping and just soaking in and enjoying every first moment with our boy. The nurses nicknamed him “Romeo” and “BOB” for “big ol' boy.”  I’ve joked that everyone needs to quit fat shaming my boy! He is perfect in every way.

We did end up having to stay an extra day because his bilirubin was a little too high, but a couple of days in his Easy Bake oven and we were good to go!  We put him in his car seat, Matt pulled the car around, we loaded him up, anddddddd the car wouldn't start.  Seriously, are we lucky or what?  Jon had to run over to the hospital and give us a jump, but THEN we were on our way home to sweet baby Oz!

We feel as if we’ve been living in an alternate universe for the past 2 weeks. I hadn’t left the 2nd floor of Thomas Memorial Hospital from the 12th-17th. Then the only reason I've left home was to go back to the hospital to get my staples removed and take him to the doctor! I really haven’t even cared to leave the house though. I don't have the energy to put on real pants and shoes yet.  I want nothing more than to spend every moment with this perfect, tiny human Matt and I created. And I am woman enough to admit that he is indeed a mini Matt! Nevermind that I did all the hard work! ;)  But seeing them together is without a doubt the best thing I’ve ever witnessed. I am totally overwhelmed with how much I love them - makes my eyes water to even think about it.

We are so grateful for all of the love notes we have gotten about our funny valentine! Thank you for the food, gifts, visits, texts, etc. If you ever have the opportunity to have a Meal Train, do it.  Megan Hannah set one up for us and it has been THE BEST thing ever.  We are so, so thankful for all the people we have in our corner.

xo- Kellie