Logan's Birth Story

If you read our last post and have followed our blog throughout our pregnancy, you know there has never been a dull moment with this pregnancy. That remains true for the story of Logan's birth.

On Friday, December 2, I awoke to mild contractions. They weren't strong enough to time so I wasn't concerned. I planned on spending the day in bed just like my doctor instructed the day before while I was in labor and delivery with high blood pressure. Throughout the day, the contractions did not increase in strength or duration but the pain in my abdomen increased and remained constant. By the time Ryan got home from work, which was actually pretty late because he knew he had a lot of work to do to prepare for our induction Monday, I really wasn't feeling well. In addition to the pain in my abdomen, I couldn't eat anything and I had the chills. Even after a hot shower and Ryan being sweet enough to blow dry my hair, I was still freezing. Ryan thought to take my temperature and it was 101.4! Time to call my obstetrician!

We were instructed to come in to labor and delivery right away. We had a feeling this was it, so we took our overnight bags and baby supplies with us this time. As expected, my blood pressure was still high. What was unexpected was how high Logan's heart rate was: 200-218! That is so dangerous for such a little guy! After seeing Logan's heart rate and applying pressure to my abdomen, our OB determined I had an infection and our sweet boy would be delivered that night. Since his heart rate was already so high and there was no telling what type of infection I had or what the extent of it was, an induction was out of the question.

At 2:58am, on Saturday, December 3, Logan Patrick Joyce was born via c-section, weighing in at 9 pounds 1 ounce, and 21 1/2 inches long.

He was just perfect at birth! His APGAR scores were fantastic and the surgical staff was surprised at his size for being only 37 weeks, 5 days. They said there was no way he was going to fit through the birth canal (it was clear by the shape of his head that he had been trying) and we probably would have ended up with a c-section regardless.

I will never forget the look on Ryan's face when he saw our beautiful boy for the first time. At first, there was the look of shock and I could tell he had accidentally looked down at me, but then, his eyes became an entirely different shade of blue and I could see his smile glowing through his surgical mask. I knew he was in love. When the nurse brought him around the curtain, I started to cry. He was so beautiful. They pulled Ryan away from me briefly and had to remind him to take pictures of the things I couldn't see. The nurse took the camera to take our first family picture. As Ryan held our son, I just stared at him and said, "we can name him Logan, he looks like a Logan."

Since it was clear I had some sort of infection, Logan was taken to the NICU for a thorough examination. As the surgical team was finishing the procedure, a doctor returned from the NICU to tell us that Logan had taken a turn for the worse and his beautiful color had turned gray. They needed to do a spinal tap and begin antibiotic treatments immediately. We told them to do whatever they needed to do to make him healthy.

We were both terrified. Our brand new baby boy was in danger and we were helpless. I was still open on a surgical table! Even though Ryan knew he was just as terrified and feeling just as helpless, he said all the best things he could possibly say to keep me calm. Ryan was amazing. As they wheeled me away to recovery, Ryan joined me briefly. When Logan was about three hours old, Ryan was finally taken to see him. He was in an isolet with an IV in his heel and little stickers on his chest monitoring him. Aside from the tubes and wires, he looked good. When Ryan reached in to touch his hand, Logan squeezed and held on tight. We knew he was a fighter.


A few days later, we received the results of Logan's blood cultures and the culture from the placenta. It turned out I had a group B strep infection in the placenta. It affected Logan but didn't infect him, thank goodness. The infection wasn't present in any of my prior labs. My doctor thought the bacteria probably colonized somewhere inside me when I had a urinary tract infection in October and made their way into the placenta when I started dilating. The antibiotics I took for the UTI probably gave Logan enough resistance to fight the infection. Just like I said, we knew he was a fighter!

After 7 days in the NICU, Logan was released with a perfect bill of health!! We were so happy to bring our sweet, strong, little boy home. He is the best Christmas gift we could ever ask for!