My last post said 11 days until baby day but that turned out to be incorrect. This little guy decided to grace us with his presents a little bit early.
August 20th was a very special and wild day for us. That morning we got dressed in our Sunday best to attend the funeral of Gladys Elkins, Logan's grandmother. She was an incredible person who lived a wonderful life. Her sweetheart passed away just a year or so after Logan and I were married so she has lived alone for almost 10 years. She was one of the happiest people I have ever known. She always greeted me with a smile and a hug. I know when he was growing up she was a really awesome grandmother to Logan. She did many things to keep her family close and give them opportunities to bond.
The funeral was a beautiful tribute to her. We took Ayden and Sophie with us and they really enjoyed listening to the stories told about her during the service.
After the funeral we got home just in time for me to run to my appointment with Dr Hall. I had met with him on Saturday morning because I was concerned about how swollen my feet and hands were. He wanted me to come back on Monday to check my blood pressure again and make sure it wasn't going up. But unfortunately (or fortunately for me) it had gone up quite a bit and the swelling had reached my face so he wasn't comfortable sending me home. He told me to get the kids squared away and meet him at the hospital in an hour.
We didn't have anything ready to go so we were in a mad dash to grab everything we needed and get the kids to Whitney's house. She is so wonderful, not only did she take them for the night, she took them to school the next morning, took them the next night, and took them to school the following day. She went above and beyond the call of duty!
We waited for Dr Hall for a while when we got the the hospital and didn't end up getting things started until around 7:30pm. He broke my water and started the pitocin. Then we just waited for a while. Laura and Jenny brought my Mom up and got there around 8:30. It was so fun to have them there! Jenny came when I had Ayden, tried to catch Sophie's birth but she came too fast, and had to miss Myla's because she was at the MTC with Trevor's brother. Laura has been in NY for all of my deliveries so it was so fun to have her there. And my Mom hasn't missed a birth and I knew she wasn't about to miss this one. Judy also came up which was so nice considering she had had such a crazy day.
Once I was 4 cm and the contractions were really getting intense I asked for the epidural. I always try to hold out as long as I can even though Logan says there's no reason to be a hero. I think he is much more calm once he knows I'm not in pain anymore. The first dose of the epidural only got me numb on the right side and I was still feeling intense pain on my whole left side. As the baby started to move downward I started to feel a lot of pain again so the Dr came in and gave me another dose of something stronger that made me incredibly numb. I didn't want to be that numb again but when you are in that much pain you don't really care what they have to do to make it go away.
Once I was able to relax things started to go pretty quickly. Around 11pm Dr Hall came in and we tried pushing for a little bit. He said the babies head was way up high since he was posterior and we decided to stop pushing for a little bit and let the contractions bring him down. I was disappointed because the pushing part has always been my strong point.
I was really wanting to have him on 8-20 and not 8-21 because I think it's a cool birthday. So the closer it got to midnight the more anxious I got. At 11:40 I asked Dr Hall if we could start pushing again. He was actually able to turn the babies head so that he could come down faster. I pushed and pushed with all my might. I had my Mom on one side softly caressing my leg, and Logan on the other offering words of encouragement. It was so wonderful. I remember looking at the clock at 11:55 while I was waiting for the next contraction and thinking I had less than 5 minutes!!
Well, I guess all the ab workouts paid off because Rife Logan Hammer was born at 11:57pm on August 20th 2012.
The first thing I said when I saw him was "Oh my gosh, he's huge and he looks like Ayden!"
He weighed 8 lbs 5 oz and he was 21 inches long. The Dr was surprised when the nurse told him that Rife's apgar score was 9/10. So right off the bat we knew he was perfect. Once he was cleaned off and I got to hold him I was just amazed at how perfect he was. I think because we didn't plan this one I just expected something to go wrong. At every turn I was prepared for bad news. But here he was, totally perfect.
Everyone got a chance to hold him. When my Mom was able to hold him for the first time it was a very special moment for me. I watched as she looked at him knowing that she won't be here to watch him grow up. Which made having her there that much more important. She had a special gift of strength to be able to be there that night. It was a miracle and something I will cherish forever.
Once I was in recovery I was able to get a little sleep which felt good, but I kept waking up and wanting to hold Rife. There is something so magical about a newborn.
We couldn't wait for the kids to come meet him so Logan checked them out for lunch and brought them to the hospital. It was really sweet because the first thing they both did when they got there was come up and give me a hug and ask if I was okay. Then they went to see the baby. Ayden said "he looks like me!"
They were so cute with him and so happy to finally meet their baby brother.
Myla was staying with the Halls so she came to visit with them and she was very sweet as well. I don't think she put it together at that moment but she definitely has since then. She knows that he is the baby that was in Mommy's tummy and she is so sweet and tender with him. I was worried she wouldn't like him but so far she just adores him.
We only stayed in the hospital for 24 hrs which seemed really short but Whitney had our kids so we figured we would sleep better at home anyway. So I got him dressed in his take home outfit and we loaded him up in his carseat. He looked so sweet all snuggled in.
We have had so many fun visitors and recieved so many wonderful gifts.
So far Rife has been a perfect angel. He sleeps at night, he hardly ever cries (unless you change his diaper) and he is an absolute joy to have in our home. I can't get enough of him. Sometimes I just sit and hold him while he sleeps because he's so peaceful. I am so blessed to have this beautiful baby in my home. I don't want him to grow up, I wish I could freeze time. I am usually so quick to just back into life and the routine, but his time have just lived on my bed in my pjs holding my little angel.
