Logan Alexia Saevarsdottir...

Our baby girl made her debut into the world on Sunday, May 10, 2009 at 2:38pm- on Mother's Day of all days!!! What an unbelievable, awesome, totally perfect, precious Mother's Day gift!
Getting her here was quite a challenge to say the least, so I guess I will start from the beginning.
I had been having Braxton Hicks contractions for about 2 weeks on and off. On Saturday, May 9 me and Sy had planned to go to Reykjavik to spend the day with his parents and have dinner with them that evening. We got to the city at about 4:00pm that afternoon and we all decided to go for a walk because the weather was so nice. The 'walk' turned more into a short hike, as we were walking small hills, etc. I was exhausted after the walk. I started having contractions at dinner that evening at about 8:00pm. Of course I was thinking that these were the same ole Braxton Hicks contractions that I had been having. After dinner I decided that I wanted to see the new X-men movie- Wolverine. Me and Sy decided to go to see the 10:00pm showing of the movie that night. My contractions continued throughout the entire movie and on our way home to Selfoss and all during the night as I tried to sleep. Needless to say, I did not get any sleep that night. I got up at about 4:30am Sunday morning and decided to Goggle what it would feel like when my water broke. I felt as though it was time because my contractions had never lasted this long before. After my research I laid back down and tried to sleep.
At about 7:30am I felt a gush of liquid flow into my undergarments. My reaction woke Sy and I told him that I thought that my water had broke. He got up and called the midwife and told her my symptoms. She told me that I could come to the hospital whenever I was ready. I took a shower and Sy gathered our things and we headed to the hospital. We got to the hospital at about 10:00am.
The midwife that was on call that morning was Bothildur. Unfortunately, we had not gotten the opportunity to meet her during any of our doctor's appointments. She hooked me up to a machine for about 15 minutes to monitor my contractions and mine and the baby's heartbeats. She then checked to see if I had dialated any and determined that I was dialated 3-4. She then moved us to the room where I would deliver the baby. This entire time my coontractions were getting more and more intense.
Once we got to the delivery room I immediately decided that I wanted to get into the hot tub, since throughtout my entire pregnancy hot water always helped to ease the pain of the contractions. I stayed in the hot tub for the next 2.5 hours. At one point I thought that Logan might be born in the hot tub, but I got to a point to where NOTHING was helping the pain. We all decided that it might help if I changed scenery for a while so I got out of the hot tub and went to the bed. Bothildur checked me to see how much I had dialated- I was at about a 7. She also broke my water at that point- which wasn't broken as I had previously had thought. When she broke my water the floodgates opened- literally! Tons of warm water gushed between my legs for what seemed like an eternity. Not only that but my contractions began to become excruciatating. I have NEVER felt such pain. The midwife tried accupuncture, laughing gas, changing my positions to comfort me and NOTHING was working. Sy was trying to be as encouraging as he possibly could but to no avail. I was in pain!
About this time, my mother-in-law (Elsa) and sister-in-law (Saedis) came into the room. They began to caress and massage me and fan me (I was so hot!). Sy would also fan me and give me water which provided VERY temporary comfort.
After about an hour or so in the bed, Bothildur came to check for dialation again and I basically told her no! I did not not want her to touch me ( I was not in my right mind at this point not to mention I was soooooo exhausted)because everytime she checked me it seemed like the contraction that came after was ten times worse. Well she didn't listen- I was just about dialated to 10.
At that point, Bothildur began to prepare the room for the birth of the baby- it was about 2:00pm. I began to push at about 2:00pm and it was the hardest thing that I have EVER had to do in my ENTIRE life. After about 10 minutes of pushing, Bothildur kicked Elsa and Saedis out of the room. She really needed me to focus and she felt like they were maybey babying me and showing a little too much compassion (Me and Sy deteremined after the pregnancy that Bothildur is kindof a 'get-it-done, no non-sense' type of midwife- which is exactly what I needed!). I continued to push for another 10 minutes or so and at that point I was really beginning to feel like I couldn't get her out. Twenty minutes of pushing seemed like an eternity and I soooooo completely exhausted and I just felt like I did not have any energy or strength left. After every push I felt like I couldn't do it again, but somehow I did. After about 25 minutes the midwife could tell that Logan was getting weak and her heartbeat was slowing down. She didn't tell me that, but she and Sy knew that the baby was in distress. Sy went into 'you-can-do-it-Dasha' mode and he became my biggest motivator/cheerleader. After his little pep talk speech I took a good rest in-betweeen the contractions and tried to muster as much strength as I could. When I felt the next contraction come I pushed with ALL my might and Sy got really excited and told me that he could see her head ( I thought to myself finally some progress which was a huge motivator). After that and another three good pushes- she was out.
When she came out the umbilical cord was wrapped around her head twice, which is way she was getting weak. But she was perfectly fine and no harm was done. She did cry right away for about 5 minutes. I, on the other hand, did not cry. I was so happy that she was out and I think that I was too exhausted to shed tears. All my energy was gone!
The whole natural birth experience is one that I don't think I will EVER forget. I remember all the mothers that told me that once they place that baby in your arms- how you forget all about the pain. Well, all I have to say to that is- LIE, LIE, LIE!!!!!!!!! Was my baby worth the pain? YES!...Will I ever forget the pain? NO! Me and Sy have always said that we want at least three children. At this point in time- Logan may be an only child!
I have a whole new respect for mother's, especially single mother's...I have a whole new respect for my body! It is truly amazing how God created women to experience and partake in the process of childbirth- how our body'sustain this little life for nine months and then produce milk to sustain it after it's born. I am continually amazed and blown away by the awesomness of God.
Well our little angel is here and she is truly precious! We stayed in the hospital 4 days after she was born. We had planned to stay 2 days, but ended up staying an extra 2 days because Logan was juandis and had to sleep under a heat lamp for 24 hours. She is better now and is doing great. She basically eats, sleeps, and poops- the life of a newborn!
We went back and forth on her name for many. many months. My mom actually came up with Logan (thanks momma!), which I love ( I love unisex names for girls), but Sy really didn't but into it at first. He wanted something more 'girly'. He loved the name Alexia, which is really 'girly' and its also a family name for him (his great-grandmother and his sister Saedis both have the name Alexia). So we decided on Logan Alexia Saevarsdottir. Logan weighed 7lbs-8oz when she was born and was 20 inches long. Her daddy and I think that she is the most beautiful baby in the world- we could be just a bit biased!