And then there were three...

He was ten weeks sooner than expected but Chad Logan Hatch joined our family on June 11th. Not sure why, Chad is assuming Logan just has his mom's inpatients and didn't want to wait any longer. But it was quite the day yesterday regardless of the reasons why.

It all started last Sunday night when I started feeling some serious cramping, I just assumed it was another "joy" of pregnancy that I was fortunate enough to experience. After experiencing them for the entire night, I called my mom to ask her what the deal was. She than informed this pregnancy greenie that what I was experiencing was more contractions than they were cramps. And she suggested I call my doctor. (This is kind of a big deal coming from my mom. She rarely suggests getting a doctor involved unless it's serious. So when she tells me to call...I call.) When I called the receptionist told me the doctor was busy but I could leave a message and she'd call me back when she could. So...I relayed to her that I had been having contractions for the past 16 hours. After I finished my explanation and she asked a few questions she asked me to hold, and then I was talking to the nurse. The nurse asked many of the same questions and then after hearing my answers said..."hold on"...the next thing I know Dr. Knowlton is on the phone telling me that she wanted to see me that morning. "Great", I thought. I've already had a gestational diabetes scare now I get to deal with the possibility of pre-term labor/bed rest?? Joy.

When I went in she did some tests and concluded that I was not in labor, that I hadn't dialated at all and that I was most likely experiencing a torn muscle or ligament. ...I've torn a muscle before...it was a completely different kind of pain. BUT I wasn't dialated SO...I took that as my answer of well must just be braxton hicks contractions.

Over the next couple of days I took it easy and they mellowed out some so I concluded that I was just going to be one of those lucky few who get to have contractions throughout their entire 3rd trimester.

This past weekend we went up to one of our friends cabins which was about 30 minutes outside of Evanston, Wyoming. I figured I would either hurt at home or hurt here. It didn't make much of a difference. So we went up and were having a good time and then those darn contractions started again. These were much like the beginning of the weeks experience so I figured we were in the same boat. Well...Sometime around 2 in the morning on Saturday I noticed I had started to bleed a little. ...That was new. Neither Chad nor I could sleep so I continued to try to walk off the contractions and Chad was up and worring about me. Well...at 3:00 I went to the bathroom again and noticed the bleeding had worsened and I told Chad we should probably head home. Chad threw our bags in the car and we started traveling down the down the long dirt road out of the Unitas. We made it to the bottom and realized we needed a key to open the gate to get to the main road (insert swear here)! We tried calling our friend in the wilderness...no reception. We attempted for ten minutes to find the cabin to get a key to get out. Chad (fight or flight mode) pounded on the door of a cabin that had a truck in the drive way. After about 3 minutes of knocking on the door a light came on and an old mad with whitey tighties came out to see what the commotion was all about. Chad asked the man to save his wife's life and let him use his key to get out the gated cabins. He let us use his key and we finally were on the paved road by 4 am.

Right out of the gate Chad was doing 100. Once we got cell phone reception we decided it was time to find out where the Wyoming hospital was and it made logical sense to stop by and get checked out. I called my mom and asked for her advice. She thought it would be a good idea to stop. Once we got to Evenstan we both felt a strong impression to keep driving. By the time we hit Park City the contractions were horrific and almost unbearable. These were much worse than anything I have ever felt. Chad increased the speeds to 115 though the canyon and ran every light in Salt Lake until we reached the hospital (somehow someway we didn't get pulled over). We got to LDS hospital a little before 6 and we were immediately taken to a room to be checked. The nurse checked me and I was dilated to an 8! I was so upset and knew it was too early for our baby to come. The next thing we knew they were calling our doctor and preparing me to deliver the baby.

I got an epidural and began to push. After about only 10 minutes of pushing the doctor said the babies head was just about there just a few more pushes. The next push the doctor says this is not the babies head and the baby was breech. Logan's bum felt much like a head because it was hard. At that point the doctor gave us our options of c-section or continued pushing. After weighing our options we decided to go with a c-section. The stress the baby would go though would most likely cause his brain to bleed and major stress on his spine. The risk of brain damage/brain bleeds were high given his tiny size. Specialist were called in and surgery started quickly.

The entire life flight NICU team was set up in the room ready to take the baby due to the fact that LDS typically didn't handle babies who were born before 32 weeks, and Logan was 30. Baby Logan was handed off and the team began to immediately assist with breathing and support. They were absolutely incredible. They spent about 3 hours stabilizing him and getting him ready to move down to the NICU unit in Murray (yes they moved my baby to another hospital!). Chad stayed with Logan while they worked on his little body. Once I was stitched up and moved to my recovery room I got to see him for about 2 minutes (literally) and then they took him. Hardest thing ever...a lot of tears. I didn't get to see him the rest of the day. Chad went down for 4 hours to stay with him. It was a LONG LONG day for him.

Logan received surfactant and was on a incubator bronchial breathing machine (cant remember the exact name). The doctors/nurses are amazing and are watching him closely. Logan was 16 inches long and weighs 3 lbs 11 ounces. He is a fighter! We love him so much! We are glad he is here but he could have been a little more patient until we at least were not camping. He is beautiful and has his mommy's toes and his daddy's hair.