Uncle Michael and Logan

Sleep is a GOOD thing

We are still working to get Logan on a sleeping schedule that works for all three of us, but in the meantime we still enjoy the times when he naps…no matter what time it is!

Here’s a few new snapshots of the little man sawing some logs.

It a little hard to see, but in the above picture Dakota is napping on the couch with Logan.  Cute?  Definitely!

Logan Digs His Naps

Logan is a decent sleeper most of the time, but I find it funny that he naps during the day like a champ for 3-4 hours at a time.  At night, I’m lucky if I can get him to sleep for 2-3 hours.

Here’s a picture of our little guy catching a few zzz’s on the sofa…

The Minton 5

Today Scott, Amy and the kids came by for a visit.  It had been over a year since I had seen Jayden, Alyson and Tyler and needless to say they’ve definitely grown since we were home last July for our Summer visit.

At our new house, there is a park that is less than a block away.  So before dinner, we headed down there to let the kids run around for a little while.  Here are a few pictures of the kids…

Our Bubba

I can’t stop taking pictures of our little guy.  Hopefully you like these as I’m trying some of the functions on my camera that I haven’t previously used.

I’ve also started to take some videos of our little man, but none of them are worthy of posting to the blog yet.  Stay tuned…

Baby Hands and Feet

Logan is amazing…I can’t believe how perfect he is!

Logan’s First Bath

Last night Logan experienced his first bath.  His umbilical cord fell off Saturday night, so we were excited to give him his first real bath.  I wasn’t expecting him to like it, as he’s not a big fan of being naked so I decided to capture a few post-bath pictures so we could capture the moment…

Our Little Peanut…

Love this picture!

Logan’s First Week

Where does the time go?  I can’t believe that Logan is now two weeks and one day old!  Here are some pictures and thoughts regarding his first week with us…

Once Mike cut the umbilical cord and the nurses checked him out, I got to hold hold Logan for the first time.  It was bittersweet, almost sureal.  I hadn’t pushed for more than 20 or 25 minutes, but after being in active labor for 10 or so hours and going two days past my due date…this was the moment I had been looking forward to.

After the nurses cleaned him up, Mike got to hold the baby while Dr. Johnson finished things up.  

Here are some pictures of the proud grandparents and my brother holding Logan.

Here are some additional snap shots of the little guy…

Logan makes some weird hand jesters.  Here he’s hanging out in his bouncy seat.

Chillin’ with Dad on the patio in my parents backyard.

Logan enjoys being swaddled as well as hanging out in his swing.  He’s taken many a naps in there…

The dogs have been great with Logan.  They like to lick his feet, hands and head when they can.   Dakota is definitely more emotionally connected to the baby as she gets visibly concerned when he cries.

He’s a great sleeper…especially during the day.  Thankfully we’ve got ourselves into a routine, but the first week was tough.  He was getting up every hour or so..ugh!

Logan Quinn Minton

Around 1am on Wednesday August 1st, I started to feel the contractions.  I didn’t wake up Mike as they were 20-30 minutes apart at that time.  As the night continued on, they started to get closer together.  I tried to get as much sleep as possible, fading in and out.  Around 5am Mike woke up and I let him know what was going on.  At that point my contractions were 10 minutes or so apart.  As the morning progressed the time in between my contractions started to decrease, but there was no real consistency to them.  I’d have two or three contractions in a row that were 6 or 7 minutes apart and then go 10 or 12 minutes before the next one.

After dropping the dogs off at day care, we continued to monitor my progress.  I took a shower and ate a little breakfast.  We proceeded to watch a little tv while we waited for things to happen.  After about an hour, we headed to Laurel Park to do a little walking.  We spent a good two hours walking around the mall, running into Gina Bennetts while there and also grabbing lunch.  Mike enjoyed coney dogs while I just snacked on some cheese fries as I really didn’t have an appetite.  Little did I know that this would be my last meal until 2:30am.

As my contractions strengthen, we called the doctors office to see what we should do.  They told us to head into the hospital and that they would call the doctor on call to let him know we were heading in.  Since I didn’t have my hospital bag with me, we headed home first.  It was around 1:30 or 2pm when we arrived at the hospital.  I was nervous that they would send me home as my contractions were still somewhat irregular, but after checking me out they decided to admit me.

After settling in my room, we met our first nurse Julie.  She was very up beat and keep the mood light.  After monitoring my contractions for a little while, they figured out that the external monitors weren’t working well as it kept shifting on me, so Dr. Johnson put the internal ones as well as breaking my water.  I’m not going to lie, the breaking of my water was one of the most uncomfortable things I’ve experienced, but it didn’t compare to the first contraction that I had once it had been broken.  The pain associated with my contractions moving forward is what helped me decide to have an epidural.  At this point there was a nursing shift change and Liz stayed with us from this point through the delivery.

I was now 4cm dilated, which meant I still had a way to go.  Although I was okay with the unknown time frame as I felt an immediate relief once the epidural kicked in.  I could still feel the pressure, but the pain was gone.   What was interesting is that depending on my position, Baby Minton’s heart rate would vary.  At one point I could only lay on my left side as laying on my back or right side slowed the heart rate dramatically.

Around 9pm the doctor decided to start a pitocin drip and around 11pm they turned down the epidural in hopes that I would feel like pushing.  Never having gone through labor before, I was prepared for the pain but I didn’t realize how hard it was going to be.  I pushed 5 or 6 times before Dr. Johnson decided to use the forceps to help deliver Baby Minton.  Unfortunately the umbilical cord was wrapped around his arm as well as his body, so time was not something we could afford. 

The actual pushing started just after 11:30 and at 11:59pm on August 4th Logan Quinn Mintonwas welcomed into the world.  Mike assisted the doctor by helping hold his head during the delivery and then cutting the cord.  They immediately put the baby on my chest and felt a sense of relief as he was absolutely perfect with a full head of dark hair.

After they cleaned up the baby Mike was able to hold him for a few minutes while the doctor sewed me up.  Thankfully I didn’t have to have an episiotomy, but I did end up with a few stitches.  After spending a little time with the baby, we invited my Mom, Dad and Michale in to meet Logan.  They stayed for approximately an hour before heading home around 2:30am. 

We finally got to sleep around 3:30, although it didn’t really matter as they woke me up every hour following the deliver to check my vitals as well as Logan’s.  I figure we got about 3 hours of sleep that night.  Not much…but it was enough.

The next day, we spent time getting to know our little man.  We also had a handful of visitors including my Grandma and Mom, Steve, Missy and the girls as well as Patti and Jim and last, but not least, Jen.

We decided that it made sense to have Mike go back to the house to get a good night sleep.  I thought I was going to get some sleep too, but Logan was a little fussy.  Michelle was our night nurse and she was fantastic.  Very helpful, especially as I was still technically learning to breastfeed my son.  Around 2am I finally fell a sleep and was back up before 6am.  Oh well, I guess it was good training for the late night feedings that would soon be my reality.

The next morning Mike arrived at the hospital around 8:30.  We knew that they were going to send us home, but we needed to wait for Logan to get circumcised first.  Dr. Winslow performed the procedure and by 2pm we were out the door!  On our way home I wondered how I would adjust to having a newborn to take care of. 

The good news is that both Mike and I have adapted well and neither of us can imagine our lives without our little bubba.