Quinn's Birth Story

November 13, 2018

Two months later and I'm finally sharing Quinn's birth story. Life has been kind of nuts and this post has taken me way longer than anticipated, but better late than never right?

Our day started like any other day. It was a Monday morning, Adam's alarm went off, he snoozed it twice, got up, showered and started getting ready for his day at work. I usually sleep in a little after he wakes up and this day was no different except I slept horribly. I was up from about 2am-6am panicking about work and maternity leave and the whole bringing a baby into the world thing.

Adam got out of the shower at about 630am and woke me up and as soon as I sat up in bed, it felt like I peed a little.
Before we jump in to the nitty gritty of labor and delivery, this is your fair warning that I use words like placenta and water breaking and umbilical cord. Continue at your own risk :) 
Let's back up a little. I had been planning Quinn's delivery since I got pregnant. Her due date was September 11 and honestly, I didn't want to have a baby on 9/11. The second I found out I was pregnant, I was hell bent on not having a 9/11 baby. Everyone knew; my doc, my friends, my parents, we were not having a baby on 9/11.

At my 39 week appointment, I scheduled my induction date for the night of 9/11, therefore guaranteeing I didn't have her on 9/11, but instead on 9/12. Call me crazy but I had it all planned. My parents and Adams parents were driving to Colorado the morning of 9/11. My maternity leave was set to start on 9/11. We were all set. I was even scheduled to go to my first moms bible study on September 10.

But, at 6:30am on September 10, my water broke and everything I thought I planned went straight out the window. Being this is my first baby, my expectation of having my water break was like a scene in the movies. You know in Sex and the City when Mirandas water breaks all over Carries shoes and ruins them? Not even close to my experience. I wasn't even sure my water actually broke. I went to the bathroom and more came out but still I wasn't convinced. It just kind of feels like leaking. At this point, Adam is googling things, calling his mom and I was on the phone with our doc.

My doc said it sounded like it broke, but to be sure I should head to the hospital and have them test it. So Adam and I rushed around the house like a maniac, letting the dogs out, making their food, curling my hair, ya know the important stuff. I made some peanut butter toast, Adam threw our hospital bags in the car and we were off.

I remember on the drive to the hospital thinking holy cow, our lives are about to change in the biggest way possible and could Adam drive a little faster. I could barely eat my toast but my best friend Lyndsey told me I have to eat before the hospital because then you can't eat anymore. I forced down two pieces of toast as we pulled into the hospital.

7:30 am: We were at the hospital and I was getting hooked up to monitors. After some brief monitoring and some tests, it was confirmed, my water broke! It kind of amazed me how casual this whole process was. I mean, hello, I'm pretty sure I'm in labor, why weren't people freaking out? I sure was.

At 9am, they moved us over to a labor and delivery room and I got hooked up again. Do you know how bad it hurts to have this IV put in? It goes in the top of your wrist and damn, it hurts like hell! Then they checked me. I was 2cm dilated {pause} 2 centimeters. This meant I hadn't dilated in over 2 weeks. I had been walking and eating dates like it was my job and hadn't dilated any. My doc came in and said, "Honey, this is gonna be a long day, I bet we don't have a baby until midnight or later." What I heard, "After all your planing, you're going to have her on September 11."

And ya know what? I didn't care one bit. I couldn't care less. I wanted her to be here so badly. All my planning was out the window, we were having our baby and whatever day that happened on would be the best day of our lives. Quinn was making her debut when she wanted and I can already tell this little one is going to be a strong-headed little babe.

We called our parents and they were on the road! Luckily, my brother was in town for work so he took an Uber to the hospital and was able to be there for the entire day and night!

At noon, they hooked me up to Pitocin to get me moving. Friends was on the TV, we were all chatting about the normal stuff and for a minute I kind of forget about the labor part. By 1:30pm my contractions were 4 minutes apart but I was still only 3 cm. The pain wasn't horrible at this point, just kind of felt like intense period cramps. The cool part was the monitor I was attached too could tell me when they were ramping up so I could kind of mentally prepare. I figured, if this was labor it was a piece of cake.

How wrong was I.

The day passed so quickly. Unfortunately. I was not progressing as quickly. We watched a lot of day time TV, chatted, I napped. It was such a cool and surreal day. I just kept trying to soak in every moment. Honestly, when I look back sometimes I wish I could do the day again. The feeling of knowing our lives were about to change was such an insane feeling, one I will never forget.

By mid-afternoon the pain was getting worse but I was still not dilating quickly. I sat on a bouncy ball, laid with my legs on a ball, Adam massaged my back and I was trying to be tough but man, labor hurts! Adams parents arrived around 4pm, it was so nice to have them there, especially his mama. She's a nurse and made me feel so much better about how I was feeling and what was going on.

630pm and I couldn't take the pain anymore. I called for an epidural. The fun thing about epidurals is that is requires more stuff. Like a catheter and you aren't allowed to walk around anymore (I mean, your legs are numb, but still). But wow, what a life changer. A lot of people asked if it hurt and honestly no. I was in pretty intense pain, as if my back was in a vice, so 5 minutes of getting it put in was totally worth it. Plus, they numb the spot first and I could barely feel it. The IV they put in first thing in the AM hurt worse. After the meds were in I took the best nap of my life as the lower half of my body warmed and numbed.

8pm: 4cm dilated. The doc was right, this baby was not coming today.

1145pm: 6 cm dilated. So starving. I get why they don't let you eat all day, but sheesh. I had about 4 jello's and 6 popsicles. All I wanted was a burger!

1230am: My parents arrived! Hooray! At this point, Adam's parents had gone to the hotel to get some zzz's, my brother was asleep on the couch and we were all very sleepy.

3am on September 11: I was 9 cm dilated! I've never been so excited in my life. She was coming soon!

I kicked everyone out of the room at this point except Adam and the moms. Sorry dads and brother!

4am: My contractions were brutal. I was in the worse pain ever and called for the anesthesiologist. When they give you your epidural, they give you a boost button to allow you to give yourself more pain meds. The boosts weren't working. The anesthesiologist came in and said, "honey I'm gonna make your legs go numb for 3 hours." He gave me more meds and I took another 30 minute nap. God bless my anesthesiologist.

630am: I was 10cm and my contractions were like every 2 minutes. My nurse suggested since I had been in active labor for so long that I should rest an hour before pushing. Thankfully my mother in law was there and shaking her head "no" and that I should just get to pushing. Honestly, I think if I would have rested, I would have lost all my adrenaline. I said let's get to pushing and we were off.

When I was planning labor, I envisioned me and Adam in this blissful room listening to music as I labored and brought Quinn into the world. I didn't want anyone else in the room.

How did labor actually happened? I asked my mom and mother-in-law to stay to help hold my legs while Adam stood near my head to coach and get me through. I thought I would be too embarrassed, but the nurses said having people hold my legs would help get her out faster and at that point, whatever or whoever could help get this baby out was welcomed to stay. I'm so glad they stayed.

It's weird because in that moment  my feelings were pain, anticipation and excitement. That feeling of embarrassment was the last emotion I ever felt. I was no longer concerned with people seeing me or what was happening down there. We were all so focused on Quinn coming in to the world that all the other details kind of disappeared.

I won't get into the gory details of pushing, but I pushed for 10 seconds, 3 times in a row, with 10 seconds off and then I'd go again. 10 seconds has never felt longer in my life. Not going to lie, pushing is hard work. 40 minutes later, Quinn was here!

As you all know, we kept Quinn's name a secret our entire pregnancy and we didn't even tell our docs when we got to the hospital. So as soon as she came out, the doctor asked her name and we both said Quinn. It was so cool to surprise our moms with Quinn's name as she was born. It was well worth the wait.

7:09am: Quinn arrived and it was the most perfect moment of my life. Adam cut the cord, they handed her to me on my chest and I looked up at Adam and just started bawling.

There is nothing as amazing as seeing your baby for the first time. 24 hours of labor has nothing on the pure joy it is to finally hold your baby. I'd do it 100x again.

Let's get to the pictures.

Thank you all for all your love and support over the last 2 months. It's crazy to believe 2 months has already passed since this incredible day. We're so in love with miss Q and can't wait to watch her grow.

I promise I'll be back to some more full time blogging soon :)

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