Quin's Birth Story

I'm starting Quin's birth story before he's born.

Monday, November 8th:
Ryan, Braidy and I went to see the doctor at 2:20. I saw a different doctor than "my" OB, but I'd seen this one twice before. My doctor would be out of town from the 10th to the 14th. The heartbeat was nice and strong, I measured right on, and she informed me that I was dilated to a 4 or 5! Holy cow! The Thursday before I was still at a ONE! She said she could bring me in that night to be induced, but my heart wasn't ready quite yet. (Looking back, I might should have said OK!) She says it could be that day, it could be a week. We leave thinking this baby could be here any minute!

Monday - Friday, November 12th:
Pretty much everyday, we think "This might be the day!" Jess and Crockett come into town on Tuesday. Poppa comes into town on Tuesday also. Needless to say, they get to wait and wait and wait. Every night my contractions pick up some and are usually about 6 or 7 minutes apart for a while, then I fall asleep thinking I will wake up if it's the "real thing". Every morning when I wake up, I'm still pregnant! I got a wonderful massage on Thursday and Erin really worked on my ankles, but the contractions didn't really come like I thought they would. I'm getting impatient to say the least...although I know he'll come eventually, right?!

Saturday, November 13th:
Everyone leaves to head back home. Thinking maybe Quin was just waiting for everyone to get home before he decided to come. Not so much. Still waiting rather impatiently!

Thursday, November 18th:
Today is our doctor's appointment, I thought it might never come! I am dilated to a 4 (seems the other doc must have been a bit off, oh well) and Dr. Phillips gives me the option of "wanna go now?" I jump at the chance. I call Ryan and tell him to head home because we are going to go have a baby! Braidy went to LuLu's during my appointment, so I call them too. On my way out of the office I have a slight (ok, maybe major) meltdown. I am so ready to meet my little man, but at the same time I'm feeling all kinds of guilt. I really don't expect anyone to really understand unless you've had more than one baby. I felt like I needed to go say "bye" to Braidy and kiss him one last time. Looking back, it was kind of silly but wow, I was completely overcome with emotions on "losing" my first baby boy. I got to my mom's and he really made the situation better because he could have cared less about me leaving, he just wanted to watch Mickey Mouse. He was wondering why I was crying, but that was about it. I really wasn't sure I could love another baby as much as my first, but God has an amazing way of allowing your heart the ability of loving the new baby just as much. It's an instant and intense love that is just there.

Anyways, back to the BABY! Ryan and I pack the car up and head to UMC. We get there around 11:30, get checked in, changed into my HOT gown, and the IV's start, the monitoring starts and everything gets going. I see Dr. Phillips pretty quickly and she checks me and breaks my water. OUCH. Last time, I had my epidural before anything so I didn't feel anything. Oh well.


The anesthesiologist comes not much later and gives me my epidural (OUCH) and we are on our way. It takes a bit to kick in, but I'm feeling good very shortly after. Ryan was really upset that my legs never became fully numb, because his favorite thing to do is lift my feet up and drop them, where I Can't control them. He just gets a kick out of that! =) So, the epidural worked, but not completely. What felt like an hour later (really was about 3 hours later, at 4:00) Dr. Phillips came in and checked me and said "We're ready!"

I push for about an hour, and yes, I could feel pretty much everything. Again, last time I felt nothing, and I had a little baby...it was a cakewalk. This time was different and I felt like that lady on the movie who was screaming. Towards the end, I did. However, at 5:16 PM the sweetest little man came into the world weighing 8 pounds and 12 ounces. Daddy cut the umbilical cord and I heard everyone laugh/gasp as they weighed him. I would have never guessed I would be birthing an almost-9-pound baby! WOW! He was healthy as could be, and it was love at first sight.




He stayed in our room the whole time until we went to post-partum. I got to nurse right away (he did SO good!) and I just loved having him next to us for everything...his tests, his bath (daddy gave his first bath), they don't take him to the nursery for anything which I loved.


LuLu, Papaw, Braidy and John arrived soon after he was born and the boys were really excited. They met Baby Quin and got to open thier presents from him. They were excited to officially be big brothers!!




All in all, it was one of the best days of my life. We are completely in love with this new little man. He is just adorable and has a ton of dark hair. When he wears a hat it comes out of the bottom, already a little frat daddy =) He definitely resembles his big brother Braidy, although he outweighed him by 2 1/2 pounds. He's just the perfect addition to our family. Thank you God for another perfect miracle. Our hearts are overflowing!