After a long and productive day of kind of
getting stuff done, Zach and I had fallen asleep putting the kids to bed. I was laying on the floor next to Charlotte’s
bed when Zach woke me up at 11:00 PM. He
helped me up onto me knees when I noticed a strange wetness. Turns out my water broke. It was four days before my due date and I have never gone into labor or even gone into labor on my own, so it was a big surprise. So, we started to pack up for the hospital. I kissed the kids goodbye and told them what
was happening, but they barely gained consciousness. We drove off to the hospital with Jonathan and Jenna in charge.
Waiting and catching up on my journal - before the pain started
We got to the hospital at 12:30 AM and then we waited. And waited. I was only at a two when we got there and it took till 6 AM to get to a 3. I finally got the epidural around 6 AM and it
gave some relief, but it didn’t have the same amazing effect as with the other
deliveries.
I went in and out a bit at this point, because I hadn't
gotten much sleep, but they had to keep an eye on me with the medicine to make
sure it didn't have a bad effect. Also,
they had started to notice that the baby’s heart rate went down every time I
had a contraction. When they told me
about this, I got pretty worried. The
nurse told me that it was probably because the cord was wrapped around
his neck, and the contractions made it tighten, but since it went back up after
the contraction it was a sign that his brain activity was good. I still spent almost an entire hour staring
at the monitor watching the heart rate go down with every contraction and
freaking out a bit every time.
I got put on pitocin, which moved things along a little, but I had pretty much convinced myself that he was
never coming out. We had to wait a while
longer and the contractions were getting a little stronger. We actually had the sacrament brought to us
right before I delivered, which was interesting.
Once it was time it went fast. I only pushed once!
And then Maxwell Quinlan was born at 11:10 AM! The cord had been around his neck, but he was
completely fine, just a lot purple. They
sat up my bed higher than I have ever sat before and I could actually see him
come out, which was amazing. The doctor
cleared out his nasal passages and then they laid him right on me. He was so tiny and purple. His hands seemed huge for some reason and he
had such long fingers and nails. His
tiny little toes had little triangle shaped nails. I couldn’t believe how small he was! So tiny! Once they laid him on me he had stopped
crying. I held him and kissed him for
about ten minutes, then they took his measurements (7lbs 5oz and 21
inches). They were saying how he was
tiny but long.
He ate amazingly well when they gave him back. We just sat together while he ate and we chatted about his wonderfulness.
Zach went and got the kids and brought them to meet their new brother. They were crazy excited!
Charlotte and Maxwell
Sam and Maxi Q
Ben and the Mighty Quin
My boys
As Ben put it when he first saw him: "I was worried he wouldn't be as cute as he is. But he is cute. Three times cuter!"
