Quinn James Arrives

We are in the hospital and patiently waiting discharge so I'm going to start our birth story minus a beautiful picture of him (since I don't have the ability to upload photos here)

Wednesday and Thursday nights were terrible, could not sleep and had bad back pain. The days were great though. Anna and I had a great week together just hanging out, playing with friends and enjoying mommy/Anna time.

4:00 - 4:45 On Friday afternoon, Anna and I headed to Harris Teeter to get a cake mix to make a special cake for Daddy since it was Friday, she was insistent that it was his birthday. When we got home we started cooking dinner and put the cake in the oven.

4:45 - 5:00 Greg came in the door, earlier than usual. He asked how our day was and it was the usual, but I told him that within the last 5-10 minutes I had some mild cramping feeling, but was probably just those back aches starting up again for bedtime.

5:00 Anna went outside with Greg to work in the shed and mow the grass and I finished dinner and monitored the contractions to see if t this was a real deal.

5:30: I walked outside and told Greg to turn off the lawnmower and told him that this baby was coming tonight and we should call mom to come get Anna & Sydney.

6:00: Called mom to stop over on the way home from work and pick up Anna and Sydney. Anna was thrilled to go to Grandma and Pop's house for a sleepover!

6:30: Mom, Anna & Sydney leave. Greg and I finish up the dishes, clean up around the house, put the bags in the car and take showers.

7:00: Greg and I decided to time the contractions some more, they were totally random nothing like last time. We played with the idea of going to walk around Mayfair since we thought it might be just a few more hours. After a while we decided against it and just to walk across the street at Marsh Oaks, then decided against that too. We enjoyed a piece of cake on the couch that Anna and I picked out and thought about a short walk just around our block. We watched some TV and the contractions were medium stength, nothing that needed complete concentration or caused a lot of pain, just normal.

8:00: Greg: "I think we should go to the hopipital"
         Me: "OK, if that's what you think, we can hang there and walk"

8:05: In the car with a few more contractions

8:20: Arrive at hospital, many more contractions and I begin to cry (Greg thinks I'm over reacting at this point but keeps it to himself - he still thinks we have a long night ahead of us since Anna's labor was 19 hours)

8:22: In the elevator I see these stupid carpets that take my mind off the contractions, they say "Welcome to NHRMC, We hope you have a great Friday" - seriously they have a carpet for each day of the week - my mom's answer, yes, and there's a person who has to change them every day. Now that's what I call having too much money!

8:24: Arrive at Check In - no time for that, rush to triage, can't tell how dialated I am, huge bag of water in the way, no time for fetal monitoring, throw our bags on the bed and wheel me into labor and delivery - all while having massive contractions

8:30: We are all set up in Labor and Delivery and my water breaks on the bed. I tell whoever is listening that this baby is coming and I want them to pull it out (yelling of course because it hurts!) Greg nicely tells me I'm going to need to push it out they can't just pull it out. Ha!

8:35: 2 pushes in....

8:38: 3 pushes in...

8:41: 4 pushes in and he's here!

From Door to Delivery: 20 minutes. Good thing we didn't go walking somewhere!!!!

The doctors take him away and start cleaning up, not knowing that we don't know the gender because no one had time to chat beforehand, look at a chart, admit me to the hospital, anything! So Greg and I yell, "SO? What do we have?!?!?!" The doctors say, "OH! Congratulations, you have a son!" HOORRAY!!!! Welcome Quinn James we love you!

After that, we just hung our in the room while they did some assessments on Quinn and cleaned me up. I felt like a million bucks. MUCH better than after Anna. No tearing which was great.  Able to get up and walk around. Second time around was much more enjoyable.

As we were taken up to our Mother/Baby room and settled in Greg and I reflected on our journey, God had a plan and it was perfect: I had a great week just Anna and I spending all the quality time together we could, plus family time at night when Greg came home. Greg came home from work early on Friday and we were able to get in a good family meal plus cake! Mom came and effortlessly took Anna and all her belongings to Hampstead for the weekend. Greg knew just the right time to go to the hospital and not go walking somewhere. Quinn knew we were close and held out until we were safely in the doctors hands and then came right out. Greg was able to stay with me in the hospital the whole weekend and not worry about taking off work, etc. Everyone was able to come visit because it was the weekend. And most inportantly, we are all healthy and happy. *tear tear*

Will post pictures as soon as we arrive home, hopefully later tonight.