Quinn's Birth Story

38 weeks pregnant. I was hugely uncomfortable and sore and ready to be done!  I had my last week of work that week so I was hoping to be able to finish that out before the baby came. My doctor appointment last Thursday let me know I was dilated to about a 3 and he went ahead and stripped my membranes (ouch!) and instructed me if I did go into labor to A). Tell the nurses I was only a 2 in the office and B). Do not tell them he stripped my membranes. I was guessing by this little information that he was probably on call this weekend and wanted to deliver as many of his patients as possible while he had to work anyway.

 My friend at work told me all about a plant called "Ruda" that you make into a tea that a lot of the ladies in Mexico take to induce labor. You mix it with the Mexican hot chocolate that comes in little tablets and then drink it. It grows naturally and you can buy the plant off Amazon even. Anyway, she was kind enough to make me a few glasses, sent me with the extra, and wished me luck. I did research this before I took it and found it to be safe so I didn't see any harm in it. Like most things, it wouldn't work unless my body was already ready to go into labor. I took it Friday evening and woke up at about 3 am Saturday morning contracting. They were mild but hurt enough I couldn't go back to sleep. So I cleaned my kitchen and scrubbed the floor and waited for everyone else to wake up. By the time Kevin woke up at 7, I was pretty exhausted and was able to go back to sleep for a while. But they were still there when I woke up and continued throughout the day. My family showed up that afternoon with my brother and his wife visiting from Idaho and we barbequed and took a few walks. By the time we got done walking, they were stronger and hurting more and were about every three minutes. We decided to head down to Tri-Cities and just get it checked out. We walked around Costco for a while and then the mall before going into the hospital. I have super long early labors so I knew it would be a process. Sure enough at the hospital they had me walk even more before checking me again. I was only dilated to a 4 when they rechecked me but had enough change they admitted me. I labored through the night, lots of walking, using the ball, jacuzzi, was still only 4 by 3 am and completely exhausted. My cervix was thinner but that was about it. By this point, I wasn't hurting much but it was enough I couldn't sleep. I knew eventually I would need pitocin as I have had to have it with all my kids. My uterus isn't super effective on its own. I explained this all to the nurse, asked her if I could have the epidural so I could sleep and then if we could start Pitocin. The doctor said I could do whatever I wanted so I got comfy with the epidural then we started Pitocin. It was so nice to be able to sleep!  The doctor came in in the morning and broke my water and made a comment about how he was so surprised I didn't go quicker. I felt like I was disappointing everyone with my lack of progress, it was my fourth baby after all, how long should it take?!  By noon I was 5 and woke up from my nap with my right side of body feeling contractions. The nurse checked me and I was 7.5. My brother and his wife stopped by on their way home and their were a great distraction. I didn't let the anestheist try to fix my epidural as I was afraid it would stall my labor again and feeling the pain let me feel like I was doing something to progress. By the time my brother left, they checked me and I was complete. I wanted to labor down for a little while and when they rechecked me it was time to push. The doctor came in and I pushed twice, his head was faced sideways then flipped anterior at the end and out he came. My first thought was, That's a huge baby! He had the cord wrapped around his neck once and was super purple.   He pinked up right away but his face was pretty bruised from how quickly he descended in the birth canal.

 Quinn Reed Gilbert, 8lbs even, 20 inches long.

 The doctor was impressed with his size, I wasn't that surprised, I figured the kid had to be huge from how I had been feeling all week and my inability to walk well. I didn't have much fluid either, also not a surprise to me, I had suspected it was low the week before and had been measuring smaller and smaller. So it really was all baby! My biggest one so far, I'm glad he was a week early and didn't go past his due date, he looked like he was ready to come out.

The delivery rooms at this hospital were super nice and I was so impressed with the staff. They always let me sleep and never woke me up to do vital signs or give me medicine unless I asked them too. They let me feed my baby on my schedule and left Kevin and I alone a lot of the time, it was so nice! By far the most sleep I have ever had in a hospital.

Poor Quinn had quite a bit of bruising and swelling right after he came out. It looked quite a bit better the next day.

 Oh you have to love those lovely post baby pictures with the swollen mommy face...

 Quinn's first bath.

 My parents brought the kids up a few hours later, Isak was extremely excited about Quinn. Edyn wanted nothing to do with me, I think she was freaked out about the hospital. Lucy likes him but hasn't wanted to hold him yet, I think she's a tad nervous about him.

 Isak is so excited to have a little brother after two little sisters.

 Kevin's parents came up as well to see Quinn and Edyn was quite curious about her little brother.  We went home the next day, Quinn's billirubin was a little high due to all the bruising he had but after a few follow up levels its been fine.