Our Little One

Rory Kellyn Quinn proudly made her appearance bright and early on July 29th at 6:02 a.m. She is 19 inches long and weighed 6 lbs 14 oz when she was born. At her one week check-up today, she has only lost one ounce and is currently a 6 lbs 13 oz baby bean.

We love her to pieces and are so grateful that she's finally here. I can't stop looking at her long enough to take pictures so I only have a handful to share with you. Of course, being her mom, I think she's just beautiful and absolutely perfect. My favorite feature on her has to be her red hair. I joked all the time that I wanted a red haired baby but had no idea that she'd actually come out like that! It's hard to tell who she looks like more, newborns are tricky to distinguish which features come from which parents. We say that her hair and eyes come from her daddy and her nose, mouth and chin come from me (literally half and half) but she changes so much every day it's hard to pinpoint who she looks like more. I love everything about this baby, from her little hands to her skinny legs and the sweet little noises she makes when she breathes or is nursing.

Ok, I'll spare you with all of my bragging and get to what most of you are curious about, my birth story. On Thursday night, July 28th, I had plans to go see the movie "Bridesmaids" with my friend Kim. I told her right before we left that I didn't feel well but that I'd still like to go. Throughout the whole movie, I was having contractions but being that I'm new to all of this, I just chalked them up to being braxton hicks contractions. They didn't seem to be close enough to be consistent and timeable. I just overall felt uncomfortable. When we left the theater, I was telling my friend about this and she advised me that if I didn't go into the hospital that night, I should definitely go in tomorrow just to get checked out. Part of me thought that my water was slowly leaking but, again, being that I'm new to all of this, I wasn't really sure. Kim asked me if my bags were packed for the hospital, and wouldn't you know, of course I hadn't even packed my bag yet. Nevermind that my estimated due date was 2 days away, I had always been in denial about this pregnancy because I couldn't get over how lucky I felt and how surreal this whole experience had been. Anyway, when I walked in the house, Mike was just heating up his dinner and had a funny expression on his face. Turns out, he had a pretty interesting night and drank two Chu-Hi strongs while I was at the movies. For those of you that don't know about this drink, it's a pretty strong Japanese "beer" of sorts and is quite tasty. Mike NEVER drinks at home and rarely when we go out so it was kind of surprising that he would kick back a few drinks at the house. He was in no way drunk but let's just say when he reset the clock on our microwave instead of adding the time to heat up some food for dinner, he definitely confirmed that he was buzzed. I then told him all the feelings I'd been having and how I didn't feel so good. While eating his dinner, we debated back and forth about whether we should go into the hospital that night or wait until the morning to go in. Literally, as we're discussing back and forth what to do, I felt a "POP!" followed by a really strong contraction. When I stood up from the couch, water started trickling down my leg and I knew for sure that my water had officially broken. I told Mike we had to go to the hospital now and needless to say, that sobered him up really quick! While packing my bag for the hospital, I called my sister to let her know that I'd be going in. I was really scared at that point, almost shaking because I didn't feel prepared and I was definitely rushed. Combine that with the fact that I suddenly had contractions that were like a minute a part and I couldn't even catch my breath.

Fortunately, the hospital is just down the street so we jumped into our car (while it was pouring rain outside) and drove the 1 minute drive to our base hospital. Mike flew over one of the speed bumps which made me laugh as I wasn't crowning or anything and the hospital wasn't that far away. He was funny and kept good spirits and was very consoling as we checked in to labor and delivery. The nurses greeted me with smiles as I greeted them with panting and swear words since by this point, my contractions were coming on really strong and were seriously less than a minute apart. We got to the hospital at 10:30 that night and by the time they checked me, I was already dilated to 6 centimeters! I couldn't believe how fast everything was going and at that point, lost all sense of reality. I went from 0-60 it felt like and I could not get control over how awful the contractions felt. My eyes were literally shut the entire time I was without the epidural and I was literally bracing the arms of the bed and saying some "choice" words...not to anyone in particular but that was how I was able to get through each contraction it seemed! Thankfully, the nursing staff and Mike took my obscenities in stride and laughed at some of the expressions I apparently said. When the anesthesiologist came in around midnight, I was MORE than ready for drugs. Let me just say, W.O.W! I seriously have the utmost respect for mamas that deliver naturally but oh my gosh, I don't think I could have gotten through it without them. My contractions and my laboring came on so strong and so fast, my body just didn't have the time to adjust to all of that pain and I was completely overwhelmed with how intense they were. Now, after getting the epidural, life was SO much better. I could finally open my eyes and breath. I could actually talk to my husband and enjoy our last few hours together before little Rory decided to come into the world. My OB said she'd be back to check in on me at 6 a.m. since the epidural would probably slow down my contractions and give me more time.

Mike and I took advantage of the last minute peace and quiet and tried to get some sleep. Well, he was able to sleep but I laid in bed thinking and praying about all that was about to happen. I prayed for a healthy baby and an easy delivery and again, felt like the whole experience was so surreal and I couldn't actually be in labor. By 5 a.m., one of my favorite nurses Jean came into the room and said she wanted to check me since the monitors were showing that Rory may be ready to come out sooner than 6 a.m. Sure enough, she was right as Rory's head was right there and she said with just a few pushes, she'd be out. The OB came in then and everyone started setting up our room to prepare for the delivery. Typing out this experience reminds me of how much of a fog I was in because these moments just seem to run together. Now for those of you know that know Mike well, you know he's TERRIFIED of hospitals. He did extremely well through all of this but just the sight of blood or needles would make him pass out. The hospital staff seemed more worried about him than me and as they put my legs in stirrups and told me to start pushing, they told Mike to sit in the chair that was next to me which was right by my head. He faced me the whole time and stroked my head and arm, he may have even held by hand, but there was no way in hell that he would be down on the other end where all the "scary" stuff was taking place. I honestly didn't mind, I would have rather had a husband that was conscious for the birth of his child than a passed out cold husband on the hospital room floor.

And the rest went by so quickly, I was amazed at how easy it all was. I pushed for about 20 minutes (maybe 5 pushes total) and out she came! They placed Rory right on my chest and it took her a couple seconds to cry. I surprisingly did not cry as I was still in this fog as to what had just taken place. I looked over at Mike and he gave me a kiss and was crying. Thinking about that now makes me cry as I loved seeing him melt over the first sight of our daughter. Being that my hormones are all out of whack right now, I cry literally at the drop of the hat about anything but really and truly, I just love seeing Mike with Rory and it makes me love him even more to know that he's the father to our beautiful daughter (and there's the red hair to prove it!)

I am still walking on the clouds it seems and I know it will take me quite a while to feel my feet back on the ground. Please bear with me if you don't hear from me for a while as I don't even remember to go to the bathroom these days! I do appreciate all the visitors we've had, all the dinners that have been made, all the gifts that we've received, gosh we are truly so thankful and grateful for the people we have in our lives.