i have a lot of things going on in my brain that i never ever say to anyone. so maybe this will help get them out so i can stop dwelling on them or thinking about them and get them out of my head. i guess that's why i'm starting this.
i really want to start with quinn's birth story. i want it out there and available for me forever so i can't forget because i have a terrible memory.
on thursday november 4 i went to dinner up in milwaukee with my sister and her son. we went up to milwaukee to go shopping and get out. while we were shopping i started having contractions. i didn't say anything to sam about them because they weren't that intense and they were pretty spaced out. that night i didn't sleep because of the contractions.
friday morning my contractions were closer together and more intense than the night before so i started timing them from about 3 in the morning on to see if they were regular. they were. they were about 5 to 6 minutes apart and consistent. at 6 bill got up and we went to walmart to walk around and see if that did anything to my contractions. i kept having them so after a half an hour we left walmart and went to the hospital. the sad news was i wasn't dialating at all so we got sent home. but the nurse said it looked like i was starting something and they would likely see me back that weekend.
instead of going home i had bill drop me off at walmart to meet up with alli so i could walk some more and get things rolling. we walked around walmart and sam's club. the whole time we were walking we timed my contractions and they got to a point where they were 2-3 minutes apart but still not much more intense so i didn't go back to the hospital yet. after walking around we went back to alli's house and watched the movie juno. i think that will be a tradition. anytime either one of us is coming up on labor we will watch juno. my contractions slowed down because i wasn't moving anymore. i had her take me home so i could get some rest. i spent the next several hours laying on the couch while bill was at work. around 9 i decided it was time to get into bed. i couldn't sleep. right around 10:30 the contractions started getting much more intense. then around 11:15 i got up because i had to go to the bathroom. when i stood up from the bed my water broke. in a big gush. like they say usually doesn't happen. i changed my pants, checked the hospital bag and waited for bill to get home from work. as soon as he got home i told him what happened. he changed and we left for the hospital.
when we got up to labor and delivery i couldn't walk anymore because my contractions were so intense. the nurse was very nice but didn't seem to believe that my water had broken. she thought i had peed on on myself because her test for amniotic fluid came back inconclusive. she decided to wait a little while and perform another test before making me walk to make things progress. by this point i was 2 cm dialated. when she did the litmus test for amniotic fluid sure enough my water had broken. so i was admitted. and i didn't have to walk.
i wasn't allowed to get the epidural til i was 4 cm dialated so the nurse gave me some pain meds that were supposed to dull the contractions and make me drowsy. it made me drowsy but didn't dull the contractions. so i slept in between the contractions and woke up for every contraction. bill slept though which was good. the next morning i was checked around 9 and it was decided i could get the epidural. it was great for awhile and i got some rest.
once things really started going though i felt way too much pressure to sleep. but the problem was my contractions were spacing out and i wasn't fully dialating. i never dialated past 9.5 cm. they decided to give me pitocen to try and get my contractions rolling and help me dialate the last .5 cm.
my sister showed up somewhere in all of this. she was to be in the room with me and bill during labor. so then we started pushing. and after an hour and a half of pushing we hadn't gotten anywhere. i would push. quinn would shift down the birth canal and then when i stopped pushing she would shift right back up the birth canal. the nurse figured out it was because quinn was face up instead of face down. after the hour and a half of intense pushing the nurse called dr raskin to see how i was progressing and tell me what my options were.
he tells me we could push all night and she still might not come out because of her positioning. or we could prep for a c-section. i asked bill what he thought. we both agreed a c-section was best because of the fact that my water had broken and nothing was progressing.
so that was that. they started prepping me for surgery. sam went and called my mom. bill called his family. everyone knew in a matter of minutes i was about to have quinn cut out of me.
i looked at bill and knew he couldn't go in with me. he doesn't do well with blood or needles or anything like that. i told him i wouldn't be mad if he said he couldn't go into surgery with me. that sam would and it would be ok. i really wanted him to go in with me. but i knew he couldn't. i was pretty sure if he did he would pass out. but i also told him he had to be the one to ask sam to go in with me. he said ok.
at this point the anesthesiologist came back in and started giving me some more drugs. i started to get really drowsy because i couldn't feel any pain anymore and i was so exhausted. then they wheeled me out. down the hallway. under some super bright light. and i was in the operating room. it was super bright in there too. but i basically slept through them prepping me in there and slept until things really started going. once the surgery started i felt some pressure and it kind of kept me awake. there was major pressure when they cut into my uterus but before i could even think about that i heard my baby cry. sam said "she really is a girl" i cried. i couldn't believe that she was really here. the nurses weighed her, measured her and cleaned her up. then one of the nurses came over and put her next to my head so i could see her. quinn stopped crying. it was a magical moment. i got to meet my baby for the first time. she was perfect. after a few minutes of her being by me they took quinn in to our room to meet her daddy and everyone else who was there to meet her.
i slept through them stitching me up. then i got wheeled back to my room back where my baby was. my mom and eric were there. bill's mom, dad and sister were also there. it was cool and annoying at the same time. i had wanted time post birth for the 3 of us to bond as a family and because of the c-section and being out of the room when quinn was brought in that didn't happen. but i was still too drugged up to care at the time. i remember shaking a lot after everything because of all the pain medication that was wearing off. after a bit bill's family left and my mom, sam and eric went to go get us some food. we had time for just the 3 of us so i could try and nurse quinn.
Quinn Marie Voisin was born on November 6, 2010 at 6:18 PM. She was 6 lbs and 9 oz and 20 inches long. She was perfect.
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