Warning Signs

So in life, we are surrounded by warning signs. Things are hot, dangerous, hazardous, etc. Some are road signs, some are the labeling on packages, some are maybe just a prompting to do or not do something. Today I want to talk about this warning sign:

So, we live in North Dakota and we have a few of these signs on each end of the 3 or so bridges that are in town. Half of the year, they are just there but irrelevant because there is no snow or ice anywhere. I have driven past these signs probably a hundred times in the almost year that we've been here. We used to live right down the road from one of the bridges and I'm sure I have seen that sign and crossed the bridge more than most people who live here.

But here's the thing about warning signs, you get so used to seeing them or hearing them you start to tune them out. You don't notice them anymore. The danger might be there still, but you aren't as cognizant of the bright yellow sign and it's message.

Such is the case of my morning. I had finished visiting teaching one sister from church and was headed towards the second visit. I was by that same bridge (the one we used to live by). I got to the top when I lost control of the car. Lest you start panicking, remember I'm typing this right now so I'm obviously fine. Back to the story...I was about to the top of the bridge when I hit a patch of black ice. Because the day was sunny and the roads were clear, the Jeep was not in 4WD. My car started by just fishtailing the back tires. This happens a lot in the winter here, so it doesn't cause me to panic. Usually, the car catches the clear road, corrects itself, and the fishtailing is minor. However, today when the car didn't correct itself and swerved into oncoming traffic, I did get worried. The thing about this bridge is that the vantage point makes it difficult to see much when you are on your way up. Luckily, there was no one in the lane of oncoming traffic I went into. Trying to fix my situation, without making it worse, I turned the wheel just a fraction. Then, my car started sliding sideways...as in I was facing the right of the road out over the bridge and my car was across both lanes. I've never been in a car drifting completely sideways on the tires. Again, I was lucky no one was in the lane next to me. Then, the car started turning around to face the cars behind me in my lane. At this point, I could feel the uneasiness of the tires on the road more than ever and slammed on the brakes. Well the braking combined with the snowbank and the guardrail finally brought the Jeep to a stop. The car shows no damage, but I am pretty sore and have had a headache most of the day. Quintin (who was bundled up in his car seat) slept through the whole thing. I was able to back out and luckily the cars behind me were close enough to see what happened and not run into me but far enough back that I didn't hit them. So, I backed out of the snowbank/ guard rail area and drove home in tears.

Now back to my beginning. I have seen this sign:

a hundred times or more. I have crossed the bridge just as many times, in all weather (in fact that's where we were when we had the tornado warning and heard the sirens going off). But I got too used to the sign. The yellow wasn't as eye-catching; the warning wasn't as loud. And, I am lucky to be writing this now.

Don't get me wrong, I know that it's not my fault that I hit the black ice and lost control of the car. This happens every day. But, it's never happened to me before. Luckily, I am a law abiding citizen (did I just write that phrase?!) and WAS going the speed limit. Luckily, it was a clear day so the other cars could see me. Luckily, the other drivers maybe did see the sign, or were paying attention enough that things didn't turn out any worse than they did. Luck whatever. I know how blessed I am.

As this had me REALLY shaken up, I've been thinking about it a lot. In life, we have all sorts of warning signs. Every general conference is full of them:
-Read your scriptures
-Create an emergency preparedness kit
-Say your prayers
-Get out of debt
And the list goes on and on. We are given warning signs constantly. But, just like I got too comfortable with the sign "WATCH FOR ICE ON BRIDGE", we get too comfortable with the warning signs all around us, those listed above especially. Often times we don't understand why we're given certain warnings; we fail to see the bigger picture. We put off the warnings or ignore them because we can't see the "ice on the bridge"-the danger ahead-so it must not be there.

Thankfully, we have a Heavenly Father who knows us and loves us. If we live worthily, we are blessed with the Holy Ghost who sometimes has to be our guardrail. We often get promptings of little things to change in our lives, or little choices to make-Guardrails before going over the bridge.

I think the point of writing this is more for myself than anything else. I don't expect anyone to go start reading every warning label on everything in their house or mapping out every speed limit sign in the city. Take it from me, warning signs are there to help us. There isn't always danger ahead, but there could be-that's the beauty of it. You may go over the same bridge a hundred times with nothing happening. You may go a week without reading your scriptures and nothing bad happens. Or, maybe you'll hit the unexpected black ice and have your world spun around. The choice is up to you.

Maybe those warning signs are pretty important after all.





*NOTE: There was a van driving behind me that slowed down enough so that other drivers realized my car was out of control. Turns out the woman driving the van is from our ward. She called to check on me tonight as she witnessed the whole thing and knew the anxiety I was probably going through. I believe Heavenly Father places people in our lives when we need them most. Today, he put Alisa driving behind me making sure that things didn't get worse.

Happy Thanksgiving!

And remember...



You are what you eat!

Daddy dressed me!

I love my sweet husband, I really do. And in his defense, he really tries. But sometimes, I can't help but wonder what he's thinking when he dresses Quintin. Let me explain:

Case 1-

Both the onesie and the pants are part of two different sets. Their matching pieces were both clean this day...but Steven put him in this.

Case 2- The least worst.

At least he kinda matches...too bad that hat is kinda small for his head ;)

Case 3-

Forgot to button the onesie. Figured it out after but handed him to me like this anyways.

Case 4-

It was snowing outside. I didn't even know we had a pair of shorts in 0-3 mos. He did have a jacket on at least (except when I took this picture). I kept waiting for him to spit up on his outfit so I could put him in pants but he never did so I guess he liked this one.


All I can say is, at least he tries, right?

One Month Old!

Our precious boy is ONE MONTH OLD!! I can hardly believe it!
Things to know about our sweet baby boy this month with accompanying pictures:
-He grew out of newborn diapers at 3 weeks.
-He grew out of most newborn sized clothes at 4 weeks.

-He smiles at mommy and sometimes daddy. (Mommy got the first smile)


-He sleeps differently every single night. 3 hrs, 5 hrs, 7 hrs, 1.5 hrs. Depends on his mood.


-As of this morning he weighs 11 lbs+ which is 81%. He's chunking out.


-He likes to look around. Don't bother holding him facing you-he'd rather look at everything else. He will stay awake for hours if he is in a new place.


-He doesn't mind tummy time.

-Today he discovered his swing has a mirror thing hanging from it and spent the next 10 mins looking at himself and babbling.


-He likes to be cocooned in the car seat.


-He prefers to snuggle on mommy's chest when he sleeps.


-He likes bath time as soon as he adjusts to being in the water.


-He likes to be naked.
-He won't go asleep at night until he's listening to our wedding song (Everything by Michael Buble) and being rocked. I have no idea why that is and it's a recent development, but at least we figured it out. Also, when he sleeps in his bassinet, he has a sleep positioner. He doesn't like to sleep in it at the right spot so he wiggles himself down until his legs are all scrunched up at the bottom.

-If he's hungry, he'll let you know!

My cousin had this cool idea to take a picture of her baby next to a stuffed animal every month. That way you can see how baby grows every month compared to the animal that stays the same. So here you go:
One month old Baby Q with his bear on Nov. 19th.

Being A Mom

So, I was recently reading (ok ok blog-stalking) a friend's blog. She talked about how the blogs she read only ever talk about the good things in life. How they always make things seem like life is all sunshine and roses. In her words, "I don't buy it". And she's right. Life isn't always good things, sometimes it's bad or tough or overwhelming. After reading her blog, I decided that I should focus more on thoughts and feelings of our family rather than only the "only good things happen to us" and "we're always smiling" pictures.

The truth is life is hard.

Being a mom is really hard. Now, don't get me wrong, I knew it wasn't going to be coos and giggles. I changed my fair share of diapers at KinderCare to know it wasn't always going to be easy. But, to be honest, it hasn't really been that bad. We've had a few long nights that extend into sleep-deprived days. I survived milk coming in, engorgement, and recovering from having the world's most inconvenient stitches. But, I handled it because I was expecting it. I took tons of classes, read even more books and blogs and heard lots of stories. And until today, I was handling being a mom just fine. So, I don't know if it's because Q didn't feel so good yesterday which led to a long morning and day for me yesterday which made today harder or what, but.
Today. Was. Hard.
I think I must have ate something Q didn't handle well. And Q is having a growth spurt, which made that worse. So between lots of dirty diapers and being spit up on quite a bit, I was still doing ok...because I was expecting that sort of thing. However, I wasn't expecting to have a baby that decided to be up for most of the day. That would be great if it was all giggles and smiles and happy things...but it was more like screaming the whole day. He was only happy if he was eating. He ate 3 times in 3 hours this morning. Then, dad came home and gave me a break for an hour in between classes. So I did laundry...which I had to because there were no more clean burp cloths, or sheets, etc. Then, Q ate again and was happy...for a little. We even got a 30 min. nap. Then, dad came home again a few hours later and took him. I started to make my lunch. Right when I was sitting down to eat, Q decided to scream and scream and scream. I know it's frustrating for Steven, just like it is for me. So, I took him and fed him (that's feeding #4). He ate for a few minutes and then was pretty much asleep. I got ready to pass him back to Steven so I could eat when he burped up all over my sleeve and my pants and himself. So he went back to Steven to get changed. In the process, he spit up on Steven. So, Steven took his shirt off and got some new clothes for Q. I changed and went downstairs to switch laundry. I came back up and found Steven without a shirt on and Q in his diaper...Q had spewed again. I finished eating and started folding laundry. A few minutes later, Steven brings me Q wrapped in a blanket (like a toga almost).

So 3 outfits and an entire family wardrobe change later, it couldn't get worse right? Wrong. Most of the afternoon continued like this, except Steven wasn't there. Q would eat for a few minutes, fall asleep (despite my best efforts to keep him awake) I would burp him, and try to lay him down, He'd be fine for a few minutes and then wake up screaming. Now, for a kid who doesn't normally scream unless he's in pain, it makes it hard for me to handle the screaming. Angry screaming. Finally, after the nursing, burping, sleeping, screaming cycle for 2 hours, we fell asleep at about 430. Steven came home at 510 and woke me up (not knowing the kind of day we had). Well, I jumped when he woke me up which moved Q and woke him up and commence screaming again. Finally, at my breaking point, I handed him to Steven. Steven took him realizing I was upset and went to hang out in the nursery while I folded laundry. Steven tried everything swaddling, changing, rocking, singing, pacifier, music...all the things Q normally either loves or tolerates. At about 545 Q was screaming so bad, Steven had to put him in his crib and walk out. So then we have both parents frazzled and a screaming angry child. I had finally composed myself and went to get him and calm him down. He immediately started "giving me kisses" and trying to suck on my nose. How this kid could be hungry, I have no idea. But I fed him...what else could I do? He calmed down and ate enough that I actually got to eat dinner. He sat in his chair and watched. Then, he got fussy again and had to eat on the other side. When he was done and burped, Steven told me he was going to take him on a car ride to take the redbox back and give me some time to relax and work on some homework (which was desperately needed). And he did just that...
When they got home, Q was quiet (he loves himself a good car ride bundled up in the cozy cover). Steven came in and said "come here I want to show you something" He grabbed my hand and led me to the living room where Q was sleeping. That was a good enough present for me! Then he said, "We got you something...open him up" So Hesitantly, I opened him up and found:



a 1 lb Reese's PB cup. (Mine was the holiday kind)
I had seen them last week and we were both astonished they came that big! Steven said, "This is for you, mommy, because we know you had a rough day". It was all I could do not to cry. A sleeping baby and a giant Reese's!!

So the moral of the story...being a mom is hard. It's harder when things happen that you aren't expecting or that you weren't anticipating(like having a screaming baby all day). But, when you have a wonderful husband who is up in the night to change the baby, works, goes to school full time, and then comes home to do whatever he can to make your life easy...
you know you found a keeper.

ROTC Football Game & Veterans Day

Last Tuesday, the 9th, we went to the Alerus Center (the giant indoor football field) to see the UND Army ROTC play the UND Air Force ROTC at flag football. Q slept through EVERYTHING...including the drum line performance at half time. Steven and I aren't loud people so I don't know how he does it, but I'm not complaining. Army won, which is good because we went for our friends who are in Army ROTC. It was a fun night...I wish we wouldn't have been 30 mins late though (it takes a lot longer to get out of the house these days!)



Last Thursday for Veterans day, we followed our family tradition of sleeping in and then going to IHOP. We go to IHOP for all our patriotic holidays...it's random and there's no particular reason for it. Q came of course and...yep you guessed it, slept through everything. It was fine though because it actually felt like a real date. Oh and there was this family behind us that totally stared at us...well Q...the whole time. Well the mom and the three kids stared at us, the dad tried not to notice. We could hear the mom asking the kids if they wanted a baby brother or a baby sister next...awkward for the dad. Besides IHOP, Steven flew, I snuggled Q, and it was a good break from the normal school schedule.

Grandma Dorn's Visit

Steven's mom was able to visit us for the weekend at the beginning of the month. It was a great help to have an extra pair of hands. I think she probably got tired of doing all our dishes, but I got a lot of homework done and I really appreciated all her help! While she was here, we also got kind of brave and went out and did stuff. We went to have an early dinner together at Ground Rounds and then we went to the movies and saw Secretariat. Q slept through most of it, and there were only 4 other people in our theater so I fed him in the dark when he woke up. He got to see the last race part too. The next day, Steven took his mom and Q for a walk around campus and I got to stay home and do hw. Then, they came back and we all went to the community carnival our apartments were having. Again, Q slept through most of it...and a lot of it was for older kids. But, we did get Q his first balloon hat and took a funny picture together. The rest of the time Becky was here, we watched stake conference at home, they cooked lots of good food, and we got to catch up on sleep while she snuggled Q. It was sad to see her go! We are looking forward to coming home for Christmas in a few weeks! Here are some pictures of Grandma D's visit!

First whale bath

On Tuesday, Nov. 9th, Q had his 2 week check up--even though he was actually 3 weeks old. He was 9 lbs. 7.5 oz...almost 2 lbs up from his birth weight!! I knew he was growing but that seems like a lot! The nurse practitioner said she couldn't find anything wrong with him or even anything to potentially think about worrying about. As Mary Poppin says, "practically perfect in every way".

So because his circumcision area is all healed up, last Wednesday, Q got upgraded from the pink tupperware thing from the hospital to have his first bath in the whale tub! Getting to sit in the water was way better than having to be held naked above the water by dad and sponge bathed by mom. The tub came with this smaller orange whale that drips water out like a shower...Quintin really likes that part. Bath time is now much more relaxing for all of us. Here's a couple pictures.

Quintin's first day at Church

Oct 31, 2010- Q experienced church for the first time. We went to Sacrament meeting because it was the primary program. I have been in charge of teaching the older kids the songs for this program all year and I wanted to see them shine. They did an excellent job. Q slept the whole time of course. Dad Dorn sent Q this onesie and we all matched for church. Here are my two handsome boys:

Our first FHE as a family of 3!

Q's first Family Home Evening was on Oct. 25th at 6 days old. First, we had pumpkin-shaped pizza.

Then, we read in The Ensign about temples and talked about how grateful we are to have a temple marriage and an eternal family.
Last, we played Swipe. Click the word to read how you play it. This is a game Steven & I have played since our honeymoon. So in almost 3 years, we've played it quite a bit...and Steven has only won me ONE TIME!!!
So for FHE, Q was on Steven's team. Steven had him breath on the dice and rubbed his head for good luck. Well it worked because they got ALL the chips and I only had 2 die. Q must have beginner's luck. Check out the look of shear astonishment on Steven's face...he was so excited he almost woke Q up when they won!

Halloween

So for Halloween, we got to celebrate 3 ways. First, we kept family tradition by ordering a Jack o'Lantern pumpkin from Papa Murphy's. Steven and I did this the first year we were married too. (The second year Papa Murphy's by our house literally closed overnight with no warning). Q was about as big as the pumpkin pizza.

Second, we debuted Q to the world by taking him to our ward Trunk-or-Treat. He slept through the whole thing, but he was the cutest little Jack o'lantern you ever did see! Steven and I had matching jack o lantern shirts too! PS The feet picture is our first family shoe picture!





Third, we skyped with my family and read Gustavus Ghost. Q was actually awake for part of it, but eating. I'm sure he'll enjoy it more next year. It was the first skype session we've had with that many family members in a long time!! Everyone but Tal was apart of it!

Q does love his mommy! Even when he's asleep and she puts a bib on and takes a picture of him...


Better late than never, but Happy Halloween!

Going Private

Yup, our blog is going private.

Nothing weird or creepy has happened.
I just look at little Q and think how blessed I am to have one of Heavenly Father's children under my care. I want to do everything I can to make sure he is safe and protected and I feel that making our blog private is something simple I can do.

We share some pretty personal stuff on blogs, and I would like to be in charge of who is reading mine.

So, send me your email address via comment below, text message, facebook, whatever you feel like and I will send you an invitation.

We're also going to have a pre-blog. I will update the pre-blog when I update the real blog. That way you know to check the private blog. (I stole that idea from a friend because it is so handy).

Also, don't be embarrassed if you read my blog and I don't know. I read lots of people's blogs that I don't talk to very often. As long as I actually know who you are, I'll send you the invitation.

So, do the following things:
1. Send me your email address so I can send you an invitation.
2. Add our pre-blog to your blog list so you know when we update.
3. Get a load of this handsome boy and his grumpy face:

Quintin Beckim Dorn

Our little bundle of joy has FINALLY arrived!! Actually he's snuggled up on my chest asleep (with his mouth totally open) as I write this. I can't believe he's 14 days old. But at the same time, I can't really remember life before being Quintin's mommy. Anyways...here's the story. I've provided it in 3 levels to let you decide how much info you want. I will warn you that the most extensive story spares no details (unless I already forgot them). And, this is my first time writing one of these labor stories out so maybe I included too much...But, I will throw in pictures in between to break it up :)



Or if you don't care how he got here, here are his stats:

Quintin Beckim Dorn
Born 1:17 AM Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Weight: 7 lbs 12.9 oz
Length: 20 3/4 inches




Shortest story: Went into the hospital at noon on Monday October 18, 2010. Had the baby at 1:17 AM October 19, 2010.


Short Story: Went to the OB at 11 on Monday October 18, 2010. They were worried I was starting to have preclampsia so they wheeled me over and admitted me to the hospital. Started pitocin at 2:20 PM. Had my water broke at 6:15 PM. Started really hating life. Got my epidural in at 7:30 PM and started loving life again. By 10:30 I was fully dilated and thinned out. At 10:45 PM I started pushing. At 1:17 AM on Tuesday October 19th, Quintin was born. Steven cut the umbilical cord.


The Story:
On Friday Oct. 15, I went to my regularly scheduled OB visit. Except, I was with the nurse practitioner because my OB was out of town. Everything measured normal except I had a high level of protein in my urine. So, they made me go down to the lab and have some blood drawn and do another urine analysis. We went home and waited for the call. At about 5:30 we got called by the NP and told that I was starting to show signs of preclampsia. She gave me the list of warning signs and told me to take it easy for the weekend and come back on Monday morning. So, Monday morning came and I got dressed and headed to the OB again (well the NP actually because my OB is still out of town). This time I went by myself. We had had so many false alarms we figured this would pan out normal and so Steven went to class and I went to the doctor. Luckily, we did put the hospital bags in the car just in case the slight chance I was having the baby came true.


Well, I got to the doctor and the protein in my urine had gone up even more over the weekend. I had also gained a half pound and another cm to the top of my belly. So, I was at 40 cms and officially full term. The nurse practitioner came in again and announced she had discussed with the on-call OB and I would be getting induced that day. She checked me and I was at 3 cms, 75% effaced, and 0 station. She told me I had a few minutes to call whoever I needed too and then I would be getting wheeled over to the hospital. So, I called Steven first. He was just as shocked as me...he was at work and had to take a test in about an hour...oh and I had the car. So he hung up in a panic and I called my mom, dad, and Steven's parents. By then, my time was up and the nurse came to take me on a 'cadillac ride' (her words not mine) over to the hospital. I know it's just protocol but man did I feel dumb being wheeled through the floor across the main entrance of the clinic and the hospital and up to the birthing center.

Then, I was in my birthing room. Still no Steven. I was turned over to a great nurse who started all the admission stuff. I got asked some of the dumbest questions ever, but the nurse was hilarious and we made the best of it. She got my IV drip started and also drew some more blood. If you don't know, there are 3 signs of preclampsia: high protein in the urine, quick swelling of the hands, feet, and face, and high blood pressure. Well, since I was showing one of them, they had to monitor the other 2 pretty well. I was getting my blood pressure taken every 15 minutes...talk about irritating. So after about an hour of questions and answers with the nurse, the on call OB came in- Dr. Lays. I had never met her before but man she was great too! She had excellent bedside manner. She came in and told me what was happening and what I could expect. She actually gave me the choice to not be induced and come back every day to the lab to have more blood drawn, urine samples given, and blood pressure taken...So basically we could wait for something bad to happen or I could have my baby within 24 hours...like that was really a question. She also explained to me the risks of being induced and the epidural and we talked through how I wanted my labor to go. Seriously I felt so at ease with her that I knew it was an answered prayer. During this time, I also met the on-call resident, Dr. Mahji. She was also an answered prayer. We had already been to the birthing center 2x in the past 2 weeks. Once because baby wasn't moving and we needed to check he was ok (he was-he just didn't like the contractions either). The second time, we thought I was in labor--I wasn't. During both those visits there had been another resident doctor that I didn't love, so I was happy with Dr. Mahji. Anyways...at about 2:20 the nurse was finally done with everything and started the pitocin drip. Steven got there very shortly after this. *A BIG thanks to McKenzie for driving him. He basically just showed up at her door and asked her to take him to the hospital*. At 3, we got a new nurse who I can honestly say was one of the most obnoxious people I have ever met. She rubbed both Steven and I the wrong way. She kept telling me that my contractions weren't strong enough and I wasn't in enough pain...it still irritates me just thinking about her. She also called in the CNRA (the lady who gives out the epidurals) to talk to me (this lady was great and put me at ease also) But, this obnoxious nurse was sure to point out that I wasn't hurting enough to get an epidural yet. SERIOUSLY I could have killed her...Then, she kept moving me around in bed which wasn't helping anything either. Finally at about 6:15, Dr. Lays sent word that I needed my water broken. So, Dr. Mahji came and broke my water (which actually was one of the worst parts of the night) and put in a inter-uterine device catheter to monitor the contractions from the inside. Baby does not like to be monitored and I think they were tired of him kicking off our monitors. After my water was broken and I have this new contraction monitor on, this obnoxious nurse says "Wow you must really have a high pain tolerance, I think you've been in active labor for awhile" Ya...like I was trying to tell you, irritating. After, I was checked again and I was at a 4 and I was cleared to get my epidural at any time. My goal was to get to a 5 on my own and then have it.
At this point, things really started to pick up. I was gushing fluid and having TERRIBLE contractions. Steven was helping me breathe through them and I was miserable...oh and did I mention I also had back labor?! The only good part of this stage was that the nurses were overstaffed so my nurse had to go home. Bummer. BUT again, with an answered prayer, we got Haley, a FANTASTIC nurse who made it through the worst part of labor with me and Steven. She was supposed to stay on until 7 am so she would be the one to deliver with us. When Haley came into the room around 7:15, I told her I was ready for the epidural. By this point, I could hardly catch my breath in between contractions and I had promised Steven he was never getting another child out of me.


Finally, they had me sitting up ready for the epidural. Sitting up caused me to GUSH fluid like there was no tomorrow. So, I'm sitting on my bed, gushing fluid, having regular HARD contractions, back labor, crying (which made my nose run like crazy) all while trying to keep still and relaxed to get the epidural in. It took about 3 or 4 of the worst contractions of my life to get it in and get me laying back down. All the while Steven and Haley breathed through them and talked through them with me. I laid back down and the epidural wasn't working yet. Dr. Lays came in right at the end of this stage and introduced herself to Steven. She also had to check me. I was still feeling contractions and I was at a 6. So that means I went 2 cms in about 40 mins...That's fast. AND I made it to 6 on my own. No wonder I thought I was dying.
After this point, things were much more relaxed. The epidural kicked in and I was able to relax a bit. In fact, it was more of an anxious waiting excitement at this point. I was one of the lucky third of women who get an epidural and it works perfectly for them. I truly admire women who do it without pain medicine, but not me, not ever. At about 9:30 PM Steven decided to go get some food and go for a walk. While he was gone, Haley checked me and I was at 9+ and 95% effaced. She told me I was about ready to push. She also said she'd wait for Steve to get back before she checked me again and called me ready to push. Also, she said that they needed a nurse to go up to the 5th floor to babysit a patient who kept trying to get out of bed or take their lines out...and it was her turn :( Almost in tears I asked her what we had to do to keep her there. She told me there was a good chance the baby would be there before she had to leave at 11 anyways. Steven came back at about 10 and I told him the good news. He was shocked out of his mind. He text my mom right away and she requested to be put on speakerphone so she could listen while we pushed...Steven obliged and I found out later.


At 10:35 I got all set up to start pushing and Haley taught me the counting procedures and everything. By 10:45 it was game time. We started pushing and Haley immediately could see baby's head. Even Steven looked to see how much hair the baby had. At 11, my new nurse Karlina came in and took over the breathing and pushing coaching. Haley was able to waste time and stayed until almost 11:30. We kept thinking the baby was almost out but he kept going right back up after every push. Luckily, Karlina was equally awesome and she got us through the next 2 hours of pushing...that's right I pushed for 2 1/2 hours total. Dr. Lays and Dr. Mahji came in after about an hour and checked on me. Dr. Mahji stayed for about 30 minutes and helped as well. Finally at 1 AM I made a deal with Karlina. If the baby wasn't there by 1:45, she would let me order food and I would save it until the baby was born. You see I had expected to be home for lunch...so I hadn't eaten anything but a cup of jello and water since 10 AM...that is a LONG time for anyone to go without eating. AND the hospital room service closes from 2-5:30 AM every morning. I needed to make sure I had some food. She countered with an offer of "If he's not here by 1:30 you can order food". Turns out both were unnecessary. At 1:05, the nurse supervisor came in and suggested a different position to push in. I tried it and it got things really going. I think I had finally figured out which muscles to use. By 1:10, Karlina called in the crew. The doctors got gowned, took out the IUDC monitor and left it up to me to feel the contraction and push the baby out. It only took one more contraction. In the second set of counting to ten, I got to 6 and something felt weird but I was still pushing. Then I heard someone say, You can stop...I opened my eyes and lo and behold the most beautiful thing I've ever seen: Quintin. I saw Steven cut the umbilical cord and then they laid baby Quintin on my chest. I got to hold him for a minute before they took him to the warmer. He got to the warmer and gave the nurses a shower in his pee...they all laughed about his plumbing working. I got stitched up (level 2 tear which I guess is normal for a first time delivery and pushing for so long). Steven ordered me some food, and things started calming down. I got to hold my baby for awhile while we waited for the epidural to start wearing off and my food to come. Haley came down on her break to see him.

(Not the most flattering picture, but I think it shows all the emotions I was feeling)

Quintin is honest to goodness THE most beautiful thing I have ever seen. I've seen lots of babies, but none that were BRAND BRAND new. And none that were quite so handsome. The nurses all loved his hair, and so do we. I couldn't help but cry when I first saw him. I was exhausted and it had been a long day, but he was worth every single piece of it. I'm still amazed how blessed I am to have seven pounds of Heavenly Father's most beautiful creation to take care of.


He is such a well-mannered baby. We were able to come home from the hospital on Wednesday evening. We could have stayed until Thursday but I was ready for my own bed and not to have people coming in and out of my room at their discretion. Quintin is a good little nurser and an even better snuggler. My mom came for about 5 days after he was born and it was wonderful. She helped take care of me and took care of Quintin. She woke up with me at night to help carry him and change him and get him back to sleep. I cried a lot when she left.

Steven is such a great daddy. He comes home in between any classes that he can and helps however he can. Today, he held Q while I took a shower...it's the little things that mean the most.

All in all, we were so blessed in labor and delivery of our little guy. We had great nurses and although our original doctor was not around, we were blessed with a wonderful OB and resident to deliver as well. We still pray that our nurses and doctors get extra blessings for the great work they did for us. We were also blessed with great nurses during recovery. We were lucky to have friends come visit in the hospital and also to have my mom come stay with us. She heard the birth via the phone and was on the first flight out the next day to come visit. In fact, she had to fly to Minneapolis and drive the 4 1/2 hours to get to us. But, I'm sure after she snuggled Q all that work was worth it ;)


Life is good, Quintin is beautiful and we couldn't be happier :)

PS Congrats if you made it through this whole rambling mess ;)