Pictures of our life lately

I have some photos I thought I would share with you.  We haven’t gotten out our camera (because that would just be too hard!), so all of these photos aren’t the best quality – just taken with our phones.  Since Quinn is the last baby, I’m trying to take pictures throughout the day that will remind me of how small and sleepy she is, because this newborn time really is over too quickly.  As a result, I’m IN a lot of these photos, because you know, I’m usually holding Quinn these days (she’s very cuddly).

Rylan is doing really well, loves holding her and patting her cheeks, and yelling, “IT’LL BE OKAY!!!” in her face whenever she cries.  He’s very attentive.  Kevin and I are trying to be intentional about playing with him individually so he doesn’t feel ignored or unprioritized, but sometimes he still seems to get sad or lonely.

Anyway, things are going pretty smoothly around here.  Just click here for the few pictures I have!

Two weeks in

Well, it’s now been over two weeks since the new arrival…arrived.  I’ve noticed that I still don’t really refer to her by name, because it just seems weird that she’s here and real, and part of our family, despite the fact that she’s already gotten her first piece of mail (thank you social security administration)!

Kevin was able to take a fair amount of time off work, which was nice, but this week has been my first all by myself.  Fortunately on Monday, my mom came over for most of the day and entertained Rylan, including taking him to story time at the library, always a special treat!  While they did that, I took Quinn to her two-week checkup at the pediatricians office.  She is perfectly healthy, and now weighs 8 lbs 4 oz, exceeding her birth weight by a lot (7 lbs 10 oz), which is really all they’re hoping for at two weeks old.  So I guess we’re doing something right.  In general, Quinn seems to be a very agreeable sort of baby, sleeps as well as can be expected at night (meaning I’m very tired), and hasn’t really had any long crying jags (hoping I don’t jinx that one)!

Rylan has been pretty sick all week, which has just been delightful (not)!  The first week I’m alone with two kids and he is incredibly whiny, bossy, and clingy – all at the same time.  I know his behavior is a combination of sickness and adjustment to Baby Sister, but if I could plop him in front of a TV all day long while still feeling good about my parenting decisions, I would.  Of course he would love it if I did that, but unfortunately my inner-parent-voice says that he needs to read more books (and why aren’t I doing that with him???), and play outside (and why aren’t I pushing him on the swings???), and eat more broccoli (macaroni & cheese again???), etc. etc. etc.  In general I have a lot of guilt from that stupid “inner-parent” who thinks I should be perfect.

Now that Quinn is here, Kevin and I are feeling more like an official “family”, which seems strange to us.  With Rylan, it was just the three of us, and now Quinn is here to shake things up a bit.  We love it of course, but adjusting to anything this major is hard.  I especially, feel like I can’t get back in the groove yet, and wondering if the “groove” still even exists.  I mean, for over two and a half years, it was just me and Rylan.  We were pals!  We knew each other, we had a flexible – but reliable – routine.  Quinn just kind of feels like an outsider right now.  While we’re enjoying these newborn days (because they are over so fast!), I am also looking forward to when the adjustment period is over and I can have TWO buddies.

Unfortunately for you readers, we have not taken a single picture since I last updated my blog.  I haven’t really felt like taking pictures.  I’ll try to get on that a little better and update again soon.

Quinn’s Infamous Birth

Allow me to set the scene:

A crisp March morning.  A calm gas station parking lot.  Two cars screeching in.  A crying newborn baby.  An ambulance.  And then, calm again, everything back to normal.  Normal for everyone except us, that is, since we were in fact, the ones causing all the ruckus.

This is Quinn’s birth story, and I am still in amazement that it is ours to share!

Labor started early Monday morning, all very suddenly, and progressed extremely quickly.  Instead of thinking, “Oh hey, this is going pretty fast, we should get to the hospital!”, I only thought, “Oh hey, this is going pretty fast, that’s weird,”  But still thinking we had hours of labor to go, since my labor with Rylan was 22 hours long.  I called over our doula (birth coach), Jennifer, and Kevin called his mom to come pick up Rylan, who was still sleeping.  By the time Jennifer got to our house, I was laboring on the toilet with the lights off and door closed – pitch black.  She stayed with me for about 20 minutes but was immediately concerned we weren’t leaving for the hospital yet, considering how fast it was going.  As soon as Rylan left, the tone of the morning became more serious, and during a lull in the contractions, all three of us raced outside to the car.  I didn’t have shoes or a coat, we weren’t packed for the hospital at all, but we just had to leave.

Now, trying to race to the hospital at 8:30 in the morning is rather difficult, because the traffic going downtown is very heavy!  It was getting scary because as soon as we drove out of our cul-de-sac, my body was in full blown pushing mode.  I was trying to stop it, but my body had other ideas.  Kevin was trying to drive us safely and quickly to the hospital, and I’m on my knees, facing backwards in the front seat, trying to keep the baby in!  Then, my midwife, Kristi calls (she had been notified what was happening by Jennifer).  I’m obviously barely holding it together, so I’m screaming.  Kristi is yelling at me over the phone just to be heard.  “Andrea!  Andrea!  Breathe with me! You’re okay!”  Just by talking to me, she can tell we aren’t going to make it all the way to the hospital, and I hear her say to someone off the phone, “Can you get the charge nurse?  Yes, I have a mother en route to the hospital, and I don’t think they’re going to make it.”  And then back to me, “Andrea!  Focus!  Pull over and call 9-1-1, I don’t think you’re going to make it all the way here!”  So through all that screaming, Kevin calls 9-1-1, and he is screaming into his phone just to be heard over Kristi and I!  He was unable to even tell them what color our car was at first, just shouted where we were and that there was a BABY on the way RIGHT NOW!!!

We screeched into a Jackson’s gas station parking lot with Jennifer right on our tail.  She ripped open my door and within a few seconds, caught the baby!  She handed baby up to me (still unnamed at that point), and told me to hold her really close to keep her warm.  Brief moments later, the ambulance pulled into the parking lot, and found me kneeling in our car, holding the baby.  They loaded us up on the gurney, and Kevin jumped right into the ambulance with us, despite the fact that he had left everything in the car, with the keys in the ignition – let’s just say he did not have all his wits about him at that moment.  (Jennifer saved all our stuff and keys)!

The paramedics were super nice, and seemed rather happy about picking us up, a healthy baby call.  They covered us in heated blankets, gave the baby some oxygen, cut the cord, and transported us to our hospital (without the sirens on).  The baby’s Apgar score was, “Good” (usually based on a 1-10 scale), because they weren’t sure how to do that part.  As they wheeled us into the emergency room, I immediately saw Kristi, the midwife with a big smile on her face, and the nurse with her was not only the same one who delivered Rylan, but also an old friend from high school!  We were rather famous in the delivery room, it seemed like all the nurses wanted to see “the people who delivered in their car”, since it doesn’t happen very often!  As a result, we also saw the nurse who had taught our natural-birth class, which was great!  Both her and Kristi, knowing all the inhibitions and worries I had about natural birth going into it, both said at different times, “This would happen to you!”

The paramedics even offered to take our first photo together!

We spent about two hours in the delivery room getting all checked out, and countless vitals being taken on both me and the baby, who we officially named Quinn about an hour later, which seemed like her name all along.  She weighed 7 lbs 10 oz and 20.5 inches long.  Finally we were transported up to the recovery floor and got to call our friends and families with the amazing story!  I probably enjoyed doing that way too much, since I could hear everybody’s jaw dropping through the phone!

Here are a few photos of the whole ordeal!

Here are some professional photos we had taken at the hospital, as well as a few good ones I took later!

Jennifer has stopped by our house since we returned home, and brought a $25 gift card, candy, and a signed, “Congratulations!” card, signed by all the Jackson’s employees!  Apparently they were pretty excited about it!  There are still more pictures to come from Jennifer’s camera as well.

So add March 2nd to the list of birthdays, Quinn was born at 8:51 – ish AM…nobody really knows!