Miss Caroline Quinn

Well, my last entry was three weeks ago and titled "39 Weeks." Two weeks ago would have been "40 Weeks" but, as most readers know, I didn't make it that far. Miss Caroline made her arrival one day before her due date... at 1:59pm on November 25, 2012.

Josh and I joked that I had to wait until after the FSU v UF game to go into labor. The game was on Saturday, November 24th. I went into labor about 3 hours after the game ended. Such a good wife :) I had felt odd all night, so when we went to bed around 10:30pm, we put a towel down and opened the shower curtain just in case my water broke. After only about 5 minutes in bed I had a strange feeling, leapt out of bed, ran into the bathtub, and immediately my water broke. I am as blind as a bat without my glasses on, so I had to ask Josh what was happening, haha. He said, "we're having a baby!" We got everything ready to go and were out the door and headed to the hospital by 11:30pm. 

We were in triage for.so.long. Apparently there were two girls ahead of me: one with twins and another that was only 30 weeks along. Both had emergency c-sections, so I was not a priority. We finally got a delivery room early in the morning on Sunday. Miss Caroline was facing the wrong position, so I was having back labor, which was horrific. I felt like my back was going to explode. Once they took my vitals, I went straight into the jacuzzi tub for some slight relief. Then, it was just surviving the contractions until it was time for the epidural. Josh was a great coach and helped me through each contraction.

The epidural was rough considering my back was in so much pain and they had to find my spine. This wouldn't have been so bad if I didn't have scoliosis. The lady said she had done hundreds of epidurals on women with scoliosis and only had issues with one of them. Well, apparently I was lucky number two. The epidural only worked on one side of my body. My right side went completely numb since it was getting tons of medication. My left side was feeling everything. They fixed it somewhat by replacing the needle, but it never fully worked. Lovely!

Josh and I waited and waited and waited until the time to push. We "napped" (he actually slept; I didn't since I was still feeling contractions). The epidural pretty much stopped my contractions and they had to use Pitocin to start them up again. Sunday afternoon arrived and it was finally time to push! The pushing was super easy; not a scream fest like in the movies. Unfortunately, little Caroline was stuck and her heart rate was changing, so they suctioned the poor baby out. For the past two weeks she has had a battle scar in the form of an enormous lump on her head; yesterday, it disappeared!

The feeling of having them put that little baby (well, 8 pounds 4 ounce baby) on my chest was surreal. I couldn't believe that tiny human had just come out of me, that she was the little thing that had been wiggling and hiccuping inside of me, and that I was holding a baby for the first time and that baby was mine. I was so distracted and probably in shock that I have no clue what was going on "downstairs" as the doctor fixed me up.

We were in the hospital for two days following her birth. She did amazing and did great on every test  - healthy baby!! We had no privacy in the hospital and I learned there's no room for modesty there. They just look at whatever body part they want whenever they want, haha! It was... interesting :) I didn't sleep at all for those three days - nursing her and all the visitors kept me from sleeping. 

Our parents have been helping us over the past two weeks. My mom helped us the first week and Josh's parents were here for the second week. They were all so helpful. Not only did they help with Caroline, but they helped fix up our house and it feels so much more like a home now - it looks amazing :) We loved having them all here to help. Next helper: ALLISON! Hurry up, January!

So, Miss Caroline. She's amazing! She's beautiful and is seriously so sweet. She just wants love all the time (which can be exhausting, but it's super sweet). She is healthy but not gaining weight as quickly as they want, so we're having to supplement her with formula after I feed her. She's going to fatten up a bit, I hope :) But she is absolutely perfect. All I wanted was a healthy baby, and I got one. She just happens to be pretty awesome, as well!!

I will update this blog more, of course! The past two weeks have just been very busy for obvious reasons :) Right now I am having "Kaitlin Time" - a bath and a glass of wine! I waited nine long months for this moment!

Perfect baby <3