In honor of Labor Day, let’s celebrate what might be the hardest work of all. Giving birth! Here is the story on Quinn’s birth on April 25th 2009… How about you? Leave links to your family birth stories in the comments! You might win the adorable sock octopus from The Nesting Spot featured to the left! Enjoy your day!

Quinn Frances – April, 25 2009. – We have been home with our new little girl for a day and a half now. Quinn is a cuddly baby who eats like a champ. Since nursing was my biggest challenge with Clare, this is a huge relief. No shields, no syringes, no detailed feeding diary, yay! But, um, ouch Quinn, you are ferocious! Quinn doesn’t cry very much but has a high-pitched squeal that she reserves for the middle of the night when I am trying to put her back in her bassinet as if to say, “Don’t even try it Lady, I WAS NOT DOSING OFF!” Thankfully Rick’s mom (PJ) has been here since yesterday afternoon to help in the whole “sleep when they sleep” initiative. Having PJ here has also really helped Clare cope with Mommy having her hands full. Clare seems to have grown up so much in just the 4 days since we went to the hospital, she seems bigger and her vocabulary has just exploded. She is such a little girl now with a little (almost) 2 yr old attitude! But more on sweet Clare later. Back to Quinn and the story of her arrival.

On Friday morning I woke up feeling like a little nesting in the form of shopping. I hadn’t bought anything for “Wizard” and I thought that I would try to find a uni-sex outfit for the babe to wear home from the hospital. After 4 days of light contractions and such, I knew it was coming. Clare and I strolled/waddled around the outdoor mall for a bit but I had to take frequent breaks as the contractions seemed to be getting stronger and more frequent. We made it back to the car and even called Rick to see if he wanted to have lunch near the office but before we could make a plan I started to feel worse and decided to get home. By mid afternoon I started to time my contractions at about 12 minutes apart. Rick went out and picked up a fried chicken salad that I had just seen in a Zaxby’s commercial on TV. I hadn’t really made any crazy pregnant lady craving demands so he humored me. After dinner, I rested/moaned in bed for a few hours as the contractions intensified. Not having experienced any home labor with Clare, it was a little scary to be in that much pain at home. I called the hospital at around 6 and they told me that I should really wait until the contractions were 5 minutes apart before coming in. By 11PM we were there. I did some final packing, we called the Boneaus to arrange for Clare and were off! The pain was so intense on the drive that I was actually biting the seatbelt and screaming like a horribly cliche movie. Awesome. We were at the hospital by 12 and they admitted me right away. Ahhh sweet IV of pain relief and a unexpectedly drama-free epidural (see Clare’s labor story, *After writing this I realized that I never wrote a delivery story for Clare! Oh no!) From there Rick and I took a little nap and decided on the middle name if Quinn was a girl. Frances, after Francis which is Rick’s dad’s middle name and BOTH of his grandfather’s first names. We both love it! I am feeling ready to push but the doctor hasn’t arrived yet. Once we started I would say that Quinn came in about a half-hour. She weighed 8lbs, 11oz, was 20 1/2 inches long. So much bigger than our little peanut Clare but looking so much like her at the same time!

The next 2 days are a blur of glorious 24 hour nursery care, magazine reading and snack eating, staring goo-goo eyed at Quinn and sampling the best country-fried steak that I have ever eaten. Hi there Texas hospital food, you are delicious. Clare came to visit with her Auntie Becca and all was well. She took a mild interest in the baby and when asked what the baby’s name was said “sister.” Aww. Quinn “gave” Clare a new doll (thanks Grammie : ) which made Clare quite happy and when Becca started packing up, Clare said “Bye Becca” and when we told her that she was going home with Becca she turned to me without missing a beat and said “Bye Mama.”


So now it is 4:45 am and I have been up since 1 and Quinn is asleep in my lap. I think that I’m ready to attempt another transfer to the bassinet. Wish us luck.

by Jacinda