On The Day You Were Born

Matt and I are so excited to share that Quinn Flaherty Keough has arrived and made us a family of three. Believe me when I tell you that her entrance into the world is quite a harrowing tale. I think Matt and I have probably just made it through the most stressful, dramatic, scary and exciting days of our lives. I am going to share an abridged version (as abridged as 48 hours gets) of the hours leading up to her birth and of course a few of our favorite photos from over the last week.

I had my last doctor prenatal doctor appointment on October 14th. Quinn's due date. At that appointment we decided I would be induced the following week if nothing happened on it's own before then. I called and scheduled the induction for October 20th at 7 a.m. Matt and I very anxiously checked in that morning, hopeful that we would find out if Baby K. was a boy or girl (BABY HUNCH RESULTS {HERE} - Aunt Caitlin is our winner!) by the day's end. By 9 a.m. I was hooked up to Pitocin to start labor and Penicillin because I had tested positive for Group B Strep. I should also mention that upon checking in my blood pressure was totally out of control high. It remains that way until right now. I still don't have an explanation for it. Later that afternoon I hadn't made much progress and the baby's head was still very high up. The doctor couldn't even be sure it was a head so she did an ultrasound to be sure. She shared that she was concerned the baby was facing up and had their hand on their head and might not be able to be delivered. My water also broke around this time, so everyone was hopeful things would pick up. The doctor's changed shifts at about 9 p.m. and I was still not making much progress and my contractions never really got strong so they gave me a intrauterine catheter to better measure them. They still were not strong. The next doctor really broke my water around 11 p.m. that night. Overnight not much happened. I couldn't sleep, but tried. The next day (October 21st) around lunch time the Pitocin was cranked up and I started to get stronger contractions. The doctor came to check me, but I still wasn't making progress. He too made it seem as though a C-section was in my future. He and the nurse also suggested an epidural to help with the pain and to help relax my body to possibly move things along. About an hour later I decided to try it, seeing as how at this point I thought for sure I would be having a C-section and would need something anyway. Over the next few hours I got a few hours of sleep and made progress dilation wise. A little after nine, and third doctor later, I was allowed to begin pushing.

I pushed for about an hour, but nothing much was happening. The nurse and doctor made a new plan with my Pitocin to try to make things more productive. At this point I was getting extremely frustrated with the lack of progress, the amount of medication, and just not having a baby after almost two days. Also, I wanted some food. I was given an hour break from pushing to wait for stronger contractions. Once they got a little better, I pushed four more hours, until about 4 a.m. on October 22nd. At this point the doctor came back. He stated my options. The baby wasn't low enough to have any help with a vacuum, I could continue pushing, but I wasn't making progress after five hours, and then lastly he C-section that had been on the table for a few days. I asked him what he thought was best and he I could tell he thought I should have the C-section. I agreed. Matt and I were both quickly prepared to go into the operating room.

Once we were in the operating room they prepped me for the procedure and the anesthesiologist asked if we were having a boy or girl. I said I didn't know. So they gave us a special drape that we would be able to see the baby when it came out (but not see all my guts) and I would be able to announce if it was a boy or girl. Matt came in and things went very quickly. They held the baby up and asked me what it was. I saw, but I couldn't believe what I saw. I said I needed to see again and SHE WAS DEFINITELY A GIRL!!!!! SO CRAZY! I was so convinced she was a boy. I kept saying I can't believe I had a girl. Matt went to be with the baby when they cleaned her off and weighed her and checked her out. I started seriously feeling the effects of anesthesia. Matt brought her over to me all wrapped up and I kept telling him about how she was a girl and asking about what her hair looked like. I also couldn't believe she only weighed seven pounds. They thought of of the reasons she wouldn't come out was because she was a big baby. Turns out the first doctor was right, she was facing the wrong way and she had her hands on her head so she was impossible to push out.

In the recovery room, I couldn't wait to hold her, but I was feeling really bad from the anesthesia and didn't trust myself to be able to hold her. Matt called our parents and told them the great news. I could hear my mom yell in disbelief about it being a girl as well. After a little while I was finally able to hold her. I couldn't believe how soft she was and she was also very alert. She was loving playing with her tongue. Soon we were moved to the postpartum wing of the hospital and that's where things get very dramatic and take a turn for the worst for me. But all of that is a story for another day. We are so happy our Quinn is here. The past week - good and bad - is something that Matt nor I will ever forget. We are so thankful for our families help during all of our craziness and for all of our friends who sent messages of concern and congratulations. We can't wait for everyone to meet her :)