Quinn's Birth

    Throughout my pregnancy, I always got comments about how small my belly was but I was measuring ~2 cm smaller than expected which is within the normal range. I attributed it to genetics, because my mom said she was small during pregnancy. However, my when I went in for my 39 week appointment on a Tuesday, I was still measuring around 35 (I think), so they decided to get an US to check on things. Being at the the big academic center of UAB, there were no US appointments until Thursday since it wasn't an emergency, so over the next few days I continued to tell myself everything would be fine. George and I went in on Thursday for my US. The US tech was obviously measuring things smaller than expected and due to our knowledge of the procedure, etc, was unable to hide it, so we immediately knew things were not within normal limits. Because it was apparent that we knew things weren't as expected, she finally told us that the cardiac activity and everything looked fine, but the baby was measuring in the 6th percentile.
      My OB had already told me that if he measured under the 10th percentile, I would be induced. A few weeks previously, he had measured in the 50th percentile, so she did not foresee him measuring that small.
      We went back out to the waiting room to wait to see Dr. Gleason - the only doctor who was still in clinic. We knew we would be having a baby within 24 hours- I was super excited; George was super nervous. I had not been dilated more than 1-2 cm previously, so we figured I would need to be admitted that evening for cervidil, but when we met with Dr. Gleason, I was already dilated to 3-4 cm so he sent us home for the night and told us to come back in the morning for induction.
    We called our families, went home to pack, and got dinner at Saigon Noodle, my latest pregnancy craving. I could tell George was nervous, but he wouldn't say why. I finally got it out of him that he had researched all the complications of IUGR (intrauterine growth restriction) and was concerned about the complications with our baby. Of course, this then made me nervous, but I refused to look it up myself, because I kept telling myself everything would be fine. Throughout the night,  I was having some mild cramping but didn't thing anything of it. I had not had any braxton-hicks contractions or the like, so I didn't know what to expect.

    The next morning we went in at 7am to be induced. Once I was hooked up to all the monitors, etc. They said I was already having contractions every 5 minutes and asked if I could feel them. I guess I could once it was pointed out, but they weren't bad. They decided to just let me labor an hour or two to see what happened.
    Nothing happened, so Dr. Stewart (my OB) broke my water.  The contractions began increasing after that. I went ahead and asked for my epidural.
   My first epidural only took on my left side. They kept saying to give it some time and then had me positioned to try to get it to take on the right but it never did. It felt like I had intermittent appendicitis, because the pain was sharp and only on my lower right abdomen. They had turned the pit on to the minimum setting of 2. I ended up getting a second epidural that took on both sides and was glorious - I was then pain-free. However, the sensation of dead weight in your legs is very bizarre and unsettling, but worth not feeling the pain of labor and birth. It took a few hours for me to dilate to 6-7, but I quickly dilated thereafter.
   My parents were in town at my house waiting to come to the hospital until closer to time. They barely made it!! As soon as they walked in, I felt the urge to "use the bathroom" which is the sign the baby is crowning. We said our hellos, took a few pics, and kicked them back out of the room. I pushed through 3 contractions, and Quinn had arrived. I can only hope my subsequent deliveries go just as smoothly.
   Quinn came out screaming at the top of his lungs and was 6 lbs 12 oz - 25th percentile, instead of 6th, so George was relieved to say the least. We were so happy to finally have our healthy baby boy in our arms.

George Augustus Nelson, V

6 lbs 12 oz

20.5 inches

born on Friday, June 14, 2013 at 2:34pm