The night before Quinn was born! 
Just relaxing on Friday night, 2/19/10. I recieved cervadil to get my body ready for labor around 8:30pm. By this time I was two weeks past my due date and had given Quinn every possible opportunity to come naturally before I had to get induced! After two weeks past the due date, the doctors strongly encourage induction as the placenta begins deteriorating and not working as effectively.
Very exciting...! 
Steve's bed for the night!
Had to get oxygen while I was in labor. The epidural made the baby's heartbeat start to slow down a little bit and that's what the oxygen was for!
On Friday night, 2/19/10, Steve and I checked into the hospital. We had a fun afternoon before heading to the hospital knowing soon it wouldn't be just the two of us! We went to lunch and a movie (Wild Fire was the restaurant, and the movie was Shutter Island.) It was the only day I took off from work before having Quinn, and I had to be talked into it by others who told me to relish the last day before we had our baby. I'm so glad I did!
After our day out, we quickly headed home to grab our bags and say our goodbyes to Tucker! {My awesome friend, Erin, came to get him and took care of him for a few days!} Then off to the hospital we went...
We checked in around 7pm, and at 8:30 the nurse gave me some medicine called Cervadil (this is used to soften the cervix and prepare the body for labor.) Usually it is followed by the medicine Pitocin {administered by IV} the next day. I lucked out and went into labor just with the Cervadil, however!
It was so hard to sleep on this night, with the excitement and anticipation sinking in that we would be having our baby the next day! The nurse suggested I take a sleeping pill so I would be rested and ready for the day ahead but I opted not to. Hindsights 20/20 because I really should have taken that pill :) I was just like a kid on Christmas morning!
Around 4am on Saturday, 2/20/10 I started having strong contractions, and by the time my doctor came in to check me at 8am, I was already dialated to 4 cm. I could have the epidural if I wanted it! Yes please. The medicine man didn't get to me until 9:30am..ouch! By then I was to 7.
Once the epidural was in, there were a few hours of managable pain, and Steve and I were able to take a few little naps (hard to do when you have nurses checking up every 20 minutes!), read, chat about how excited we were and talk with the nurses. By around 2pm I was at a 10 cm and able to start pushing. FINALLY...after almost 3 1/2 hours of pushing, we were able to meet our new little baby boy at 5:21pm.
The moment the doctor laid my little son on my chest after the cord was cut was the most intense, emotional, awesome, awe-inspiring, out of body experience...EVER! The tears started streaming down my cheeks when I saw this beautiful little baby and heard his strong cry! Steve and I were shocked to find out it was a boy! We were both convinced we were having a girl. And during my check ups my doctor assured me she didn't think my baby would be bigger than 7 1/2 lbs by the size of my stomach. So I was surprised to find out we had a boy...and that he weighed in at 8 lbs. 9 oz. / 22 inches long!
Quinn Franklin Johannes arrived on Saturday, February 20th 2010 at 5:21 pm
We choose his name, Quinn, because we just loved the sound of it and it is unique without being too different. We didn't want him to have the same name as five other kids in his classroom, but also didn't want him to have a name that none of the teachers would be able to pronounce :) It's also a Gaelic/Irish name and I am Irish so it was neat to honor my heritage with Quinn's name.
Franklin is my Grandpa Shepard's first name and is after him!
