Thursday, August 25, 2011

My Baby is in Kindergarten!





David James Quinn did what every 5 year old does... he went to Kindergarten. On August 16, 2011 Walter and I walked our baby to Mrs. Kelley's classroom at Eclectic Elementary School. Only 6 kids were there that day and 4 of them were already sitting at a big table. There was a coloring page in front of each chair. Mrs. Kelley showed David how to unpack his bag and where to put his folder. He went and sat down in front of a coloring page. He doesn't like coloring so I thought he would tell her. Fortunately, he did not. He began coloring instead. The room was extrememly quiet... until David sat down. He grabbed a red crayon and announced he was coloring the apple red. Then the same with the yellow pencil and so on. He wasn't shy at all. I wonder what his teacher thought??? Walter and I told him bye and we loved him. He said the same and that was that.

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Baby Showers

Wetumpka Elementary School Diaper Shower


Friends and Family~ Faith Baptist Church







New Home Baptist Church



Monday, August 22, 2011

Another Journey Begins... the Birth of Daniel and Dillan




















Sunday, July 31, 2011, I had a baby shower at my church. Everything went great. That night I had some hard contractions and then they went away. The same thing happened the following day. I had a doctor's appointment August 2nd and I had a feeling Dr. Martin would be sending me to the hospital. Out of all the contractions I have had, I don't know why I felt this time it would be it. My Aunt NaNa came and picked me up for my doctor's appointment. My feet were so swollen. Let me change that. My whole entire legs were swollen from my toes up to my thighs! They were so tight and sore. Anyways... I got called back to the room. Thank God because my circulation was cut off from sitting and I was having to stand. The nurse commented on my "significantly swollen" body. Dr. Marting was in soon after. He snatched my list of questions out of my hands. I said you are about to send me to the hospital aren't you? He answered with "Yea, essentially". He checked me and I was 3-4 centimeters dilated. I told him I REALLY needed to go by Wal-Mart to get some batteries. That was totally out of the question. He requested I go home, get my bags, and beat him back to the hospital. The plan was for me to spend the night there and do a 24 hour urine to test for protein and such, so I did. On Thursday morning, August 4, they would give me fluids, an epidural, then break my water. He said he would be done at the office by 1:00 and then we would probably have babies.
Fast forward to August 4. Urine was fine and so was mama and babies. Nurse Jennie (I love her) woke me up at 4:00 to go to Labor and Delivery. She asked if I had been feeling contractions because I was having them regularly. I told her no, I was sleeping! She moved my rather quickly. We got there and Niki started my fluids. Walter was concerned with the tv at this time and I was contracting and they were HURTING! How did I naturally start contracting on the same day the dr wanted me to deliver. AMAZING! The man came in to give me my epidural. I had to get up and when I did... MY WATER BROKE ALL OVER THE FLOOR! I looked at the nurse and said, I think my water just broke. She looked at me in shock and said are you serious? Walter yells, did you just pee all over the floor??? The man tells me to hurry up and get back on the table because I am about to start hurting bad. I listened. That epidural was more painful than the last time. They also made Walter leave the room at this time. I later found out he went out and called all the grandparents since things seemed to be progressing faster than expected. After the epi was in place, they checked my cervix. I was 5 cm. At about 8:00, Dr. Martin came in to check me. He said I was ready. READY? What? Already? (Later I would find out he felt the head when he checked me). Mom and Walter started getting on their scrubs since I had to birth in the OR. Within minutes, we were off to the OR. We got there and people were running around everywhere setting things up.
I was going to attempt this vaginally because I knew it was better for my babies. Baby B was still transverse/breech, but there was a 66% chance they would be able to turn him after A delivered. My feet were put in stirrups. I told Dr. Martin I felt pressure. He replied, I am sure you do, you are about to spontaneously give birth! Minutes later I was told to push. I pushed 10 seconds and heard them suctioning his mouth. I pushed 2 more seconds and heard the magical scream from who would later be named Dillan by his older brother. Then on to Daniel. Three doctors immediately began trying to turn him. An ultrasound was on my belly watching him and his heart rate. After about the 3rd attempt, it hit me. I needed to be praying. So I did. Walter said he would turn and then spin back around to where he was. Then, Dr. Marting went in to try to turn him. That's when I heard his heart rate went down and we are going to have to do a C-section. Organized chaos started again. Things were getting thrown out of the way. Walter and mom were ushered out until things were ready, and a curtain went up.
Then I heard the anesthesiologist told me to tell her if I felt anything. I was okay, so the procedure went on. Then I heard my sweet Daniel cry. Next thing I knew I had pain in my lower stomach. I started looking behind me for the anesthesiologist and she wasn't there. I said "Ow" in a medium voice. She was at the back of the room and didn't respond. So I shouted "OW!" She came and gave me a dose of something in my IV. Dr. Martin began again. Same exact thing happened again! More meds given. Dr. Martin waited a couple of minutes to start again. No more pain. In the mean time, Brandy brought Dillan over to see me before he was taken to the nursery. Later, I would find out Daniel had to have fluid taken off his lungs by some tube because he didn't come through the birth canal and have all of it squeezed out. It is amazing how God made things work. He was put in the well baby nursery extended care on oxygen. I was taken to recovery alone. Then Walter and David came.
Next thing I know they took me back to the Labor and Delivery room. Dillan was brought in to stay with us. All my visitors came in too. Daniel could not join us and I couldn't get up. Therefore, I didn't meet my little guy until 12 hours later. Heartbreaking...
The next few days were rough. When I was in my room, Dillan was with me. I went to the nursery to see Daniel. Early Saturday morning the pediatrician came in and told me they had to move Daniel to the NICU because his calcium levels went down. They would have to give him an IV. Things got harder from this point on. First, I am not a very emotional person, but this made me cry. Now to visit Daniel, we had to go to NICU, scrub our hands and arms, and touch him through a incubator. He was in there alone, had an IV in his tiny hand, oxygen in his nose, and a feeding tube in his mouth. Only 2 people were allowed to visit at a time. Between, feeding, pumping, taking care of Dillan, visiting Daniel, having 6 fever blisters show up from all the stress, steroids, and hormones, and seeing visitors, the days were busy and overwhelming. My nerves were gone!
I was able to stay one extra night so I could be with both boys. Then Monday came. I got to take one child home and leave the other one behind to grow and get strong. I was happy and devastated at the same time. This was the start of a whirlwind week...

Monday, August 1, 2011

The End of Preschool... Beginning of Something New

David attended K3 and K4 at First Baptist Church in Wetumpka. It was a great place to be. He met new friends, learned all his letters and sounds, can read 3 letter words, counts to 100, and loves books. He had library time, music class, and computer once a week. Throughout the year, the school had different celebrations. They had a Fall Festival, Turkey Trot where they had a race, The Polar Express Day, Grandparent's Day Breakfast, and end of year festivities. David loved his teachers, Mrs. Woodruff and Mrs. Johnson, this year. They were great with him. These pictures are from the Graduation Program where David was Uncle Sam.