That New Baby Smell!

On June 14th, at 3:05 pm, my third daughter was born! Quinn Magnolia Wise weighed 7 lb 11 oz, and was 19″ tall, healthy as could be, and imbued with a set of very strong lungs she was eager to test out.

The birth went fast, and fairly painless (for me)! We met with the obstetrician at 11:15 for our weekly check up, and my wife was experiencing pain. They hooked her up to see what was going on, and sure enough she was having regular contractions. They checked her out and saw that she was at 4 cm, so they sent us up to the birthing center. By the time we got situated, she was at 6 cm, and they rushed us from one room to the next in a mad dash to get things ready.

My main job during this was to warn the nurses that an epidural was GOING to happen. When they laughed me off, I explained that I had one job to do, and if that epidural didn’t happen I would catch hell for it. Well, my timing couldn’t have been better, because they rushed the anesthesiologist to get there, and not a second too soon! It wasn’t long after the epidural that the obstetrician decided to break my wife’s water (three babies in, and she’s never had her water break. I’m reminded of making water balloons for the kids that don’t break when thrown, and just bounce off as if we’re throwing dodgeballs back and forth.) The doctor left the room, and my wife grabbed me and said, “I can’t stop it! Go get them!!!”

I raced into the hall, screamed for a nurse, and then remembered there were buttons on the bed to do exactly that – no need for 1950’s era dramatics. Soon the nurses came, and after just five contractions worth of pushing (and a wee bit of cursing from my normally demure wife) Quinn forced her way into this world.

We couldn’t be happier!

Coincidentally, the very first picture ever taken of her happened at 3:14. 🙂