Happy 1st Birthday, Quinn!!

I can hardly believe that this day is here. January 9, 2009....my baby is 1 year old today! It truly seems like it was just yesterday that I was finding out I was pregnant. It seems like just yesterday I was looking at a sonogram of a little "peanut" and wondering what this child would look like. It seems like just yesterday that I was looking at myself, at my hugeness, and wondering when this baby would ever get here.

Getting here was the hard part. I remember wishing all of Christmas 2007 that Quinn would make an early arrival, since I did not want to go back to school. But Quinn decided he did not want to come early, or even on time.

January 8th, 2008 was a Tuesday. I had spent the day at school teaching my children, and waddling up and down the halls. My classroom is as far from the main lobby area as it can be and at this point, 5 days overdue, I was miserable. I remember as soon as I got home from work, I changed clothes and started walking. I was NOT going back to work the next day. I walked through the back part of our subdivision and up and down the huge hill, and then back around the block. When Buddy got home, we walked that far again, and then went out to eat at our favorite restaurant. I remember he said to me, "We won't have many more nights that are just the two of us. Let's go out one more time."

We came home from dinner and I was exhausted. I fell asleep on the couch and then went to bed about 9:30. Buddy was sleeping in the guest room, because apparently I snore while pregnant....and I also kept the house so cold he had to sleep in a toboggan hat! Anyway, our little dog Tillman sleeps with me and he wouldn't settle down. I remember he wouldn't settle down that night. Somewhere around midnight he got off the bed and scratched the door...his signal for wanting water. I let him out to the kitchen and he scratched his dish...his signal that the dish was empty. When I bent over to get his dish, my water broke! I truly believe the Lord allowed Tillman to get me to the kitchen so I could make a mess on the kitchen tile, and not our mattress!

We got to the hospital around 12:30 am on January 9th, and I got put on a penicillin drip due to being positive for Group B strep. I labored for 12 hours! Yes, 12 hours. Around noon or so we started pushing, but nothing was happening. I kept trying for about 2 hours. The doctor came and realized Quinn was facing my inner leg, not the floor, and worst of all, his heart rate plummeted every time I had a contraction. After a short discussion with the doctor, we realized that I was going to need a C-Section. This was 2:30, and by 2:55pm, January 9th, I heard the most wonderful words in the world, "It's a boy!"

I'm telling you....I am one blessed Mama! With Quinn being my first child, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but apparently the Lord decided to give me the easiest child ever. Quinn was not a crying baby. He wasn't fussy. He was very pleasant and easy going. I can remember 5 distinctive nights of him being absolutely inconsolable. 5 nights....out of a whole year. He was sleeping through the night by 7 weeks (the week before I had to go back to work!) He met all his milestones for his first year at the right times. He (so far) has not gone through the "stranger anxiety" so he easily goes to any adult we need him to be with...even those he meets for the first time.

Here are some pics of him through-out this year. Isn't he the sweetest??

Quinn, I am so glad that I have been given the chance to be your Mama. I am so lucky that you are my precious gift from God. Your Daddy and I love you so much. I am looking forward to celebrating your first birthday with you!

Love,

Mommy