At Home

Bringing Quinton Home

The first two days we were home, things were a little rough. Nursing is a lot harder than it looks! Poor Quinton wasn't getting enough food. We went back to the hospital and got some help and now he's doing much better.

First Bottle

First book

First Bath

We've had lots of visitors - both sets of grandparents, Shari & Jeni & Bryant and their families all came to see Quinton.

Quinton and Mackayla

Quinton Edward Jenks

Quinton Edward Jenks was born at 4:26 AM on Monday, November 12th. He weighed 6 lbs 10 oz, and was 20 inches long. We're so excited to have our little guy here!

The day we went to the hospital.

Here's the birth story:

I went into labor around 10:30 Sunday morning while we were getting ready for church. I wasn't hurting too bad, and wasn't sure my pains were actually contractions, so we went to sacrament meeting. It was the primary program that day. Well, we went home because I was hurting more and more. We waited anxiously until I truly felt I really was having contractions. We got ready to go (after I completed a homework assignment) and went to the hospital about 4:30. They monitored me for a while and though I was dilated to 2.5, it didn't change and they almost sent me home. I really didn't want that to happen, so Barry and I walked the halls and stairs of the hospital trying to help it along. 

At first it was all very exciting, but after six or seven hours the adrenaline wore off and I was exhausted and in pain. Barry was great the whole time and never left my side. My mom came, too, and was in the delivery room. I did get an epidural, but I swear it still hurt a lot. The "pressure" they talk about is like nothing else in this world! Anyway, after about 45 minutes of pushing I made it through and so did Quinton. The worst part was I had a 4th degree tear, which isn't very common. I hurt for a lot of weeks afterward (which is why my other babies were c-sections). We stayed in the hospital until Tuesday and then brought Quinton home to discover what parenting is all about.

Pregnancy

Going to school, working and being pregnant has been a little exhausting, but we're excited for this baby to come. My blood pressure was a little high so I've had to go to the hospital a few times to take some stress tests just to make sure he's doing okay. Here's a story that I wrote into my journal back in July:

The most dramatic experience happened near the middle of April. I had been home all day from cancelled classes and no work. When Barry got home that evening, I felt pretty sick and needed to get out. So we grabbed our bikes and were going to walk to the gas station to fill up my flat tires. Barry offered me his bike, though, so I could ride and he could run my bike alongside me. I agreed and went to climb on his bike. We were just a few yards from our house at the corner.
Not realizing Barry's bike was built for someone taller than me, no sooner was I on it than the bike fell over with me on it. Somehow the whole impact went straight to my ankle causing a tremendous sprain. Not hurting myself enough in life (and people wonder what's wrong with sports), I didn't know how to deal with the pain. I started to tear up and tried to stand. I felt extremely ill. So, I did the good pregnant woman thing and proceeded to puke all over in the road. Barry was trying to help me, but I had just eaten a bucket of fried rice and well, it wasn't pretty. To this day, the Chinese food I used to love makes me queasy (hopefully that changes because I'm pretty depressed about it.)

Anyways, after I cleared my system, Barry carried my sobbing, puking, pathetic self inside to the couch as I cried out, "I'm such a wanny!" It hurt and I cried, but soon I found it all sadly funny. I limped for a couple weeks on a purple ankle, but telling people I hurt myself just trying to get on a bicycle hurt my pride almost as bad. Hopefully, someday, I'll be able to get on a bike without wincing and take a bite of fried rice without gagging.

Barry found me eating like this one day. When you've got a huge belly, you do what you've got to do!