Isabelle Quinn's birth story
9/10/25
Born to Thomas & Jourdan
Early labor began on Sunday September 7th around 9pm. We went to bed and I tried to sleep (and failed miserably.) When my husbands alarm went off for work on Monday, I was still having contractions and I told him to call into work, convinced that I was going to have a baby that day. As the day progressed, my contractions did not. I kept busy in the kitchen prepping meals while my husband stacked wood and kept checking in on me. I went to bed discouraged, but still having contractions.
Tuesday morning, he went to work, as things still hadn’t progressed. I called my mom and asked her to come up to keep me company. We went on a nice afternoon walk in that HOT September heat. She left late in the afternoon, as I thought my husband would be home from work soon. Around 5pm, contractions REALLY started picking up. I texted him and said “I need you home ASAP!!” …unfortunately work had other plans for him and he didn’t end up getting home until after 6pm. He grilled us burgers while I timed contractions. I ended up texting Dorothy around 8PM as contractions had been consistently under 4 minutes apart for a few hours by that point. We filled up the birth tub and lounged on the couch as we waited for the birth team to show up.
Dorothy showed up around 9PM and Violet and Maggie showed up around 12AM. The rest of the night was a blur to me. I sat in the birth tub for hours – I was freezing and the hot water felt SO good. I didn’t want to put a number on dilation because I thought it might give me false hope (or discouragement) but I did ask Dorothy to check and she said I was close. I tried getting up and moving around, sitting backwards on the toilet, walking up and down the stairs, sitting on the birth stool, playing on the yoga ball… ANYTHING to get me to the full 10cm and get this baby out!
As it started to get light out, I remember feeling so discouraged and just completely exhausted, and honestly kind of sad that the peace of the night was being interrupted by a new day beginning. I decided to try and get in bed, hoping the comfort would relax me more. I think at that point the exhaustion was just making the pain feel SO much worse. Dorothy came up to the bedroom and said we had to start thinking about other options, as my blood pressure was going up. I hated to admit it, but I was really starting to want some drugs to help with the pain. I looked at my husband and he said he was fine with going to the hospital if I was good with it. (He would later tell me that if I had said no, he was going to try everything to convince me otherwise, because he hated seeing me in so much pain.) I’m guessing it was around 7AM that we packed a bag and headed toward the hospital. I remember feeling so discouraged on the way there – I had had my heart set on a home birth with no drugs involved.
When we arrived, Dorothy had already called and let them know we were coming, so we skipped the checking in part and went straight into a room. The anesthesiologist came in and gave me the option of an epidural or a spinal, which only lasted 4 hours. I opted for the spinal. I’m not sure what was more painful at that point, the super intense contractions, or those needles going into my back. It was nearly impossible to sit up straight and keep my shoulders relaxed between contractions, so he kept hitting nerves that sent a searing pain down my legs. As soon as he was done, it was sweet relief from the contractions. I could finally relax and take a little nap before I started trying to push.
They let me sleep for MAYBE an hour before they came in and said they were worried about baby’s heartbeat. I guess that hour power was all that I needed, because I was READY to go (and also did NOT want the spinal to wear off before baby came!) I tried pushing while lying on my back, then all fours, then they suggested trying to push on my side. After a few pushes on my side, excitement filled the room as she started crowning. I gave a few more pushes and there she was, born at 12:59 PM on September 10th.
They immediately set her on my chest, and I was in absolute awe of how perfect and tiny and amazing she was. Our sweet Isabelle Quinn. Dorothy came to my side and showed me how to feed her. They left her cord attached until it quit pulsing, then my husband got to cut the cord. And just like that, everyone left us in the quiet, sunshine filled room to soak up our sweet little one. We were head over heels in love IMMEDIATELY. About 6 hours after she was born, we were able to leave the hospital and go home and enjoy our sweet bundle of joy 😊
Even though things didn’t go as I had hoped and planned, I was so thankful for the whole experience. As someone who had previously had horrible experiences with western medicine, I was reminded that there is a time and a place for everything. I was so thankful for Dorothy and her care during my entire pregnancy. I was thankful that most of my labor was spent in the comfort of my own home. And I was also thankful for the drugs when I was beyond exhausted and it all became too much. Gerber did a wonderful job of respecting my wishes, leaving the lights off so that baby girl wasn’t blinded the second she came out, and giving us hours to bond as a family after she was born. My husband made sure to remind me not to be discouraged with how the whole birthing process had gone. He told me he was proud of me for trying so hard to give birth at home, and reminded me that I didn’t just give up – I gave it 15 hours of my best efforts to get her to come out at home! Things don’t always go as WE plan them, but God always has a plan. And in the end, we went home with a beautiful, healthy baby girl. What more could we possibly ask for?!