Welcome to the dynasty Greyson!

There is a new addition to the Quong Dynasty, and we are so happy he's here! Greyson Tyler arrived on Friday, December 31, 2009 at 8:38 in the morning. His much anticipated arrival came sooner than expected, but he is very welcome into our family.

So here's the glorious (and perhaps gory!) story with all the details:

Wednesday, December 30th I left work early to go to a doctor's appointment. I'd been feeling pretty miserable and huge the past two days, and it seemed no matter what I did I was not comfortable. Driving to the doctor's I actually had a contraction but didn't know what it was--I thought it was all part of pregnancy uncomfortableness. Tyler and I got to the doctor and he checked me and I was dilated to a 2+. He wouldn't quite call me a 3--so I was a 2+. The doctor said to make an appointment for the next week (which was my due date--January 6th) and if we hadn't had the baby by the following week, they'd induce.

Tyler and I had planned a little New Year's Eve party and invited a few friends over to celebrate 2010, so we headed to the store to pick up snacks and treats. We went to Honeybaked Ham and bought a big huge ham, and then went to Buy Low to get a bunch of groceries. I was pushing the cart and every few minutes I'd have to stop because I couldn't move and I couldn't breathe, and then it would pass and we'd keep going down the aisle. I thought they were contractions, but I wasn't sure so we just kept shopping. Plus I was certain this little guy wasn't coming until January!

We came home and I laid on the couch while Tyler took care of everything else. He put away all the groceries, finished some things in the baby's room, made dinner, and did laundry (we hadn't washed any of the baby's clothes so we decided we better--just in case!). My contractions got more painful and more frequent, but I still was a little unsure because they didn't meet the "criteria" of labor according to What to Expect When You're Expecting. They were very consistent, just not very long. So every 3-5 minutes I'd suffer through 20-30 second contractions not knowing if I was really in labor. My sister-in-law called and after hearing me not be able to talk through a contraction, she told me to go to the hospital! We kind of bummed around for a little longer (I wanted to labor at home more than at the hospital) and ended up heading to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center about midnight.

After checking in, the nurse checked me and I was still only dilated to a 2. She said, "I know you're going to hate me, but we have to prove that you're having this baby! I have no doubt this baby is coming." but I had to be at least a 3 to stay. So I continued having contractions for another hour and they were AWFUL. I labored in my back and I was so miserable. I'd been thinking about going au naturel delivering this baby because I wanted to know what labor was like, but as the contractions got worse I knew that an epidural was for me! The nurse checked me again and fortunately I was a 3 by then and I got the epidural. Up to that point, I'd been holding the tears in but the anesthesiologist was rough and not nice and I just started bawling. Probably not the best time to be shaking from crying when you're getting a needle poked in your spine, but everything went well and I felt much better after it kicked in. That was about 1:30 in the morning.

Tyler and I tried to get some sleep and by 6 am I was dilated to a 10 and ready for this baby to come! My epidural had worn off a little so I could feel my contractions and know when to push. I started pushing, and although baby was right down where he needed to be, he was face-up, which is not how he was supposed to be. I pushed for two hours, but his little head would just not go under my pelvic bone! The doctor tried to turn him but it didn't work. We came to the decision that forceps would get baby out, and I was all for baby coming out! About 15 minutes later and two more times pushing, Baby Quong made his debut in the world at 8:38 am.
I can't even describe how incredible it was to see this little tiny baby for the first time and to hear his little cry and know that he is our son. Tears spilled down my cheeks and it was one of the happiest moments of my life. Having a baby is a little bit horrendous, but the reward is worth it a million times over. It was such an amazing feeling to see our baby boy.Unfortunately, he had pooped inside so he had to be checked all over and cleaned off to avoid the risk of pneumonia. He was whisked away so Tyler kept going back and forth between me and baby trying to take care of both of us. Baby Q was weighed and measured--he came in at 7 lbs 12 oz and 20 1/2 inches long. His length was elongated by his little cone head from being ready to come out for 2 hours but being flipped the wrong way. His cone head disappeared quickly though!
One of his most beautiful (and definitely most noticeable) features is his hair! This little boy came out with a full head! There's an old wives tale that says if the mom has heartburn while she's pregnant her baby will have lots of hair. Well we are proof of that! I had heartburn almost every day and this baby arrived with quite the head of hair.Tyler and I had narrowed down our list of possible names for Baby Quong to three: Emmett, Hudson or Greyson. We knew we wanted his middle name to be Tyler (family tradition--Tyler's middle name is his dad's first name), but were still deciding on his first name. I thought as soon as we saw him we would just "know", but there was still a little bit of debating. Tyler might have given in a little because he knew how much I love the name Greyson (that was my first choice), but Tyler chose the spelling (Greyson as opposed to Grayson). And how adorable is it that our little boy's initials are GQ?!Tyler went with Greyson while he got a bath and shots and whatever else those nurses do. I got stitched up and then moved to a new room. Soon we had visitors galore because everyone wanted to meet this sweet little baby boy! (We didn't get pix of all our visitors and some of these are from when we got home, but we were glad to have family and friends come visit us and meet Greyson!)

We celebrated New Year's Eve as a little family by sleeping. All of us were exhausted! We thought it was a great way to bring in the new year! And yes, you don't have to say it--Greyson is a tax write-off, he made it just in time. But we wanted him to come when he wanted too--taxes or not! We're just happy he's here.We left the hospital on Saturday morning and headed home. It was kind of scary to be on our own, but so nice to be back to normal (well, kind of!). It was pretty exciting to have a little baby in our apartment.Tyler and I are thrilled to be parents and welcome Greyson into our home! It's difficult to describe, but it feels like he's always been a part of our family--and we're more complete now that he's really here. We just love this little boy so much. Happiness is knowing that our family is eternal. ♥