Happy Birthday Ellie!

I can't believe our little girl is 3! She seemed like a giant when we brought Cooper home from the hospital. I wonder if it's possible for her to have doubled in size over those three days. She weighs 31 pounds (53rd percentile) and is 38 inches tall (64th percentile).
I copied my cousin and would like to list some questions I asked Ellie and her answers. What I would add is written in pink.

•Who are your best friends? Annalise, and I like babies too. "Louie" (Lilly) and Mommy
•What's your favorite movie? any Mickey Mouse movie Tangled
•Favorite TV show? Mickey Mouse Clubhouse and any of Daddy's shows
•Favorite food? all Cereal, popsicles as well as Chicken nuggets, hamburgers, and french fries
•Favorite song? Tangled Song- Let your power shine (The Healing Incantation) "Bad Romance" by Lady Gaga
•Favorite toy? Cooper Doggy Chalk, bubbles, and playdough- all the messy things
•Favorite thing to do? Spin around Smother Cooper
•Favorite snack? Fruit snacks Cheetos, peanuts, popcorn, and cashews
•Favorite Candy? Skittles
•Favorite thing to drink? Milk and "Lemolade"
•Favorite place to eat? Wendy's or "Donalds"
•Favorite Book? Mickey Mouse Board Books
•Favorite thing to wear? White shirt like mommy's (a white lace-bottom Downeast tank)
•Favorite place to Go? playground and Grandma's houses
•Favorite thing to do at school/daycare? play on the playground
•Favorite animal? elephant
•Favorite color? Blue and pink
•What do you want to be when you grow up? big :) She also wants to be a mommy
•What makes you happy? "Do as i'm doing" when she helps
•What makes you sad? Time outs


Ellie had a great party with our families. Both of her grandmas and grandpas were there as well as Grandpa Great Zaugg. Uncle Cameron, Aunt Leila, and Uncle Marc were too. Ellie got lots of presents. Our front room looks like it should on Christmas morning. She is just a little bit spoiled.
Ellie has become a real "big girl" now. She saw that I was upset I didn't get her cake finished how I wanted. I had promised her a Little Mermaid cake and with a newborn around it just didn't get done. She was in the bath and I walked in to straighten the bathroom. I had tears streaming down my face and was very upset I couldn't be "Super Mom" and get everything I wanted to done. She said, "Don't cry Mommy." Then she asked why I was crying. I told her it was because I didn't have time to put a mermaid on her cake. She sweetly looked up at me from the bath with her huge brown eyes and said, "It's ok Mommy." Of course I bawled even more. She is such a good little girl. I was so grateful she didn't throw a fit and demand a mermaid.
With the family's help, we were able to get a mermaid on her cake. It wasn't anything like the big plans I had for her cake, but it was a mermaid. The house was still "messy" to me and we didn't start when we had planned, but our families are awesome and they didn't care.

Happy Birthday Miss Ellie!

It's Been One Week. . .

Since our family grew from three to four.
Of comfortably sleeping in any position I want to.
Staring at our little guy in amazement.
Of Ellie being the best little helper and loving being a Big Sister.

That will be the short version of this post. Some have asked for the details of Cooper's birthday and so here we go:

Tuesday (17th) night, Riverton Hospital called and told me my induction was tentatively scheduled for 8:30 a.m. I was still hoping to have gone into labor spontaneously because having an induction scheduled is still not a guarantee. I was able to call as early as 6 a.m. Wednesday morning to find out if they could still fit me in that day. When I called at 6:30, I was told to call back at 8 and talk to the charge nurse. I called at 7:45 because we still would've had to drop off Ellie somewhere. They told me to be there at 9:00. We were excited, but promptly had to get everything in the car and drop Ellie off at Grandma & Grandpa Reynolds' (Grandpa Cheeto's) house. We made it to the hospital about ten minutes late because we live in outer Mongolia.

After we cleared up some paperwork, we were shown to the birthing suite and I had Weston take one last belly shot so I could remember how big I really was.

My nurse asked me a million questions and hooked up my IV and monitors. I think by the time she was able to start the pitocin it was pretty close to 10:30 or later. I don't remember exact times on anything, but I do remember things going rather slow for awhile and then really quick. I was checked when I came in and was a "Good 3" still. Nothing had changed from two weeks ago despite all the "labor pains" I had been through.
I think around noon, Paula (my midwife) came and broke my water. At that point, I was a 4 and that helped the contractions get more intense for sure. Paula told me not to wait too long to get my epidural, so about half an hour after they broke my water I decided it was time. I was having the contractions about two minutes apart and they were pretty painful with not much time to rest.
The anesthesiologist was a pretty funny guy and did a really great job. I was able to feel just the right amount so I could still tell what was going on, but couldn't feel any pain. My only complaint was how he made me sit while he put my epidural in. With Ellie, I was able to lay on my left side and scrunch into fetal position. He made me sit with my butt on the right edge of the bed, sit up tall, then bend over and hold my feet. I was also to have my head and chin tucked down. I'm not sure how many people reading this remember what it's like to be 9 months pregnant and scrunched over like that, but it was pretty uncomfortable. I had some regularly painful contractions at first and then the last two I had while sitting there waiting for him to be finished were downright horrible. I really thought I might die during the last one. The nurse could tell I was having a rough time and said, "Just breathe through it." I was grateful for modern medicine about twenty minutes later when I couldn't feel the pain anymore. With Ellie, I was completely numb and couldn't even feel when I was having a contraction or move my legs at all. This was really nice because I could still tell what was going on.
I was checked about a half hour after having my epidural and was still a 4. I was ok with that and was content to relax and enjoy laboring for awhile. We were attempting to watch the first season of "Chuck" on DVD, but I didn't hear or see much with all that was going on. My mom got to the hospital then, and Weston's mom (with Ellie) came soon after. Ellie was zonked out and laid on the bench in the room slumbering until right before Cooper came into the world. A little after 2:00, they came to check me again and said I was an 8+. Wow! I thought with Ellie my labor was fast. This time was crazy fast. My nurse reminded me what the pressure would feel like when I was complete and ready to push. She had left the room for maybe ten minutes when I called her back in and told her I was feeling that pressure. Sure enough, she checked me again and I was complete and ready to push! The only problems were that my midwife wasn't there yet and the room wasn't prepped for the baby yet.
With every contraction, I could feel his head wanting to come out. I was crossing my legs and holding him in for about twenty to thirty minutes before my midwife got there. She was at her office a few blocks away and we later found out she was in the middle of a pre-marital office visit that was asking a million questions. He wasn't crowning or anything yet, but it was an effort to keep him from getting any further. Finally, Paula was there and the nurses were prepped for the baby. He was out after nine minutes of pushing! I was so relieved that it was fast and then I didn't even have to push the placenta out. My beautiful baby boy was here-finally! His face was pretty bruised and my midwife was really surprised I didn't tear at all. He was bigger than any of us expected. Right after I finished pushing him out, I started bawling. We were so excited, relieved, and a few hundred other emotions all at once.

Paula- my midwife

After Weston and I had our moment with Cooper, he went to get Ellie so she could meet her new baby brother. She was so excited!


Then Ellie got to go get her Grandmas to see her baby brother.

We got cleaned up and wheeled into our other room where Cooper had his first bath. He loved it! He was so calm and everything. Today we gave him a bath at home and he didn't fuss at all! He sure has been a great baby so far. We love him a lot and things are going great around the house.

Cooper's Hospital Photo Shoot

Cooper

Cooper was born May 18th at 3:05 pm. He was 8 lbs. 7 oz and 20 inches long. Mom and baby did great. Now what people really want to see...the pictures!

Due Date & Nothin'

My due date is here, but the little man is not. I'm not sure what makes him so stubborn. I don't know many people that have their first baby early (even by one day) and their second comes late! Since last post, I've had two or three more "false alarms" One time I was having contractions for an hour and a half in equally spaced intervals. Another time, I thought my water broke. We've had quite the journey in the last week.

Yesterday, I went to see my midwife for my 40 week visit. She has my due date as the 16th on her charts, but I've always figured the 17th. It doesn't make much difference I guess. Anyway, She told me I'm still dilated to a 3+ and I didn't catch what percent effacement I'm at. Last monday I was 75%. I told her how frustrated I was with all the false alarms and how many things I've tried to help him come out. She sympathized and when she did my check, she lightly swept my membranes. I went walking with my mom and Ellie and had real contractions for two hours. Just as the other times, they stopped.

The light at the end of this tunnel is that I have an induction scheduled for tomorrow. I'm fourth on the list at Riverton Hospital so it might be awhile, but at least I know he has an appearance date. We seriously can't wait!

False Alarms Are No Fun

I have been so stinkin' anxious to get this little man out of my tummy since he was considered to be "fully developed". So of course I've been trying all sorts of things that are supposed to help my body contract (I won't go into any details). Twice, when I've gone walking I've had super painful contractions and then yesterday at school had a few while just sitting.
Last night at 3 a.m. (not too far off the time I actually went into labor with Ellie) I had an extremely painful one (thinking in my head "This is it") followed by about four more sporadic harsh ones throughout the rest of the night. This morning I was so sore it took me forever to get out of bed and shuffle my feet to the bathroom. It was disappointing to see the clock said 6:45 and I was still not "in labor". It could still be another week or more and that's the frustrating part.
With Ellie, I didn't really even feel Braxton-Hicks contractions and my midwife told me at one of my visits that I was contracting while she checked me. I didn't have any pain except when it was the real thing. I think what's the most frustrating part is that I somewhat remember what real labor felt like and these contractions feel like what I remember. But they are not regular and just keep getting me excited for nothing. I don't mean to complain, I just wanted to share an update. It should/could be any day now, but I feel dumb thinking every painful contraction could be it. Until then, I'll continue TRYING to be patient.