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.