Cooper's Birth Day

Since I told the story of Marlee's birth day, I thought it only fair to do the same for Cooper. This last year of our lives has been one of the craziest Chad and I have experienced with the exception of Cooper's birth. February 08 Chad received a job opportunity to get out family back to Knoxville. We jumped on the idea and off he went March 10th. Granted, I was about 36 weeks pregnant.

Since I went into labor with Marlee a week early, I was fearful that I would do the same with Cooper because the chances are about the same with the second child. So I talked it over with my midwife and we decided to schedule induction. So I worked on Thursday March 20th and reported to the hospital at 7 pm that night. (crazy I know!) My parents came into town to take care of Marlee for us.

So I got there and got settled. The checked me and I was 3 cm dilated and about 60% effaced and contracting irregularly. So, I probably wouldn't have made it much longer! So we settled in for the night and got some sleep.

The next morning, they started the pitocin drip and broke my water. By 9 am I was contracting pretty heavily and got my epidural. I was dilated to a 7 and fully effaced (sidebar: remember that my epidural with Marlee wore off on the right side, so this time around we made sure it was working, by flipping me like a pancake every 30 minutes).

I was starting to feel pain on my right side, so they called the doc back to check my epidural. Well in the meantime, I felt the urge to push. They checked me and I was 10 cm. At 10 am I said I was ready to start pushing. The doctor made it too late to check my epidural. oh well! I pushed about a dozen times and out popped Cooper! I pushed for a total of 11 minutes!

Cooper was born at 10:11 am on Friday, March 21, 2008 weighing 7 lb 6 oz and was 19 inches long. I only stayed for 24 hours with Marlee and felt that I left too early. Eager to get home I guess. He was slightly jaundice but perfect in every way.

He has been truly the BEST baby. He cried so softly and so little as an infant that Chad and I jokingly called him "Mousey." Although, he was an unexpected pregnancy, I couldn't imagine life without him. He completed our family in every way!