He's here!!!

I’m a little (a lot) late at getting a new post up, but life has been rich and full over the last week and a half.

Where to begin… In Steve’s last post I was contracting, but the progress was very, very slow. We had checked in at 7:30 am on Tuesday and started with a medication to make my cervix for favorable for dilation. We tried four tablets with four hours between each one (for a total of 16 hours). I was contracting on my own, but it’s hard to say how regular they were. I was being externally monitored, but not all of them were being picked up by the monitor- I felt like I wasn’t getting credit for the ones I was having. After a long, uncomfortable night, Wednesday morning we started a low dose of pitocin and as the dose was inched up every 15-20 minutes the contractions started to pick up. Twice Cooper’s heart rate dropped and we had to cut back to half of the dose and start again. Wednesday afternoon they broke my water by attaching an electrode to Cooper’s head to better monitor his heart rate and also put in a monitor for my contractions. At about 5pm on Wednesday, my OB came in (while she wasn’t on-call she was closely following us) and suggested that since I was only 3cm dilated after about 30+ hours of trying to move things along and Cooper was still pretty high up with no signs of coming down, we should throw in the towel and proceed with a c-section. In all honesty while a small portion of me was disappointed, I was ready to be done. My contractions weren’t horrible, but I was tired. I had opted for an epidural about this same time and wondered why I had waited so long. Shortly after talking with my OB, the nurse came in and said the senior OB that was on-call decided maybe we should try the pitocin one more time. Since Cooper had already had two episodes of decelerations since starting pitocin that morning and I was a bit nervous with the thought of doing it again, but felt I needed to trust the OB. My mom and dad were with us and for some reason we were watching Deal or No Deal. A little after 7pm I asked to talk to the OB and about the same time Cooper’s heart rate dropped to 45. I can’t say I remember much, but a flurry of activity in the room. Even though I had my epidural I had enough movement to get on my hands and knees to see if that position would help relieve any compression that may have been on the umbilical cord. I found myself quickly being rushed down the hall to the OR while Steve changed into scrubs. Thankfully, by the time we got to the OR Cooper’s heart rate was up to 120 and things slowed down a bit. Since I had received my epidural I was able to be awake for his delivery. Steve was able to be with him right away. Cooper was born at 7:46 pm at 6lbs 12 oz and 19 inches long.

After a couple of hours of observation time in labor and delivery, we were moved to the postpartum unit. Thursday and Friday were a bit of a blur with trying to recover from the surgery, figuring out breastfeeding Cooper, and visits from the nurses, OB, peds, and others. Cooper had a fever at birth and I had tested positive for Group B strep and had only received one dose of antibiotics during labor, so he was being closely followed by the peds team. He had a couple of other elevated temps so he was started on antibiotics to be safe. I was discharged on Saturday, but Coops needed to be observed for another 24 hours so I was transferred to a houseguest. After a bit of a meltdown (that I’m sure was primarily hormone induced) I moved to a semiprivate room across the hall with the understanding that L&D was slow and the room would likely stay private and Steve could stay with us. I really needed him. He was my emotional stability. Thankfully Cooper was fine and was discharged about 11am on Sunday. We made our way home in subzero temps.

My parents were here until Wednesday of last week and Steve’s parents came Thursday evening and just left this morning. So I guess we are now ready to settle in just the three of us. I can’t say we are in a routine other than nursing about every two hours followed by a diaper change. Steve and I fit in showers and meals when we can. I’ve gotten pretty good at holding Cooper while eating. I’m really not spoiling my baby, I just love holding him. Actually, he is pretty good at being in his bassinet or swing while we eat. I just struggle to hear him cry as it eats at every cell in my body to comfort him. So when he fusses I feel a strong need to pick him up. I have a snuggler… and I LOVE it!

Coops has already picked up a virus… a week and a half old and he’s already sick. The only place we went with him was to the pediatrician for his first well baby visit and to Culvers for about 30 minutes for dinner on Thursday. The only people that have held him besides us were grandparents. Saturday he sounded congested to me and then he melted down Saturday evening and there wasn’t anything we could do to console him. Yesterday the runny nose started with a junky cough. Steve started the humidifier in his room and I sat with him in the bathroom with the shower running. We put saline drops in his nose and frequently suck him out. The poor baby. We called the on-call pediatrician three times in about 12 hours, but I think that’s pretty good for new parents. He still sounds rough, but is definitely more alert. Hopefully he will be past it soon.

Well now that I’ve written a book, I’ll close by saying we are incredibly blessed and in awe of parenthood. There is no doubt that this is a love that can’t be measured.

Love, Jen, Steve, and Cooper