Deacon Cooper

He is here! After my amniocentesis on Tuesday to check for lung maturity I went in for an induction on Wednesday morning at 6AM. We arrived and got settled in our room. I was hooked up to the monitor to check his heartrate and monitor for contractions, this was a feat in itself, he would not stay on the monitor! I received my IV and a bag of fluids so that when the time for my epidural that would be out of the way. At about 7:30 My doctor came in to see me. I still had not been checked at this point. She had a surgery she was assisting on and would come back after that to check me and break my water. After she left we started the pitocin, this was about 8:00 AM. From the very first contraction they were STRONG. So much so that after probably 45 minutes they turned the pitocin down. At about 9:30 my doctor was back to break my water. I had a serious flow of water. So much my OB got her underwear wet! It was really kinda funny. I gave her a pair of my mesh undies from my hospital kit so she could change. After my water was broken she put in a fetal scalp monitor and an internal contraction monitor. I asked for my epidural at this point. I was in pain. My contractions were about 80 out of 100 on their monitor and coming every 2-4 minutes and had been this whole time. After I got the epidural they turned the pitocin back up. The timeline gets a little blury here. For some reason after I got the epidural I was able to relax and therefore nap a little bit. I was pretty tired from the lack of sleep the night before and the excitement of getting to meet the newest addition to our family. At some point Deacon's heartrate began to decel during contractions. My doctor came to check on us, at about noon, and assured me that this was normal during a contraction. As long as it came back up after all was well. I think I was about 6 cm at this point. The decels started happening outside of contractions and my nurse turned the pitocin off and paged my doctor. Dr. Barnes decided that we needed to put some fluid back 'in' to take pressure off the cord during labor so that he would stop decelerating. So she started and amnio infusion. While the nurse was getting all of this going Dr. Barnes had me start pushing during contractions while she tried to stretch me out (when she started I was about 8 cm). She was able to get me completely dilated in a few contractions. She suspected that once I was complete he would be delivered quickly, but the still did the amnio infusion anyway. My epidural was so good that I could not even feel pressure when I was complete, this would turn out to be a good thing! After the amnio was in she said push, I did, she said stop! She was not gowned, my bed was not in delivery position, etc. So, the did their thing to prepare for a birth. Once doctor gave me the go to push a total of 5 pushes (and 2 contractions) at 2:44 PM. He weighed in at 7 pounds 15 ounces and was 19 inches long. He has a head full of dark hair and is awfully cute! He ended up having to have his stomach suctioned after birth. He came so quickly the fluid did not get a chance to get squeezed out. And I think due to this nursing was not great the first 24 hours. But once all that fluid was gone he took off like a champ nursing. My milk finally came in yesterday and today we have nursed exclusively. Here are a few pictures:

36 Weeks

I am 36 weeks today and I finally got around to taking a picture of my huge belly. I have only gained about 10 lbs so far this pregnancy and I can't believe how big my belly is.

New pictures

I finally got around to downloading everything off my camera, so here are a few pictures that I thought were precious. You can also check out the dropshots account HERE for more pictures and a video of Sophia's VBS performance.

Sophia's Outdoor Ballet rehersal

Sophia had her outdoor rehersal yesterday. She will be in her first ever ballet recital on June 20th. I will try to post a video of her performance. But, for now enjoy her in all her specialness.

I tried to upload it several times to my blog and couldn't so, you will have to go
HERE to view it.

BIG boy!

I had an ultrasound yesterday to check the growth. Our baby boy is measuring 2 lbs! I know there is some margin for error, but they U/S for both Sophia and Gavin were right on. I am scared this guy will be even bigger than Gavin and he hurt like H#&@ to push out! I am only 24 weeks, so there is time for him to average out (I hope!).

Pics, pics and more pics...

Easter 2009






Strawberry Picking 2009




Zoo 2009





Silly Gavin!

ultrasound pictures

No Computer!

Our computer died. I only have the laptop for right now, so pictures will probably not happen for a bit. We are all finally on the mend.

a whole lot of nothing

Sophia has been wearing a dress that Grandma Mary bought her over the weekend nearly everyday! She would wear it 24/7 if I would let her. She asks to wear it to bed, to school and after she gets out of the bath. You can't see the whole thing, but here is a cute picture.



Gavin wanted his picture taken too, but he wouldn't step back for me to get it! So, this is the result:



And Sophia after viewing his picture wanted hers done the same. Here she is:

Sophia and Grandma Mary at Hawksnest

Grandma Mary and Sophia had a girls weekend in the mountains this weekend. It appears they had fun!

Cuddlebugs

I have the most beautiful and sweetest children in the world!

Seven-Oh-Oh

For the past couple months Gavin and Sophia have been rising earlier and earlier each day. To the point of ridiculous. Gavin has been getting up at about 4AM! I think he is getting up and waking her up. So, I decided to try to put an end to this. I got Sophia a pink digital clock for her room. When it says 7-0-0 she can get up. IF she gets up before then she has to take a nap during the day. Gavin can't read yet so a clock won't work. I have just been trying to tell him he has to sleep until the first bit of light comes out (which right now is about 7AM). This morning was the first morning that they both slept til 7. I am sure part of it was Gavin being sick, and Sophia and I were at church last night until late. But, Sophia came in my room with her clock (battery operated) that read 7:06! I was so excited, I wish I would have thought to take the picture right then, but I didn't.




I don't expect miracles tomorrow, but I am hoping with dalylight savings time coming up that this will get a little better then.

Sick man

Gavin has come down with a bug. We (and by we I mean Gavin and I, we could hear Shan snoring while we were up) were up nearly all night. Poor Gavin has never really been sick before. He woke up about 10:30-11:00 last night and was crying. I went to check on him and he had vomited. It wasn't very much, so I sent him in to see Daddy while I took care of changing his sheets. When I was done I went to check on him. He started kinda whining so I picked him up and he promptly threw up all over me! Little rascal! So, after hosing (read: showering) us off and getting him in clean jammies I put him down and laid down with him. He promptly fell asleep. I decided to try to catch some sleep and came back to my bed. Shortly thereafter Gavin started crying again. You get the point with where this is going. Needless to say I was out of sheets to put on the bed and told him so. I ended up putting him back in his crib (he had been sleeping in his big boy bed) because I had a few crib sheets left if I needed to change them. He ended up petering out about 2AM and woke me back up at 6:20 this morning. I kept him home from school today. He seems much better today. I was able to get him to eat some dry cheerios and diluted apple juice as well as a Popsicle, who doesn't love a Popsicle, especially banana flavored? So, all seems right in the world once again, except the smell of vomit which has taken up residence in my nose and I can't seem to get it out, not fun when you are pregnant!

Great Appointment today.

Here is the picture from the ultrasound.



The Nuchal Fold was 1.3 milimeters (anything under 3 is good). I won't have the full results back for about a week, but everything today looked great. The picture from today is not the greatest. But you can kinda see the hand next to the head.

Wish me luck

We have our nuchal translucency test on Tuesday. We will have bloodwork and an ultrasound. Just pray for a healthy baby. I will post ultrasound pictures when I get home Tuesday. Too early to learn the gender, but we will when possible.

Almost dead fish!

Sophia took it upon herself to feed the goldfish! Not a good thing. I had told her repeatedly not to feed the fish, I even put the fish food up high. But, her ingenuity got her up there and fish food down and she fed them. "only a little bip momma" she said. But the whole top was a layer of food slowly sinking to the bottom! So, I took a little less than half of the water out of the tank and replaced it with clean water, we are hoping for the best. The good thing is that those fish were only .28 for both of them!

Update on the fish!

Sophia played hide and seek with them this morning. She turned away from them, counted to 10, ran away, did a loop of the house, came back and said "I FOUND YOU" at the tank! It was FUNNY.

Goldie and Oscar

We have a new addition to our house!

Goldie is the orange one and Oscar is the white one with red head. Sophia named them. I think she did a wonderful job! She wanted a puppy, but settled quite happily on fish.

We have a heartbeat!

This is a really bad picture, but I promise there is a baby in there with a heartbeat in the 160s!

Snow Day

YES WE DID!

hodgepodge

It will be two weeks without pacifiers on Friday as well as Gavin's second birhtday! He is the sweetest boy and is so kind. I pray he will be as gentle in years to come as he is today. His teacher told me today that if they had 11 Gavin's the class would be great. He is not only gentle but kind and shares well (except the occassional no MINE!). He is so sweet. He wants kisses all the time. I have to tell him to close his mouth though (I wonder why he wants to taste the kisses?). I am very blessed to have Gavin in my life.

Sophia is doing well. She is such a girly-girl. She changes her clothes a minimum of 3 times everyday. I have to go through her dirty clothes to remove the clothes tossed in there after only being worn for a few minutes. Her favorite thing right now is to strip down, put her ballet leotard on and then re-dress with multiple shirts. She has started ballet and her first receital will be Father's Day weekend. I can't wait to see her in her little costume at Oven's Auditorium dancing her little heart out. She absolutely LOVES all things ballet. I think this was a great Christmas present for her.


Little bean is the size of a pea at this point. I have my first appointment with the OBGYN to measure the little bean and look for the heartbeat next Thursday, Jan 22. Keep me in your prayers. I am a nervous wreck until we see that heartbeat...

Shannon and I are doing well. I am exhausted all the time these days, but otherwise healthy. No morning sickness to speak of. I did not have it with Sophia or Gavin, so I don't expect it this time around either. Although it could creep up on me what with the 5 babies (according to Sophia) growing in my belly! I really should be writing down all of the funnies that come out of her mouth. She really is a joy to have in my life and makes some of the most mundane things joyful.

I have been listening to the This I Believe volume 2 on CD. If you have not been introduced to this series, I can't say enough good about it. I cry, I laugh and I think about what it is that I believe. Having listened to these essays has made me a more thoughtful person. You should check it as well.

I think we finally did it!

Gavin and Sophia have been paci free for two nights now. Both had the most minor of troubles the first night. Gavin seems to have forgotten they even existed and Sophia has only complained a couple times. The Paci Fairy came and took them to give to other children who need them. If they could be gracious about letting them go she would bring the movie Tinkerbell (a movie about fairies) to them. They have received Tinkerbell today and will find out once I pick them up from school. I am pleased at how well this went. I can't tell you how much I was dreading this.

Happy New Years!!!

Really crappy picture, but hopefully you get the point!