Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we always go over to Glenn's parents' house. It was extra special this year since we had Miss Cooper with us! I think it's pretty safe to say everyone is just smitten with her. This girl is going to be spoiled rotten.

Sitting with Uncle Brian... she's obviously deep in thought.

 

I love these pictures with her cousins. They are so precious.

Love my sweet girl!

 



 

Uncle Brian and Aunt Kelly

 

 

So incredibly blessed to have our little munchkin with us! AND to have family that has been so willing to help us!

 

PS - We went to my parents' house on Christmas Day.. I don't take pictures when we go there because my Dad takes care of that! :) I need to "steal" some of his pictures to upload.

Almost 2 weeks old!

Welp, we've been at it almost 2 weeks and we're still here. Although I don't really have much experience, I would say Miss Cooper is a pretty easy baby. We are very blessed for that! She's perfectly happy and content as long as she is fed. Girl likes to eat. What's funny is that I was so scared she wasn't getting ENOUGH food in the beginning, but she eats plenty now. I tried the nursing thing.. she wouldn't latch so I'm pumping what I can (which isn't enough for her hungry self) so we are also supplementing with formula. We go back to the doctor for our 2 week check up this Wednesday and I'm anxious to see how much she weighs.

Being a mommy is tough! Partly because I'm so worried about everything! It's also more difficult when you can't get around like you want to. I can't drive or lift anything heavier than 10lbs (which includes the car seat) for 2 weeks (although my follow-up appointment isn't until next Monday so I'm not sure if I should wait till then). BUT, I also managed to fall down coming into the house last weekend. We were coming back from Cooper's doctor's appointment and CRASH. My legs were already so swollen from everything else, and they just turned into jello. Somehow I've managed to do something to my knees or legs which makes it incredibly difficult to go up and down stairs without grasping to the side for support. There is no way I'm trusting myself to carry Cooper up and down so we pretty much stay upstairs. I can go down by myself, which I do quickly while she's sleeping to wash bottles, get a snack, or drink. Thankfully we have a video monitor so I can keep tabs while I'm away! I went last week and they did X-rays.. nothing's broken. But it's not getting better.. so we shall try again tonight! My sister is taking me to an after-hours (which means you don't need an appointment) place that specializes in sports injuries so maybe they will be a little more detailed in what they do. Glenn will be here alone with Miss Cooper and has already put his Mom on watch in case he needs help. This will be my first time away from my baby! I just want to be at 100%. My little girl needs me to be!

Here are just a few pictures of what we've been up to these past few days:

 Photo taken by my Dad
 

 Photo taken by my Dad
 

 

 

 

She's here!

We are so happy so announce our little girl is here! She was born on December 4, 2013 around noon. We came home last Friday and haven't stopped since! Mommy and Daddy are learning new things everyday. :)

It's so hard to believe how much has changed in such a short period of time. This time last week I was at work, moving slower than normal, but super excited about my doctor's appointment later on. I was praying there would be some progress from the previous week. Little did I know I would leave that place in labor! My back started bothering me at the end of the school day. I didn't really think anything of it since this had happened a lot within the past few weeks. By the time I go to the doctor, I told Glenn I just feel icky. I mentioned it to the doctor when I got there, and she did her thing, and left us with, "That means the time is getting closer! Go ahead and make your appointment for next week, but if your water breaks, go straight to the hospital."

By the time I got home, my back was really bothering me. It would come and go. We went to Chick-fil-A to pick up dinner and in the short time in the car (maybe 15 minutes) I had 2 back "spasms." When I finally got home, I told Glenn I thought I was maybe having back contractions. We started timing them and they were about 10 minutes apart. We timed them for a couple hours before I called the nurse at my doctor's office. She said it sounded like I was in labor, but to wait till they were 5 minutes apart. This all happened between 5pm and about 8pm. After I called the nurse, I would get a really strong contraction and then about 5 minutes later a smaller one that wasn't quite as strong. At this point Glenn is ready to go to the hospital. I'm freaking out because there were several things I needed to pack but hadn't gotten around to it yet so I'm grabbing whatever I think I may need in between contractions. Fox was beside himself because he could sense how anxious both Glenn and I are so he followed us around everywhere.

We finally left for the hospital around 9:30. We checked in and waited for the doctor to come in and see. He said not much had changed since my appointment earlier in the day, but they would hook me up to the machine and see what my contractions looked like. He asked who I saw today at my appointment and when I told him, he started laughing. Apparently this particular doctor is known for "working her magic" to speed things along. We waited about 2 hours... in the smallest room ever and poor Glenn had the teeniest chair to sit in. The nurse came in around midnight to check on us and said she saw some progress, but wanted us to wait about another hour to see if more was happening. I called my mom to tell her and 3 minutes later the nurse came back in and said, "Change of plans. The doctor wants to go ahead and admit you. Get you started on meds to induce so your contractions are a little more regular and get your epidural." Heck yeah... by this point, I was ready for those drugs!

They moved us into Labor and Delivery and the next few hours were a whirlwind. They had to pump IVs through me in order to get the epidural. When the guys came to give me the epidural, I was a little worried. I never saw anything, but Glenn assured me afterwards the needle was "huge." We FINALLY were able to try to sleep by about 2am. Of course neither one of us did much sleeping. The nurses came in to check every so often and around 4, they said my water was probably going to break soon. When it did, it should speed things along. Sure enough, 20 minutes later...

At about 7ish that next morning, the doctor came in and check to see how things were going. I had gone from 3-4 cm dilated to 9cm. At 9:30ish, I started pushing. I pushed for about 45 minutes and remember telling them that I felt like my brains were going to explode because I was pushing so hard. Miss Cooper just did not want to come out! They had me stop for about 30 minutes and then came back (with more people too!)

Apparently they were worried about how big Cooper was going to be because she wasn't budging from where she was. The doctor kept going back and forth, trying to decide if they should do a C-section or have me continue to push. Also, every time I pushed, Cooper's heart rate would drop and then come back up. They told me that the cord was probably wrapped around something and every time I had a contraction, it was tightening around her. There was one time I remember her heart rate dropped drastically and it was then that the doctor called in the high risk OB for his opinion.

They decided to go ahead and have me push. It was like all of a sudden, everyone started hurrying around getting things ready for a baby. I pushed for about 10 minutes and finally at 12:04pm, Miss Cooper made her appearance! She was absolutely gorgeous. The cord had been wrapped around her neck. She was having a difficult time coming out because of the position she was in.

I can't even begin to explain the rush of emotions when the one thing you have prayed about over and over again is finally given to you. Glenn and I could not take our eyes off of our precious girl. Of course he started snapping pictures to send to everyone as soon as possible. We stayed in Labor and Delivery for awhile, but we were able to move into a real room around 2 that afternoon.

Things haven't stopped since then. We've totally lost track of time. The only places I have been since we got home are the doctor. Poor Cooper has jaundice and has had to wear a UV light. Luckily her levels are starting to go down... we go back again on Wednesday and we are hoping our days with the light are finished!

We just cannot thank God enough for this wonderful miracle He has given us. We also want to thank all our friends and family that have sent messages, called, come to visit, and have helped us. We are so, so blessed to have such a strong support system that has make this transition as smooth as possible. Of course, our days pretty much revolve around Cooper, but that's okay. Glenn has been an amazing husband and father. I haven't been in much pain, but the swelling has been awful. The swelling makes it difficult to get around so I've been mainly upstairs. He's been cleaning, helping to take care of Cooper, laundry... you name it. Today was his first day back at work and I think all 3 of us cried. Luckily my mom is here to help today.

I just can't get enough of this little girl...