Cooper

MEET COOPER...the baby

aka: Coop-a-loop

Much like his sister, Cooper was a little bit of a shock.  We were trying to get pregnant, but had been unsuccessful for a few months.  I say that he was a bit of shock because the month he was conceived Daddy was out of the country the week we thought I was ovulating.  We knew our chances of getting pregnant were almost zero for the month, so we really didn't focus on it like we did other months. So when I discovered I was pregnant a month later, we were very surprised...and relieved!  It really is true-the second you stop obsessing over it, it happens.

So over the next months, I grew....

Just like Ryleigh, Cooper's pregnancy was super easy.  I had crazy heartburn again, which I didn't mind because I took that as a sign that my baby would have a full head of hair (which he did).  Working became a bit more difficult this time around because I had a more demanding position than last time, plus I was working retail through the holidays.  But I stuck it out until 39 Weeks, then had to call it quits.  My 50 extra pounds, plus the constant walking & lifting just became too much. 

leaving for the hospital

Cooper was determined to spend as much time on the inside as possible.  I NEVER thought I would make it to my due date.  But he had other plans.  We waited...and waited...and waited.  Christmas came, and went.  New Years came, and went.  My due date came, and went.  I went to the doctor on January 10 (my due date) and we decided to go ahead and schedule the induction.  The doctor didn't seem too worried since he believed Cooper had yet to reach 9 pounds, so that relaxed me a little bit.  We scheduled the induction for January 14...no way I would make it that long.  Wrong.  At 5:30am on January 14 we were on our way to the hospital ready to evict our little tenant. 

all ready to get this labor moving

Much to my surprise and relief, once I was hooked up to the monitors the nurse informed us that I was already having contractions.  They were about 5-7 minutes apart, but I was still only 1cm dilated, so around 7:30am we started pitocin.  At about 9am the doctor came and broke my water and informed me I was only 2cm.  We were all prepared for a long day of "laboring". 

I dont remember contractions feeling this intense!

10am, cue the Anesthesiologist.  My contractions were out of control.  Every minute with only about one minute in between.  I could not believe how intense they felt.  About 20 minutes after getting the epidural I called the nurse back in.  I could still feel my legs, I could still feel my contractions, I could still feel everything!  She went ahead and checked my progress and I was at 6cm already.  She assured me the epidural would kick in and every 10 minutes she was clicking the machine trying to pump as much medicine into me as possible.  Unfortunately for me, baby Cooper was moving faster than that machine.  Another 20 minutes went by and I called the nurse back in.  She couldn't believe how much pain I was in, so she checked my progress.  9cm.  I had gone from 6 to 9 in 20 minutes!  I was fully dilated to 10 within the next 15 minutes and by 11:45am I was pushing for dear life.

Cooper still had a good amount to travel, but since my epidural was never able to get ahead of the pain I felt every glorious contractions and all that wonderful pressure.  I swore he was right there and all I needed was a few pushes to get him out.  Sadly, the doctor informed me that this was not the case.  After a little over an hour of pushing, Cooper arrived sunny side up at 12:53pm.  Luckily, about 20 minutes after having Cooper the epidural was able to catch up and I was gloriously numb from the waist down for the next half hour.  I at least got some relief out of it ; )

Cooper Elliott- 9lbs. 6oz., 21 3/4 inches

Our family of four

Ryleigh brought her little brother gifts

all ready to go home

We have been super lucky to find a photographer who is always able to capture our family amazingly. You can check out Cooper's maternity and newborn session at Alisha Schwanke's blog by clicking HERE.