Birth Announcement!

It's official!!

10 days old!!

I added a short video of Cooper falling asleep today.. so cute with his little smiles right before he falls asleep.. He is 10 days old today and he is doing great.. He is getting a little fussy every now and then and is going through a good growth spurt.

He has gained 5oz since birth, which is pretty good.. He is still nursing and we are getting much better at that. In short, he is a big healthy boy and Mollee even still likes him, even though we had some craziness the other morning when she cut the whiskers off two of our cats and flushed some of my hair stuff down the toilet... a little jealousy.. but we knew that would happen. :)

Sean goes back to work tomorrow and that makes me sad :( We have actually enjoyed each other's company at a time when i thought we would be ripping each other's hair out..

Cooper Lachlan Peters is Here!!

All covered up to go home! 14 hours post-birth!

His cute little duck outfit

Maddie and Cooper

Hsinyeh and Cooper

Sean and his son!! :)

Me and Cooper.. exhausted!

Mollee and her new little Brother!

Sean, Chris, and Cooper ( no one smiles!!)

Proud Grampy and Cooper!!

Our wonderful little boy!!

Cooper Lachlan Peters was born on July 19, 2010 at 8:22 am after only 8.5 hours of labor and 20 minutes of pushing.. it was nuts.

Labor started at 11:40 pm on July 18.. We had just laid down to go to sleep and were watching TV when i had this crazy contraction that felt like this pressure/pain in my intestine and in my upper legs.. we started timing. They were about every 7 minutes.. so of course, we got up and sat in the living room watching TV and timing them..they ranged from about 4-7 minutes. I called Dr. McCray and told her and she said to go ahead and head to the hospital in a couple hours and that if they were not consistent, we could just induce labor. So, at 3 am, Sean's dad arrived at the house to watch Mollee and we took off for Fulton.. at home my contractions were every 3-5 minutes. By the time we got to the hospital and sat in admissions, they were every 5 minutes.

We got to the room and they checked me and my cervix was still 3 cm but had gone from 50% to 90% effaced, so they figured i was in some sort of labor. We walked the hallways until 545 am because Dr. McCray was supposed to arrive at 6 am and was threatening Cytotek if i hadn't changed any. So, after 1 hour of walking, contractions were every 3 minutes but not too painful, just enough that i couldn't really walk or talk during one. They checked me again and i had dilated to 4cm and was still 90% effaced and baby was still at -2 station. They told me I could get in the jacuzzi, but that it might slow my labor some. So, we ran the water and I got in. I had two contractions that weren't really bad, but i couldn't sit with them because the pain in my legs was so bad and in my lower uterus, so i had to kneel through them. The next contraction i had hit me like a ton of bricks. All of a sudden, i had gone from breathing/moaning through them a little to bawling and begging for an intrathecal. Sean had been watching TV and he had to come over and help me through the contraction. I was crying and talking about how i didn't care about my birth plan, that I could not do it. I just didn't want to feel anything, I wanted it over with and i wanted drugs.

The nurse told me that the ONE anesthesiologist in the hospital was in the OR for a procedure and that i could not have the spinal until 8 am (it was about 630am) but that she could get me an IV with some narcotics to help me relax but they wouldn't do anything for the pain.. So, she called for the IV..

That took about 30 minutes. I was standing and swaying through contractions with Sean while he rubbed my back and I was crying. I didn't realize all of this was the sign that I was in transition labor...

I got my IV and in between contractions they checked me and found out i was 8 cm dilated (4 to 8 in about an hour) and 100% effaced and baby was WAY down. Well, after i had my IV, i was falling asleep between contractions but still dying with each contraction, there was SO much pressure. My water still had not broken. All of a sudden, there were these two guy residents in my room, some blonde guy and some African guy that was about 6'8" tall. They were ordering nurses around and acting all cocky. The nurse said that my Dr might not make it, so they were here to deliver the baby just in case. They both made me horribly uncomfortable. The one African guy kept trying to order me to breathe and checked me at about 730 am and told me i was 9.5 cm and the baby was at 0 station, but that i couldn't push because there was a small rim of cervix on one side. I was so mad, and he was so pushy about checking me, and there was so much pressure, i just wanted to push.

Just then, someone told me Dr McCray was in the hallway.. it was 755. No spinal for me... She walked in the room and I told her i wanted to push and she told me to go ahead. So, the contractions started to space out some. I pushed about two to three pushes for each contraction for 5 contractions. I was pretty sure i was going to die.. ha because there was SO much pressure, more than i ever felt with Mollee, and everything had gone SO fast. I wasn't pushing very hard though because i was anxious and I knew it was going to hurt, but finally on the sixth contraction, I pushed really hard and his head literally flew out.. I know because i watched the whole thing in the mirror.. When it did, the water broke all over Dr. McCray because he was born inside the amniotic sac. She pulled the rest of his body out and handed him to me and he was wonderful and slimy and so tiny.

The rest is the usual labor story. Everything was fine, I got to hold him for probably twenty minutes before they took him to clean him and he was totally fine. He was breathing well and red and just wanted me to hold him... he didn't cry as long as i was holding him and they said that was fine, he just wanted to be held.

He weighed in at 7lb 15 oz and 21" long. Surprisingly, there was no tissue trauma even though countless OBGYNs had told me that my episiotomy scar tissue would tear very badly when i had a second baby.

I got to sit and enjoy the rest of my bag of saline and a nice hot breakfast while Sean held our baby. Sean was wonderful through the whole thing, breathing with me and rubbing my hand and trying to keep me focused. We have the whole thing on video and because of the narcotics, I look like some crazed maniac because my eyes keep rolling in my head between contractions. I also look really mad through most of it until Dr. McCray got there because of those stupid residents and how they acted. I had Sean tell the African guy to get out of the room while i was pushing because Sean was trying to get me to breathe and focus and here is this guy watching my lady regions and yelling BREATHE at me..

I am glad it is over. At 130 in the afternoon we decided to name him Cooper Lachlan Peters, which literally translates into Barrel Maker Land of Lakes Rock.. ha. He is beautiful and he has blonde fluffy hair and blue-grey eyes (for now).

We had no complications and were discharged from the hospital at 1130 pm that night. We went home after 38 hours with no sleep and had a crazy first night with Cooper. He goes from happy to completely angry in about 0 seconds.

Our time in the hospital, we had a few visitors. Sean's dad brought Mollee to come meet her baby brother, and then my dad came by to meet his new grandbaby. Late in the afternoon, Hsinyeh and Maddie came by to meet Cooper. Hsinyeh loves him I am pretty sure :)

Heading out..

We are getting ready to head out to the hospital. Contractions are about 6 min apart and i had started bleeding, so Dr told us to go ahead and come in. Looks like today will be baby's birthday.. Hopefully all goes well. I just want to meet him.

41 Weeks 1 day continued..

Unfortunately today has been sort of sad. My great uncle Leonard passed away this morning, and he will be dearly missed. He was my dad's father's brother and a hilarious man. He was mayor of his home town for many years and had a sense of humor that only a Clary could have. He was very sick and he is no longer suffering, but he will be horribly missed.

I unfortunately have not seen him since Mollee was very little, about 3 weeks old, but here are some pictures from then.

Uncle Leonard holding Mollee back in 2005...

Dad and Uncle Leonard. Dad looks just like him and acts a lot like him too.

In other news, I am completely exhausted, same old thing. Lots of contractions going nowhere. Against my better judgement, I paid $2.86 for a bottle of castor oil tonight and just swallowed a tablespoon of the nasty stuff, washed down with a Starbucks frappuccino. I would not suggest it to anyone, but i really just want to sleep and if my body is ready and just needs a kick start, maybe this will help. IF it doesn't help, then this baby will officially never come out.

41 Weeks 1 day...

Well, yesterday was our original due date so perhaps we are not too far off?? Otherwise, baby P is 8 days overdue.. ha. I never thought i would still be pregnant at this point. I finally got a decent night's sleep last night, I had Sean sleep on the air mattress (he woke up with no air left in the mattress thanks to our fabulous cats)..

My back is still really achy and i'm still having contractions like crazy. I had contractions that were somewhat painful yesterday in my back and front with lots of pressure that were 18 min apart at 3 pm and then by 6 pm were 12 min apart and were 8 min apart by 11 pm.. but then by 3 am, i was woken up by one crazy contraction and then that was it..they stopped.

So, here i am.. I guess i'm just waiting? The only things i need to get done are science things and i can't seem to get myself excited to do them. Yesterday we cleaned the whole house. I finished baby's room, hung up all the paintings and pictures. Then I cleaned the top of my dresser, dusted my bedroom, and vacuumed the stairs. Sean vacuumed the living room and mopped the kitchen and i cleaned the microwave and counters and hung up the paintings and wall stuff in the kitchen.. granted we have lived here for 7 months now and I'm just now hanging stuff up.

I have dreams nightly about wearing jeans with buttons and zippers and not being pregnant any more. Ha ha. I have come to terms with the fact that this baby will be coming out at some time in the near future and it probably won't feel fantastic but I am so ready for him to be here and for me to feel somewhat like myself again. It doesn't really seem real, the baby part, like it should, i just want to be able to sleep on my back or stomach again.. I know, I sound selfish, I have just been pregnant forever!!

I can't wait to have him here either though because even though i was totally freaked out when i had mollee, she has really changed my life in amazing ways.. Without Mollee, who knows where I would be..I had to make really good decisions and learn to keep a job to support her and everything else, and i had to make very hard decisions (well not really that hard) about who was in my life...so, I'm sure that this baby will make our life even better... Mollee is already telling waitresses that we are a party of 4.. how cute.

Signing off,

KP

40 weeks 6 days..

well.. last night was interesting.

I was pretty sure i was in labor at one point. I could not walk becuase i was having so much downward pressure from baby in my pelvis and i had these sharp pains that kept happening everytime i would stand up straight or sometimes when i would sit down.

Then during dinner i was having mild contractions every 5 minutes..so i ate, and then we came home.

Then they were every 8-9 minutes and much more intense..i laid down on the couch. They were still intense and every 11 minutes, so they weren't regular at all.. Now this is all in a time span from about 6pm-10pm. By the time i went to bed at 11ish they were every 12 minutes and even more intense.. so i put three extra towels on the bed in case my water broke and went to sleep.

At around midnight i realized that my thigh muscles on the back were very sore, almost crampy, like i had been riding a bike or really exercising.. So i drank some water- because i do not want more Charlie horses..bleh. I had a horrible night of sleep... contractions woke me up sometimes, then sometimes stupid dreams would wake me up (like driving down a road with about 20 tornadoes on each side- really vivid) or Sean would pull the covers off of me and get all mad when i tried to get them back (he's very irritable in his sleep lately- which just makes me more mad).. at one point he told me "Either pick it up or I'm going to throw it away".. i have no idea what he is talking about.

I finally woke up at 6 am and I am hurting everywhere.. My thigh muscles hurt, my calves hurt, my back is KILLING me, my shoulders are sore, my arms are sore. I feel like i felt after i started running and lifting weights, like i have been exercising for hours.. I don't know if i was just subconciously tensing with each contraction in my sleep?? I shouldn't have.. i mean, i was ASLEEP.. you can't get more relaxed than that, right?

So, i'm awake..I'm going to waddle downstairs and drink some tea and maybe take a warm bath.. i'm exhausted. I want to go to sleep, but i can not sleep in the bed while Sean is in it. It just hurts. It hurts enough to be in it by myself.. urg.