Cooper Bruce Redford

COOPER BRUCE REDFORD

His name..."Cooper" We know a family in Utah that had a Cooper and we liked the name. It immediately became a favorite on our list. We always pick a couple of names and then decide when the baby comes. So he was going to be either Cooper or Carson. We liked Cooper! "Bruce" is my dad's name. And "Redford" was the easiest part in the name process!

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Tuesday Morning, I had a bowl of cinnamon toast crunch (next time I will have a BIG breakfast). And then around 10:30 we headed off to Walmart to pick up a few things since I wasn't feeling any contractions and nothing seemed to be happening. We were in Walmart for about 10 minutes when I decided I better go to the restroom and see what was going on. Well my water was broke and leaking down my pants...lovely, I know. I immediately called Eric at work. He anwered the phone, "Are you ready to go" and I said "YES!" He was surprised..he said it joking. He left work to meet us at home. My mom and I hurried and finsihed checking out. The kids weren't too happy since they didn't get to look at toys with Grandma. My mom told Brooklyn that we had to go because I was going to have the baby. Brooklyn then repeated it very loudly, "You are having the baby!" It turned a few heads my direction. I was a little embarrassed. We hurried home and I showered and got new dry clothes.

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We drove the 50 minutes to the hospital...feeling nothing much happening. I was so worried about driving over the mountain with full on contractions. I am glad it was a nice comfortable ride. We arrived at 1:30pm and found the family birth center. I would say it was more a "family birth hall." They had discharged the only patient that morning...so I was the only one there. I got lots of attention from the nurses. Char was my first nurse and her daughter, Faith went to preschool with Brooklyn. It was nice to see a familiar face. She was great. She even let me eat a little bit of food. I was starving...my cereal at this point was gone! Crackers and fruit never tasted so good. I spent the afternoon watching tv and feeling light contractions about 3 minutes apart. We started the Pit around 3pm.

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The contractions didn't get much stronger until around 8pm. My night nurse was Amy. She was again a familiar face...her daughter, Bailey was in Brooklyn's kindergerten class. She was so supportive during the hard part of labor. I really appreciated her help and support. She had Eric and I walk up and down the little hall for a half hour...Eric was making the nurses laugh like crazy. He asked if they had a bath...they said "Yes but she couldn't go in it because her water broke" and Eric said, "No for Me!" He kept pushing me to walk faster during the contractions...it was hard but it helped. As soon as we got back in our room, the contractions started to get stronger. I tried really hard to watch the finale of dancing with the stars. I was waiting all day to watch it! After an hour of hard contractions...you know the ones you can't really talk through...I decided that I needed the epideral. (Which I was very lucky I could get...my platelet count have been very low during the pregnancy and they checked them in the hospital and they were 116 and they had to be over 100 get the epideral. The next day they were back down to 100..I am so thankful they were up enough during labor..what a blessing for me!)

I got the epideral at 10pm. It felt so nice to relax. I was shaking like crazy before I got it. At this point I was an 8 and almost there.

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The doctor came around 10:30. I slowed down a little bit but once at 10...I could start to push. Which is soooo hard with an epideral...it's like pushing against a wall. So hard to do! I pushed from 11 until he was born. Almost an hour and a half. His little heart rate kept going down during each contraction. The doctor said it was because the cord was probably getting stretched while I pushed. So between contractions we had to wait for his heart rate to come back up. I started to get nervous at this point...no mother wants to hear that the heart rate is too low. At the end...the doctor said we needed to get him out in the next two pushes or he would have to vacumn him out. That doesn't sound fun for me or him. Well I pushed and pushed and finally at 12:20 he was born. His first cry was such a relief...he was healthy! I held him for about a half hour to keep him warm...except I was shaking like crazy at this point. My poor body just was going crazy.

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Cooper had his first bath in our room..which was cool for me to watch. He never left our room except to weigh him. I was so tired and hungry at this point. They brought us some sandwhiches and fruit. It tasted so great until it decided to leave my stomach the way it went in. No fun. I was so exhausted..I just went to sleep. Little Cooper kept choking on his mucus during the night. So I held him so he didn't choke. At 5:30 they woke me up to take my blood...I was so bugged. I went to bed at 2:30 and they wake me up at 530 for blood work..come on people...let the new mommy sleep!

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Wednesday was nice...we had a few visitors including the kids. They were so excited to meet their little brother for the first time. They loved to hold him and just see how small he was. Eric took advantage of the nice roll-a-way bed they brought in and took a few good naps. I enjoyed the time holding and feeding Cooper. He was awake most of the day...which totally shocked me. He was just looking around and so alert.

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After they did Coopers PKU test and hearing tests (which he only passed one of...too much white stuff still in his ears.) We went home around 9:30pm. Yes that is right...Cooper wasn't even 24 hours old yet. We didn't see the point of staying in the hospital when we were taking care of him the whole time anyways. The hospital is very small and they don't really have a nursery. I was ready to leave and sleep in my own bed. Hospital beds aren't too comfortable. The food was ok...but I was ready to eat some real food.

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Cooper did great his first night. Once alseep he only woke up at 3am to eat. Not bad for a day old!

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That's it! That is how Cooper entered this crazy world we live in! He brings so much love and joy into our home. He is so adorable, so little and so good!

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A few pictures along the way....

Hooked up and ready to go! 1:30pm at the St. Helena Hospital

Cooper's Big Arrival- November 24, 2010 00:20am (12:20).

Weighing in at 7 lbs 8.4oz and 20 inches long!

1st bath...he didn't like it very much!

Brooklyn and Easton's first time meeting their little brother!

They were soooo excited to finally meet him. They love to hold him.

Grandmommy and Cooper!

A very happy Daddy!

Our First Family Photo! Wow...a family of 5!Our view! IThe weather looked beautiful..even though it was very cold outside.

Getting ready to go home...9:30 pm

What a cutie!

First Ride in the carseat-over the St. Helena Mountain. And boy was it cold...in the 20's. Cooper did great and enjoyed the ride!

Coopers visitors at the hosptal...Kara, Brooklyn, Easton, Grandmommy & Sue and Val. Thanks for visiting and meeting little Cooper!