Introducing... Cooper Hank

April 20th

6 lbs. 11 oz.

20.5"

8:18am

strawberry blonde hair

The boys in my life...

Me and my "little" boys...
He didn't like the feel of the carseat at first...

But it soothed him pretty quickly! :)
The ARRIVAL of Cooper...

I had been having contractions for a couple weeks, but nothing too painful. On Saturday night, I had them for an hour and a half and decided I had better try to get some sleep in case we had to go in to the hospital (due on Sunday). I fell asleep and slept like a baby. Went to church on Sunday, taught my lesson, had a BBQ that night and all was well. I was talking to Shelley on the phone when "the start" of "the real" labor happened at 9:10pm. Again, after a bit, I decided to go to bed so I could get some sleep. This time I tossed and turned, contractions getting closer together. I started to feel a bit weezy and thought I could throw up. At this point it was about 1:30-2am, so I decided to call the hospital and see what they said I should do. They asked if I could feel him moving and I said I didn't think I could, so she said to come in. I told Dusty to stay home cuz I didn't want to have to drop Brackon off at our 80 year old neighbors home if this wasn't the real thing. The nurse said to come within an hour or so. So I took a shower and got some things packed. I got to the hospital about 3:30am. Another delivery was in progress, so by the time they got back to me it was about 5:30. I was dialated to a 5. The Dr. broke my water. I asked if I should call Dusty to have him come. He said, "tell him to come NOW!" Dusty dropped Brack off and came. I asked for my epideral ASAP! I had to get so much fluids in me before they could give it to me. And I had to get my blood drawn since she had already started the IV. I was soo nervous for the epideral. I wasn't with Brackon, so I thought it was strange. The nurse asked me if I remembered that I need to sit up and hunch over when she gave me the epideral. This made me VERY nervous because that was not what I did before with Brackon. THEN, they had me guzzle this little 1 oz drink. The nurse said, jsut pretend like it's a cocktail! I thought, oh great! It was discusting. Can't even describe the taste! Well, she started to numb me and all of a sudden I really started getting dizzy and broke out into a cold sweat. I almost fainted.

They stopped the epideral for a bit. I got checked and was dialated to an 8. TOO LATE FOR AN EPIDERAL NOW! I tried not to think about it.

ha!

They gave me some of the MOST AWESOME pain medicine that started with an "F" I think. I actually was able to relax. But, it only lasted for 30 minutes! I thought, let's just push and get this over with! Well, it didn't quite happen that way. Pretty much by the time the medicine wore off, it was time to push.

No epideral.

30 minutes.

A beautiful new baby.

Man, it seems so easy just typing it... if only it was that easy! I decided after that I would NEVER go natural again and I would talk to the hospital to see how epiderals are given. If they don't do it laying down, then I will go to a different hospital!

Dusty was sooo excited! When I was complaining about the pain, he said, "it's supposed to hurt!" ha ha!! lol! He said he felt bad later for saying that.

funny now.

not then.

When Cooper came out, he had the cord wrapped around his neck twice. His WHOLE body was purple. I asked what was wrong and the nurse said calmly, "they all look like that." I tried to believer her. AND, he WASN'T crying. After a bit, he started crying, his coloring came and he was fine. It was a bit scary.

Afterthoughts...

I am so grateful Dusty was able to give me a Priesthood blessing beforehand.

I didn't know why I was so nervous for the epideral, but now I know why... I was not supposed to get it. Who knows what could have happened had I had it ...with the cord being wrapped around his head twice, it may not have been good. The LORD is in CHARGE! No doubt about that.

I was REALLY nervous because my midwives were not on call the weekend I was due, so a "dr." had to deliver me. The dr. who delivered Cooper was one that was highly recommended IF anything was to go wrong. So that gave me comfort.

Right after it was all over, I vowed I would NEVER go natural if I had the chance. I am feeling sooo good though. The recovery has been remarkably easy. Maybe if I had been prepared to go natural it would have been different? Maybe not though??

Life Now...

We are home and have yet to have our first night here...

Cooper has been the BEST baby. He has hardly cried. It has been easier SO FAR with my second. We have had two nights now, and both nights he had a 4 hour stretch. Which, I was able to sleep too! It was so cute, I told him that his brother and dad were coming to see him and he got the biggest smile on his face! So cute!!!

We had a couple bring us dinner tonight... Leftovers to last 'til next week!

More to come in this section... :)

Brackon and Cooper...

It is pretty exciting you know, to be a BIG BROTHER... he even got a "bracelet" like mom that said he was a BIG BROTHER! He thought it was pretty cool.
We taught Brack how to "touch" a brand new baby. Doing pretty good...
The first day Brackon came to meet his brother, he brought his puppy to introduce him to Cooper!

He also asked me if I had Cooper's carseast, I said, yes, it is in the car. He said "okay, let's go mom!" He kept pulling the blankets down and said, "come on mom, let's go home!"
I asked Brackon if he would help me feed Cooper. (I don't really know why...) He ran into the kitchen and got a baby spoon. He hid it behind his back and then pulled it out really fast to show him! When I was reaching for my "hooter hider", he scooped up some yogurt and was about to feed him some when I caught him! ay yay yay!

We are excited to have this precious bundle of joy in our home! SOOOOOOOO excited to see my mom tomorrow! We are going to have a blast! I have a list of meals I want her to cook for us, a list of projects to do, and places we want to go see!!!! Pray for me so I can have the energy to do all I want!!!! :)