Arrival of the Coop!
Cooper's birth story really begins on Friday morning, though I didn't know it at the time. I had my standard weekly appointment that morning, in which the doctor checked my progression (3 cm, 50% effaced, -1 station for anyone keeping track- I had been 2 cm the previous week but never found out the other stats). The doctor gave her standard warning that the exam would likely cause brownish spotting, which it did until about 1:00 that afternoon. At work that day, people continued to comment that they didn't believe I would "make it" to my due date- which, hello- I'd been saying for months. In jest, I kept saying that I just wanted him to stay put long enough for Stephen to turn 30, too, so Cooper's birth certificate didn't have him as 29 and me as 30. (Happy Birthday a day late, babe- love you!)- but in reality I truly thought he was going to come on February 2nd versus the scheduled induction date of the 12th. As I was leaving work that night, exhausted, someone asked me how I was doing, and I lost the "brave little toaster" front I usually kept up and said, "I'm done. Just done."
That night, I was finishing up Cooper preparation (washing bottles, packing diaper bags- and more importantly, making the list of the items we still needed to buy/ do) and noticed I was spotting again- only this time, it wasn't brownish- it started as purple-red and got brighter. I decided I would call the doctor in the morning if it was still there. We went to bed, and even though I was exhausted I just couldn't turn off my brain and go to sleep. I threw in the towel about 7:20 that morning and figured I would run to the market before my 10:00 wax and pedicure appointment- we had NO food in the house and I wanted to bunker down. I rolled out of bed, took 4 steps, and stopped. It felt like I'd partially wet my pants, and I told Stephen, who was still dozing in bed, that the plans for the day had changed. Half asleep, he answered back, "What does that mean?". I told him that I'd either just peed my pants, or my water had broken. A little more alert, he says again, "What does that even MEAN?" I figured, since I wasn't sure it was really my water breaking, that it meant we should go into Labor and Delivery and get checked out. I hadn't had any contractions, so I just wasn't sure myself- but either way I figured birth wasn't imminent so we had 15 minutes or so to shower, finish packing the bags, etc. Once Stephen was in the shower, I was standing in the bathroom putting the last items into the hospital bags when a second flood occurred- and this time I was sure it was water breakage by the sheer volume of it. Now we kicked into high gear and headed out the door. That being said, still no contractions. I even drove over to the ATM to get cash for Stephen to use at the hospital and then drove through McDonalds to get him breakfast on the way. I wasn't hungry, but in retrospect I really, really wish I'd gotten something.
10 minutes later, the hospital is in sight and I have my first contraction. Not bad at all- no worse that the ones I'd had over the last month or so every day- and then 6 minutes after that as we are walking in to the hospital I had another. We make it up to Labor and Delivery, and as luck would have it, our timing made it so we were assigned to the nicest L&D suite, with a view. In no time at all I was undressed, in a gown, and on a table getting checked out and hooked up to IV drips of fluids, antibiotics, and a low dose of Pitocin to kick start the contractions. The nurse confirmed that my water had indeed broken, and that we were having a baby that day! I had a contraction monitor strapped to me, along with the fetal heart rate monitor too, and we could hear a healthy Cooper heartbeat galloping along. Now, at this point, time gets a little funny for me. The day literally zoomed by, so I am not really too sure of when some things occurred.
At some point, I got up to pee (a thought: it feels so funny now that I don't have to pee every 30 minutes now!) and as I was in the bathroom the first contraction that hit "painful" rather than "uncomfortable" hit. I came out and decided it was time for the epidural, and lay there squeezing Stephen's hand until the anesthesiologist arrived. It was pretty quick- must have been a slow day in L&D. I don't *think* it took more than 10 minutes, but then again, it was 11-something by then and I wasn't sure where the morning had gone. The epidural was also quick and easy- no pain!- and 10 minutes or so after that I couldn't feel anything from the chest down. No contraction pain- not even contraction pressure, so the Pitocin was turned up to kick up the contractions more. At some point in there the fetal heart rate monitor became erratic in the heartbeat tracking, and it turned out that Cooper was squirmy because I had progressed all the way up to 9 1/2 cm and was pretty much good to go. The doctor was called to find out when she'd be there, and said 10 minutes, so at 2:50 they said to begin pushing- and at 4:02 pm Cooper entered the world, crying like a pro! Super easy, super quick labor, and one perfect child later our boy was there to greet us and celebrate his Daddy's 30th birthday two days later.