Happy 1st Birthday to our sweet angel Cooper! He's seriously an angel and the happiest, sweetest boy I know. I think it really hit me yesterday at Callie's gymnastics that he was really turning one today. It was picture day at Let It Shine. I remember last year, mike took her to gymnastics since I was on bed rest. He texted me that morning when he got there to inform me it was picture day. I remember being so sad to miss it. I texted him back saying I wasn't feeling great. I had woke up that morning with a headache (which I had for about the last trimester of my pregnancy), upset stomach, pressure, shortness of breath, and I knew my BP was up. At this point at 34.5 weeks, I'd been on bed rest for about 4 weeks, in and out of the hospital 3 times, shots to stop contractions, shots in each hip of steroid to mature Cooper's lungs faster in case he came early. I had severe preeclampsia with Callie and all signs were pointing that way for Cooper but the protein in my urine was never high enough with each of them till right before they had to induce. So, it was a scary, helpless feeling of knowing something was really wrong but my body wasn't showing the doctors enough evidence to make a move either pregnancy until right before I had them. The main thing with preeclampsia is making sure I don't stroke and it's a balance between keeping baby "cooking" and keeping mom healthy. So, the morning of Coop's birthday I put a call into the doctor on call. I was pretty much a regular and I think they thought I'd come in and get checked out and go home. Well that upset me because I kept telling her I couldn't breathe and my BP was high and lil Coop wasn't moving much. All the pregnant people out there... You know your body! Do your kick counts and pay attention to your symptoms. Mike called after gymnastics and I told him to take Callie to my moms and come get me ASAP because something wasn't right. We lived 30 mins away so that was the longest hour waiting on Mike to get me and make it to the hospital. We got there and they checked me in. I was like, "it's me again". They were like "it's you again". Ha! The doctor checked me out and sampled my urine. I was so freaking tired of peeing in a container!!! She came back in the room. I was totally expecting more bed rest. She said I was dilated 3cm and my body was preparing for delivery. My urine was out of wack big time. I was relieved for a second thinking " I told you something wasn't right". But then she said, "I'm coming back in the room to break your water". Huh? Sh@t! Wha?! Major panic mode. I'm not sure what mike was thinking but he just followed my orders. "call my mom!" I needed my mom. I wasn't ready for Cooper. I just needed mom there to get me through it! Mike did great keeping me calm and taking care of me. He may have been secretly freaking out. They broke my water, started pitocin, magnesium, and my epidural as fast as they could. The magnesium is awful. Makes you hot and you can't get out of bed for 24 hrs. It was to prevent seizures and stroke. I had it for Callie too so I knew exactly how I was about to feel. Bring on the cold rags! I was about to sweat my ass off as well as experience contractions and birth a small watermelon. Awesome. The epidural was lovely once they actually got it in. It took two tries. Then the contractions came out of nowhere! Whoa! My nurse was amazing. She said I'm gonna step out (prob thinking it was gonna be a while longer). She told me to call if I felt pressure. The next think I know, I'm talking to mom and mike and I hit the call button. Pressure!!! 15 pushes and sweet Cooper James was here! That part was way easier than Callie. So my labor was from 11am to 5:24pm. Not bad! I never got to hold either kids when they were born. Callie's body temp was too low and Cooper had to go straight to the NICU. I knew Cal was ok. I remember seeing her for the first time thinking "I did all that work and she looks exactly like Mike!" that's not a bad thing though. It was sweet. Seeing Cooper for the first time was so scary. They showed him to me and I just wanted to reach out and hold him. But he wasn't breathing. His eyes were glazed. He barely looked alive. He wasn't moving much. Turns out the umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck and my uric acid was elevated. He was definitely in respiratory distress. They took him to the table. I couldn't see him. I could just see the NICU team around him and the looks on my mom and mikes faces. They wheeled him off. Shortly after we got a good report, he was fighting and doing great! We did it! Made it through and we were gonna be ok. It was heartbreaking to not be able to pick him up or breast feed him at first. Moving him around and trying to nurse burns lil babies calories up so it's crucial they don't have to fight to eat. It was heartbreaking to see him with cords and IVs but he kept progressing and didn't have to have those long. They told us he could be there till his due date March 22. But our lil Coop wouldn't settle for that! 9 days later, he was cleared to come home. I was so relieved he was healthy. No more trips to the NICU to feed my lil guy. No more pumping breast milk and hauling it up there. We would get to love on him finally! All the time! And Callie would finally get to meet him! It was hard to come home from the hospital without your baby but all the prayers brought him home in no time! Cal was so sweet with him and still is.
His birth story, like Callie's, was scary, beautiful, and unforgettable. More on his birth story on Valentines! Yes I had already had him by then. But there's more! The days that followed delivery were not so fun for me. I remember having a few family visitors and not being able to hold my head up. I was so dizzy. They sat me up in a chair and I couldn't stay up long. I was losing blood. It never clotted like it was supposed to. The night after delivery, I bled bad. They gave me suppositories to stop it, they had a table set up for my dr in case she had to go back in to stop bleeding. They finally got it stopped but I had lost so much blood. Feb 14th, I received a blood transfusion. Happy Valentines to me! I will always think of the color red for Valentines in a whole new way now! Ha! Blood transfusions on Valentines! Bank robberies! My life is random! I will write more about my transfusion on Valentines. It was super emotional.
Here we are a year later happy and healthy! Thank you God for my healthy baby boy, my Mom right there with me in the delivery room a second time, my Callie, Mike, and everyone who helped us through with prayers, dinner, encouragement, etc! Happy Birthday Cooper. We are loved!
