Well, hopefully, I can keep up with blogging again. I just got overwhelmed with pregnancy and everything else. I've got some great pictures to share, though, so I am going to try to post something at least once a week.
So, I thought I would start with my "labor story." I was really hoping that I wouldn't have to be induced this time around, like I was with Gracie, but Cooper was too comfortable where he was. So, four days after my due date, I was induced. I got to the hospital at 6:00 am and was given a pill that made me start having contractions. When I got to the hospital, I was only dilated 1 cm. I began having contractions and they were spaced about every 90 seconds, but they were bearable. The nurse told me that my contractions were coming too fast and weren't strong enough, so they decided to break my water at 3 cm to speed things up. (That was around 12:00.)
After my water was broken, I went from bearable contractions to "oh-my-gosh-get-me-an-epidural-now" contractions in a matter of minutes. I couldn't believe how quickly the intensity of my contractions changed! The epidural was ordered and I finally got relief about 45 minutes later. The scariest part of the labor happened about 5 minutes after I got my epidural. The baby's heart rate dropped suddenly, and the nurse had me rotate to different positions to try to get the heart rate up. For what seemed like the longest minute of my life, the nurse had a concerned look on her face and you could tell she was getting ready to kick into high gear. I was put on oxygen just to be safe, and after a couple of minutes Cooper's heart rate went back to normal. Incidentally, John had left the room for a minute to go talk to his family in the waiting room. When he came back in, I could see the shock on his face when he saw me with an oxygen mask on and 2 nurses standing by the bed.
After that scare, they also decided to start me on a small amount of Pitocin. The nurse checked me after about an hour and a half and I was at 5 cm. About 30 minutes later, I felt something weird down below and the nurse came in to check me. I actually thought that I had passed major gas or something like that because I had felt such a strange sensation. She checked me and I had gone from 5 cm to 9 cm in 30 minutes! She said that the strange sensation I felt was the baby moving down so fast.
Fifteen minutes later, I started feeling the urge to push and I called for the nurse. I had dilated to 10!! I was feeling the urge to push, but I tried to hold out until the midwife got there. When I had Gracie, I had to push for 2 and a half hours. During this pregnancy, I had really been dreading the pushing stage. That was such an exhausting, frustrating time during my first labor and it left me so sore that I could hardly walk for a few days.
We knew Cooper was bigger than Gracie, so as the midwife walked in, I had mentally prepared myself to settle in for the long ordeal of pushing. As the midwife was pulling her gloves on, she said something like, "Ok, Lauren, how about giving me a big push." I started pushing and I heard my midwife go, "Woah, woah, that's good! Hold on!" I was watching in a birthing mirror and I could not believe my eyes! I had already pushed Cooper out up past his shoulders!! One push! I gave one more half push and he was out! I couldn't believe it! He looked a little purple when he came out, and I found out later that his cord was wrapped around his neck. It was a real blessing that I was able to push him out so fast. His little face was bruised in some areas from him moving through my pelvic bones so fast.
Cooper was born at 3:57 pm on March 4th. (The cool thing about his birthday is that it's Gracie's birthday too! We didn't plan it that way; it just happened to be the day that my midwife was able to induce me.) He weighed 8 lbs 13 oz and was 20.5 inches long. What a blessing!! Praise the Lord for giving us another healthy, beautiful baby!
