Adventure Is Out There: July 2015

Cooper Thomas: Two Weeks

Two weeks already!?! I can hardly believe it. I'm still over-the-moon in love with you Cooper Thomas. You make the silliest noises when you stir and your facial expressions make daddy and I laugh. You still prefer to sleep during the day and feed more at night, but the past few days you've been wide awake most of the mornings. You have also decided to have some awake time the past couple nights. Right now mommy is trying to "enjoy" every moment with you as you are the last "planned" baby. Unfortunately you have a little cold that you got from mommy and big brother :( We are sorry!! It has been messing with your feedings as you spit up quite often. We will see if the doctor thinks it might be reflux too. Speaking of big brother he will give you kisses now and likes to tickle your belly while saying "tickle tickle." He also loves to bring you your binkie which you have zero interest in. You had your first bath which you weren't 100% sure about. Your cord stump is still on (update after I posted your stump fell off that evening, day 16) but your plastibell fell off after 9 days. You really don't like being buckled in to your carseat but calm down after a bit. Mommy tries to carry you in a wrap but the one we have is too hot for these summer days. She's got another one on the way that will hopefully be much better. Mommy is trying very hard not to "neglect" you too much (#secondchildproblems), but don't worry we will get plenty of bonding time when big brother goes back to daycare as you will stay home with mommy while she works.

The doctor says you are doing FANTASTIC with your weight gain. You are in the 50th percentile for height and weight and 90th for head circumference. He again said I can adjust his night feedings by trying to distract with a binkie for a little extra shut eye, but you are having none of it! Actually last night you surprisingly took a binkie for a bit, but it only got me about an extra half hour to 45 minutes of rest. You stir quite a bit in your sleep but are very good at putting yourself back to sleep. So maybe mommy just needs to figure out when you are ACTUALLY hungry, and not just being noisy. Good news the doctor doesn't think you have reflux because you are gaining weight like a champ and I can already see a decrease in your spit-ups. I also got the go-ahead to give pumping a try so daddy can feed you a bottle. Hopefully you don't reject those like you do the binkie, but I'm guessing you'll do just fine. Happy two weeks Mr. Cooper!! We get to look forward to more awake time, smiles and maybe even some giggles in the next few weeks.

Birth: 6lbs 11.1oz and 19.5in

Leaving Hospital: 6lbs 3.9oz

Five Days: 6lbs 10oz

Two Weeks: 7lbs 10.5oz and 20in

Introducing Cooper Thomas + The First Few Days

Ahhh I can't believe he is FINALLY here and our little family is complete!! Let's learn a little bit about Mr. Cooper...

I'm one of those people who needs a name for their baby as soon as I find out the gender. Even though I say this, I don't fully connect to the name until the baby is finally here. For baby number 2, it was difficult coming up with a name after finding out we were having another boy. A girl we would have been set...McKinley Rae..but a boy, where oh where do we begin. We knew we wanted it to have a meaning like Carson did, but beyond that we didn't know where to else to start. Nothing seemed to click, and everything we were coming up with seemed like we were settling on a name. Then the name Cooper came up. Back in December 2007 Reid was living in Edwards, CO while doing an internship during college. I came out to visit for the holidays and we went to Ski Cooper where I had my very first skiing adventure. A couple days later, Reid proposed so it was a weekend to remember! And that is how Cooper came about, and Thomas is my dad's name (Carson's middle name is after Reid's dad).

I mentioned before that I felt an instant connection the moment Cooper was laid on my chest. From his tiny little body, down to the shape of his fingernails (strange I know) I loved this little boy more than anything! I was happy to be "stuck" in a hospital room with him for a few days. Cooper did great in the hospital, passing all his tests and breastfeeding wonderfully. He even went through a 4 1/2 hour stretch of sleeping through the night, which the nurse reassured me was ok. As for me, I bounced back a lot quicker than I did with Carson and felt more comfortable with recovery which allowed Reid to be at home with Carson more. The one difference I noticed was the cramping following delivery was a bit more intense this time around. And then about 36 hours after delivery we were on our way home and I was so excited to finally get out of that hospital room.

Settling In At Home

Day One: We made it home with Cooper and I decided I would go pick up Carson from daycare with my mother-in-law since I hadn't been around him in a couple days. Carson got home and was still the same with Cooper as he was in the hospital. Just liked to point and say "a baby" and not much else. He went about his normal, crazy toddler self. Cooper fit right in and adjusted just fine (not sure there's much to adjust to when you just sleep, eat and poop all day long). Our first night wasn't horrible, but it wasn't smooth sailing either. In the hospital Cooper had one spit up that I never experienced with Carson, and it continued at home. I remember the first time I woke up in the middle of the night for a feeding I looked over to the bassinet and saw the poor little guy with spit-up on him. This scared me a bit, fearing he would choke on it in his sleep. So I did the "not-so safest thing" and cat-napped with him on my chest the rest of the night. I am a very light sleeper so any movement and I was awake in an instant! Cooper woke up about every 2 hours but luckily I wasn't up for too long at each feeding (he seems to be a one-side feeder). I was probably more tired from not getting into a deep sleep since Cooper was sleeping on me.

Day Two: Cooper had great awake time in the morning. I just love his eyes so it was fun seeing him more alert for a bit. After that he went back to his eat, sleep routine which made for a long night of feeding. It seemed like he was up every 1 1/2 hours to 2 hours, which was still ok as I was working on getting my milk in. While we are still working on figuring each other out, his schedule right now seems to be longer rests during the day which means more feedings at night. By some stroke of luck, I got 45min of quiet time for a nap while Carson AND Cooper were both sleeping and Nonni and Reid could get some uninterrupted chores/projects completed.

Day Three: Milk arrived but Cooper didn't seem to eat enough throughout the day to help relieve any engorgement, so it was a long uncomfortable day. My recovery also started to "slow down" a bit. Or maybe I'm just anxious to get back to myself. It is challenging for me to have people doing stuff for me all the time. It's also challenging wanting/needing to still be a mom to a two year old so I probably don't rest as much as I should. Cooper seems to have fallen into a routine now which is one good awake time (either in the morning or evening) and then he just sleeps A LOT! He feeds more at night than during the day right now and only at a couple of feedings will he eat from both sides. Aside from my engorgement day when I already got a clogged duct, breastfeeding seems to be going good...which was re-affirmed on day four.

Day Four: We headed to the doctor for a newborn check-up and found out Cooper weighs 6lbs 10oz which is one ounce under his birthweight. He had left the hospital losing 6% of his bodyweight so the doctor said he is doing great and even gave me the ok to "adjust his schedule." We've started using the pacifier occasionally so I thought I'd try it during the night to push his feedings to every 3 1/2 hours. Well he seems accept the pacifier from everyone but me :( He doesn't seem to be a fan of it anyways, but especially when his momma is giving it to him.His spit-ups are pretty much gone and unlike his brother he will sleep in the bassinet pretty well so I'm thinking about moving him over to his crib in the next week.

Day Five: And that brings us to today! Carson is getting better with him daily. He's laid next to Cooper on his playmate, touched his belly, put the pacifier in his mouth and still loves to point him out exclaiming "a baby." Changes we've seen in him are sleep patterns which makes for a cranky toddler and more tantrums. But all things considering, he's doing fantastic. I can't say yet the challenges of having both kids at home are because we are lucky to have had Nonni around helping out with EVERYTHING! So those will come next week after all our family has come and gone. And lastly Cooper will wrap up his first week of life with his newborn pictures tomorrow! And I'll finish with a funny side-thought. Being around Cooper so much makes me feel like I'm changing the baby from this commercial with Carson, ha!

#babyweek

#babyweek started Sunday July 5th and I was so very excited and anxious for this week to finally arrive. It was also very surreal to think that in days we'd have another little one in the family. I went in to the week with a "master plan." My mother-in-law was due to arrive on Wednesday the 8th and had plans to stay through the 16th to help us out with Carson and adjusting to life as a family of four. To get the most out of her time, I secretly told baby his birthday was going to be Thursday July 9, three days before my due date. So let's see how the "master plan" unfolded...

I had my 39 week appointment scheduled for Wednesday the 8th. I went in planning to have my membranes swiped because when they did that with Carson I went in to labor the next morning. This fell exactly in to my plan to have baby's birthday on the 9th. Nonni left Kansas City after work on Tuesday the 7th and arrived to our house around noon on the 8th. I was finishing up work and taking off early to head to my doctor's appointment at 2pm. Nonni decided to tag along as I said these appointments never take too long. The doctor checked me out and I was a 4, almost 5 cm dilated. Always exciting to hear, but never a sure thing of something happening soon (side note I had my 39 week appt with Carson 2 days before my due date and was 4 cm with him then). She did the membrane swipe and I was sitting there waiting for her to give me my induction date (by water break since I was already well into dilation) and I thought I felt a contraction (I hadn't had any to date). Part of me forgot what they were like, so I thought maybe I had "missed" something and had previous ones prior to this. After my appointment, Nonni and I went to Sprouts for a few things before heading to pick up Cason from daycare. At Sprouts I got a few more contractions that were strong enough to make my walking pace slow down a bit. I mostly thought these were happening since I had my membranes stripped and when picking up Carson Nonni said to his teachers, "he could have a brother today or tomorrow." Not what was crossing my mind!

We got home around 4pm and I noticed the contractions were starting to have some consistency. So I got out my handy dandy app and started to time things. Sure enough they were 7 minutes apart lasting about 40 seconds each. I started to put some last minute things into my hospital bag and jumped in the shower. After that my mother-in-law suggested I try to rest and drink water to see if they would subside at all. So I laid down and things only started to get closer together. At about 5 she suggested I call my doctor. I think I waited another half hour before making the call. I left a message and was now down to about 4 minutes apart. I still hadn't received a call back at 5:45p so I told Reid let's go. By now the pain had definitely increased and my contractions seemed to only be occurring more frequently. We arrived at the hospital at 6:23p and I had to make a few stops on my way up to the 5th floor for labor & delivery. It was also then I learned that my doc had tried to call me back leaving me a message "call us back or just come in." Cooper must have known I really like my doctor because she was on-call that evening :) We got back to the room and started the marathon work of papers. They hadn't checked me yet before this process started but I could tell this was the real deal (I always have that fear of being sent back home) as the pain picked up pretty quickly. There was no mention of getting an epidural yet, and I even said to Reid "I don't think I ever got to this stage with Carson before wanting the magic medicine." I remember with Carson that it wasn't the pain that got to me at that point, it was just being very uncomfortable and not finding relief in any way. Well this time it WAS the pain and when the nurse finally asked if I would be getting an epidural I quickly responded YES! Well it was then that the nurse checked me and said I was dilated to a very advanced 9 and re-asked if I was still wanting it. I think I whimpered to her, yes if it's possible! And let me tell you, the only way I was "coping" with this pain was being one of those crazy ladies you see on TV screaming. Yes, I would moan (in a screamingly manner) to distract my mind as much as possible from the pain. Seriously momma's who do natural births, you guys are AWESOME!! The staff rushed around and graciously got me my epidural. I sat very still (and screamed) through 2-3 contractions while it was being inserted, but they were able to give me just enough medicine to take away that awful pain to which the nurses then remarked, "now the other patients won't be scared" (yes, I'm slightly embarrassed). About 10 minutes later I asked if I could start pushing and it only took 5-10 pushes and Cooper Thomas Jennings was born at 7:43 pm. Much different story than with Carson.

As I was thinking about writing my birth story, I was kinda ashamed I couldn't "stick out the pain" and forego the epidural. But in the end it is MY labor and this was how I wanted to do it. Unlike Carson, I was able to feel Cooper being born and it was pretty amazing (never thought I'd be one of those people). I hate to admit this, but I had an instant connection with Cooper. The doctor's laid him on my belly and I was in love! My first thoughts were, he's so tiny!! And after my skin-to-skin time with him, we found out that my little peanut came in at 6lbs 11oz. Honestly I was shocked to hear the number 6 come out of the nurses mouth! My doctors had been telling me that they thought he would be in the 7lb range, and I felt he would be smaller than Carson as well, but I heard the same thing with Carson and pushed out an 8 pounder. Oddly though, Cooper's head was a 1/4 of an inch larger than Carson's, which is what I heard is really the determining factor for tearing. All-in-all my experience was great and I'm so in love with my new family. For most of the time it was Cooper and I hanging out at the hospital and I enjoyed all of my bonding time with him (enjoyed as much as you can being stuck in a hospital room). Carson came up with Nonni and Reid for a visit and wasn't to sure about his little brother. He did like showing him a new toy he picked out. It is very surreal that this phase has come and gone, and now it's time to see what our new routine will be as a family of four.