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!
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