It's a Good Thing...

1. Cooper is now nursing like a champ WITHOUT the help of a nipple shield! YEAH! He's been doing it all week and doing awesome! Now, we just need to teach him to let go of his gas!


2. My king size bed is seriously the most comfortable thing ever!! When we got it I was pregnant so I haven't really had a chance to fully enjoy and appreciate how comfortable it truly is. Laying on my back and stomach is like laying in a cloud! I love my bed!!


3. Campbells V8 Soup- Golden Butternut Squash is VERY yummy! I do recommend!


4. Grocery shopping at Target versus Wal-Mart is so much more fun! They have so many different options and products for a good price. I recommend the Target on Pilot Knob. They even have the new products I see in commercials that I want to try that I still haven't seen at Econo Foods or Wal-Mart such as Red Velvet Cake yogurt!


5. My homemade Moby Wrap Sling- I love it! I even cleaned up after dinner and did dishes while wearing my sling with Cooper in it. Funny though, I told Taylor that I couldn't wait to get him out of me and when I put him in the sling he sits balled up in front of my stomach, quite like he did when he was in my stomach- I wanted him out and now I put him right back where he was. Funny!

Updated Photos and Comparison Shots

Just a nice shot of Daddy with his Baby Bear

Hanging out with Mom

A proud big sister!

What is with the flashing Mom!?!

Miley wanted him to lay with her, this lasted 2 minutes until he started grunting as he had to burp and she thought he was going to poop on her!

Meeting his new buddy Grayson Malloy!

Comparison Shots

Birth Story- As Told By Me

I just realized that I haven't taken the time to tell you the Birth Story from my angle. Taylor did a very good job in his but I know, Mom to Mom, some like to hear it from the Momma.

It all started out on Friday night and I had a fun evening planned. Jackie and I went and got pedicures as a little treat for ourselves and we went all out and did the Spa pedicure treatment and the ladies there loved working on two hugly pregnant chicks and really spent a lot of time massaging our feet and legs, it was very relaxing and what we both needed. Then we headed to the mall to do some walking and a little shopping with Kelly and ended the evening at Olive Garden for a delcious meal and some great laughs!

Saturday morning I headed to Lookin' Good and got a cut and color, it had been since APRIL since I did that! I was just loving the pampering.

Monday I had an appointment at the chiropractor and to meet with the massage therapist and I told her to focus on my feet and ankles and to hit all the pressure points she could because I knew this baby was ready to come out! Well, much to my surprise, it actually worked!!! My contractions started in around 5pm and were 20 minutes apart. They stayed that way all through the night and Tuesday morning I woke up at 5am and they were around 8 minutes apart! With us having a big snow storm to battle with I decided to take a shower and get things ready as I knew it would take us awhile to get to Red Wing if things started to pick up even more. After my shower they went back to 15 minutes apart and stayed that way all through the morning. Taylor's school was two hours delayed and he decided to just call in and stay home as something was happening and I didn't want to be home alone, especially with the snow and knowing how long it would take Taylor to get home if I needed him.

Through the morning I could feel the baby dropping lower and lower and I went through the cleaning out process and I decided to call the hospital to see what they had to say. They wanted me to come in at 11 and meet with the doctor to see if things were progressing. Of course, on the way to the hospital things slowed down even more. She checked me and said that his head was so low it was very hard to check me, and painful! She stripped my membranes and told me to go walking to see if things would pick up again.

We walked around Menards, Wal-Mart, sat at Caribou for awhile to relax and lastly headed to Target. Things were still 15 minutes apart so I called in to see what they had to say. They wanted me to come in at 5pm for observation and it turned out the contractions were 4 minutes apart so they admitted me. I labored naturally all evening and at 2am they went to 5 minutes and were very weak. They said my cervix was behind his head and having a hard time flipping to the front so they wanted me to get some sleep to see if relaxing would help things move. At 5am I woke up and started walking around and got them going again but only to 5 minutes. By 9am we had a conversation with the doctor and she said I could go home and see if relaxing at home would get things going or if I wanted to try a bit of pitocin and then break my water and go from there. After discussing things with Taylor we decided going home without a baby was the last thing we wanted to do. They hooked me up to the pitocin and in the words of the doctor, they could have just dabbed some behind my ears like perfume, I hardly had any and I started contracting like crazy all on my own. They broke my water and nothing came out and she said it was because he was so low and she was preparing to get a shower once I delivered him! By noon the contractions were finally too much for me to take and I opted for an epidural as I was at 6cm. Shortly after I got the epidural and my body relaxed we heard my cervix flip through the monitor and my water gushed out! An hour later I started feeling all kinds of pressure and my mom could see it in my face that I was feeling something.

She wanted to get the nurse but I said she was coming in in 10 minutes anyway and I'd just wait. When she came in I told her what I was feeling and she went to check me and said Oh, we have a head! They called the doctor in right away and they rushed to get things ready and in 3 pushes we had ourselves a baby boy!!! No tearing or anything! So, we were at the hospital longer than I had hoped but once I got just a little bit of medicine to help put some intensity behind things I went super fast and had a quick delivery.

Late on Tuesday night in between contractions

Just had decided we were going to try the pitocin, waiting for the nurse to hook me up.

It's time to push!!!!

My Baby Boy Cooper!!

More of Cooper and Miley

Things have been going well with Cooper at home. A lot of adjusting, but well. We had a small set back in the nursing category which created for a VERY rough day. Since he is two weeks early he is pretty lazy and when my milk came in at full force it intimidated him and he decided he didn't want to latch anymore, then without latching well for a few feedings he forgot how to do it. He went 8 hours without having a really good feeding and then I struggled for almost 3 hours to get him to eat again and ended up having him suck on my finger and use a dropper dripping the milk down my finger.

Along with my stress of him not eating Miley has a pretty bad cold so she wasn't feeling well and needed cuddle time, which I just couldn't give to her with trying to work with Cooper for so long. So, I was quite the emotional wreck yesterday. We brought Miley over to Grandma's house as we then headed to Red Wing to work with Anne, the best lactation consultant ever! After her seeing how much we were struggling she decided that the best thing for him and I would be to use a nipple shield which forces him to latch correctly and will be a teaching device for him until he can figure it out on his own and remember what to do. This little piece of soft plastic has been a Godsent! He latched immediately and he ate and ate and ate last night! Mommy felt so much better!! I have plenty of Golden Milk and the last thing I wanted to do was to let it go to waste so he is now working with me and is a much happier boy now that he knows what a full tummy is like.

Other than that set back everything else is going well. Here are some things we've been up to the past couple days.

Going Home Outfit

First time in the car seat

We got home at noon on Friday and Miley got dropped off after nap time, she wanted to bring Cooper to their room and watch a movie with him and she told me right where she wanted Cooper to sit on her bed.

Our first meal with the four of us.

Little Brother

Ms. Dress Up Queen

One of the sweetest moments!

They both love their Daddy cuddle time

She wanted Cooper to sit with her in her chair.

And then she wanted to hold him on the couch and pet Joey.

More Cuddle time with Daddy

First bath at home, a double bath, got Miley all washed up and while she played we gave Cooper his bath.

Miley during her first bath and Cooper during his:

We occasionally let Tigger come in the house and play with Miley, he's out in the garage and outside because he pees on the carpet, so here she is loving him up. He is pretty anxious to get back to his garage after playing with her!

Like Sister Like Brother

Lots of Pictures

Here are some photos from Cooper's Big Day!

Miley was there helping out her Mommy! She held my hand through contractions.

Miley with Nana behind the curtain waiting to hear Cooper's first cry.

Cooper is here!!! Only 3 pushes, doctor telling me to push, no wait, push, wait. He was ready to come out! Not a single tear or anything!

We are all in love!

Miley saying "Good Job Mom!" and patting me on the back.

Miley got to push the Magic button that plays a little tune so the hospital can hear that someone just had a baby.

Loving up her baby brother.

Such a sweetheart, her two favorite animal friends are Elmo and Eeyore and she shared her Eeyore with Cooper.

Already a Bear! His teddy bear from Godparents Nick and Kathryn.

Cozy Cozy

Snuggled up with Mom.

His circumcision was this morning and it was really well! We should be heading home shortly. :)