Cooper has arrived! Birth story!

Jillwithani · August 2012

Hi everyone!

Short story: Cooper Anthony arrived on 8/5/12 one day before his due date after 20 hours of labor and 4 hours of pushing via assisted vacuum birth. He weighed 7 lbs and 7oz and was 21" long.

Long story: Tony (daddy) coached a softball tournament a town away on Saturday morning so I decided to go to the outlet mall and enjoy the beautiful weather. My cousin informed me that the day before her son was born she went to the same exact outlets and to pack my bag (yeah right cousin). I went up to the tournament to say hi and get some sun and a few spaced out contractions happened which I really thought nothing of as they had been so sporadic. Around 7 pm they started coming about every 5-6 minutes. I told Tony this could be it so it was time to get some rest, square things away and to get his bag ready. I took a shower, shaved, painted my toes and cleaned the house like crazy.

At 1:00 am we were about 4 minutes apart and it was time to go in. I was tolerating the pain pretty well and the nurses later admitted they assumed I was having false labor because I was smiling and making jokes through contractions but we were 5 cm and 100% effaced and it was time to check in.

By 3:30 am we were 7cm and they told me they'd recommend the epidural now if I wanted one because he was right on the floor to which I agreed. I was terrified of the epi but I don't know how I could have tolerated without one.

Things started slowing down around 6 am, we were about 8 cm and they started pitocin and they decided to break my water which showed he had made a bowel movement inside. They gave me the low down on the dangers of this and that the respiratory team would be here for the delivery in case there were complications. I was devastated. It took until 12 to reach 10 cm where I was notified by the Dr (not my normal Dr he was on vacation of course) that I needed to start pushing even though I wasn't feeling the need.

I pushed from 12-3 without even feeling the need to push, it was very discouraging but Tony cheered me on and the wonderful staff of nurses were such amazing advocates for me as well. The Dr. on the other hand would come in about every 30 minutes and tell me if I didn't make progress it was time to consider other options. He was incredibly rude and was just a dark cloud of rain every time he walked in the door. It kept me going though just because I wanted to prove him wrong. I referred to him as Dr. Evil for the rest of the day.

At 3:30 I was given until 4pm to get him out or it was time to get a C-section. They assumed he was just very large. I was very against having a mirror to see everything but we decided maybe it would help. The minute I saw tufts of his hair I pushed like a madwoman and had them turn off my epi. I wanted that little head of hair in my arms MY way and right now.

Cooper was born vaginally at 4:08 pm weighting 7 lbs 7 oz with vacuum assistance. Dr. Evil said he came straight down like a torpedo instead of pivoting like most births. He was healthy and strong and cried and wiggled like crazy.

I am so in love with this little man and so proud of Tony as well. He remained my coach and cheerleader and stayed strong when I wanted to give up.

Ladiebug710 · August 2012

Congrats! And I love the name Cooper, it was one of my favorites.

ashleylchapman@hotmail.com · August 2012

Congrats! He is so precious

hooslisa · August 2012

oh, happy day!

congrats!

MommyMelRN · August 2012

Congrats! What a cutie! Sorry you had to deal with Dr. Evil. Thanks for sharing about the mirror though, I have been ambivalent about it, but if it helped you that much at the end, it just might sway me that direction too!

mamahawk12 · August 2012

He's adorable!! Congrats!!

LeanneOfHonour · August 2012

What a sweetheart in his little bunny! Thanks for sharing the mirror story, I've been thinking that I'd really rather NOT see my lady bits at their nastiest, but if it comes down to it, I just might! Good job on being such a trooper getting him out! You've made such a beautiful baby

Mrs_Bennett · August 2012

Congratulations!! He is precious!

MyBeanieBaby · August 2012

CONGRATS!!

And oddly that sounded EXACTLY like my firsts birth story! Minus the vaccum.

The mirror REALLY REALLY helped me, and at that point in labor and delivery you really don't care what you see as long as you see your little one in your arms in the end. I really liked the mirror and sort of think I'm going to use it this time around as well.

I used it with my first, because like you, I didn't have a clue when to push and had to watch the monitors to know when I was having a contraction.

ccam · August 2012

Congrats!!

daniellelovesjacob · August 2012

Congrats! He is adroable.

dangerkitty102 · August 2012

Congratulations! Man, hearing hospital birth stories like this make me irate. Dr Evil indeed! You should be very proud you stuck to your guns and got your vaginal birth and didn't let them pressure you into a c-section!