Here are some of my favorite pictures of my 3 babies that we have hanging in our living room. They might be related ;-)
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Last Friday I took Cooper in for his 3 week check-up. The Dr. was really happy with how well he was doing and said he is growing perfectly! He was up to 9 lb 13 oz (68%) & 22 1/2 inches long (92%). He is already growing so fast! After his check-up the kids and I packed up and made the 3 1/2 hour drive to Jefferson so Cooper could meet his Great-Great-Grandpa Hap, who was in the hospital. We hadn't planned to make the trip back for a few more weeks when Cory could be with us, but we wanted to make sure Cooper got to meet his Birthday buddy. Grandpa was so happy to see everyone there and was eager to hold Cooper, which was a surprise since he is usually scared to hold the babies! I'm so glad we were able to get those priceless pictures and can't wait to go back in a few weeks and get 5 generation pictures! Here are some pictures from the past few weeks. I found Lucas sleeping like this in the toy room one afternoon....bent over sitting up! He was fighting the crud and apparently really needed a nap! Left: Lucas and Daddy Right: Cooper and Daddy
After 2 weeks of adjusting to being the mother of 3, I have finally found the time to post all about our newest little bundle! On January 16th, 2015 at 12:45 PM Cooper William Ott entered our lives. He was 9 lb. 5 oz. and 21 1/2 inches long. Here is a little recap of the whole labor/delivery...this is more for my own memory, so feel free to skip it if it doesn't interest you :-) We went in at 5 am on the 16th for our scheduled induction. At 7 am they got the IV put in me and checked to see how much I was dilated/effaced. I was disappointed to find out I was still only 3 cm and 50-60% effaced (the same as my last appointment) despite contracting off and on all evening and night the night before (I really thought he was going to come on his own). They started up the pitocin and the Dr. came in and broke my water and placed an internal monitor on Cooper's head to better monitor his heartbeat. They weren't happy with how sleepy he was so they had me drink Sprite to try and wake him up, which was pretty unsuccessful. He was too sleepy so they had to shut the pitocin off (they need them to be more active for it to be safe, or something like that). After awhile they turned the pitocin back on and I was kind of starting to have contractions, but he wasn't tolerating them well. He was either too sleepy or his heart rate would drop. They had me try all sorts of positions to try and help him tolerate it better....laying on my left side, right side, and a couple of times they made me "lay" on my hands and knees (for like 10 minutes) which was terribly uncomfortable! But it was best for baby :-) I even had an oxygen mask for awhile. At 10 am, after a couple hours of position changes and shutting the pitocin on and off, the Dr. came in and talked to us about doing a C-section (at this point we had already signed all the papers knowing that it was heading that direction). She was concerned about his heart rate and the lack of progress I was making, and she didn't think that he would tolerate active labor if we ever even got there. She she left Cory and I to discuss it and we knew that it was going to be the safest choice so it wouldn't turn into an emergency C-section. We called her back into the room at 10:15 to tell her that we would go ahead with the surgery and she said that the baby was stable and appearing to do well at the moment so she wanted to wait and watch him for another 30 minutes or so before going ahead with the C-section. She wanted to make sure she was making the right call with doing a C-section and not jumping the gun on it. After a little bit they turned the pitocin back on and things started to progress rather quickly. They kept upping the pitocin and the contractions were getting really painful! They aren't kidding when they say that labor from pitocin is way more intense and painful than going on your own! I even asked Cory about an epidural (a forbidden word in my vocabulary haha) after a killer contraction, but being the amazing husband he is, he told me that he wouldn't let me get one because he knew I really didn't want one. Little did I know that I wouldn't have even had time to get one! I told the nurses they contractions were getting really intense so they decided to check me and I was already 6-7 cm dilated (this was at 12:15 pm). A few contractions later at 12:30 I told the nurses I felt like I needed to push and I was already 9 cm. The Dr. came in along with several other nurses and it was kind of a mad house while they all got ready for Cooper's big arrival! After one contraction and 2 pushes (I was not messing around, I was SO done with having contractions!), he was here at 12:45! We were so thrilled to have another baby boy and he was just perfect! He had dark brown hair and dark complexion like daddy, but looks a lot like Lucas when he was born. We hope, for Daddy's sake, that he keeps his dark hair and has dark eyes ;-) We are so excited that he shares the same birthday with his Great-Great-Grandpa Hap Ford, born 99 years apart :-) We chose the name Cooper just because we liked it, and William is my dad's middle name as well as Papa Hap's middle name so it was very fitting! If he had been a girl, the name would have been Marley Joann. NICU StayWhen a baby is born "big for it's age", like Cooper was, they have to monitor it's blood sugars. Lucas had the same thing done, but he had no issues. Before each feeding they had to come poke his foot and check the blood sugar numbers. They wanted to see it about "45". He started out fine, but by midnight his numbers were too low (just below 45) so they had to admit him the NICU for an IV so he could get Dextrose (basically a sugar water) to help level it out. It was so hard to leave him in there, but I knew I needed to go sleep. They came and got me every 3 hours, when he was ready to eat. It was so heartbreaking to see him with the IV in his tiny little hand and hooked up to a machine, but I am so thankful that that is the only reason he was in the NICU. He spent the whole next day in the NICU (the 17th). Luckily grandparents could come visit him in the NICU too. His blood levels continued to stay around the "borderline" levels, but continuing to stay stable. He had to have so many good blood sugar reads while continuing to lower the IV fluids before the pediatrician would allow him to be taken of the IV all together. It was about 24 hours after starting the IV that they were able to take him off (I can't remember exactly when they took him off). They would bring him down to my room that night for me to feed him before wheeling him back off to the NICU to monitor him. When the pediatrician came in the next morning, he said that as long as we agreed to supplement with formula after each feeding, he would let us go home that day (assuming his sugar levels continued to be stable for 3 more feedings). Which we were more than happy to do! We were discharged that afternoon (Sunday the 18th) around 3:30 to head home so Cooper could meet his big brother and sister! (Since they couldn't come to the hospital due to the flu ban). Here are pictures from the hospital... Welcome HomeThe kids were so excited to finally meet Cooper! (We had been able to Facetime several times for them to see him at the hospital). We had to take him to the Dr. Monday morning because while in the NICU they discovered his was slightly jaundiced (it was 9.7, and they start treatment at 15) and needed to monitor it. He weighed 8 lb 9.5 oz while we were there. We got a call back from the pediatrician that afternoon to tell us his bilirubin count had jumped up to 14.7 so we had to do light therapy to help break down the bilirubin. We went to the hospital to "rent" a bili-blanket that he had to wear basically 24/7 (unless he was eating). He loved it because it was like a little heating blanket :-) We still had to comp with formula after each feeding to help with the jaundice. We had to go back to the Dr. Tuesday morning, his Dr. had told me that if his bilirubin levels weren't were they needed to be we may have had to re-admit him to the NICU :-(...He weighed 8 lb 10 oz. and his levels had only risen slightly to 15.4 so we had to do continue the light therapy and escaped having to go back to the NICU! Back to the Dr. Wednesday morning....he weighed 8 lb 14 oz and it was down slightly to 14.6. The pediatrician had us keep him off the blanket until the next day to make sure the levels would continue to go down without the help of the blanket. Thursday morning they were down to 14.2 (weighing 8 lb 13.5) oz so the Dr. was happy and said he could be done with the therapy and we didn't have to comp with formula anymore! He was sleeping so well (after a first rough night home)...usually only waking once at night to eat (sometimes I had to wake him). We've had a few visitors that were able to make the drive over to meet Cooper, we can't wait for everyone to be able to meet him! Here we are 2 weeks later and he LOVES to eat...wanting to nurse every 2 hours during the day, but he sleeps like a champ at night! Most nights he will go down to sleep late around 11 (we are working on moving that up) and will sleep until 5 am or after. If anything, he will only wake up once. He is definitely a keeper! He doesn't like to have a wet diaper and loves to snuggle. His "fussy" time is usually at night and I have never seen a newborn stay awake as much as he does. He will take good naps, but will also be awake for 4+ hours at a time, especially in the evening. (Which is also probably why he sleeps so well at night!) He definitely doesn't like to be swaddled up tight, which is fine with me because that's just one less thing I have to break him of later ;-) The kids still adore him and always want to hold him and snuggle him (which they haven't been able to do the past few days since everyone has been fighting the crud). Here are lots of adorable pictures from our time at home! One day I thought I would try and take a few cute pictures on my 3 beautiful children....HA! I don't know why I even bother sometimes....I got a few cute ones, but for the most part, the older 2 were extremely uncooperative....so for your viewing pleasure, I leave you with these... Well, thats all for now! I hope to put up some comparative pictures of the kids as babies soon....but life as a mother of 3 is a bit busy ;-)
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November 2019
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