Welcome Cooper Grant Smith!!!

And now all the details you have been waiting for... and I do mean all the details!!

O.k. to start off, for those of you who don't know at 20 weeks pregnant I was diagnosed with partial placenta previa - meaning that my placenta was covering the birth canal at least partially. This meant that the placenta could try and deliver before baby which is very dangerous because the placenta provides oxygen and blood to the baby and if it detached from the uterus and delivered first baby would be in a lot of danger, also it would cause hemorrhaging for me which would be dangerous as well. So what you do in that situation is get ultrasounds all the time to check the location of the placenta (since it was a partial previa there was a chance that as my uterus grew and stretched that it would move the placenta) because if it moved I would be able to have a normal vaginal delivery and if it did not move I would have to have a C-section.

Three weeks before my due date I had a bleed and went in to the hospital, lucky for me it stopped and I was able to go home. About a week after that I had another ultrasound that showed that the baby's head had dropped below the placenta and I would be able to attempt a normal delivery. Blaine and I were very relieved when we found this out because the hospital here.. thats right there is only one hospital here, does not allow VBACs (vaginal birth after c-section) which means all of my deliveries would have to be c-sections which is very hard on the body.

So Sunday May 2nd I wake up, its my DUE DATE!! but it just feels like any other day I figure I will be like my mom and go past my due date. I get up get ready and go to church. I didn't feel very well that day but I was nine months pregnant there is no such thing as feeling good. After church we had some family over and ate and I was pretty tired when they left. Blaine told me he needed to get ready for work and I decided to take a nap. I went to the bathroom and thats when I saw the blood (a lot of blood) I immediately got pretty nervous. I called Blaine and I asked him to come inside because I was bleeding and we needed to go to the hospital right away. Then I called my doctor and he said he would meet me at labor and delivery. I got my stuff together and tried to remain calm. Blaine came back and got me and we headed off to the hospital (in a bee truck with a trailer and forklift). On the way there Blaine asked me how I was doing and I said I was ok but I was kinda scared. I made a lot of phone calls on the way because I figured once we got to the hospital things would happen rather quickly.

When we got to the hospital Blaine dropped me off at the door and there was a nurse waiting for me with a wheel chair to take me straight to Labor and Delivery. My doctor was already there and they took me too my room where it seemed that every nurse on the floor was waiting for me to hook me up to monitors start and i.v. and draw blood. when they were all done my doctor came in to check me. I was having a few very minor contractions (I couldnt even feel them) and figured they just started from all the excitement. The doctor gave me a quick exam and determined that I was very very far from a natural delivery and that my bleeding was pretty heavy. He told me that he would wait with me at the hospital for a little while but he expected that my bleeding would continue and that even if it did stop it would start again and potentially be more dangerous and his recommendation was that I have a c-section as soon as possible. Blaine and I told him we wanted a few minutes to talk about it and for me to calm down and take it all in.

After about half an hour Blaine and I decided that a c-section was the best decision. I was quickly prepped for the surgery and everything was explained to me. I was extremely scared but if i remember correctly i held back the tears.

I was taken to the O.R. and Blaine was taken to another room to get dressed. I really didnt like being away from him. I received a spinal block, my nurse was great she made me tell her the whole story of how Blaine and I met while they did my spinal to keep me distracted getting the spinal wasnt too bad except at one point I got a kind of shooting first down my left side then down my right. It was as my legs started to fall asleep that things got bad for me. First my legs got real warm and kinda heavy/stiff feeling then they rolled me over to insert my cathader, thank goodness I was already pretty numb my legs were were slightly bent for this and they began to really tingle and feel funny and then I knew because i could see them that they lay my legs flat but it still felt like they were bent up and it just caused the weirdest sensation and I started to get really upset and faint feeling. I started asking for Blaine a lot and started to tell the doctors that I couldn't do it!!! and then Blaine came in. I felt so much better when he came in. He kept me really distracted talking to me and telling me how much and loved and appreciated me and how excited he was to meet our baby. He also told me that after bee season we could go on vacation where ever I wanted, I warned him not to say things like that... then I started to feel real funny and sick and said I couldn't keep going and they told me that they were almost done that the baby was almost out. I didnt even know that they had started!! Blaine told me later that they had already started by the time he got in there. The doctor told me that they were discrete on purpose for my sake. When they pulled the baby out it was the most awful (and wonderful of course) thing I have ever been thru the pressure was horrible. It wasn't painful but it felt like a grown man was sitting my chest and I couldnt breathe and the pressure down my stomach is impossible to describe I started crying pretty hard and then I heard Cooper cry and the pressure was gone. They brought him by me and I started crying some more because I was so happy to see him - and so glad it was finally all over. He was beautiful!! They kept saying how big he was and he was pink and he cried, he looked so good. I had to watch him from across the room because the doctors he to check him out for a while because he was a c-section baby. They bought him over to me and took my oxygen mask off so I was able to kiss him. He was 8lbs 3ozs and was 20.5 inches long. Then they took him down to the nursery they asked if Blaine wanted to go and at first I said I didn't care and he could go but then I felt pressure again (I think when they delivered the placenta) and I changed my mind and said Blaine had to stay with me. The rest of the surgery went by pretty fast. Blaine and I just talked and I actually don't remember that much of it.

I was wheeled back to recovery and Blaine went down to be with Cooper. I had the shakes so bad that they couldnt get a read on my blood pressure so they gave me medicine to keep me from shaking.

It took a long time (at least it felt that way) for them to bring me Cooper, Blaine stayed with Cooper and the family in the hall (i didn't know the family had come) pretty much the whole time. It didnt take long for the feeling in my legs to start to come back the nurse asked me to try and wiggle my toes - yeah right!! It was weird to know you have legs that should work and not be able to move them. but i started to feel like something was squeezing my left leg every few minutes and sure enough there was a little machine thingy on my legs to keep blood flowing and prevent clots. my left side came back and then my right. the feeling returning to my legs wasn't bad at all.

Finally they brought me Cooper I couldn't really hold him because I was hooked up to so much stuff and still felt pretty weak and shakey but Blaine set him in my arms and went and got the family - he was so excited. The family came in for a quick hello and then I was taken to my recovery room. Blaine held Cooper and txt family and friends to let them know what had happened I was a little jealous that Blaine was getting so much time with Cooper he even slept with him that night!

We were in the hospital for just monday and tuesday, we were able to leave by 10am on wednesday. Cooper is practically perfect in every way.

My recovery has definitely been more difficult than I thought I really do have to sleep when the baby sleeps even tho i can think of 100 things i need to get done. I have had lots of great help tho from family and friends!