Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Cole Benjamin Smith

Birth Story

So on Friday November 11 we headed over to Seattle because I was planning on delivering at Swedish Medical Center since that is the closest hospital that will do VBACs. We checked into Extended Stay America in Bellevue, we thought it would be nice to stay there since they have kitchenettes and we had no idea how long we would be in Seattle. We ate dinner that night at IHop and then went to bed.
Saturday morning while I was in the shower the fire alarm went off in the hotel so we evacuated (packed most everything up, just in case there was a fire or in case we couldn't get back in for a while) and went to Burger King for breakfast. When we got back to the hotel we were able to get back in right away and Blaine got ready to go to the temple for his nephew Ben's endowment. Cooper and I dropped Blaine off at the temple and went back to the hotel and watched some cartoons and caught up with Dannah on the phone. Then we went back to pick Blaine up and went out to eat at the mall with his brother and his brother's family. After eating we walked around the mall - to try and induce labor. The mall had all these cute rides for kids and they all only cost a quarter. Cooper's favorite was a carousel, it had three little horses and he must have ridden it 10 times. At first he was nervous and held on pretty tight but after only a few times around he started waving and smiling. Then we walked around a toy store and Cooper played with some kids and a train set. It was nice to have him out of the hotel room and interacting with other kids. On the way home we stopped at the grocery store. We went to Whole Foods because we had actually watched a special on the grocery chain on tv (yes we watched a special on a grocery store but it was interesting) they specialize in healthy organic foods and they are not joking about it!! I had never seen so much organic stuff in my life.
Sunday we went to church. The ward was really nice but it was full of babies which made me really want this little guy to come! One lady at church just happened to have a casserole that she brought for a family that was not at church so she gave it to us so we would have something to eat for dinner. After church we went back to the hotel and watched a movie. That evening the church was doing a special musical number so we went to that. It was really good! Cooper played the whole time with these two cute little girls sitting behind us. They had a blast.
Monday we went to my doctor's appointment. I was dilated to 1 or 1.5cm and I was 80-90% effaced. After my appointment we took Cooper to the Aquarium he loved it! Of course I forgot the camera. I really wanted to have the baby on Monday because it was my Dad's birthday and I thought it would be the perfect present for him, but no sign of labor.
Tuesday we went to the Pacific Science Center. We went to an IMax movie, we saw Born to be Wild. It was about Elephants and Orangutans Cooper loved it.
He didn't wear his 3D glasses but he really enjoyed the movie anyway, especially the elephants. I got him the little kids combo with a drink, popcorn, and candy it was the perfect amount for us to share. The movie was 48 minutes long which was just the right length. After the movie we walked around and looked at different exhibits, they had a "Just for Tots" area that Cooper really enjoyed. Tuesday was the 15th so it was Blaine's and my anniversary! To celebrate we went out to dinner at Outback, Yummy! We also switched hotels, we moved to the Sleep Inn.
Wednesday we went to the Zoo!
Cooper and the giraffe
He loves fish
hard to see but there is a bear in the background
His favorite animal!
What a fun day! And a lot of walking for me! By the time we had seen all the animals I was so over walking! I did have some contractions that evening though, enough that I even wrote a few down and they even got to be 10 minutes apart just long enough for me to get a little excited and then of course the stopped! But that night I kept waking up with contractions but they wouldn't really get very close or consistent. They were just strong enough to wake me up and keep me from getting a good night's sleep.
Thursday we got up and went to my doctor's appointment I was still only dilated to 1 - 1.5cm and 90% effaced. The doctor tried to 'stretch' my cervix and strip my membranes which by the way my doctors tried twice before, mostly its the most painful thing ever. After my appointment we went shopping while we waited for my mom's plane to land. The whole time we were shopping I had a lot of uncomfortable cramping and contractions. We picked my mom up from the airport and then went to Panda Express for lunch. I had a fair amount of contractions the whole time and complained enough that my mom suggested we start writing them down. We went back to the hotel to rest I continued to have contractions while mom and I caught up and we watched a movie. My mom wrote down all my contractions; they were never more than 20 minutes and got as close as 10 minutes apart. I tried to relax and not get excited. I took a nice long shower but had to breathe through contractions. My contractions continued to get closer together and more intense but we tried to go to bed. Unfortunately I could not sleep and had to wake Blaine up every 10 minutes to hold his hand and breathe through all my contractions. I felt like I was going into labor and I was really exhausted. I really didn't want to be someone who went to the hospital when it was false labor but from midnight until 1am my contractions came every 5 minutes so I called my doctor and he told me to come in to the hospital so they could check me and see what was going on. We packed up and went to the hospital. The doctor checked me and of course there was no change in my cervix from earlier that day. I was so disappointed! They told me to walk around the hospital to see if anything would change and encouraged me to try and walk for at least 2 hours. I lasted about half an hour because I had to keep stopping from the pain. I went back up stairs and at first the doctor thought there was no change but then decided that I had changed a little and was almost to 3cm so he said I could come home (back to the hotel) for a while if I wanted, I didn't, or go ahead and get checked in and try a little pain killer so I could sleep a little. I really had not wanted to do any pain killer but I was so tired I just burst into tears. I got checked into my room and my mom took Cooper back to the hotel to try and get some sleep. I got fentanyl which I loved, so much for my no pain meds labor, it worked quickly and I was able to take a 3 hour nap! But when I woke up my contractions had stopped and I was still at 3cm. The doctors wanted to start me on pitocin but I did not want any I was nervous I would have to have a c-section because my contractions would get too hard. I tried walking around to get my labor started againe but it did not work so I opted for the pitocin, they did let me eat a little before we started which was nice. Blaine was able to fall asleep again but I was not my contractions were pretty strong with the pitocin so I ended up asking for an epidural. I was really scared to get an epidural but it actually was not bad at all and I was still able to feel my legs but no contractions! My progress was very slow. My mom and cooper came back to see me that afternoon. I think around 4pm I was finally at 4cm so my doctor broke my water about 45 minutes later I started feeling some pressure so my doc checked me again and I was at 7cm. We put on the movie Seven Brides for Seven Brothers but I could not concentrate because of my contractions so my doctor increased my epidural and told me to try to get some sleep before I needed to push I was actually able to sleep for a few hours but when I woke up I really really needed to push! My nurse went to go find my doctor and cooper who had been watching the movie Up fell asleep on the bench in my room. It was taking my doctor a while to come so my nurse checked me and I was 10+cm and the baby was really low! I was ready! She ran to go get my doctor again and I told my mom she might have to catch this baby if they did not hurry, my nurse came back and started to prep the room and told me to do some practice pushes when I felt a contraction she said I was a great pusher which was good since the whole time I was nervous I would never be able to deliver a baby and would end up in a c-section. The doctor told my nurse to get her when I was at a "certain" point, I can't remember what, all I know is that my nurse said she is already past there do come on. My doctor came in and the real pushing began. Everyone said I was doing great and that they could see the baby's head but I did not believe them and said I couldn't push anymore but Blaine told me I could so I kept trying. Cooper woke up and actually ended up being in the room for the delivery, not part of the original plan but he did great! After less than 30 minutes of pushing Cole was here!! I had never felt so accomplished in my life. He had a full head of dark hair which was really surprising. Cole Benjamin Smith was born Friday November 18th 2011 at 11:43pm. He weighed 8lbs 8ozs. He ran a little bit of a fever but was fine and he ate once and did really well but then did not eat again for several hours and had to have his blood sugar checked but it was fine he just was not hungry. We were released on Sunday morning and we actually made it to sacrament meeting at 1:30.

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Easter

We had a great Easter with Blaine's family.
We celebrated on Saturday with a big family dinner and an Easter egg hunt at Blaine's parents house. Cooper loved being outside for the egg hunt he even found two eggs (with Daddy's help of course). After finding eggs we got the horses out and Cooper got to go for a ride, when they got back I reached up to get him down and he started to throw a little fit because he didn't want to get down! So I let him go for another round he loved it and kicked his legs and smiled the whole time he would get mad if the horse stopped and of course he was mad when I got him down. Grandma took everyone for a tractor ride another one of Cooper's favorite things of course. It was a great day and the weather was beautiful!!


this picture is not actually from Easter it is from about a week earlier but it is a picture of Cooper's very first time on a horse!!
The eggs were full of candy so cooper loved shaking them


Walking!!

Thats right, when Dannah was here about three weeks ago she taught Cooper how to walk!! He started out taking about 2-4 steps but yesterday I counted 23!! He still does more crawling but he has gotten to the point where he tries walking first and goes till he falls down. Walking is hitting me hard as a milestone - it means he is not a baby anymore!! They grow too fast!
It is hard to get a video because he gets distracted by the camera, gets so excited he can't keep is balance, or is tired by the time I get it out but here is little video of some of his first attempts.

This is an example of when I waited too long to get the camera out. I will try to get a better one soon.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Videos of a Growing Boy!!

Just some videos from the past month!! Cooper is growing like a weed and I cannot believe how fast he learns!!

Cooper finally figured out how to jump!! So dang cute. He loves the camera.

He learned how to say tickle it is so hard to get it on camera but he says it real quick in this video he does better but he mostly wanted to try and get the camera, little stinker.

Blaine is teaching Cooper how to get off the couch safely!



Well there you have it a few videos of my growing baby! I cannot believe how big he is getting.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Growing way too fast.


Cooper is growing so fast I can't hardly stand it. Today was he 9 month check up and he weighs 20 pounds (50%) and is 27 inches long (10%) he is a little fatter than he is tall.
He is such a little mover. He crawls all over the house and has even started crawling up the stairs!! Yikes. He pulls to standing on everything he can and can walk down the couch he is a little cruiser. He has really discovered Bruno (our little dog) and follows him around and tries to play with him. Bruno will play with Cooper a little bit but gets a little bored and leaves him. However Bruno is always right under Cooper when ever he is eating to catch all the crumbs. The other day Cooper was in he excer-sauer while I was cleaning the kitchen and he was snacking on some little fruit puffs, I looked over and Cooper leaned over as far as he could and shared he fruit puffs with Bruno it was so cute!! And now Cooper has started sharing his food with Blaine and I too, it is so sweet. Cooper is in to absolutely everything and nothing is safe! He also must have super vision because he can find the most tiny things on the floor and eat them. Speaking of eating Cooper thinks he is big stuff because whenever it is time for dinner if we are eating too he refuses to eat his baby food and will only eat what we are eating and prefers to feed himself, thank you very much. Christine described him best when she said "its like he is a two year old trapped in a 9 month old body." HAHA
He is such a sweet fun boy and Blaine and I love him to pieces!!
Such a sweet heart!!

Thursday, January 6, 2011

Happy 21st Birthday Jacob

Today is my brother Jacob's 21st Birthday!! He is serving a mission in Pocatello ID! I decided I still wanted to celebrate so I threw him a party and just didn't invite him haha!!

A party complete with decorations
Happy 21st B-day
The party goers
A piece for Jacob ~ with a glass of milk!! :-)
Cooper hoping for his piece of cake.
no cake... but still happy with his fruit puffs!!

I know the video is sideways but that is the only way I could get it to get all of us!!
Sorry about our horrible rendition of "Happy Birthday"


Monday, January 3, 2011

Videos!!

Christmas Day!! Sledding Christmas Day





Early Christmas with Dannah!!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!!

So New Year's Eve Blaine and I had no plans but we wanted to do something fun! So we decided to see what every one else was up to, no one had any plans so we invited everyone over to our house. Blaine and I hit up Costco and bought tons of good food.
We had dinner at Blaine's parents house because it was Boyd and his kids last night in town. Then Blaine, Boyd, and his boys went to the hockey game. Rachel (my nephew's wife) and I ran to the dollar tree and bought a few decorations and some silly string and glow sticks for the kids and then ran to the grocery store for a few things. Then Rachel, aka my lifesaver, headed over to my house to get ready. We made all the food and got it all put out and the decorations out. If Rachel had not been there I would have been up a creek because Cooper needed a lot of attention. I was so excited because everyone came!!
We all hung out and played some really fun games - catch phrase and mafia. Everyone had a good time and the time went by really fast. All the kids were perfectly behaved. At midnight we watched the ball drop and all the kids did these little poppers things that made noise and shot confetti! Everyone made it to midnight too! Even Bruce and Sharon (blaine's parents) stayed till midnight. I had a really a good time and loved being the hostess!
New Year's day we went to a church sledding activity. It was sledding!! I love sledding so I was pretty excited but Cooper had been kinda cranky. When we got there I bundled Cooper all up and he didn't really like it. Now that he is so mobile he doesn't like not being about to crawl around. But he sure looked cute in the coat and snow pants that Anne got him for Christmas and the BYUI hat that Dannah got him! I wasn't sure if we would stay long since it was cold - 13 degrees!! and Cooper was fussy but he fell asleep and I was able to put him the house so Blaine and I could sled. We sled down on big black tubes and it was so fun!! Blaine and I went down together and crashed - I landed on top of Blaine but it was so so so FUN!! We laughed and just had a blast. After sledding we went up to Debbie's house and played another game, I think it was called Things, it was hilarious!! We really started the New Year off great and are looking forward to an amazing 2011!!

I have a few videos I need to post from Christmas but my new computer is not cooperating so I will hopefully be able to get them up in a few days.

Blaine after sledding down the hill!!
Cooper after a day outside sledding!!

Beautiful sunset! View from Debbie's house.