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.
