Finally a Family of Three: June 2015

Wednesday, June 24, 2015

Grady Cooper is here!

Our sweet boy arrived Thursday, June 18th at 11:04am with a sneeze, then a cry. He was a big boy for just 33w6d at 5lbs. 2 oz.

I've had a lot of people texting, facebooking, calling, etc... to check on us, so I thought I could maybe keep people updated via the blog.

(I'll make this as short as possible...)

Wednesday, June 17th
My water broke at 2am. Didn't realize that's what it was and went back to bed. Up again at 5:30 with Casey - yep, water broke indeed. My reaction -- I need to get a load of laundry done. Casey's reaction -- call the doctor. I did both! This water breaking is nothing like the movies, just FYI.

Came to Austin around 8:30am. Checked into L&D triage and confirmed it was indeed water breaking. Lay on triage bed (oh the misery) and wait.

Get moved to L&D room. Bed quality improves and hooked up to monitors. Grady is doing well and I'm having contractions.... just like I have been since week 31.

Nurse and Doctor come in with plan to give steroid shots two days in a row to improves G's lungs and deliver on Friday naturally with induction.

2am Friday morning nurse comes in a flips me to my other side... this continues every 15 minutes until morning. I knew something was going on. Grady's heart rate was dropping from 150's to 100 with each contraction.

8am - I should be taking my transplant meds and nurse tells me to hold off. We immediately know something's up and we will probably have a baby today. Call family!

Doctor comes in at 9:15 and says we are doing Csection in 45 min. Okay, here we go. Lacey still not there.

10:12 Lacey and kiddos come running in and I get last minutes hugs and kisses. 10:15 - I am whisked to surgery.

I am prepped, warmed, numbed and ready to meet my boy. Casey comes in sits with me and doesn't pass out! Hooray! 11:04 - I hear a sneeze and two cries.... our sweet boy has arrived! Handsome little guy with lots of dark hair and most of his daddy's features. Emotions overcome both of us. We finally earned the titles we have waited so long for... mommy & daddy!!

They lay him on my chest and we steal several kisses and snap many pictures of our family of three.

Casey goes over and checks him out and follows the nurses to the NICU. I remain numb, warm, and happy. It felt like it took forever to get put back together.... I was so ready to see my baby boy.

Into recovery I go where most of the events are quite foggy. I do remember an insatiable thirst but nurses telling me I could have three ice chips.

Then it was back to my room to recover. Most of this time is also foggy. Actually, Thursday-Saturday is foggy.
I was discharged late Monday night and have now made myself at home at the Ronald McDonald House by Dell Children's.

Now, an update on Grady.
As of today he is down to 4 pounds 7 ounces. He eats every bottle, every time. They have gradually increased his feeds from 4ml to now 32ml. He's a very hungry guy! Despite the appetite, he is not gaining weight so he will get supplement starting either tomorrow or Friday. Also, due to him not gaining, he is unable keep himself completely warm so he is still in an isolette. They were hoping to move him to a regular basinet, but he needs to keep his temp at 98.0 the entire time. Today he was 97.5. He continues to not need oxygen and has also gotten off the IV nutrients (yesterday). Today was also good because he is no longer on the bili-blanket.

Nana is here and loves feeding time. Since he is no longer jaundice we get to keep him out of his isolette longer. We probably overstay our welcome most times, but we can't get enough of those sweet snuggles.

I will do my best to keep this updated as Grady continues to get closer to going home. We are thankful for all the visits, phonecalls, prayers and well wishes. Our family and friends means the world to us!! We can't wait for Grady to meet y'all!!!

Oh, one more thing. I've been asked my nearly everyone I have talked to "when is he coming home?" The standard NICU answer is "aim for your due date". We are very optimistic and know Grady is in some of the best babysitters hands. We literally take one day at a time because each 24 hours there is a new hurdle to jump.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Thanks Nana!

Nana spent a long weekend here helping me "nest" for baby Grady. She and Casey were life-savers, working their butts off getting this place ready.

Thursday we went to the doctor and got another peek at Grady at 33 weeks. He is doing great and looks like a big boy!

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I had those two cleaning, throwing away, organizing and anything else I could think of. I think everything is done except putting the carseat in my truck!

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Things I have learned during pregnancy....

My oh my, how your body changes in pregnancy. I expected the weight gain, increased hunger, and cute baby movements. But yowza, there's a lot I didn't see coming.

-Snoring! This is the one my husband probably is most annoyed by. He is constantly waking me up to inform me that I am doing so. Thanks, Case. Now we are both awake.

-Difficulty breathing normal. I breathe like a 65 year old man with COPD, seriously. Or my husband just calls me 'Darth' as in Darth Vader. Shortness of breath has been noticed by others as well. Keeping a constant conversation going is a chore.

-Gas. Sorry, but ladies it's real.

-Difficulty sleeping. Whether it's due to Grady's hiccups, not being able to feel my arms due to only sleeping on my side, a dog in my face, needing to pee, stuffy nose, or just pure insomnia.

-Lazyness. I have about 10 minutes of energy in me at any given time before I need to sit down again. Cleaning how used to take about 2 hours... now it takes 2 days.

-Hunger. I'm hungry but NOTHING sounds good.

-HEARTBURN. Last, but certainly the most annoying, heartburn. I can drink water and get heartburn. And don't you dare lay down within 24 hours of eating!

Oh, I am sure there are hundreds of other changes I am forgetting... like memory loss (hah!)... but for now, I'll stop with this short list.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Growing Grady Cooper

Yours truly is 32 weeks pregnant and ready to meet this baby boy.

Wishing I had started this blog months, even years ago! Our journey to parenthood was a delayed one... After 7 years of marriage we were blessed with our Grady Cooper. GC will be making his appearance July 14/15, if not sooner.

The crib is sheeted, the walls are painted, all the gadgets are lined up and ready to go. However, G has not a stitch of washed clothes or a bag packed for his arrival... nor does his mother. I probably should get on that.

I hope that this blog will serve as a memory book of all of G's milestones. I went to fill in the baby book a week or so ago and it asked "first time you felt baby kick" and I was dumbfounded. For the life of me, I could not remember that very special moment. I want to be able to document and reminisce on all the small moments in our sweet boys' life and not wish I had done so after the fact.

Here are a few pics from pregnancy...