Thank You!

Mom-
I meant to do this earlier but time seems to be getting away from me. I just wanted to say thank you for all that you did while you were out here. It amazes me you were able to live with us for three weeks (and two days) and I never got sick of you...that definitely says something. :) Aside from my sweet husband, you are my best friend and I don't know what I would do without you! We appreciated your help so much and having you out here really did alleviate some of the stress we would have otherwise had to deal with. Dad, thank you for sacrificing your wife for such a long time. I know it was no easy task. We are truly grateful for our families and all of the love and support we receive from both sides. Todd and I are very blessed and we recognize this. We just wanted to say thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

Confiscate the camera...I'm out of control!

I'm giving you advanced warning that there are a lot of pictures on this post.

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Cooper in his going home outfit. Thanks Erin & Robbie :)

I was released from the hospital on Sunday. Todd had gone to church with Fisher & my mom so Cooper and I had a relaxing morning to spend together all by ourselves.

Last picture before leaving our room and heading home.

Cooper's first moments home. I wanted to remember how small he looks in his car seat since I know it won't last forever.

I think we have a Fisher in the making...check out the attitude :) Looking back on pictures of Fisher I really don't think the boys look all that much a like. However, their facial expressions are spitting images of eachother.

Fisher wanted to measure himself next to "his baby." It is so amazing how our perceptions change. Todd & and I always viewed Fisher as our little baby. All of a sudden he seems HUGE. All it took was a 7 lb baby to make us realize that Fisher is no longer that little.

Fisher has been so sweet and gentle with Cooper. There have been a couple of days where he has acted up a little and we know this is a result of all the recent changes. I cannot wait to have a little more energy so that I can spend more time with Fisher.

We sure love our boys.

Fisher loves helping although I have to admit I do not always like Fisher's idea of helping. Here we are giving Cooper his first little sponge bath. He was not a fan. Fisher was a fan of dumping the water on the floor.

All clean!

I love this picture and wanted to put it on here for no other reason than that.

Fisher was/is a thumb sucker so the whole pacifier thing is new to us. Cooper loves his pacifier.

We call him our little pirate. He is always staring at us with one eye open. All we need is a little eye patch.

My mom has spent most of her time helping us with cooking, cleaning and Fisher but every now and then she gets her Cooper cuddle time :)

She and Fisher spent one morning looking at his baby pictures. He thinks it is so funny that he used to be a baby.

Cooper spends majority of his time sleeping. He hates having his diaper changed. He refuses to eat if his diaper is dirty. He has just about conquered nursing, which is wonderful since Fisher had a harder time with it. Although looking back, it might have been me with the problem. I was a stress case. I am telling you, this time around has seemed so much more relaxed and enjoyable! I guess I should probably wait to say that until Todd is back in school, the company is gone and I have the boys by myself...

Fisher loves holding his baby brother.

I'm thinking this will be the first of many brawls :)

Spent after a hard day of eating, pooping and sleeping.

So we are starting to think that Fisher might be cracking a little with the new changes in his life. The other day I noticed him playing with a bug (nothing new) and when I asked him what kind of bug it was he said it was a fly. A FLY. Disgusting. I could not figure out how he could be playing with a fly considering they are skittish little beasts but there it was, climbing around Fisher's arm & hand like a little lady bug.

I hate flies so of course I am gagging and freaking out but then Fisher said "I think he loves me!" He was so excited about his little pet fly that we let him have a few minutes with him. It turns out the fly was so docile because he was on his death bed.

Within about ten minutes, Fisher was carrying around a dead fly in his hand. Think of Dumb & Dumber and the "pretty bird" scene and you'll get the right idea. I'm thinking we need to give Fisher a little more attention :)

Some exciting news for our family is that my brother Ken and his wife Alicia, introduced a new little cousin/nephew into the world on the 23rd. Ethan Richard was born only four days after Cooper. We are so excited to have the boys so close in age! Ethan is so adorable and has the most impressive head of hair I have ever seen. Congratulations Ken, Alicia & Abby!

A new member of the family

Cooper Lund Church

Born: June 19, 2009
9:25 PM
7 lbs 4 oz
20 1/2 inches

(41 wks and 1 day.)

After a disappointing appointment on the day before, which happened to be my due date, where I was told that I was not making any progress and that I was probably going to have to wait a week to be induced, I awoke at 4:30 am feeling what I thought to be contractions. I could not go to sleep and eventually started timing them at 7:00 only to find they were consistently 5 minutes apart.

(Final picture before it was time to start pushing.)

We had an ultrasound appointment scheduled for 11:00 so I thought I would mention my "what I thought were contractions" to the doctor. When I told her I had been having these for about 7-8 hours she sent me over to the hospital where it turns out I had finally progressed to 3 centimeters. This was about 1:00 PM. I was so excited that I did not have to be induced and that it was finally time to have our baby!

(Welcome to the world!)

I was put on some pitocin to speed up the process and continued to steadily progress. At five centimeters I decided to have the epidural because why the heck not? My doctor broke my water only to discover that Cooper had had a bowel movement so we were going to have to have a NICU nurse and a few other attendants at the birth to suction him out and make sure there were no respiratory problems.

(Skin to skin time. My first time holding the baby living inside me the past ten months.)

After the epidural and my water being broken things continued to progress smoothly. Next time they checked me I was at a seven and then at a nine. At about nine o'clock I reached a ten. We had to wait on a couple people to arrive so it was not until about 9:20 that everyone was ready to start pushing...only then I was not having a contraction so we had to wait a couple minutes more.

(Cooper's toes.)
While we were waiting on being able to start pushing, Cooper started to crown all on his own. When it came time to start I pushed once, his head came out, they suctioned him and then they pulled the rest of him out. I asked the doctor "Don't I need to push out the shoulders or anything?" but he was already out. On one push. It was crazy fast. They have the official time of birth as 9:25 but Todd and I agree it was about 9:23.

(Clean after a bath.)
This experience was so amazing. It was so much less scary than when I had Fisher and I hope the rest of my deliveries (when the time comes) will be as enjoyable and non stressed as this one. All of my nurses were amazing. My doctor actually stayed late to deliver me even though she was not on call that night. I appreciated this so much considering it was a Friday night and she has a couple of kids of her own she could have gone home to.

Todd's family came down from Cincinnati and arrived at the hospital when I was at seven. They kept us company while my mom stayed at home with Fisher. Thank you to Todd's family for making the drive to be with us and thank you to my mom for staying at home with Fisher. Although I would have loved for her to be at the hospital as well, it was so nice to know that I did not have to worry about Fisher and what havoc he was causing at whomever's house. We are so lucky for the families we have and the support we receive.

We are so happy to have this special new addition to our family. Although it took almost 24 hours to decide on a name we finally agreed on Cooper. Why it took us so long to figure out is beyond me considering we have been saying we would name our next boy Cooper since not too long after Fisher was born :)

I have so many pictures that I like that I decided just to put them all on here.

The next few are pictures with Dad.

First time Daddy held him less than an hour after he was born.

I like this shot of Cooper's hair. Fisher's hair was a silvery blonde color. We were very excited to see what color this baby would be.

Crazy eye.

Mom with her boys.

My boys.

So far so good.

We'll see how Fisher fares once the baby comes home tomorrow. So far Fisher has liked "his baby."

Our first family photo.

Fisher had a lot of fun playing in my bed. He all but kicked me out while he took over.

Due date is here. Baby is not.

Still nothing on the progression front. The doctor was called out on an emergency surgery right in the middle of my appointment so we did not get a chance to really discuss options. She is supposed to call tonight so we will know more later. Worst case scenario is I will be induced a week from now.

No Baby Yet

First off, I just wanted to say thank you to all my girls who threw a surprise shower for me here in Louisville. I was not expecting a shower this pregnancy since we are having another boy but, once again, when have been so blessed by friends and family.

I thought I was on my way to a meeting which explained why I was so dressed up for the occasion. Ha Ha. (If anyone reading this has any pics, will you please email me one?) My mom & Todd were both in on the surprise. The only thing that stunk was that I had eaten a ton at dinner and then at the shower there was a buffet of all my cravings. It was heaven, but it would have been more so if I had a little more room in the belly. Of course, I can't blame Todd & my mom for not telling me not to eat so much...any one with half a brain should know better than to tell a 39 wk pregnant woman not to eat so much :) The night was a fun one and I just wanted to say thank you so much to everyone who came!

The phone calls are starting to roll in so I thought I should probably update the blog to say that my babies do not like to come out early. The official due date is on Thursday and I still have yet to make any progress as of last week. The doc stripped my membranes on Friday and besides a few hours of very mild cramping, nada. Hopefully something will have happened by my next appointment on Thursday but I am not getting my hopes up. Heidi, that little blue bottle is looking awfully tempting now that I am 39 wks and almost 7 days pregnant.

On a happier note Fisher has started to put on his own underwear. :)

Still no poo on the potty (even my mom has been unable to crack the kid) but he is doing great aside from that.

Todd took his 2nd year Board Exam on June 13th. What a happy day it was to have that over with! I love having my husband back and Fisher has loved it as well. We will not find out the results as to whether or not he passed for a couple of weeks but at least it is over and done with.

Todd now has time to pull out his guitar, which he has not been able to do since he has been studying so much. Fisher loves when his daddy plays music for him.

We have been trying to enjoy this time with Fisher before the baby comes. I know we will still have time for him, but Fisher has been our everything for the last 3 1/2 years. His little world is going to be turned upside down.

My mom and I have been very productive in preparing for the baby and cleaning the house. Slowly my lists are dwindling down which means it is time for the little guy to come or else we will all be sitting around twiddling our thumbs staring at each other.

Aside from helping me, she has been keeping Fisher entertained. Between Grandma Church & Grandma Lund visiting Fisher is going to be shocked when everyone goes home and it is back to just us...and a new baby.

Dad- thanks for lending Mom. She misses you a lot!

Despite all the rain today Fisher spent a lot of time outside, which he needed. Todd put a bunch of stuff into the attic, we cleaned the garage, the boys rode their bikes together and later he picked weeds and caught worms with Grandma.

Chelsea, this is another thing you have to look forward to with a boy: Buckets full of dirt & worms :) Fisher carried around two little worms in his bucket all afternoon who now are living on my deck.