Surprise! Baby Is Early!

FIVE WEEKS EARLY!!!!!

Maria came home Saturday evening from Jersey, and she expected to take full advantage of the unseasonably warm weather and get some exercise all day Sunday.  WRONG!  She awoke that AM to the fact her water broke, and after a little time denying the situation....  She accepted the truth, called the doctor, took a shower, packed a bag, and got to St. Lukes-Roosevelt Hospital around 11am.  

We had talked about what to do for Christmas since it wasn't advisable for Maria to travel.  The easy decision was made that Lori should go ahead and do her Little Rock-Jefferson City-St.Louis holiday jaunt so she could see her family.  Again, there was "no way" this would be a problem since the due date was February 2nd!  After Lori got the call on Sunday morning, she hastily packed her bags and headed to the airport in St Louis to beg/bribe her way on to ANY flight to NYC. 

After quite a long day, Lori managed to jump on a flight via Chicago, and arrived to the hospital at 8:30pm to this sight: 

The oxygen was for the baby's benefit - seems his heart rate took a little longer to "recover" after each contraction, and they were really only at the 'cramp' level at that point.  Things started changing when they started the IV to induce labor, and Maria made it clear she had NO INTEREST in being a hero.  Her request went in for an epidural immediately!

The epidural started working almost as soon as they put it in, but unfortunately Maria's blood pressure dropped just as quickly.  Couldn't get her stabilized to a normal level, and this was after four doses of a drug that should have been able to do the job in just one.  She was monitored constantly, and the lowest reading we saw was 60/42 and her heart rate was 51. After all of this, would Maria get an epidural again if given the opportunity?  HELL YES.  

The monitor was showing these big-ass contractions that were frequent and hit the top of the grid each time, but Maria felt nothing. Nada. Love those epidurals.  L-O-V-E.  What can we say?  Maria is hardly a 'Go Natural' kind of girl! 

So! After being checked a few times in the morning.... Maria was good-to-go at 10am.  Never did we expect it to be as easy or as quick as it was!  Lori was right there the entire time, and gave Maria constant "status reports" on what she was seeing.  Fascinating.  A true life experience.  It was 10:37am when the baby made his appearance!  There was a pediatrician in the room with us as a precaution since he was five weeks premature, but she said he was just perfect and on par with full-term infants.

COOPER MICHAEL MEGOWN

December 29th    10:37am

6lbs 2oz     19" long

Lori got to cut the cord, and was surprised how difficult it was to get through the damn thing! She must have put too much determination in her efforts, because blood splattered across the room, on the floor, the drawers, cabinets, and all over the medical supplies on the desk.  So gross.  And this picture was taken AFTER they cleaned it up quite a bit.

Speaking of gross.... Have to share this one.  The placenta.  Looks sort of alien-like, don't ya think???  Of course we needed a picture to post on the blog! 

Cooper's first picture!  He was only less than one hour old:

So after a very easy and uneventful pregnancy, Cooper definitely surprised us!  Both our families are thrilled, and we have been reminded by many that we have a 2008 tax write-off! Maria's mom is convinced that Maria willed him to be born before she reached 175+ pounds!  But everyone needs to take note that Maria said she would NOT miss out on the HRC dinner that Lori is chairing again this year.  No one should ever doubt how stubborn she can be!  But the most important fact is that Lori and Maria are both relieved and excited and happy beyond belief that Cooper made it safely into the world.