Catching up!

Welcome to the story of Fritz, Brittni and Cooper Groothuis! I wish I had thought about keeping a family blog when Cooper was first born. Then this would be updated with all the things that have happened in our lives thusfar. However I can’t change time so I will just start with the story of his birth. It is a long one, but the best journey we could’ve been on.

On Wednesday March 26 I was having contraction every 6-10 minutes, they weren't horrible, but they were continuous. I had a doctor's appointment that day also so we had him check to see how dilated I was. Dr. Healy said I was 2cm dilated and 65% effaced. I had plenty of time to go, but I wanted Cooper to come now. The next day I was still having steady contractions so my mom and I decided it was time for a little castor oil. We went to wal-mart to get the last few baby essentials and headed home to try and bring this baby into the world. Before I even drank the castor oil we decided to just go to the hospital to have them check me since I had steady contractions all day. Around 8:30pm I was checked by the admitting nurse. She told me I was still only 2cm and 65% but she was going to see what the doctor wanted to do. My mom and I started planning what other at home remedies we could do to induce labor when the nurse came in and said she was getting my room ready. My mom asked if they were monitoring me for the night and the nurse said no Dr. Healy is going to induce. Needless to say I was a little bit shocked and started to get scared. I wanted him to be born but suddenly I didn't know if I was really ready.

At 11:25pm the nurse came in to do my IV and start the potocin. Despite how veiny my arms are she missed the first try which hurt like a bitch. Then she got the second one in which hurt even worse. It was in but it felt like it wasn't right. I didn't say anything because I didn't want her to try again and have another painful spot. The IV was the least of my worries. At 12:24am Friday Dr. Healy came and broke my water. Fritz got to the hospital and we began our long day. Knowing that it would be exhausting we tried to rest. Unfortunately I was woken up in the middle of my rest by sudden pain. I decided that I was ready to finally get my epidural. At 4:57am the nurse came in and started to get things ready. He was a complete asshole. Fritz wasn't able to make it to the hospital before my water was broken so I wanted him to be able to take part in me getting my epidural, however, when he woke up the nurse said I had to pick one person to stay; my mom or Fritz. I didn't know who to choose. Before I could decide Fritz got pissed off, gave me a kiss, gave the nurse a dirty very threatening look and then went to go smoke. The epidural wasn't even painful at all. My other nurse said she had never seen anyone take it so well. I'm sure it was because I was absolutely furious that that asshole made me choose between my husband and my mother. Shouldn't I be able to say who stays and who goes?

Now we just had to wait for things to progress. At 7:00am I was 3 almost 4 cm. The whole process was going very slow. At 9:10am I was finally 4cm and 70% effaced. We tried to get as much rest as we could, napping here and there, but I really don't remember me actually napping, only watching others nap. At 10:50 I was still 4cm but 95% effaced. Finally at 2:00pm we started to see some progress. I had jumped to 7cm 100% effaced and was at a 0 station. Poor Fritz isn't the most patient of people and was starting to question why he had to come the night before if this was taking so long. I just told him it was for moral support and assured him he looked good sleeping on the couch in my room. At 2:30 I was 8cm and finally by 2:50 I was 9cm. The nurse came again at 3:20 and said I was complete and ready to start pushing. My mom, Fritz and Tabitha (my sister) stayed in the room with me for the labor. The pushing wasn't so bad. I just kept telling myself he would be there soon. Any minute now I could have my baby in my arms. Any minute turned into any hour and things just didn't seem to be progressing. Around 5:20 my epidural machine started beeping. Apparently my nurse was sure that he would be out soon. Unfortunately she isn't the one who gets paid the big bucks. My doctor finally arrived at 5:40pm and according to him and how long I had been pushing he decided that I needed to do a c-section. While everyone was sitting around deliberating I think they all forgot that my epidural ran out. See the reason I got it was so I wouldn't feel pain, but by the time they decided I needed to go to the surgery room I could feel everything. I was in incredible pain and started crying. For the first time since I got my epidural 12 hours earlier I could feel pain. Now I did have to decide between my mom and Fritz. Since it was a sterile area I could only have one person come with me. Fritz wasn't really sure how well he would be able to handle seeing me cut open so we opted for my mom to go with. I said goodbye to my wonderful husband and they rolled me down the hallway.

I could feel every painful bump in the carpet and seam in the doorways. I laid on the table and waited while they tried to get more fluid pumped into my epidural and get me all prepared for surgery. From here on I just remember being in severe pain. There was so much pressure on my stomach it was indescribable. I barely remember Dr. Healy holding Cooper over the curtain and saying something like "here is your baby boy". Then I was gone. The anesthetics kicked in and I was in a world of my own. I was having the weirdest dreams that I can't even describe. All I know is that they were the same ones that I had last time I was under anesthesia. They are incredibly weird and then I wake up and don't remember a thing. When I did finally wake up I was in my room again. There were people all around me and everyone was holding my baby saying how cute he was. I was so drugged up that I was afraid to hold him. I couldn't even see straight and I didn't want to risk hurting him. Fritz came over to me and put Cooper on my chest and held him with his hand to make sure nothing happened. It was the first time I got to hold my baby and it was the most amazing thing in the world. He just laid there curled up in his blanket completely helpless.

I found out that my nurse and her nursing student were supposed to get off at 5 but stayed until Cooper was born at 6:26pm. They had been with me all day and wanted to see him finally born. He was 7lbs 7oz and 19.75 inches long. Because I had pushed for two hours before the c-section Cooper was lodged really far down in my pelvis. My mom said that the nurse had to physically push his head out of my cervix while the doctor pulled his body out the incision. Because of all the trauma his head was completely bruised, he had a bruise on his left arm and even a bruise on the tip of his tongue. Because of all the blood that I lost during my surgery I had to get a blood transfusion with 2 units of blood on Sunday. Cooper was born on Friday night and we weren't released until Tuesday. It was a horrible stay in the hospital but I had an amazing support system that was there to support me every day, and I got the most precious thing out of it. My baby boy.

It makes me very sad to say that Cooper will be a year old at the end of this month. It's amazing how fast the time has gone by and how much he has grown into an amazing little boy. I only wish I had thought to include everyone in this journey through his life, but from here on out anyone is welcome to follow along! This is our life...