The beginning...

Well, we've happily reached the conclusion of the "Preparing for Baby Cooley" stage. For continued updates on Dexter's cozy little life, check in periodically at his new blog - http://dextercooley.blogspot.com/.

My name is Dexter Douglas Cooley - and I approve this message.

Hello,
Long story short, we now have a baby - outside of the womb. A healthy happy baby who screams a lot and doesn't like to wear his hat.

Friday night we went to bed early. Around 11:00, Danielle started to have contractions - not the kind that she had before where she smiled and said "I think I'm having a contraction" and we wrote down the time like a couple of couple of kids who just figured out how to tell time for the first time, but the "grit her teeth and hold onto something because hell just opened a portal in her abdomen" kind. She had these at 10 to 20 minute intervals all night - some worse than others. At 5:30 a.m. Saturday she wakes me up (she spent the night on the couch) and says, "Wanna go to the hospital and have the baby today?" That's right. I was completely oblivious to her night of pain.

So we call the Dr. and he says to go in and let them have a look-see. We get to the room around seven, and they hooked Danielle up to several different sensors. These sensors tell us that the contractions that Danielle is having are, in fact, contractions. (On a side note it would also tell us the intensity of the contractions, and give a readout of the baby's heart rate. There was a monitor in the corner that displayed these data for all of the patients in this wing - room 250 was having twins, room seven had a baby while we were waiting, and even though room 21 was there before we were, Danielle's contractions were kicking their contractions' ass.)

But even though the contractions had reached the max intensity, they had not reached the max frequency nor were all of the other labor signs present. So they told us to walk around the hospital for 45 minutes. After which they hooked up the sensors again, but other than the intense pain at 6 to 8 minute intervals there was only a very slight cervical change. So the doctor gave us three options:
a) go home, drink some water and take a nap - the contractions might stop. If not come back in.
b) hang out at the hospital and get an IV and a nap - the contractions might stop. If not, grab a nurse.
c) deliver now.

Since Danielle had tried the "take a nap" approach already, and even though he didn't/couldn't come out and say it, we got the impression that the Dr. didn't have a lot of confidence in the nap options actually doing anything but creating more delays and stress - we chose (c).

....insert many activities with nurses and doctors and residents and needles and machines that beep....

[Edit from Danielle - Dennis left out the most fun part during this nurses/doctors/needles/beeping machines period. Just after the epidural catheter went in (but before they actually fed any drugs through it) I had a major, serious, long, literally off-the-charts contraction. It actually made me weep and shake from the pain. I'm sure it didn't help that I was crunched over my belly in epidural-placing-position during that time. But boy, I'm *really* glad we didn't go through that for days on end, like we would have had to if we were doing the whole vaginal delivery thing. I honestly don't know how people do this naturally.]

At 12:03 pm 04Oct08 little Dexter was born via c-section. He was 8 pounds 3 ounces and 21.5 inches long. He has grey/green eyes (Danielle), a big hair cowlick on the back of his head (Dennis), furrowed brow (both of us), weak chin (again both of us), blond hair (?), 10 fingers/toes (another trait from both of us), and a set of lungs that just don't quit.
He got a 9 on his APGAR (his feet and hands didn't turn pink fast enough), and has pooped four times in less than 10 hours - the first three were within four hours of delivery. I guess he was trying to show them what he thought of their subjective APGAR rating - he gets that style of dissent from me too.

Both Mom and baby are doing well. (Dad is fine too, thanks for asking.) Danielle and I have successfully fed the kid, swaddled the kid, and changed his diaper once (the three APGAR protest poops were handled by a nurse). Dexter also has a two minute lag - when you take off his swaddle he does not cry for two minutes. But once he starts and you put it back on it takes two minutes for him to stop. Unless he has on the blue hospital hat - he'd better already be asleep when you put that on (he didn't mind the dinosaur hat, though)

Danielle is better at these posts than I am, so some of the photos may not work - she is currently sleeping for the first time in just over 40 hours and I don't want to wake her to show me how to do this. However, I assure you that our first born child does not look like the "404 error" page.

95% ready

Well, I think we're *almost* ready (stuff-wise, anyway).

Dennis set up the Pack-N-Play on Sunday night. Get this - it turns out it coordinates nicely with our bedroom decor! That's a fortunate accident, as we just got that pattern because it was on sale. I'm not sure if that means our PNP is sophisticated or that our bedroom is infantile. Oh well.

Dennis being Dennis, he couldn't just leave it at that. He had to cut a baby out of the cardboard packaging and put him in there. Naturally, this cracked me up. Cardboard Baby's name is "Demonjello," which is apparently what Dennis has been telling people when they ask what BBC's name will be. (Freakonomics readers will get the reference.) And yes, Demonjello is anatomically correct. 10 fingers and 10 toes. (What did you think I was referring to?) He's also crying, which I think is an unfortunate way to create a cardboard baby.



Then, on Monday night, we got the carseat bases installed in both cars.



I think that makes us officially ready, since we have everything we need in-place for Day 1. We still need to wrap up some final shopping (mattress pads, maybe some more bottles, stroller, diaper bag, changing pad covers, etc).

I also need to put the finishing touches on the nursery, which I have been diligently working on just about every day. It's *almost* done. I ended up doing 23 squares (plus 10 numbers and 22 letters so far). Hard to believe that's basically taken a month to complete. Hopefully I can track down those last 4 letters (N, R, T, and W, for those keeping track) and get them painted and on the wall. Then I can clean up and put the furniture back where it belongs.

Only 7 days (at most) until BBC makes his grand entrance, so believe me when I say I am doing everything I can to get that nursery DONE as soon as possible.

False labor is annoying.

That is all.

I love being pregnant!

There, I said it. I love it, and I don't want it to end!

I had a big ol' pregnancy meltdown Thursday night. It just came over me like a huge wave, and I couldn't stop crying because I was SO sad that I only had 2 weeks left to be pregnant.

As much as I would love to be able to tie my own shoes (I'm sure Dennis is looking forward to that, too), or comfortably get up and down from the floor (or the bed, or a chair), and as very excited as I am to meet this little guy, I just somehow feel like he's being ripped away from me.

I love my belly. I love feeling him in there and deciding in my own head that that wiggle meant, "Thanks, Mom! I really enjoyed that orange juice!" I love being able to rub my belly anytime and feel like I'm giving my baby some love. He's my little buddy everywhere I go, and I'll miss him when he's gone.

Maybe I've just had too good of a pregnancy experience. Random strangers see me and my belly and smile, (but I've never had anyone come up and rub it). People are happy for me. They throw me parties. I have a good excuse for the unfortunate size of my behind. In fact, for once, I pretty much look like I'm supposed to (almost all belly). And I haven't been too uncomfortable - no major complications, not even serious morning sickness, all that jazz. I'm tall, so BBC has quite a bit of room to be in there without major compromise to my lungs, bladder, and stomach.

It seems like I'm actually kindof good at this, but who knows how good I'll be at parenting an outside baby? What else is going to change? Will Dennis and I still have any time or energy for each other? Is "familyhood" going to take away the wonderfulness that "couplehood" has been for us for almost 5 wonderful years? Are we headed for the poor house, having ridiculously underestimated how much a baby will cost?

And, honestly, part of me doesn't want to share him with anyone else. Right now, he's MINE, and no one else can play with him. Sure, I'm excited for my husband to meet his son. For my parents to meet their first grandchild. So many people have been excited for us, and I want to share newborn baby goodness with them, too. But some primal part of me still wants him all to myself. (Quite a drastic change from earlier in the pregnancy, when I pretty much didn't feel like BBC was mine - like I was just carrying around Dennis's kid. Seems completely bizarre now.)

It even makes me want to cancel my scheduled c/s so he might come late and I could be pregnant and relish it a little longer. Did I miss out on enjoying the pregnancy? I traveled a lot for work and was distracted by the house construction and the move. I feel like I blinked and now it's over. (I'm also fearing I'll have this same feeling in 5 years when he goes to kindergarten, or in 13 years when his voice changes, or in 18 years when he goes to college. I'm not so good at "savoring the moment," and I'll be devastated if I feel like I missed my own kid's whole life.)

I'm sure this will be ancient history after he gets here, since I'll be too in love with him (and too busy taking care of him) to be consumed with such things. Still, I'd really like to get my head around it so I can enjoy my last 11 days (!) of pregnancy.

37 weeks - getting ready

Although we didn't get *everything* done, I think we had a pretty productive weekend.

First, a progress photo. 37w, 1d. I know I say it every time, but I can't imagine getting any bigger than this! But every day, BBC stretches and kicks and makes the belly grow and grow. Unbelievable. Strangely enough, I know part of me will miss it when it's gone, even though I'll also be thrilled to be able to breathe freely and touch my toes again.

Anyway, back to the weekend... Saturday morning, I woke up early and eager to start getting things done! I went into the nursery to do some more painting (more on that shortly), sorted BBC's clothes and linens, and got things ready to wash! Later that day, Dennis assembled the swing and bouncy seat (mostly to get the boxes out of the way, but it's pretty cool to see them there all put together).

We also packed hospital bags (yay!) and made an attempt to get the car seats installed (still working on that one - worst case, it can be done at the hospital). The hospital bag packing was actually a little comical. If it fits him, BBC will be coming home in this cute little dinosaur outfit (Thanks, Taylor!). But I also packed a sleeper in case that outfit just doesn't fit for some reason. Good, right? Sure.

Then I got to thinking... if he wears the sleeper home, he won't have a hat! (So I packed an extra hat to match the sleeper.)

Then I realized if he wears the dinosaur outfit home, he will have bare feet! (So I packed some socks.)

Then it occurred to me that he didn't have any mittens packed for either outfit and could claw his own eyes out on the drive home! (So I packed a pair of mittens. They don't match the dinosaur outfit, so it'll be a bummer if he wears that and we do have to use the mittens.)

THEN I realized it's a 45-minute drive home from the hospital. What if he poops halfway home and I don't have any diapers of wipes?! Granted, the hospital typically sends you home with diapers. And I probably won't even know if he's pooped during the trip home, but those extra minutes would kill me if I did know and he had to sit in his own poop because I didn't think to bring a diaper. (So I packed a diaper and some wipes.)

Yeah. I figure I'll look back on this later and marvel at what a typically ridiculous first-time-Mom I was about the whole thing. It's probably good that I am already somewhat aware of the comedic value of this slapstick misadventure.

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In other news, I did wash BBC's clothes this weekend, up to about size 6 months. I figure I'll wait and wash the 9 and 12 month sizes when he's closer to actually fitting into them. No need for them to get musty in the meantime. I also washed all of the crib sheets. Naturally, being an amazing Mom, I completely neglected to wash any blankets, towels, or washcloths the first time through. I also forgot to throw in half of the socks and one pair of jeans. I did remedy that on Monday evening, though, and everything is ready to go now. His drawers look pretty awesome, if I do say so myself. I hope I have the energy to keep them neat after he gets here.





Nursery painting continues to be my biggest ongoing project outside of actually growing the kid. Some people have asked about the process... here's the 411:

1. Scan the patterns from the bedding and import into a Microsoft Power Point file.
2. Create transparencies from printouts of the slides.
3. Project the chosen pattern onto the wall.
4. Very very carefully, paint as indicated by the projected image. It is particularly tough to get a crisp edge on our textured walls, and this process takes quite a while. Of course, no 2 adjoining colors can be wet at the same time, so this typically involves painting the outermost color, then the 3rd, then the fifth (if there are that many). Naturally, it also involves comic attempts not to get your hands (or giant belly) in the wet paint.
5. Allow the first coat of paint to dry. Turn off but do NOT move the projector. You may still need it, depending on how many color layers the patterned square has.
6. Finish with additional colors as applicable and allow to dry.
7. Repeat steps 4-6 with a second coat of paint. (The red color requires at least 3 coats. Fun.)
8. Go back for minor touchups (including outer edge touch-ups with the pale yellow wall color).
9. Repeat steps 1-8 ad infinitum for what seems like a zillion different squares at different heights and sizes.

I'm betting it's extra comical to watch a 9-months pregnant person crouched on the floor trying to paint a crisp edge. But Dennis insists that this is my project and my project alone, and he refuses to help. Something about my having a sense of accomplishment when it is done. A likely story, I say. ;)



I also finally got some number stencils and am pretty pleased with the way that is turning out. And I caved and bought wooden letters to paint scatter throughout the room. You can see evidence of both in some of the photos below (numbers on the wall, letters still on the dresser/project staging area).


I think I need just a few more squares higher up on the walls (the west wall hardly has anything at this point). By the time I add 26 9.5" wooden letters, the walls will be VERY full. If I'd planned ahead about the letters and numbers, I might have done better. As it was, I was just trying to be sortof random.

I figure if I can really dedicate myself to it this weekend, it can be done by Monday. I'd really like to have the whole thing done, cleaned up, and put together before BBC comes, of course, and I'm hoping Dennis is right about his being a few days early.

Really, my original plan was to be 100% done by a couple of weeks ago. But I think we're doing OK at this point. Just painting + carseat installation + a little more shopping, and I think we'll be ready. (Bigger stuff like researching and opening a 529 account will just have to wait until after he's here.)

More showers!

Our friends' generosity continues to astound us. We had three showers in four days last week!

Dennis's office threw a "Beer for Babies" happy hour/diaper drive for us last Wednesday! How awesome is that?!

We now have close to 700 disposable diapers in various brands and sizes! Some of his colleagues couldn't resist throwing in some cute baby clothes, too, so we also got to add to our collection of sweet, soft, adorable onesies and footie pajamas. Other fabulous gifts included an organic nursery cleaner and some of Boudreaux's Butt Cream. And the happy hour part was fun, too, even if I did just drink water.

Then, on Friday, my colleagues had a surprise baby shower in the office. Spearheaded by my fabulous friend Derrick, the shower was a great success! We got the fancy baby bathtub I had really been wishing for (it has a temp sensor and keeps clean, warm water circulating through the tub - so cool!), plus crib bedding (prior to that, we had none!), our diaper pail, a bunch of bottles and associated supplies, a "piddle pad" to help poop-proof the carseat, and a super soft blanket that I was really hoping we'd get, since I couldn't really justify buying it ourselves.

And if all of that weren't enough, our friend and former neighbor Sue B. had us over for dinner and a surprise "freezer meals" shower on Saturday! Boy, is this among the most brilliant ideas in the universe. We definitely weren't going to have time to pre-prepare meals, yet now we have a freezer full of frozen lasagnas, a homemade frozen pizza, peppercorn chicken, and ziti with italian meatballs!
Even our stereotypical bachelor friend & former neighbor Denny got in on the action with a gift certificate to the local pizza joint. Everyone tells me that having food handy will be a lifesaver after the baby gets here. And let me just say I truly believe them!