Baby Olsen is here!

Saturday, June 21st, at 3:30 am PT I woke to shift sides (hip pain) and as I shifted I felt a pop which at first I thought was my hip (fairly frequent occurrence lately). I didn't feel the need to pee but decided to get up anyway to empty my bladder, figuring it'd save me from another trip an hour later. As I stood up I felt my "bladder" start to empty before I could get to the bathroom. That has happened once before (you know, you wake up from a dream that you're in the bathroom already to find that you aren't) - so I didn't think much of it. When I finished "peeing" and stood up, the fluids kept flowing and that's when I suspected that my water broke.

I wasn't totally convinced but quietly woke Bob and filled him in. Got dressed, called Dr.N to let him know we were heading to the hospital, and woke my dad to let him know what was happening.

Once we were checked in I was hooked up to monitors (baby heart rate and contraction monitoring), and swabbed to confirm my water broke (it had). Next they confirmed that the baby was still breech and sent Dr.N in for a chat to discuss the next step - a c/section, followed by cerclage removal.

BTW, I had no major contractions between when my water broke (3:30 am) and the baby's arrival (5:52 am). I had dilated to 1 cm with the stitches still in tact but thankfully there was no pain involved (until now, of course).

Bob called my dad to fill him in then dad called mom to let her know. My mom posted a comment to my blog (thanks mom!).

Funny thing is my dad was booked on a noon flight to head back to CT today. Not anymore :) When he heard the baby would come today he had my mom change his flight so he could stick around longer :)

We headed into the OR at 5:30 am, and Cooper Mitchell Olsen was born on June 21, 2008, at 5:52 am pacific time. He weighed in at 5 lbs, 7 oz, measuring 18 inches long. Cooper immediately demonstrated a strong and healthy set of lungs and scored 8 and 9 on his APGAR tests. He is doing beautifully - has even mastered the suck/swallow/breathe test AND is breastfeeding like a champ in spite of arriving 5 weeks early at 35w3d.

Dr.N said the placenta and my uterus were both small and that is likely the reason the little guy didn't turn. He also said that Cooper most likely would not have surpassed the 6 lb mark (b/c of uterus size) so our little guy knew it would be best to join us in the outside world.

And, to make the day even MORE special, Cooper was born on Bob's father's birthday! I truly believe Cooper is gift from heaven - from Mitchell, Cooper's very own guardian angel.

He's so little and precious and we're ecstatic that he's here and doing so beautifully. We have some wonderful photos of Cooper's first moments and can't wait to share them with you. Since I'm posting from my hospital room I can't upload the pics just yet but we will get them up as soon as we can so please check back in for pics and updates.

Thank you all so much for your support and kindness throughout this journey. I can't believe this day is finally here. YAY!!