Welcome Cooper Lee Robitaille!

I suppose this posting is a little late, but it's better late than never!  As you would imagine, life has been pretty busy around here since the birth of our son.  I haven't had a lot of time to blog.

Cooper Lee Robitaille was born on March 6, 2013 at 9:50 a.m.  He was 8 lbs 11 oz and was 21 inches long.  As Cooper reached his due date and continued growing in size, the doctors recommended induction.  On March 5 (Cooper's due date), Amanda was admitted to Aultman Birth Center.  Oxytocin was administered to induce contractions.

It took a few hours for the oxytocin to deliver its full might.  Amanda practiced some exercises to help coax Cooper down.  Although the contractions were becoming more regular, Amanda was taking a long time to dilate.  The doctors helped things along by breaking her waters.  This definitely intensified the contractions.  By the afternoon, the oxytocin was dialed up nice and high, which caused Amanda's contractions to hit with brute force.   Amanda was is in absolute agony.  I've never seen someone hurt so much.  I spend a few hours helping Amanda get through the contractions by using breathing methods and patterned hand squeezing exercises.  Even with my help, Amanda was in extreme pain.  She was completely exhausted and still had hours to go.

At only 4 cm dilation, Amanda's contractions were so painful that she waved the white flag and asked for an epidural.  It took the doctors three tries to get the epidural right.  Once they got it right, though, Amanda finally had some real relaxation.  The contractions continued to intensify, but Amanda didn't feel them.  Amanda even closed her eyes for an hour or two as we turned off the lights and took a break.

We were up all night with constant doctor checks and an intensifying barrage of contractions.  By around 6 a.m. it was time to push.  A bunch of doctors came into the room and got Amanda into the delivery position.  I took over as coach and helped hold her left leg as she pushed with all her might at every contraction.  Amanda and I locked eyes, and I timed her pushes by counting to ten during every contraction.  This went on for three hours.  Amanda was exhausted, but she got a burst of energy when I told her I saw the head coming out.  With a few giant pushes, we welcomed Cooper Lee into the world.

Cooper came out purple and crying, a perfectly healthy boy.  The doctors handed Cooper to Amanda where he rested on her chest and we gawked in awe at our perfect baby boy.  The room was full of tears of joy and huge sighs of relief that Cooper appeared healthy.  I got to cut the cord.  Cooper had some health checks, and he was soon placed in Mum's arms again for lots of cuddles.  It was an absolutely magical experience.  No words can describe it.

Cooper stayed in the hospital for three nights because of jaundice, but otherwise he was a perfectly healthy boy.  We have now had Cooper home for over a week, and he is doing quite well.  We are working on some feeding issues, but from what we hear this is perfectly normal baby stuff.  Cooper's main objective now is to put on some weight.  At the moment, we are supplementing his diet with formula.  Once he becomes better at nursing and he gains some weight, we should be back on the right track.  Otherwise, he is a perfectly healthy baby.

Amanda is recovering well.  It will take some time for everything to heal, but she is doing great.  Her biggest issue is getting enough sleep.  Cooper is a 24-hour job.  He requires feeding every couple of hours, day and night.  There is not a lot of down time with a newborn.  Things will start to calm down, though, as we all get into our new groove.  We would definitely appreciate if Cooper would not spring to life at 3 a.m. every night!

I am planning to keep this blog alive with Cooper updates, photos and videos.  The link below is a live website that I update with photos nearly every day.  Have fun looking through the photos we have so far.  Then enjoy a slide show below that I made of Cooper's first 13 days of life.

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A85oqs3qNu5oh

Stubborn little bugger

We are now just two days away from our due date.  As much as we'd like to report that Amanda is getting contractions and moving noticeably closer to delivery, our stubborn little son is quite comfortable where he is and doesn't seem all that interested in joining us in the outside world.  He is still very active (and quite a boxer I might add).  He just doesn't show any inclination in swimming towards the light.

Amanda met with our obstetrician last Monday and Thursday.  The non-stress test showed that the baby is healthy.  Amanda is "ripening", but the doctor did not notice any dilation.  The doctor recommended inducing the baby on Tuesday, the due date.  We think the obstetricians are still nervous about the baby's non-fluctuating heart rate on February 21.  Even though this was a one-time fluke, we can tell the doctors got anxious and have since wanted to get this baby out at the first opportunity.  At this point, we have an induction appointment scheduled at Aultman Hospital at 6:30 a.m. Tuesday.

We have our reservations about induction, though.  Amanda has studied up on the topic extensively and realizes that induction interventions greatly increase the likelihood of requiring a cesarian delivery.  We want to avoid a C-section unless a medical emergency requires it.  We would prefer to use induction medications when medically necessary.  If Amanda or the baby are in distress or if things are not going normally, then we say bring on the pitocin.  However, if this baby wants to chill out for a few more days, we would prefer to deliver him when nature decides it's time, as long as everyone continues to be healthy.  We are concerned that the doctors want him out on his exact due date.  Many first-time mothers deliver a few days or a week after their due date.  We'd prefer to let nature take its course than to induce labor for expediency's sake.  We have an appointment Monday morning with another obstetrician in the practice.  We will have a serious conversation with her at that point and decide if induction on Tuesday is medically necessary or just more convenient.  If induction is indeed our best path, then we will discuss our options.  There is more than one way to skin a cat, and we know which induction techniques we would like to try first.

Meanwhile, we have been trying all kinds of non-medical techniques to light a fire under this baby and get him moving.  There are no proven non-medical techniques to induce labor, but there are plenty of old wive's tales.  We're trying them.  Amanda has started taking evening primrose oil supplements.  She is drinking raspberry leaf tea.  She is eating pineapple.  She is eating spicy foods.  We took a long, bumpy car ride yesterday to Geauga County to enjoy a nice day in Amish country.  (Yes, the car was packed with towels and suitcases.)  Amanda has been climbing stairs and bouncing on an exercise ball. I even learned about certain acupressure points that allegedly induce labor.  I've become an acupressure guru.  While none of these procedures are proven to actually induce labor, there are plenty of people who swear by them.  No harm in trying.

As of Sunday morning, still no regular contractions.  We will keep you posted if anything changes.  Come on baby!  It's showtime!

Any day now!

It's almost time to meet the man, the legend, the Robobaby!  Amanda is a couple days shy of her 39th week of pregnancy.  She is full term.  The baby can arrive at any moment now.  (The sooner the better, as far as Amanda is concerned!)  The baby is growing like a weed and punching like a boxer.  He is very active.  Today he had another one of his hiccup sessions.  

38 weeks 2 days
He's got his dad's big cheeks!

Amanda's mum arrived from Australia two weeks ago and has been a huge help in getting our home prepared for the baby.  She has been busy washing nappies (diapers), preparing meals, and getting the nursery ready for its new arrival.  It has been wonderful having her here for logistical and emotional support.  She even helped throw together a second baby shower with Andrew's mum and a dear friend Jen Otten.  The second shower went wonderfully, and everyone was incredibly generous.  We now have a mountain of baby clothes, toys, and other supplies.  The house is now ready for the baby.

We had a little bit of a scare on Thursday.  During a routine tummy check and non-stress test, the baby's heart rate was racing a bit high, and it wasn't fluctuating like the doctor said it should.  The obstetrician sent us to Aultman Hospital where Amanda underwent further tests to monitor the baby's heart rate.  They also conducted an ultrasound to measure the amniotic fluid levels.  As it turns out, our baby gave us a false alarm.  He performed perfectly at the hospital.  His heart rate was normal, and all of his measurements were perfect.  Whew!  Amanda had to be hooked up to the fetal monitor for over three hours, so it was a long, back-breaking night for her.  We were very relieved to hear that the baby was fine, though.  Otherwise, they would have induced Amanda right then and there, or they would have performed a cesarian.  

We have another appointment with the obstetrician on Monday and then another on Thursday.  They're just making sure that the baby's heart rate is normal and healthy.  Meanwhile, the little bub continues to kick, punch and generally abuse Amanda's insides.  We suspect he's perfectly healthy.  We both predict that he will make his appearance at the end of this week.  We think labor will begin on Friday.  

Stay tuned to the Robobaby blog!  Any day now we will deliver the big news.

The home stretch

35 weeks and counting!

Well, we are almost there! We "graduated" from baby classes last weekend and toured the birthing center at Aultman. That made it all very real! We are looking forward to going back there for the big event! They have a very nice facility and we are very impressed with their philosophy and procedures there.

At almost 36 weeks, Mandy and baby are both healthy and getting perfect results at every doctor's visit. We have started going weekly, and they will be monitoring the baby's heart rate and checking for any contractions. The results of the first "non-stress test" were perfect, showing the expected heart rate accelerations and no contractions yet.

Mandy is feeling as good as can be expected, but the discomforts of late pregnancy are starting to set in. She is glad to only have 2 more weeks of work left and although leaving will be sad, she is also ready to take it easy for a few weeks before baby arrives!

We are excitedly awaiting the arrival of Mandy's mum from Australia this week. She will be here for 7 weeks. It has been almost 2 years since we saw her, so we have a lot of catching up to do before the little one arrives! It will be great to have her here after the baby comes, too, as I'm sure we will both be nervous and overwhelmed!

The nursery is complete now, it just needs some cleaning and organizing. We have a lot of clothes and diapers to wash! Mandy had a baby shower organized by her work friends, and everyone was very generous. We now have quite the library of children's books, which we are already reading to him!

We are all hoping that this little guy decides to make his appearance on the early side, rather than being late! But we are on his schedule now.....so......Ready.....Set......Wait!

Click here to see an ever-expanding photo album documenting our pregnancy.  We will continually add photos to this album, so we encourage you to bookmark the link:

https://www.icloud.com/photostream/#A8JtdOXmJqDHLp