Cooper Addison Bretsch has Arrived!

I am thrilled to announce the arrival of Cooper Addison Bretsch, born on Friday, October 9th at 1:13 p.m. He weighed in at a whopping 9 pounds, 4 ounces and was 21 3/4 inches long. Ryan and I are very excited about our new little guy.

Cooper's due date was October 8th and by that date it appeared that he was in no hurry to be born. At my doctor's appointment on the 7th we decided to go ahead and induce labor on the 9th rather than waiting another week or two for me to go into labor because the doctor thought that Cooper might be about 8 pounds and we didn't really want him to be too big when he was born.

So I went into the hospital on Thursday evening (the 8th) so they could give me a drug called Cervadil to help soften my cervix. I was to be given a drug called Pitocin Friday morning to induce labor. The Cervadil definitely did it's job and by the wee hours of Friday morning I was having some serious contractions. At 1:00 a.m. they gave me an epidural (which to me is the world's greatest drug!) and I was able to get a good night's rest. My labor moved along pretty quickly and Cooper was born at 1:13 p.m.

Everyone was astonished at Cooper's size when he was born, especially us and the doctor. So much for 8 pounds. It's a good thing we didn't wait another week! The delivery went pretty smoothly, although I did lose quite a bit of blood which made my iron level very low and left me pretty weak afterwards. Cooper also swallowed some meconium and blood during delivery which left him pretty lethargic as well.

In fact, Cooper had to spend a couple of days in the NICU (neonatal intensive care unit) because he started to vomit the blood he had swallowed. He was also put on an IV because he became dehydrated and needed fluids. That was a pretty scary time for us, but he is doing wonderfully now and is getting bigger by the day.

We fell in love with Cooper from the start and have been enjoying every minute with him. He is a wonderful baby and you can't help but melt when he looks at you with his big blue eyes. His grandparents have been spoiling him rotten along with all of our friends.

I have included some pictures from the past several weeks. Cooper will be one month old on November 9th. It is unbelievable how fast the time has gone by. As of last week, he was 9 pounds, 11 ounces! He has gotten a clean bill of health at all of his doctor's appointments (Yay!) and loves to eat and sleep. Ryan and I couldn't have asked for a more wonderful baby and we are continuously thanking God for His awesome gift.

 

More Baby Shower Pics

Here are some pictures from my baby shower at school on September 25th.

Baby Shower Pics

These are pictures from my shower on September 12th.

Cooper's current place of residence, but we hope he'll be setting up camp in his crib soon!

These are my wonderful family members that helped me celebrate. Left to right: me, my mom, my cousin Kim, my aunts Patty and Roma Lee and my cousin Cindy.

This is Cooper's new little chair and his new little friend, who's name also happens to be Cooper!

Cooper will love his new books!

Me and my awesome friend Sherry.

My wonderful mom.

ESPN is not just for Daddy's!


Cooper's new snuggly bear. I may have to fight him for it!

Me and my fantastic friend Kimber.

Rub the belly for good luck! My wonderful friends (l to r) Jeni, Leanne, Christy and Carrie that helped to make my shower such a success.

An adorable outfit from Cooper's grandma and grandpa Bretsch.

Christy, Leanne, Carrie and I posing with the beautiful cake. Leanne's friend made it and she does such an amazing job. It was even a S'mores cake. Yummy!

An up close shot of the incredible cake. If you look closely you can see little Cooper napping at the top in the little red tent.


It has been a while since I have updated the blog. It is amazing how quickly time gets away from you. I am posting some pictures from my recent baby showers. My awesome friends Carrie, Christy and Leanne hosted my first baby shower for friends and family on September 12th. We had a blast and Carrie, Christy and Leanne did such an amazing job with everything. Cooper's room has an outdoor, camping theme so the shower revolved around that idea. Everything was so adorable! And everyone was so generous. I had a great time and I know little Cooper will love every one of his gifts. When I got home I made Ryan sit in the chair as I showed him every one of the gifts. It was like Christmas for little Cooper!

The second shower I had was given by my wonderful co-workers at school. They too had a camping theme and everything was really nice. All of my friends and fellow teachers were very generous and we had a great time. Again, I made Ryan sit down as I displayed all of the wonderful gifts Cooper received. This shower took place on September 25th.

Ryan's co-workers even threw him a surprise baby shower at work too! They had a potluck lunch and showered him with all kinds of wonderful gifts. Ryan really enjoyed the surprise and was touched by their generosity. This time it was my turn to sit in the chair as Ryan showed me all of the neat things he had received for Cooper. =)