Christopher Patrick Cotter, 10-15-2008

The day has finally arrived. Christopher Patrick Cotter arrived on October 15, 2008 at 8:24pm. Sara was pushing for about 2 hours before the decision was made to begin a Cesarean to help get the little guy out. Sara headed into surgery and I followed shortly thereafter. After a few tense moments, I heard the most beautiful sound ever...the cries of our beautiful baby boy. The medical staff did their routine and got Christopher and Sara taken care of. After arriving in recovery, we learned that Christopher was 8lbs even and 20 3/4" long. He had a 14" head...which means he will be a SUPER GENIUS! And is the main reason for the Cesarean, he got his big head stuck.

We've been home for two days now and were getting settled into not having any normal sleeping hours. Thank heaven for Mimi and Grandpa being here. They leave to go back home Saturday and we can only pray that he is set into his schedule by then. He had his first doctors visit today and everything looks great. He gained back a few of the ounces he lost in the hospital which is awesome news since Sara decided that we were giving up on breastfeeding. He just wasn't getting enough to eat.

We're WAITING!!!!

So it's 10pm and we've been here since 3 this afternoon and I must say this bed is not the most comfortable in the world. To be completely honest my bum has never hurt so much in my life. I've gotten the first dose of the many I should get over the next 2 days or however long it takes him to be born. We'll keep ya updated so send me some happy thoughts!

-Sara

Last Few Ultrasound Pictures

Well the time is finally here!!!!! Believe me when I tell you that this little boy is just as stubborn as his parents and refuses to be born on his own. This means that on Tuesday Jeff and I are making our final trek to the hospital before Christopher arrives. We have to be there at 3 pm Tues. afternoon but Dr. Mac isn't going to induce me until Wed. morning. I went to see her the other day and over the past 4 weeks he hasn't changed his position at all and refuses to drop down and "lock" in position. Jeff says that he must have painted my womb and hung up new curtains so he doesn't want to leave. I say too bad, I'm tired of being pregnant and the light at the end of the tunnel is getting bigger. I did get a few more ultrasound pictures the other day so I figured I would share the last few images of Christopher before birth.

His first picture is of his ear. From the looks of it he did manage to get the Cotter ears, which if I've shown you pictures of our nephew Aiden makes the boys look like cute little monkeys for a while. The other picture that turned out is a shot from behind and off to the side of his head so you can see his cute chubby cheeks.

Well the next post I make will have lots of pictures of him post birth, so check back in a week or two!

False Alarms and Making Donuts!!!

The past two weeks could be described as "eventful" for Jeff and I. We had two somewhat false alarms that only make me more ready for Christopher to be here. I say "somewhat false" because I was having the labor contractions (every 2 min and lasting 45-60 seconds) but nothing else was making its move. Jeff and I both decided that Christopher must have just finished painting in there and possibly even hung up new drapes which would make him unwilling to leave. It's fun to hear about everyone calling to find out if he has arrived yet instead of actually wanting to see how things are going in general. Mom has discovered that no phone call that comes in is truly for her or Will it is more to find out if Christopher has decided what day he wants to arrive. I'm also loving all of the different "tricks of the trade" to get things moving but I must say that NONE of them are working on this kid. We went to the doctor yesterday and there hasn't been even the slightest change from last week, not to mention I'm to healthy for Dr. McIntosh to even consider induction. So unless he changes his mind it looks to be a few more weeks before we meet our little trickster.

In the time spent between contractions and hospital visits I have been going through cook books, I know that is a scary thought. While I was going though Jeff's moms cook book (He decided it needed a new home a while ago and book-napped it) I found a recipe for made from scratch donuts and I attempted. The kitchen did not blow up, and I still have all body parts intact so i must have done all right. The donuts were delicious as Jacob let me know for a few hours afterword with handfuls running them to his room. Within 15 minutes he had all of the sugar coated donut holes devoured and wanted more.

So as I wait for Christopher to arrive i might make a few more attempts at cooking or baking as long as I'm at moms so I cant ruin my kitchen, the army can always fix hers. :)

False Alarm

Hello all. It's Jeff. Sara is taking a little well needed nap after the situation today. Let's see. Normally, Sara and I sleep til about noon due to my work schedule. Well, about 9:30 this morning, Sara wakes me up and says that she believes her water broke and she's having contractions. So first things first, call the doc. The doctor wants us to come in for an exam. That was about 12:00. So we arrive at the hospital and get checked in. After a few moments, we're whisked away to the Labor & Delivery ward. They took Sara back to triage as I waited out in the waiting room with a few other families. Finally, they brought me back. Sara was looking somewhat comfortable in the hospital bed with a few monitors hooked up. So we waited...and waited...and waited. After a while, the doctor came in and did a quick exam. After finding out that Christopher wasn't ready to grace us with his presence, the doctor finally discharged her at around 4:30. Sara was a bit famished so we made a quick pit stop at McD's for her. She has to go to the doctor again tomorrow for an ultrasound to see how much fluid is still there. Then we might find something out then. We'll keep you posted.

Getting Anxious

Ever since I arrived back home it seems that time has been flying by. Were down to just 6 weeks before Christopher should be here and I'm still finding things that need to be taken care of before he makes his appearance. We have a consultation with the pediatrician we were referred to on the 17Th of September. A few of the guys that Jeff works with have the same doctor for their kids and said that he was great.

Jeff in the mean time has been keeping himself busy playing with his Legos and attempting to help me with all of the "baby stuff". I added a few more things to Christopher's room and it seems to be coming together nicely. We put up thicker curtains so at night when he is trying to sleep he wont have street lamps keeping him awake. I also put up his name on his wall and I was really excited that it turned out great. While I was at the store I found some of the Jungle animals that Kim had put on his box for his blankets so I added them to his wall, and I also made him a sign for his door. I went ahead and took a quick video of his room, don't mind the kitty in the middle of the floor she's part of the "Jungle Experience". Sorry that it is sideways, I couldn't get it to turn around.

Christopher's Almost Complete Room

We have completed a lot in the last few days. We managed to get Christopher's boarder up on his wall and do a little bit of shopping for our little guy. Mom went out and got his dresser/changing table and I must say it is AWESOME!!!! It only took Jeff and I about 5 hours to get it completely together (they really should tell you on the box that wood glue is needed!). We have all of his "little things" bought so just in case he decides to make a surprise appearance in a few weeks were ready.

On one of our shopping adventures we happened to find the bath center I wanted for him half off. I almost cried when I saw it because I was just telling Jeff that we would just have to get a normal baby bathtub for him because it was too expensive. We have a few big things left to get before I can step back and take a breather but were getting close. Only 7 weeks left until his due date.

Home Sweet Home!

I never thought I would miss the heat of Georgia or the antics of our cat Belle so much. After being away for over three weeks it was awesome to see the "Welcome to Savannah" sign at the city limits. Jeff was already at work when we got home but he kept stopping by in his spare time. When he got home from work I let him go through all of the gifts for Christopher and he just couldn't believe that all of those gifts were for our little boy. He picked out his favorite gift from the beginning, a pair of boots that look like his.

I managed to find room for everything and even started Christopher's own shelf in the towel closet and kitchen pantry. We had to go and get an organizer for his closet in order to get everything inside, I just cant wait to get his changing table/dresser. We can't thank everyone enough for all of the gracious gifts and we're sure Christopher would feel the same.

While I was in Virginia we went to Busch Gardens so Jacob could ride some rides with Will as part of the "Welcome Home Will" adventure. Jacob had a blast and was not ready to leave when the storms showed up later in the afternoon. I managed to get to Ireland (Busch Gardens in Virginia is all of the major European countries) and was able to get Jeff a shirt before we headed toward the park exit. On the way out Mom found an Irish bear wearing a kilt and decided to get it for Christopher. We decided to name him Shaemus because I will never let Jeff give our children that name.