Welcome Cooper

As most of you know, my C-Section was scheduled for an early 7:30 am Thursday morning.  We arrived at United Hospital in St. Paul almost promptly at the 5:30 am arrival time.  After a quick check in at the admitting desk, we were headed off to Labor and Delivery to complete the C-Section prep.  This consists of answering about a million health questions, having an IV put in (twice if you are like me and have weak veins), and getting hooked up to the fetal monitor so that we were able to listen to Cooper during the million questions.  Around 7:15 am, we got to meet our anesthesiologist who explained the spinal block procedure (don't worry, I will spare you from those details).  I was then briskly escorted to the operating room for my 7:30 start.  

I get onto the operating table, get positioned to begin the spinal block when they realize that they have no blood in the room in the event somthing catastrophic were to happen and I would need a blood transfusion.  After a phone call, it was quickly determined that the lab had not yet matched an antibody in my blood and therefore could not supply any blood.  So, the anesthesiologist puts the C-Section on hold until the blood matching could happen.  I am then escorted back to my room in Labor and Delivery to wait.  The anesthesiologist informs me that I am in the 1% of people this happens to and that they will proceed as soon as a match is determined.  My doctor further informs me that this is more common than 1%, especially in those who have a negative RH Factor (my blood is A-).  After a few minutes of waiting, a nurse informs us that we will need to wait until 11:30 am, provided my blood is matched, to have the C-Section since my doctor had some other patients to attend to.  We make a few phone calls to let everyone know that things are ok, just delayed (which is only fitting for me, did I really think I was going to just walk in there and have a baby so quickly - at least this way Cooper gets a more interesting delivery story).  Corey runs to get some breakfast and our movies since it looks like we have some waiting to do.  He barely arrives back to the room when the nurses burst in and say it is time to go.  Apparently we were no longer waiting until 11:30 am.  

Within 15 minutes, I was numb from the chest down, Corey was brought into the operating room and the C-Section had begun (my doctor let me know that Cooper was still "floating around" and had not made his way into position for a natural delivery - so who knows when he would have wanted to come out on his own).  Approximately 15 minutes later (9:42 am to be exact), our beautiful baby boy arrived.  Everyone's first reaction was on what a big baby he was and my doctor reassured my that C-Section was definitely the way to go with a baby his size.  After the measurements were complete, Cooper weighed in at 8 pounds 15 3/4 ounces and was 21 inches long with a head circumference of 15 inches.