Welcome Home Cooper!

We are home from the Hospital! Finally. We spent a full 72 hours there and it felt like F-O-R-E-V-E-R! I am sorry to all those who called and left messages that I never called back, or for those I talked to and had to cut off because nurses kept coming in and out. It is still pretty easy to get interrupted or distracted at home so I am going to give the story of Coopers arrival since I may not be returning calls as easy as I had anticipated...
My "Birth Plan" was to tough out the contractions as long as possible at home in the comfort of my home and tub. I didn't plan to go to the hospital till my water broke or I couldn't bear the pain. I thought I'd attempt to go Natural if I progressed quickly, I could handle a few hours of pain. I only wanted the epidural if it would be a long long labor...
Things don't usually go as planned...
I ended up working Monday from 7 to 2:30 At about 10:00 I started having painful contractions. By eleven thirty I was noticing them about every 7-10 minutes but lunch hour had started so I worked through the pain. By 2 they were really hurting so I finished cleaning the best I could and asked if I could just go home. I got home and took a bath to relieve some of the pain. I cleaned up and tried to relax but I was getting really uncomfortable. I called my boss and told him I didn't think I would make it to work the next day, I was pretty sure this was labor by about 4:30 I was so uncomfortable and contractions were 2-3 minutes apart. I told Kev I was ready, and I hoped I was dilated to a 4 or a 5 because it was way worse than I had anticipated.
5:30 arrive at hospital and sign in. Contractions suck and turns out my blood pressure was pretty high.
6:00ish Discover I am only dilated to a 3 (I want to cry) and 90% effaced, they admit me and begin checking my blood pressure every 15 minutes. Still high.
7:00 Get into my room. The Bachelor is just starting. This is how I gauge time the next two hours... I am still just dilated to a 3! Why am I not progressing!
8:00ish The girls are getting ready for their group date with Jake while I am squirming and groaning and still at a 3! Looks like it will be a long night, send in the epidural!
8:50 The epidural is being administered. I wish the anesthesiologist would not talk so much to Kev so he can focus on the large needle going into my spine and I could at least hear who the bachelor is giving roses to.
9:30ish The doctor checks me, still at a 3, She breaks my water and discovers the baby is stressed due to the amount of meconium in the water. My blood pressure, still high. The next hour and a half they are monitoring the baby's heart rate and it keeps dropping and rising, they put me on oxygen and have me lie only on my right side. My contractions have stopped so they put me on pitocin. Kev is getting hungry. I am grateful for the epidural, my catheter, my super nice nurse and the nice conversation Kev and I are able to have. I am comfortable even if it means a looong night.
11:10ish The nurse comes in to up the pitocin. I tell Kev to go get something to eat, it may be a while. The nurse backs me up and tells him the cafeteria closes at one so he may want to get something. He doesn't want to but I push him to go
11:15-11:20 My contractions get stronger and Coopers heart rate drops and drops down in the 50s. This is bad.
11:20-11:23 I am moving from side to side trying to get his heart rate up, They check me quickly, only dilated to a 5, six nurses are scrambling everywhere, they are telling me to call Kev and tell him to get here ASAP, I have no idea what is going on and I can't call long distance from the hospital phone to call Kev. I am panicked and my nurse whips out her cell phone and calls Kevin and tells him we are headed in for a C-Section and he needs to run.
11:23 Kev begins running. The nurses unplug all my bed stuff and start running me down the hall. We get into the operation room and Kev is not there, I am stressed and crying, I don't know what is wrong, there are about a dozen doctors and nurses scrambling to get a sheet up in front of my face, some drugs in me and the baby out. I feel lots of pulling and tugging as they remove the baby. It feels like some one is vigorously washing clothes on a washboard in my belly. I want to puke. Kev is not there.
Meanwhile Kev has sprinted into the area but they won't let him in. He pulls on some scrubs and a hat and mask and a nurse runs with him to the room.
11:28 (5 minutes after phone call to Kev) I hear a baby cry and they say "Congratulations, it's a boy" I look to the left and see a doctor that looks like Kev... It was him, he came in right as Cooper came out.
Kev came and sat by me and I was so happy but still scared. The nurse comes and explains that the cord was wrapped twice around his neck, as they started the pitocin the contractions were causing his heart rate to drop and it got so low they had to act fast to get him out.
It was the scariest 5 minutes of my life but we feel so blessed that everything was okay. Cooper is healthy and I am healing well.