Cooper's Birthday in Pictures...

Breathing through contractions...

 getting more intense

 My "you better watch out mister" face

 Epidural Administered. Now I'm ready to pose for pictures :)

 10 cm.  Woop!

 The moment we've been waiting for

 Nothing like that first glance

Squishy face

 "You have no idea what I've just been through" LOL

 I'm in LOVE

 Proud Daddy

 And Proud Grandmas

 He weighed in at 7 lb. 6 1/2 oz., but left the hospital at 7 lb. 9 oz.

PERFECTION!

 And the kids arrive!!  I just love their excited little faces!

 She is one proud big sissy

 Eli was a little more interested in TV than the baby at first

 He later took a little bit more interest, at least for a split second ;)

 And there were some major tears when it was time for the big kids to go home.  Thankfully the grandmas came to the rescue with a trip to Chuck E. Cheese

 We had some sweet friends who came to visit.  Wish I had gotten pictures of all of them. 

 And once Cooper was about 31 hours old, they released us from the hospital and we headed to home sweet home :)

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." James 1:17

Welcome to the World!

Introducing.....

Cooper Lane

Born: Oct 9, 4:29 a.m.

Weight: 7 lb. 6 1/2 oz.

Length: 19 in.

And here's how it all went down:

If you read this blog post, you knew I had been waiting on Baby Cooper to make his arrival.  I had been 3 cm and 70% effaced for over a week, and had done everything in MY power to progress myself further.  Ha!  Goes to show how powerless I really am ;)  God is in control of everything and His ways are perfect!  I was scheduled for an induction Tuesday morning at 7 a.m., so Monday, I spent the day trying to make sure all my ducks were in a row.  I was excited and anxious.  Monday night, I decided to take my time getting ready for bed. I took a shower and blow dried my hair, made sure I had everything I needed to head to the hospital the next morning.  I even posted a status on FB: "About to get some rest so I can have a BABY in the morning"  

-10:45 p.m. I felt something strange and mentioned to my mom and Cory that I thought my water may have leaked.  For fear of sounding crazy, I just discarded it, and assumed I had dreamt it up in my head. But then I kept feeling the strange sensation and began feeling real contractions.  They started 10 min apart and jumped to 5 min apart very quickly.  Because of past labor experiences, I knew I shouldn't wait too long before heading to the hospital.

-11:25 p.m. We jumped into the truck and Cory used his mad race car skills to get me to the hospital in a VERY timely manor

-12:00 a.m. Got in and checked...Still at 3 cm and 70% effaced.  They confirmed my water had broken.  Contractions are really starting to hurt and stay pretty close together.  

-1:30ish a.m. Epidural administered.

-2:00 a.m. Dilated 4-5 cm

-3:30 a.m. (And Feeling Good :)) Dilated 8-9 cm.  Nurse said she thought we'd be pushing in about an hour.  This prompted Cory and the moms to go downstairs and get a quick snack.  

-4:00 a.m. I felt pressure and called the nurse.  She confirmed I was fully dilated and ready to push!  But where was everyone???  Called Cory's phone, but his phone was in my room.  Got in touch with  him through my mom's phone and told him it was time.  Prepped me and my room while waiting on Doctor to arrive

-4:27 a.m. They told me I could begin pushing and refreshed me on what to do.  They asked how long I had pushed with the other two deliveries.  I told them 15-20 min.

-4:28 a.m. I was ready to give it all I had, I began to push and they said "WOAH!" His head had already come and they had to stop me to clean out his throat.  

-4:29 a.m. Out came the rest of his body.  I was in total shock and awe of this precious miracle!!! 

I got to spend a blissful hour cuddling with him before they took him to the nursery to take vitals and such.  What an unforgettable night and morning!!!!

I should update

So I have to admit, I have sort of been avoiding my computer like the plague.  When I started maternity leave, I literally did not want to sit at my computer for half a second.  I spend so much time on the computer editing pictures, it was causing me to swell up like a blimp.  And I had a list a mile long of home projects I wanted to accomplish before Cooper got here.  Now that I am playing the waiting game, I have decided to embrace my computer once more and update my blog.  It has been a few months :/

We'll start here, at the Shiver Shack!!  This is one of our favorite family hang-outs!  When Cory is home, we go A LOT.  Here they have a splash park and snow cone stand.  How can you beat that??!!  Here are some pictures I snapped at one of our more recent visits there.  They are some of my favorite pictures ever :)

Oh, and moments like these, I soak in because they don't happen too often....

 Here is my little dress-up queen in her dress up corner

And she dressed me up that day too....

 I took the kids to the farmer's market downtown one Saturday.  I knew this wall would be calling my name when I went, so I dressed the kids for the "occasion" and got a couple of sweet shots of them.

Landry started Pre-K 4 and Ballet!!

And here are just a few random occurrences at our house

If you were wondering.....

I am waiting on a baby!  Cooper Lane Veuleman is set to arrive any moment now.  We are anxiously waiting.  Last Wednesday Cory was supposed to leave for San Antonio for work, but when I began having contractions 5 minutes apart, we decided to go in and get checked.  After being monitored for an hour we realized it was not real labor, however I had progressed to a point that had Cory and me convinced he should stay until Cooper made his arrival.  Contractions stopped the next morning.  I had a doctor's appointment on Monday and I was dilated 3 cm and 70% effaced.  Pretty good numbers, I thought.  I was convinced I'd have him the next day.  I have been walking myself silly and trying every "home induction method" in the book.  However Cooper is perfectly content where he is.  I will scratch this up as a blessing from God.  He knows most what I need most, which is rest before our new arrival.  I have had Cory and my mom here for the couple of weeks and it has been bliss :)

Here is my latest prego pic.  I took it on my 30th birthday, last Friday.

If nothing happens before then, I will be induced next Tuesday morning.  Please pray smooth delivery and healthy baby :)

Guess Who's Home!?!?!