Cooper slept more than 2hours!!!!!!!!

Cooper hasn't been doing that great at night, but I haven't been worried. She is just a small baby and I know she needs to eat often. But last night she did great!! She went almost 5 hours in between feedings then she did a 4 hours span!!! I felt so refreshed because I've only been getting sleep in 2 hours spans. Hopefully she will keep it up!

Saturday morning at Donut Bank

Saturday mornings with the Seymore Family usually looks like this.... Wake up get ready go to the Donut Bank then drive around looking at houses and a trip to Grandma Lou Lou and PaPaw Bob's. Jeff and I talked about our trip to the Donut Bank and if we would still keep the tradition after Cooper was here. We braved it this morning and it was actually pretty easy. Cooper sleeps so much right now so maybe in a few weeks it might be a little harder but we are determined to not let 3 kids slow us down. Well, they might slow us down a little but not to much!!!!

Cooper 1 Week Doctor's Appointment

Today Cooper is one week old. She had her one week check up with Dr. Blanke. The main reason for the one week check up is to see if baby has gained any weight. They like to see baby get back to birth weight by 2 weeks. Cooper was 6lbs and 9 oz at birth and 6lbs 5oz when we left the hospital. Today she was 6lbs 12 oz! Dr. Blanke was really happy with her weight gain and said there is no reason to come back in week, because she is already past her birth weight!!!!
After the doctors appointment I thought I might be brave and went to target for the first time with all three kids all by myself. They all did great!
amanda

Cooper Lynn's First Photo Session

Cooper Lynn had her first "Photo Shoot" tonight. Check out all the shots.

Cooper's 4 day old!

Today was a great day. We all went to Jeff's work to show off Cooper. Everyone thought she was beautiful. Cooper used the Ergo Carrier for the first time! I love that thing! Jeff took some pictures of all the kids today. Tonight Jeff is going to Band Practice so I get to be home by myself with all three of kids by myself and Jeff going back to work tomorrow, so say a prayer for me!!!!!!!!

View pictures from today Click Here!

A family of 5!

Today is our first full day as a family of 5! The morning went really well. We had my YUMMY homemade cinnamon rolls (I pre-made them and put them in the freezer, don't worry I did not slave away in the kitchen for 2 hours making them this morning). We had a relaxing morning just hanging out at home. Jeff and I thought we would be brave and try to get out with all three kids and enjoy the beautiful weather. We went to Chic-a-way(as avin would say) and had a picnic. The boys had a blast and Cooper enjoyed it as well. They were all great! It's a lot different getting out with 3 kids.

3:30 pm 10/19: Cooper is home now. We got home about 2 hours ago. So far so good.

11:40 am 10/19: Ok...here are the three kids. Any opinions as to who Cooper resembles more? It's hard to tell just with these pics so I encourage you all to go see the pictures of boys from their births.

Links:
Avin's Birth
Parker's Birth

I have my opinion but we would love to hear yours.

Cooper the Super Pooper

9:30 am 10/19: So...mommy's milk has come in a bit faster than it has in the past and apparently Cooper's little 6lb 9oz body moves it through pretty fast which has turned her into "Cooper the Super Pooper." I think we've been through 4 diapers in the past hour.

Going home today!

7:20 am 10/19: Today is the day that we get to take Cooper home. We'll be leaving the hospital around 12:30 pm.

We've had a great stay in the hospital. It's funny, most of the nurses we've had were with us with Parker and they remember us. Apparently, they remember the natural births a bit better because they are few and far between. So, we've had some come by and visit even if they weren't assigned to us.

We had a steady flow of guest yesterday and it reminded us just how great our family and friends really are. God has blessed us with so many people that love and care about us it is overwhelming. Thanks to everyone for all your prayers and your encouragement. Special thanks to the grandparents for dealing with the boys for the past several days, I know how exhausted you must be.

Today, the real work starts. I'm confident we can handle it, but I also know that we won't be on our own.

Please continue to pray.

We love you all and thank God for you and the blessing you are in our lives.

Jeff

9:35 pm 10/18:

More photos have been added of the second day of Cooper Lynn's life. See them here.

Cooper Pics

7:00 am 10/18:

Photos from Coopers Birthday have been posted. See them here.

Amanda's story of the day!!!!!!!!!!

9:20 pm 10/17:
So I'm in AWE of what I just went through in the last 24 hours. First off I'm so shocked that Cooper is a girl!!!!!!!!!!! I still can't believe that we have a beautiful little girl!!!

Well like Jeff said yesterday my water broke at 3:00 yesterday. I thought for sure that my labor would start. But it didn't, I was having contractions but nothing major. Last night I knew that I would need to rest. So around 10:00 I laid down. I didn't get much sleep but at least I was able to rest. We ended up at the hospital around 6:00. Blanke checked me and I had progress to 3 cm. We knew at the time that I needed something to kick start my labor. As much as I didn't want Pitocin I knew that we had to have Cooper within 24 hours. I will be completely honest, I was scared out of my mind. I knew that an epidural wasn't an option for me. But I knew Pitocin contractions could be really hard. So we started Pitocin at 8:30 and it took about an hour to get contractions to come constantly. The plan was to wait until Blanke came in at lunch time to check me. So all morning I had no clue how much I had progressed. I could only hope for the best. Around 11:00 Contractions started to be nonstop with maybe 30 sec breaks. At 12:05 Blanke still wasn't here so I had my nurse check me and I was 7cm. The nurse took me off Pitocin. It was so nice to not be attached to anything!!! Not much time had passed and I was feeling the urge to push. So I had the nurse check me again and I was 9cm. When she left the room to call Blanke to let him know he needed to get here, I yelled out "I need to push this baby out!!!" So that just what I did. No nurse No doctor just me, Jeff, my mom, sister, Erin, Carla, and Jessica were in the room. I was laying on my side on the bed and I didn't even really push. She just ploped out. My mom screamed "the heads out!" So my nurse ran in as Cooper came out the rest of the way, just laying right on the bed crying!!!! It was so amazing I basically did it all my myself!!! A few mins later Blanke runs in!!!!!!!! It was truly the most amazing thing ever!!!!!!!!!!! I'm still in awe of how it all happened. I ended up being in labor for about 3 hours. THAT IS JUST CRAZY! I will say I never want Pitocin again, that stuff is CRAZY!
Cooper Lynn is nursing so well. About every hour and half she is feeding for about 3o mins. She was awake most of the day!!! Now she is sleeping in Daddy arms!!!!!! We will be posting lots of pictures tomorrow on Webshots. Thanks for all the prayer and visitors. Feel free to come visit tomorrow!
-amanda

Cooper with Mom & Dad

5:35 pm 10/17: Here is a photo of the us with our little girl. There are more pics to come I promise.

1:50 pm 10/17:

Ladies & Gentlemen,
Introducing Cooper Lynn Seymore. Cooper was born at 12:42 pm on 10/17. She (I can't tell you how weird it is to say "she") was 6 lbs. 9 oz. and 20.25 inches long. She came so quickly that the nurse ran in as she came out and the doctor didn't get there until several minutes later.

Mommy and baby are doing great!

Thanks for all your prayer and support.

Cooper Lynn Seymore

IT'S A GIRL!!!!!

Cooper's Here!

Oct. 17 12:42pm - Cooper arrived. Dr. Blanke had not even arrived. Amanda pushed Cooper out in 2 pushes - I think.

We're Close

12:20 pm 10/17: Just got checked and we're at 7cm dilated. That means she should start pushing soon. Keep praying. The contractions are really strong and so close that she never really feels complete relief.

Contractions

11:00 am 10/17: Contractions are now steady and strong. Things seem to be progressing well.

The Beginning

So...this process is much different than what we went through with either of the boys. Here's the rundown of what has gone on.

• 3:00 pm 10/16: Water broke at home (after the water broke, both Dr. Reid & Dr. Blanke were contacted and each said that Cooper needed to be here in the next 24 hours). There were no real contractions following the break.
  
• 5:00 pm 10/16: Visited Dr. Blanke. He checked and she had made no progress. So...he said that there was no reason to rush to the hospital. He said to walk and move around but then to get some rest. We were instructed to go to the hospital by 6:00 am 10/17 if nothing happened through the night. We left Blanke's and went to the mall to walk then went to small group for a little bit.
• 9:00 pm 10/16: Water #2 breaks (apparently there's more than one bag of waters), still no contractions following.
• 6:00 am 10/17: Arrive at the hospital after a long night of NOTHING. (Holly V. was our nurse)
  
• 7:00 am 10/17: Dr. Blanke comes to do a Check-point-checky. The hope was that if there was still any water there to break he would break it and that would send her into labor. There wasn't, so...we had to start pitossin.
• 7:30 am 10/17: Placed in Room 1506
• 8:00 am 10/17: Pitossin started.
• 8:45 am 10/17: A noticeable pop. It was another rupture.

It is now 9:30 and contractions are starting to come more regularly and stronger. That's good.