Sunday, May 29th at 24 weeks and 3 days pregnant; Karen started to have what she though were Braxton Hicks Contractions. Lightly, and a tad uncomfortable at first she went on with her day. Sunday night as the contractions started to get stronger and more uncomfortable she was up all night. When 6 AM came around Monday morning (Memorial Day) Karen called her O.B. and he instructed her to head to the hospital to make sure everything was okay.
When Karen and Jason arrived a an hour later that morning they found that they were in fact labor contractions and Karen was given medicine to stop the them and for safety precautions Karen was transferred to a hospital with state of the art NICU, since she was still early in her pregnancy. Shortly after the arrival there, Karen's water broke and the news that Baby Cooper would be joining us 4 months early was given. There was a lot of heartbreak, nervousness and worry with this news.
It was found that Karen had an infection in her amniotic fluid that caused her labor to start. It also caused her to have little to no fluid for baby.
After pitocin was started, several hours passed, and Karen and Jason had SO many prayers and visitors. We as a family are so truly blessed with an enormous support system. It is amazing...Really amazing.
Baby Cooper was born shortly after 9 PM weighing a whopping 1 pound 5.9 ounces and measuring 12.5 inches long.
The NICU team took him immediately and started to work on him. After 20 or so minutes they whisked him away to the NICU where the awesome folks there got him hooked up to everything to help him breathe, feed, and nourish himself.
The doctor gave good reports that he was breathing and had a regular heartbeat.
As of now, at 2 days old Cooper Grayson (more on his name later) is breathing on his own. He has a CPAP on and, as the doctor said "is doing remarkable"
I have to say that this is truly a difficult experience. Even from my view as the {favorite} aunt. BUT, the support, love and prayer is AMAZING. Facebook, texting, emails... it is simply amazing.
Thank you for your prayers... and your continued prayers.
Cooper, Jason and Karen will need them for many days to come.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above.” James 1:17
