Coop's First Photo Shoot

Thanks to my talented sister-in-law, Kimberly, who owns Tilt Photography, we were able to get some fabulous photos of Cooper when he was two weeks old. Thank you, Kimberly!

Cooper Michael Helmantoler

Cooper joined our family on Tuesday, December 22, 2009 at 12:23 a.m. He weighed 7lb 12oz and was 19in long. Quite frankly, he came sooner than expected--a week early, to be exact! The doctor told us on December 18th that we shouldn't plan on receiving a tax deduction in 2009; so we figured the little man wasn't coming until after the new year.

I woke up Monday, December 21st, and knew something was different. I hadn't slept well the night before, and was having pains that I hadn't had before. As I left for work that morning, I warned Chris that the baby could possibly be on his way.

I went to work for my last day and stayed until 1:00 p.m. By 4:00, I was having pretty intense contractions. Even though they were quite regular, they were only about 10 minutes apart. I called the hospital and they told me they would admit me once my contractions were 4-5 minutes apart. By 5:00, we were on our way to the hospital.

I was admitted by 5:30 and had my epidural within an hour. At 8:00, the doctor broke my water and two hours later, I was fully dilated and ready to push. I started pushing around 10:30, and the little man was born about two hours later.

Chris and I are in love with this little man! We think he is absolutely precious and we love being his parents!