"Alright, my water broke. Let's go."
"WHAT??" Devon jumped out of bed, half asleep, a little panicked, just like in the movies.
I'd been timing my contractions, completely in denial that I was in labor, completely in denial that this baby would be born on Christmas, 12 days early.
My dad sped to our house to stay with our sleeping kids, and we were out the door at 1:00 am.
I waddled into the hospital leaking a trail of amniotic fluid... "Merry Christmas! My water broke!"
Skip forward a few hours...
My partner was catching a nap (Visions of sugarplums? Not this Christmas!),
while I was taking selfies and sending text messages, waiting for my epidural and waiting for my mom and my sister to arrive.
.
Mom and Molly got to the hospital around 4am, but they were hungry and since I was only dilated to 5, they left to find food, which, on Christmas at 4am, their only option was Denny's. They said it was an interesting experience- Christmas morning at Denny's- and they returned to the hospital just before 5am, just before it was time to start pushing. Things were happening so fast!
Skip the part where Devon gets woozy and has to sit... and then my mom got woozy and had to take off her sweatshirt while holding one of my legs and taking photos ... and then I got woozy... and Molly's job was to fan me and Devon using a Christmas card that she found in her purse....
at 5:22am we met our little love, Cooper Zeppelin Rantz. He weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches long and was so pink and beautiful. I fell in love right away.
Joe had thought of the name Cooper. It stuck and felt right in the way that a name just seems to fit with a family. Coop- my belly was referred to as "Coop". And Zeppelin is Devon's middle name, after the band Led Zeppelin, and while I resisted using "Zeppelin" when we were naming Max, this time around I just thought Why not? Our little "Zepp".
By the time that our kids woke up, expecting to open stockings and tear into the gifts under the tree, they found my dad and heard the news that Cooper was born and Christmas was relocating to the hospital. They grabbed the stockings and a couple of gifts each and made their way down. Grandma Donna packed up her gifts too and met us all in a tiny post-birth room.
And Christmas proceeded as usual, sort of...
Cooper left the room for a bath and returned in a big stocking- he was the best gift of all!
After a while, and a bit more chaos than I was prepared to handle (keep in mind that I hadn't slept!), I strongly suggested that Devon take the kids, and all of the xmas gifts and trash, and head to my parents' house. I intended to sleep, but I had too much adrenaline and I couldn't take my eyes off my beautiful boy! By early afternoon, I felt a little lonely, and I was so happy to see Seth and Carlee, and Molly and Aaron, when they all came to visit. I took pictures of Coop with his aunts and uncles, but not a single one was in focus (I was really, really tired!) except for this one of Cooper looking up at Carlee-
And Lisa arrived with Starbucks in hand! We had a great visit and she too fell in love with our little man.
And just as the caffeine was kicking in, my mom and dad returned, and then Donna, Devon, Joe, Lucy and Max squeezed in with all of the remaining gifts from under our tree.
Max gave my dad an army helmet, because, you know, he is bald. Love the logic of a four year old!
Joe gave Devon a new Seahawks beanie...
I really wish that I had better pictures of everyone packed into this tiny room with all the gifts! It was memorable, for sure! The excitement of Christmas and the excitement of Cooper and the exhaustion of all of us who didn't sleep the night before... It was one of the best days of my life :)
The grandparents took the kids, Devon and I settled in for the night (he curled up on a window seat that he didn't quite fit on!), and we considered it a bit of a vacation before we took our brand new boy home to the real world. One last visit from Molly and Aaron with a plate of pumpkin cheesecake and fudge, and our day was over.
It was a very Merry Christmas!
