5 years ago today... Cole entered this world

I really wanted to document each child's birth story so that someday they can know how they came into this world.
I should start by saying that I had the most wonderful pregnancy with Cole, no sickness at all. I was blessed.Although I could fall asleep like a cat anywhere and everywhere. I craved oranges, cheese doritos, and milkshakes like they were going out of style. Closer to his due date,I folded the clothes so many times and spent every day rocking out on the chairs on the front porch. I saw the Dr. a few times being overdue and they even did an ultrasound where I got to see Cole sucking his thumb and all the hair on his head. It was amazing. I had my membranes stripped twice, as well as went in to be induced a few days after I was overdue. I had a few things to help the labor progress along with pitocin. I thought he was going to be born, I was overjoyed with the thought that this was it! I spent overnight at the hospital with contractions and in a shared room,so Robb could not even be in the room with me. I got the whole family to come up and wait. Although after not progressing I was sent home. This was so disappointing and I continued to wait at home. I had numerous phone calls and I got sick of saying nope, no baby here. After being 11 days over I started to not feel good. I went to the Dr. and they thought I needed to go in to have the baby. After getting to the hospital they started me on pitocin and tried to get the labor progressing. My blood pressure was up and they tested me and said I had protein in my urine. So they tried to speed up the labor and broke my water. They found meconium when they broke my water, which meant the fetus was in distress. They also did blood tests and came back and told me I was really sick and had HELLP(Hemlytic anemia/Elevated liver enzymes/Low Platelet count) syndrome which is a life-threatening complication usually considered to be a variant of pre-clampsia. So I was told that I needed to be administered a medication called magnesium sulfate, which helps to head off seizures. It made me feel as though I was burning from the inside out. I was told I needed an emergency c-section and was immediately rushed to surgery. I remembered falling in and out of sleep and thinking I was going to miss the birth I had waited so long for. I remembered telling Robb to wake me up if I fell asleep. It all happened so fast (so I was told), but it seemed so long for me. We did not know if he was a boy or girl, but I had a mother's instinct that he was a boy. They told us he was a boy and we decided a few seconds before he came out, that if he was a boy he would be Cole, other names were Luke and Ava. And so Cole was born into this world with some of the proudest parents a child could have. I know that it was a difficult birth and even though it was not ideal, I would do it all again just to have him in our life. I remember Robb saying as he held him he said "Why didn't we do this sooner?" I remember feeling exactly the same way. He brought our family closer together than ever.

Cole is 5 today and he is a sensitive boy who loves to show his love to others. He cuddles and shows affections easily. He loves to be a helper and a people pleaser. He still loves fans, and vacuums and wants to know how everything works. He is reading at the top of his preschool class and is able to do simple math. He has tons of energy and loves to play. He had taught us kindness and patience and we love him so much. Happy Birthday Cole. We are glad you came into this world and changed our lives forever.