Sunday, July 19th

Yesterday was definitely full of excitement and surprises. I absolutely loved the time I got to spend with the girls before they headed off to Grandma's they brought me lunch and showed of their new shirts that Jennifer (their new surrogate mother) bought them. Kaleigh seems to be handling all of this pretty well, but Meghan is struggling a bit. She really wants me to come home.

Shortly after my lunch and wonderful family visit, I got an amazing surprise. Three of my sorority sisters who I have not seen in YEARS showed up to visit! I was in complete shock, and I am surprised that it did not send me into full labor. They brought me a TON of goodies including letters of well wishes from some of our other ADPi sisters across the country. I cannot even begin to put into words what the visit meant, and it just goes to prove that there are bonds that no span of time can break. Among all of the amazing items they brought were place mats, glasses, silverware and a flameless candle for my date night with Sean last night (more on that later). To all my ADPi sisters reading this, HUGE Violets and Pi Love from me. . .you are the best!

My sister arrived around 5:00 just in time for our late afternoon ritual of Cheez-Its (she goes and gets them from the vending machine every day) re-runs of NCIS and timing contractions! While she was here, they were coming about 7 minutes apart for a good 2-3 hours, but she had brought me brownies, so the contractions didn't seem to phase me much.

At about 8:00 is when things started really getting exciting. Sean called to tell me he was on his way with MEXICAN FOOD for our date night. . .YUMMY!! My nurse went ahead and put hooked me up for my nightly rendezvous with the monitor so that I could get that over with and enjoy my time with Sean. Well, Cooper had other ideas! When she got me all hooked up, the contractions started coming 2 to 3 minutes apart, and this as after my medicine had about an hour to start working. She contacted the doctor on call, and they decided to keep me on the monitor for another 2 hours with plans to move me down to Labor and Delivery if things got too bad. So much for our wonderful date night. When Sean got here with the food, I was pretty much horizontal with not a lot of room for movement. He ended up having to feed me chips and queso, enchiladas and I did attempt to eat my rice (which ended up in some very odd places). It was not romantic by any stretch of the imagination, but it was pretty funny and something I don't think we will ever forget! Cooper did finally settle down and at about 11:00, I got two Tylenol, two Ambien and Sean got the boot!

The nurses up here are absolutely wonderful and I am starting to really bond with some of them. My night nurse lastnight was amazing and despite the fact that our date night had turned out to be a bust, she tried to keep the evening light and entertaining for us so that we did not stress too much about what was going on. Come to find out, she lives in Sachse (Woodbridge) and we have some common acquaintances...very small world. Before I went to bed, she told me that she had put in a request to be my nurse during her shifts for as long as I am in the hospital, and that really made me smile. I know someday I will forget about all the contractions and being pumped full of meds, but I will never forget the wonderful people that have taken care of me and the relationships I have formed with them.

I am expecting some more special visitors this afternoon, so I am going to try and get a little bit of rest. Continued thanks and appreciation for all of the love and support we are getting from everyone.

Much love,

Sean, Laurie, Kaleigh, Meghan and Baby Cooper