Brett and Jen Cochran

Steven Brett Cochran

Here is a quick birth story for those that want to here about it.

I started a post a few days ago but now I can't find it...oh well

So we decided to have a baby at home...we have had 2 ordinary experiences at the hospital and while they were mundane and normal we wanted something different. So I found a midwife nearby that a friend recommended and went from there. We also decided not to find out what the gender of the baby was because we already had boy and girl clothes so we felt no other need to know. We were prepared enough.

I will start by saying that I have never really gone into what I would call labor...with both of the girls I never had any contractions that I'd have to breathe through etc so I didn't really know what to expect. While my labors with both the girls were never induced I just always progressed quickly without knowing it and my water broke (with Liza) and the doctor just sent me to the hospital (Lettie)

Lettie was born the day after my 37 week appointment and so I was expecting this baby to be born around that same time. I started feeling like I was going to have a baby about a week and a half before I hit 37 weeks. It made me nervous since we were having the baby at home and so Brett kept me doing very few things, resting in bed and relaxing. But by Saturday I was really tired of feeling like my water would break at any moment and so I went to the farm with the girls and walked around for awhile. Later in the day I started have very mild contractions. They kept coming at the same intensity but they did last longer and got closer together so we called my midwife to let her know that things may be beginning. She told me to call her after 2 hours and if things were still moving in that direction she would come over and check me. 2 hours later and my contractions (still extremely mild) were lasting about 1:30 and came about every 2 minutes. So she came over and I was 80% effaced and dilated at 6 and 1/2 cm. So they determined I was in labor and the other 2 midwives arrived by 10:30 with all the supplies. I honestly felt like I was sitting in the middle of my living room with everyone staring at me waiting for something to happen. My contractions continued to be extremely mild but consistent. I felt like nothing was happening and I started to get frustrated with my lack of progress. I don't know what time it was but they checked me again and my cervix was behind the baby's head so it wasn't putting pressure to continue the dilation process. They did what they could to help me out and the adjustments they made quickly broke my water...yet still no uptake in the contractions. I felt like I could get in the tub by then and it felt soooo nice. I really enjoyed the birthing tub. I was planning on having the baby in the tub too. I thought I was ready to push so I started working on that but I was going nowhere. Looking back I think I was just anxious to have the baby and impatient and didn't want to wait anymore. Well I pushed and pushed for about an hour. That sounds awful but my contractions were still about at intense as they always had been. Since nothing seemed to be happening they wanted me to try something different so we moved to the bed. I was starting to swell which was making things not progress so my midwife wanted me to not push for 1 hour and just lay in this crazy position.

Of course this is when things actually started to pick up. Everything had been extremely easy until this point. I don't know how long I laid there before the contractions finally picked up. Brett was a trooper in helping me stay calm and breath because I was not supposed to move. I think I could have handled them sooo much better if I could have moved around a bit but just laying there was hard. I was having a hard time resisting the urge to push. Brett went and told them and they checked me again and said I still wasn't ready and to try to lay as still as possible. So we continued. Then Brett had to go to the bathroom and asked me if I would be ok for a minute. I said no I didn't think so but to hurry. Well as soon as he left I couldn't wait any longer. It was time to get the baby out and I don't think I could have waited a second longer. It was very quick and intense and I still keep saying that I can't believe that my body was capable or that I did it at all but I wouldn't change any of it. It was almost too easy until the last hour.

When the baby was born I started to hemorrhage and so no one announced what the baby was. They were focused on me. I had the baby in my arms wrapped in a towel and I said well what is it, and so they had me look and I got to be the one to say "It's a boy!" I was shocked! I think that I maybe suspected but I was still surprised (and still am). Everything calmed down a bunch after that and I got to stay in bed for the whole day and snuggle. The girls came over after church and met their brother and then went back to Brett's parents house until dinner. They spent the night there too and we are so grateful that we have family right here to help us out.

I just wanted to say a little thing about his name. Steven Brett is named after Steven my brother who was killed in an accident 7 years ago. He is my brother that is closest to me in age and we were best friends. I honestly didn't expect this name for a boy but Brett just felt like it was a right fit. I will say though that this little boy has added a balm of healing for a lot of people in my family. I hope that this little guy can be like his namesakes in any way possible. Steven was a great man and Brett is amazing too. Hopefully he'll be proud of his name and look to them for examples of being a great brother, man and husband.

We are soooo happy that we had the opportunity to have Steven at home. It was a wonderful experience and we loved it so much that we would do it again. Brett particularly liked it because he felt so much more useful and comfortable at our house than at a hospital. And there is nothing like being in your own bed with your own pillows and sheets that makes you so much more relaxed and happy. I have felt like I recovered much quicker this time around and apart from being sore and tired feel pretty good. We're happy to have a little family of 5 and are adjusting as best we can :)

Sorry there aren't any pictures but I'm on my mom's computer so I don't have any, I'll put some up later.

Things Liza has said to me lately:

1. I opened a locket heart for Liza and she said..."Thank you from my heart"

2. I reminded Liza that she needed shoes and socks on before she went outside. She said....I'm a ballerina I don't need shoes or socks.

Things I have said to Liza lately

1. Don't sit on the dog while you're naked.

2. We don't go into Grammy's room and put on her makeup

3. Lettie will still say no even if you ask her if she wants ice cream and cookies.

We made it!!!! Brett graduated last week and we moved! It went quite well. We had more stuff than we thought but thankfully the most important things made it with us! We are getting settled out at the farm and the girls are loving it!

Liza has a new puppy. It's Karin's dog but Liza tells everyone it's her's and her Grammy's dog. They are both loving being able to get outside and explore. Lettie loves all the birds!
We are still working out the all the adjustments (like having the girls in one room) but all in all we are very happy. Brett starts his internship today with the Corvallis/Albany Farmers Market and we're on our way to learning what it takes to be farmers. :)
We have our new van now (thanks to Grandpa L) and we feel very fortunate to have a car we can grow in :) We also got Liza a new bed (just a mattress) and she was sooo excited. All through dinner she would have to go check on her bed. That's all for now more updates and pics to come!

Brett got approved to do an internship with the Corvallis Farmers Market! We are thrilled. He will be able to help with marketing, events management and other areas that help fun a Farmers Market. We are excited to be heading back to Corvallis permanently. It's crazy how one minute you never think you are going to get out of a particular stage in your life and the next second everything changes. We're excited for the changes that will take place in the next stage of our lives and a little sad for the end of this one. We have really enjoyed Rexburg and we'll miss all of our friends here but bring on the change! We'll be moving the second week of April.

I have just created an online store for my at home cloth diaper business.
It is still in the works as I am learning how to do this whole website thing but feel free to pass the word on.

visit at cochranclothdiapers.wordpress.com
Thanks!

Can I say that I have a love/hate relationship with this town? We are going to have mixed emotions leaving this place for good in a few weeks! (Yes weeks!) But today I feel like I couldn't get out of here soon enough! It is snowing like crazy. Liza looked out the window and said, "Look at that yucky, yucky snow!" so cute...I'm pretty sure she heard that from me several times...still it makes me happy.

Liza is the real lady in charge at this house and she knows it! She wishes she could go fishing every day with her daddy. She loves to watch fishing videos and look at fishing books with Brett all the time. This of course makes Brett happy since this is what he wants to do. She is also very excited to move to Oregon. The other day she looked at me with a sad face and said I need my daddy, I need my daddy to take me to see my grammy. We're looking forward to spending a lot of time outside again!!

Lettie turned 1! I can hardly believe that she is so grown up. She is walking like crazy and is way too fast. She has quite the personality. She loves to bug her sister and do whatever she is doing. She loves to sit on the stairs and look down at all of us. She also eats and eats and eats....(I don't know where it goes, like Liza she weighed in at 17lb at 1 yr) Lettie is also the champion sleeper in this house! She has two naps during the day and the goes to bed at....wait for it...5:30!!!! She sleeps until 7 in the morning...it is wonderful! We haven't slept this good for a long while.....

I am excited to say that my kiddos are now completely out of any disposable product! It feels so good to not buy anything for their diapering needs. Liza is completely potty trained and only occaisionally has accidents at night but she wears nighttime underwear that she loves. I just crocheted Lettie a new diaper cover for night made of wool. It's great to not be spending any money on diapers :) If any of you are interested I now sell the diapers we use FuzziBunz. Just let me know if you have any questions and I'd be happy to answer them for you.

Brett is busy, busy, busy with school but it's almost over. I have a countdown and frequently tell him how many days are left. I am more excited for his graduation than I was for my own 2 years ago.







We love our life, we love the gospel and we are so happy!

Brett is happily graduating this April...only 9 weeks away and we will be done with school!!!! Wahoo!!! Brett had an interview today for an internship in....wait for it.....ALASKA! He wants this internship so bad. It is an LDS family that runs a fish charter out of Petersburg, AK and they also work with the local parks and recreation. The interview went really well but we'll be waiting for 2 weeks until we find out. How crazy is that though? Moving to Alaska? Yeah it's really far away....but only for 12 weeks. It would begin in May and go through August. So a nice time to be in Alaska really. So keep your fingers crossed for us. It would be an adventure!!!