Happy Birthday Cora!!!

Little Miss Cora made her appearance on October 27, 2011 at 2:38 a.m.  She weighed 7 lbs 3.5 ozs and was 21 inches long. 

On October 26th I went to Dr. Allen's office for my 38 week check up.  Good thing Paul met me there!  My blood pressure was a little high, my feet were slightly swollen, and my hands has swelling in them...so Dr. Allen wanted to get me monitored for a bit.  So she checked my cervix and I was 3 cm dilated; Cora's heartbeat was in the 120s.  So at 3:30 or so we were off to the hospital we went.  I opted to walk...it wasn't that far, only a half a block. 

After registering, I was wheeled up to labor and delivery.  I was then taken to ultrasound where we got to see Cora.  The tech was great.  She was the same one that did our anatomy scan.  Cora's heart beat was 133 and she scored an 8 out of 8 on the different things they check (heart rate, movement, size, etc).  She showed us her face and she had chubby cheeks!!! 

Back up in Delivery, they hooked me my belly up to the contraction monitor, the monitor for Cora's heartbeat, and a cuff for my blood pressure.  It had been about 45 minutes since my doctor's appointment, but they went ahead and checked my cervix again.  I was 4 centimeters and without hesitation both nurses said honey you are staying.  So I gave three vials of blood and was moved over to the Delivery side of Labor and Delivery.

I got a new nurse, Meredith, whom was due a week from the 26th (she was due a week before me!).  She was great but didn't get to meet Cora.   Heather was our delivery nurse.  She was great.  Hell she almost delivered Cora.  So about 12:00 a.m. on October 27th they put my epidural in at 12:30 Dr. Allen broke my water.  At 1:30 or so Heather put my cathater in and checked me at the same time. I was fully dilated and my cervix was very thin.  She told me to try a push so I did.  She said oh honey, you're ready so I'm going to empty your bladder and take it back out since we take it out for delivery anyway.  So, they came in a set up the table for delivery.  Heather then came back in and we started pushing.  I pushed about 8 times with her and she okay lets not do push anymore, let me get Dr. Allen.  So Dr. Allen came in and said wow you're further than I thought you would be.  Kathy asked if she could come back and I didn't care as long it was okay with Dr. Allen.  Kathy came in, as I was pushing and out came Cora.  I pushed a total of 10 times and it lasted about 15 minutes.  Let me tell you I loved my epidural!!!  Greatest invention in the world lol!  I applaud those do all natural...not happening with this girl!!  So both of Cora's grandmother's got to see Cora enter the world.  Paul was his natural calm self but you could tell he was excited.  He couldn't wait to touch her.  SHE HAD HAIR!!!! AND IT IS RED!!!!!   More to come later.