The cord is gone...again!

Last Thursday morning I was surprised to find one missing umbilical cord while changing Cora's diaper. The majority of her cord fell off sometime during the night and was lost in her sleeper. There was a little bit of stump left, but what an accomplishment! I took two pictures of her new belly button and started a post about Cora's missing cord with the pictures posted. It was only after looking back at the post that I decided to take it down. I didn't do a great job covering up Cora's "private" parts in the pictures and I knew her Daddy would NOT be happy! You really have to watch what you put out there on the internet these days! Sooo...this evening as I was changing Cora and getting her into her nightgown, we lost what was left of the cord. Cora now has a totally gown up looking belly button! I have to say, I was kinda sad when the last of it fell off. This is just the start of her growing up. I know everything is going to go by so quickly. I already just want her to stay tiny and precious like she is now. So, here is the newest pic of her and her new belly button. All private parts appropriately covered!

A Day in the Life

Cora's first 10 days at home!

Car ride home. She is as orange as the car seat. :(

Big bed, tiny baby.

We had only been home for about 10 minutes. I think the boys really missed us!

Just after Cora's first bath, her hair is SO curly.

The Packers' newest fan.

Guess who made this for Miss Cora?

First pair of shoes!

Cute face!

Daddy and Cora

Laying in the sun, trying to get rid of her jaundice.

Cora's first Sunday, she had to wear a dress!

Mommy's favorite thing to do!

I love this little face!

Just chillin'

Labor and Delivery

Here are some pics from Cora's first few minutes of life. I had a wonderful delivery with help from my great labor nurse Marci, my mom, sister and Matt. Another good friend, Jenni, took care of us for a little while. Cora was born right at shift change, so we had two great nurses!

Marci and Dr. Norwood, my great team!

Matt changes the first diaper!

NICU attended the delivery because Cora's heart rate was pretty low for awhile before delivery. I love this picture because of all of the hands on the baby girl. I had the greatest team attend the delivery, my best friends were there to make sure Cora was ok. Thank you to Aunts Ana, Vicki, April and Sheryl. I really couldn't of asked for a better team!

Hi, my name is Cora!

She's here! Cora made her big debut on Monday, April 13th at 6:40 pm. We were sent to L&D from Dr. Norwood's office at around 12:30 in the afternoon. He began pitocin at around 1:45 and broke my water at around 4. After that, everything went very quickly! I dilated from a 5 to a 9 in about an hour (I also got my epidural!). At 6pm I started pushing and had her out in 40 minutes. She was so sweet and laid back from the very beginning. My mom cut her cord and Matt went with her to the baby warmer where he put on her first diaper. We were all so happy to finally see her and welcome her to the world! The family all came in to see her and hold her. She was so alert and bright eyed. It was a very sweet time. She went right to the breast and ate like she had been doing it for weeks! She's the perfect baby!

We are home now and she is still doing great. She eats, sleeps and rarely cries. I love being her Mommy and her Daddy is so proud and protective of her. We had to take her to the pediatrician on Thursday to check her jaundice level. Everything looks ok, we just have to spend time in the sun each day to get her levels to come down. She still looks pretty yellow, especially in pictures. We will go back in a week to the pedi. Cora has had lots of visitors and we love introducing her to everyone. She is just so cute, everyone loves her! Cora's big brothers Jack and Gizmo love her too. Jack wants to sniff her every time he passes by, he also likes to lick her feet. Gizmo isn't as interested in Cora, he does come and check her out every once in awhile. That's pretty much our life. We're loving every minute of it!

Just joking

This will be my last post before Cora arrives. Matt had to go to the bank this morning and he took Gizmo with him. Matt uses the bank that Robin works at. Robin was working along with one of our good friends, Rhonda. Rhonda loves her some Gizmo and Gizmo loves her in return. Gizmo, being the good sport that he is, donned the Easter Bunny ears for a picture with his friend Rhonda. Too sweet!

Still pregnant!

Well, here I am, laying on the couch and still pregnant! We went to see Dr. Norwood on Thursday morning. We were all packed and ready to be admitted into the hospital. Just before Dr. Norwood made it into the room to see us, Matt said to me that he thought we were going back home today. I admitted to him that I too had a feeling that we weren't going to be having a baby before the weekend. We were right! My blood pressure was elevated..no surprise! But, I had zero protein in my urine, no significant swelling and my follow up BP (while lying on my side) was perfect. The bed rest is still working! I told Dr. Norwood what Dr. Kurian said about the possibility of being admitted that day, but he seemed skeptical. He checked me himself and told me he thought I was really closer to 3 cm dilated but almost 100% effaced. I told him that I really didn't think I was in labor because I wasn't uncomfortable at all. I felt pretty bad after my previous exam but with rest I was feeling a lot better. We decided at that time to wait until the next week, when I will be into my 39th week to induce my labor. He told me that the high blood pressure will eventually catch up with me and that he felt good about having her at 39 weeks. We both are trying to avoid a trip to NICU if at all possible! I am happy he is being so conservative. I don't mind being pregnant for a few more days, even on bed rest. One of the good things about working where I do is a profound appreciation for being able to keep my baby right where she needs to be as long as I possibly can. I work with moms that would literally give their left arm to be able to carry a healthy baby to full term. I am VERY lucky! So...another weekend on the couch/in bed and I will miss out on some Easter festivities but we will have a baby on Monday! I am scheduled to go in to see Dr. Norwood for a visit at 1:45 on Monday afternoon and if my BP is still elevated (it will be!), I will be admitted to be induced!! This is my last post until after she is here but I will try to post as soon as Cora makes her entrance! Pray for all of us please on Monday!

Last days?

I went to see Dr. Kurian today, she is one of Dr. Norwood's partners. She was very sweet and I really enjoyed my visit with her. I was kind of nervous about seeing a new doctor but she was great. Not much new, BP was high then I laid down and it was normal again. She checked me and we were all surprised to find out I am 4 cm dilated and 70% effaced! I was shocked. I haven't really noticed a lot of contractions and what I am feeling really don't hurt. She gave me the option of being admitted into the hospital or to go home and wait it out. I decided to go home where I knew I would be a lot more comfortable. She just told me to give them a call if anything changes. I feel really good still and I am still on bed rest, so we will see how quickly Miss Cora decides to make her appearance! I go to see Dr. Norwood on Thursday and Dr. Kurian told me to expect to be admitted by him during my appointment if I haven't had her already! So I guess we can probably count on having a baby this week! I will keep y'all informed! Robin took some pics of me tonight in case I don't make it past tomorrow afternoon. I hate them, I know now why people don't do maternity pics when they are about a week away from delivery! If we can get some better ones tomorrow, I will post those!

Guilty!

The toy lasted about 10 minutes. My puppy Jack, one of my constant companions through bedrest.

Still in bed!

I'm sorry for not updating. It's not that I've had a lot to do! I am still on bed rest and just loving every minute of it! LOL I saw Dr. Norwood on Tuesday and got the results of my 24 hour urine. It did show that I had protein in my urine but not enough to induce my labor at 37 weeks. I also had protein in my urine for the first time from the sample that I had to give in the office. I let Dr. Norwood know what my BPs have been at home and he thought I looked really good as far as swelling goes. He scheduled me for a Biophysical Profile for the next day. A Biophysical Profile is a ultrasound that looks at how well the baby is in utero and whether or not it would be safer for her to be outside rather than inside. It looks at fetal breathing, movement, tone, heart rate and amniotic fluid level. Miss Cora passed with flying colors and she appears to be perfectly happy right where she is. My high blood pressure doesn't seem to be affecting her at all. So I am back on the couch during the day and in bed at night. My blood pressure has really been pretty good here at home so we will keep on doing what we are doing. Dr. Norwood wants me back in the office on Tuesday but of course he will be in Florida until Wednesday! He made me promise not to do anything silly while he is out of town. I will see one of his partners on Tuesday and will probably go back on Thursday too just so Dr. Norwood can see how I am. I am looking forward to at least a week and half of bed rest and then I will be 39 weeks. I think he is thinking about just going ahead and inducing me that week to get my blood pressure down for good. I have started to become pretty uncomfortable lying on my left or right side all the time. I have some back pain while on my right side and I have done something to a nerve under my ribs when lying on my left side which is very uncomfortable. Dr. Norwood said it was a common problem and he reminded me that I don't have to exclusively lay on my left side. I hate to complain. I don't know how women do bed rest for months. I really feel for those ladies. I guess that's it for now!