Cora's birthday was surprising and exciting, yet very smooth. Here's the breakdown by hour...
3:00 AM
I awake in bed with the suspicion that my water is breaking. I use the restroom and confirm that familiar feeling of when my water broke with James. I wake Jay by saying "Sweetie, I'm going to turn on the lights for a minute". He says "Why?", and when I say "Because I think my water broke", he yells "What!?!?!" and jumps out of bed, just standing there, looking around the room in confusion. After he comes around, we check things out and discuss the situation, and decide that yes, for SURE, my water has broken. I call my OB's office to alert them and tell Jay to call Michelle. (Note to other mommies-to-be: when you tell your husband to call the babysitter because your water has broken, be sure to clarify for him that the babysitter does NOT need to jump out of bed and drive immediately to your house - they can have an hour to get ready and wake up a bit!) Then we call our moms to tell them to start making plans to head to Mississippi. I send Jay to shower to wake him up while I wait for the OB's office to call me back. 45 minutes later we eventually get through to a nurse who reserves us a room in labor and delivery. I take a shower and throw last-minute items into our hospital bag while Jay gets things ready downstairs and goes over details with Michelle. When we're all set, I sneak into James' room to kiss him goodbye.
4:40 AM
We head out of the driveway. Destination: The Baby Suites at River Oaks.
5:30 AM
After a very relaxing and traffic-free drive to Jackson, we arrive at the hospital and get checked-in. And we are placed in the exact same delivery room where James was born!
6:00 AM
I am hooked to the monitors and they confirm that my water has indeed broken. Cora is doing great, but contractions haven't started yet and I am only 1 cm dilated. Jay takes one last belly photo for me:
6:15 AM
They placed my IV and started me on fluids.
7:15 AM
Pitocin was started at 18 mL/hr, the standard amount for inductions (since my water broke, I had only a 12ish-hour window to deliver before they'd start pushing for a c-section to avoid infection). Contractions started shortly thereafter.
7:45 AM
Since I was only 1 cm dilated, I was able to experience the oh-so-fun placement of a balloon in my cervix to speed the dilation process. Yes, a balloon. Filled with water. We had a good laugh over it (once the discomfort of the placement passed, anyway). Surely weren't expecting that!
8:30 AM
Pitocin was doubled to 36 mL/hr. Contractions fell into a good pattern, increased in frequency, and QUICKLY became painful.
9:15 AM
Cervical check showed that I a little over halfway to a 4, when the balloon would fall out. Apparently, with a second delivery, you can get the epidural whenever you darn well please though. I waited until I was feeling really uncomfortable, then called for the anesthesiologist. I had a different guy this time, and rather than lay on my side during the procedure, I had to sit up "Indian-style". The first injection went only to my right side (I immediately couldn't feel my right leg or foot at ALL), so he had to re-place the line. It wasn't a bad experience or anything, but it did take a bit longer than last time, and thus had Jay a bit worried (since they kicked him out of the room).
9:30 AM
Doubled the pitocin again and had another "balloon check". ALMOST to 4 cm dilated...
10:00 AM
Pitocin increased to 72 mL/hr, balloon removed (a little tug and it came right out), and up to 5 cm dilated.
11:00 AM
Dilated to 7 cm, but still not completely effaced. We turned the lights low and I laid on my left side to keep Cora happy (her heartrate had been dropping during contractions, enough so that the nurse had considered removing the balloon early and/or dropping the pitocin dose). For an hour, Jay and I just talked and rested. Jay watched the contractions and closely monitored his baby girl's heartrate. I could easily feel my contractions, but they didn't hurt at all.
12:00 PM
For 3 contractions in a row, right before noon, I began to feel pressure. By the end of the 3rd contraction, I was feeling the urge to push and the pressure had increased significantly. I told Jay to go get the nurse QUICK! When she came out of the lunch room, she took one glance at the look on his face and knew we were in business. She was in the room within 5 minutes, calling in the calvary to set up for an immediate delivery. She took a peek at me: fully dilated and effaced, and at +1 station... Cora was almost out all on her own! She called my OB, but she was still in surgery (Mondays are her surgery days), so the on-call OB (Dr. Moses) ran in to catch Cora. We let Cora do the work for me through one more contraction while we waited on the doc. At 12:10 PM I pushed through the start of a contraction, as they were still setting up. Cora nearly popped out before they were ready, so they all yelled for me to stop pushing. With the next contraction though, everyone was ready. I gave 2 big pushes and Cora Mae Lindsay came flying out. There were a lot less people in the room this time around... I didn't have time to get a mirror for the delivery or reach down and touch Cora's head as she crowned, but because I wasn't exhausted from tons of pushing, I was able to bend completely forward and watch the whole thing myself. What a cool experience to see your baby be born. I was in complete awe of her...
Cora Mae was born at 12:17 PM on June 14, 2010, weighing in at 5 pounds and 15 ounces, and measuring 19 inches in length. She was about 2 pounds and 2 inches smaller than her butterball brother was (no wonder she slipped out so easily)! Regardless, I still tore (maybe because she came so fast at the end): 2 short, 2nd degree tears. The delivery of the placenta and mending of my tears was really fast this time though. Cora scored a 9, then a 10, on her APGAR tests. The nurses called her perfect. Jay and I were just mesmerized by her small size and the tiny little noises she was making.
Cora Mae was born at 37 weeks and 3 days gestation (almost 3 weeks early), and thus she was quite covered in vernix (Jay thought he had an albino baby until we explained it to him):
She also had significant cone shape to the back of her head at first, since she spent so many hours pushing against my non-effaced cervix. The fluid and swelling went down really quickly though, and was barely noticeable by the end of her transition period.
Since we had a much smaller crowd in the delivery room this time, there wasn't a nurse available to take photos for us, so all photos from Cora's birth were taken by her Daddy. Here is the self-portrait he took of the 3 of us immediately after her delivery:
Hospital policy had changed a bit in the 15 months since we delivered James there, and for the better! We were able to keep Cora in the room with us for an hour and 15 minutes after her delivery, and it was so wonderful to have that extra time to bond and nurse. And she's such a good eater... she nursed for a full 30 minutes on her first attempt! I am so thankful for that, and so in love with my baby girl.
After that marathon nursing session, Jay was finally able to get HIS turn to hold his baby girl:
Then they had to take her off to the nursery for the rest of her assessments and treatments, and her very first bath. Jay went along to oversee and photo document. Here she is getting her sponge bath (and NOT enjoying it in the least):
She's half clean...
Scrubbing some of the vernix off her "cheese head":
Back with us after a short 3-hour transition period, sporting her very first bow:
Daddy's first diaper change (with a baby girl, of course):
Wide awake and staring us down at 4-hours-old:
And wide awake throughout much of the night, though happy and content to look around the room and bond with her Mama. Here she is at midnight, almost 12-hours-old, following another great nursing session:
While her poor Daddy suffers through an upper respiratory infection without meds (he had planned to see our general practitioner this morning)...
And because both Cora and I did so well with the delivery, transition, and recovery, we were released from the hospital a mere 25 hours after her birth:
Cora lost only 2 ounces in her first day of life and showed no signs of jaundice. I was up and moving around within hours, and actually doing better than I had in a month! The tears aren't even hurting me, and I haven't really bothered with pain pills. Such a blessing to have a fast recovery this time!
And by the way, we DID listen to Pearl Jam again during delivery (and the last hour or so of labor). Before that we were watching World Cup (and updating everyone on our progress via Facebook)!
(For anyone interested in 
"Hey, where is sunroom kitty going?"
