Saturday, January 18, 2014

Life happens

It seems like we're always playing catch up.  A lot has happened in the last 4 months: a future career change, problems with the land lord, holidays, Chiberia, pipes freezing and bursting, another future career change, mothers visiting, oh yeah, and a baby.
Cora:
I'm so glad she's here.  It's such a tremendous relief to not be pregnant anymore.  I can actually play with Louise and be a good mother again, because the pelvic and hip pain went away almost immediately after she was born.  The day after we got home from the hospital I deep cleaned my house. :) I've been pregnant and not feeling well the whole time we've lived here, so I was super excited to be able to clean and get it to the way I wanted it (no offense, Justin.  You did a wonderful job and I appreciated it immensely, you're just not OCD).  Cleaning is my happy place.
Right.  Back to Cora. ;)  I had always assumed she would come early.  I think I just have faster gestational periods.  At my 36 week appointment (4 days before December 1st) I was dilated to a 5.  This was fairly alarming because our insurance turned out to not be covering my appointments, so I switched carriers and it was going to take effect December 1st.  If I had Cora before then we'd be up a creek with no canoe.  I told her I absolutely couldn't have this baby before Sunday, to which she replied that I should sit or lay down until then.  This was the day before Thanksgiving and we had invited two other families over to eat with us, so I had a really hard time making Justin do all the work.  He ended up loving it, though.  He was in heaven cooking his turkey (I'll talk about that later).  So I sat in a rocking chair for 4 days giving instructions and reading stories to Louise.  On Saturday I was having some pretty strong, pretty consistent contractions.  Looking back, I'm pretty sure I put myself into labor by worrying about going into labor.  I got a blessing, made several phone calls to the hospital, doctor, and my mom, and we finally decided to go the the hospital.  We got there and told the main nurse our situation.  She said that since it's a weekend our insurance wouldn't be billed until Monday anyway, so it didn't matter that it was before December 1st.  As soon as I was all hooked up to the monitors, naturally the contractions started slowing down.  After a couple of hours of watching we were sent home.  Fooey.  At my appointment a few days later I was dilated to a 6.  A week and a half after that my water broke at 6:30 in the morning, then I threw up.  Did you know that only like 5% of women's water breaks outside of the hospital?  I'm really glad it did, though.  I was praying that I would know for sure when it was time to go to the hospital.  So we called our neighbor to come stay at our house for a few hours, and we arrived at the hospital at 7.  Still no pain.  They didn't check me, because apparently after your water breaks there's a big risk of infection.  The pain gradually started to worsen, along with the throwing up, so I got an epidural around 10, which was a huge relief.  It was fully effective about 30 minutes later, so they decided to see if I was dilated, and I was at a 10.  They hurried and got everything ready, the doctor came in and 10 minutes of pushing later, we had a beautiful, perfect little girl.  Cora Dixie Nuckles.  3 weeks early, 8 pounds, 19 inches (4 weeks later she weighs 10.5 lbs).
Breastfeeding is going so well, another huge relief.  I read the Le Leche League book The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding in the weeks before, so I was all prepared.  I always felt like I was forcing Louise to eat, like she would just rather be doing something else and I was interrupting her schedule (hasn't changed much, has she).  Cora is the opposite.  She's so snuggly. :)  And, like Louise, she immediately slept well, by two weeks she slept 6.5 hours during the night.  She rarely cries, also like Louise.  
She really is the happiest little girl.  She first smiled when she was about a week old.  I know what you're saying, it's just gas, but I know they're real smiles because it's when she's awake and we're talking to her.  Louise is the cutest big sister.  A little rough at times, but over all, she's so gentle with her.  The first thing she says in the morning when we go get her is "Baby Cowa?  Baby Cowa?"  And she gets concerned when she doesn't see us holding her and has to go find her.
We just love having two little girls.  In my opinion, it's easier than being pregnant with a two year-old because I'm not in pain and I can put her down and play with Louise.  I think that's why Louise has had such an easy time adjusting.  Life is better now that she's here.  Busier, sure, and it takes much longer and more planning to go anywhere, but so much easier.
I think I'll leave it at that for the night.  More later.  Hopefully.