Cora’s Birth Story
For the most part my pregnancy with Cora was much easier than Ainsely’s. Other than having to care for a toddler while pregnant and being pretty much exhausted most of the time, it was fairly uncomplicated.
The one thought I had most often through Cora’s pregnancy was how would labor be with her. Would it be fast because most people said second time moms had faster labors by nearly half the time. Ainsley’s labor was 3 hours and 7 minutes from start to finish. So, that was a little worriesome. But at the same time, my pregnancy with Ainsely was a little complicated, and I was half way dilated before I even started labor with her. So I wasn’t convinced my labor with Cora would be as quick since the circumstances were totally different. However as labor neared I did start to dilate more. By my 38 week (38w3d) appointment i was 4cm dilated and 60% effaced and my cervix was very “mushy”. My midwife was hesitant (before checking me) to say that this labor would be quick even given my history, because “every pregnancy and labor is different”, but after checking me and feeling my cervix, she changed her tune and told me as soon as I thought I was in labor that I should probably head to the birth center! haha
So, the morning of Saturday October, 22nd, we had a birthday party to attend for one of Ainsley’s friends. Before we left, I went to the restroom and had a little streak of blood in my discharge (some people consider it the mucus plug), so I thought, huh that’s interesting and new, but that isn’t a definite sign of labor. So on our way to the party, I thought I would mess with Landon a little and told him I thought today was the day, and I would probably go into labor during the A&M/Alabama game that evening. He agreed that was likely because that’s just our luck! haha Also because we had plans to have a few people over to watch the game. It was a busy day, with the party, then running to the store for some last minute items to make for the party and cleaning up for our guests. I was pretty tired but enjoyed having the company. At 5pm I finally sat down to just watch the rest of the game and felt my water pop. It felt exactly like what happened with Ainsley. But when I stood up nothing immediately came out, so I went to the restroom to see what was going on. I sat on the toilet and still nothing. So I went back out to the living room and then I felt a trickle. I went back to the restroom and confirmed and then decided to try to go discretely tell Landon, but when I went out there I guess my face gave it away, and the fact that I was trying to get Landon’s attention, and my friend Katie, asked me if I was in labor. So I said yes, and Landon still wasn’t paying attention! Lol, he was the last one in the room to realize what was going on. When he figured it out, he was sort of in panic mode trying to figure out what we needed to do because we thought we needed to get to the birth center quickly because of Ainsley’s birth. But I wasn’t convinced it was going to be that quick, with Ainsley contractions started immediately and were about 3 minutes apart and strong, I still hadn’t really felt too many contractions and didn’t want to leave too early. So I called my doula and asked what we should do. She said to time them and come in when we thought they were strong enough. Also we weren’t sure what to do with Ainsely. Landon called his parents to come over asap, and we decided with our friends that they would stay and watch Ainsley for us if we felt we needed to leave before Landon’s parents got there. Them being their turned out to be such a blessing because not too long after I decided we didn’t need to go right in, my contractions began and they were about 4-5 minutes apart, so to be on the safe side, we decided to go ahead and head in, it was probably about 5:30 when we left the house. This car ride was completely different from the one with Ainsley. I was definitely in active labor and having contractions that made me stop talking and have to focus through, but they were probably a couple of minutes apart and I was able to sit and talk to Landon in between them. I was so much more “with it” and able to handle the contractions because they were definitely not as intense at the time. The car ride there was about 20-25 minutes long, and it being a Saturday afternoon, traffic wasn’t bad. So we got to the Birth Center at the same time as my doula Robin did, about 6pm, and we immediately went into the birthing room and got set up, I was still talking through and in between them, but stopping and swaying my hips when one would start. We decided to try getting in the shower to see if the hot water would help, I tried it but didn’t really care for it, so I got out and thought I really needed to use the restroom, but my doula was afraid that meant I needed to push, so we went to the bed instead and I labored on my hands and knees. There was a midwife there because my midwife was not able to get there as quickly as we did, but my midwife did show up around the same time I moved to the bed which was about 6:45pm. I remember still having time in between my contractions to rest and just listen to the conversation going on in the room and this was one of the biggest differences in my labors. With Ainsley as soon as we got into the car for the trip to the hospital my contractions were one on top of another and I felt like I had very little break at all in between them and I was completely just inside of my own head and not aware of much going on while at the hospital. But during this labor I was listening to the conversations and laughing at what my doula and midwives and nurses were talking about and thinking about all kinds of things, apologizing for stuff and probably just way to worried about trivial things, haha. Probably around 7pm I started to push a little, nothing serious, but I felt like I needed to do something. I kept thinking why is this taking so long, this is my second baby, it should be faster! lol I remember asking Landon how long had we been there, and he said only about an hour! Ha! At some point my midwife asked if I wanted to turn over onto my back, and I agreed because my legs were getting tired. But as soon as I turned over the pain intensified ten fold! So I turned more onto my side and decided I was just done, I needed to get her out NOW. So I really started to push and at 7:23pm she was born!
I was later told that her head came out transverse, meaning instead of face up or down (which is normal) she was looking sideways towards my thigh, which only means that it was harder to push out because of the angle, but also her shoulders were following that way and needed to rotate which the midwife did for me. I didn’t know any of this was going on until afterwards. She also had the cord wrapped around her neck, but like a necklace, if that makes sense. There was never any panic or tension in the room, they handled everything very calmly and my body did what needed to be done. Landon held my hand, kept things positive and told me I was doing great over and over whenever I needed to hear it, he also kept providing me water to drink in between the contractions, he did just what I needed from him! Cora was perfect, had dark hair and was 8 pounds 19.5 inches long and had a strong set of lungs! My mom and Landon’s mom had both driven straight to the birth center when we told them we were headed there and were waiting in the waiting room, they could hear everything and even the moment she was born. After having a few minutes with Cora they were able to come meet her and then headed to our house. We both were doing great and because I had her at a birth center we only had to stay for 2 hours as long as both of us were doing well. So at about 10pm we had gathered all of our things and headed home where Landon’s parents, my mom and grandma were waiting for us. It was amazing to be able to go home and sleep in our bed and wake up to see Ainsley and introduce her to her baby sister. The only downside is that I was still on such an adrenaline high that I felt great the next day and didn’t make myself rest like I should have, a couple days later that hit me like a freight train! Also, the night she was born Landon started feeling really bad and he ended up having strep throat! So for the first 48 hours of Cora’s life he basically couldn’t hold or do anything with her. Thank God for family and all the help they provided! Overall Cora’s birth was faster than Ainsley’s at 2 hours and 23 minutes, but not by half! It was very different though, some ways easier and in others harder, but mostly less dramatic and it seemed calmer, which so far describes Cora’s demeanor!
