Cora Madison Jeffers is HERE!!

On December 23, 2008 at 6:30pm Lee and I welcomed our baby girl into the world. She weighed 6lbs 15oz and measured 19.25in in length. Giving birth to her was the most incredible experience of my life as well as the hardest. I was so lucky to have both Lee and Rosie there with me. They were an incredible support team!



I was in labor for about 18 hours...that just sounds horrendous now. I labored for about 11 hours without medication. It was the most intense back labor. I told Lee (as I was puking from pain) that it felt like I had jumped off a 2 story building and shattered my back in 20 places. After that, I decided we needed to go to the hospital where I asked for an epidural as soon as possible. Ahhhh...the relief was incredible. I labored painlessly from 10am until 2pm when the nurse checked me and said I was fully dilated and ready to go. I waited for the epidural to wear off as much as possible and started pushing at 3pm. I pushed for three hours in more positions than I can count. It was like delivery style yoga! It turned out Cora was almost sunny-side up and couldn't get her little noggin under my pelvic bone. This is probably what was causing the back labor. Dr. Wong, my delivery doctor, came in to talk about my options. He suggested using forceps for three uterine contraction cycles. If that didn't work, we would have to do a c-section. So, long story short, I quit pushing at 6pm and waited for an epidural boost and the forceps delivery entourage to arrive. In my delivery room, I had the anesthesiologist, anesthesiologist resident, delivery doc, resident doc, student doc, two NICU nurses, and my nurse. The forceps worked with great success and Cora was delivered in only a few minutes. The whole day was so worth it.

Only minutes after the epidural. I can't even explain how much better I felt.

Lee patiently (or not-so-patiently) waiting.

Houston! We have a BABY!

Cora was just handed to me and Lee is conducting the interview. I haven't watched the video yet. It should be interesting.

Doing a bit of bonding with my little girl. My eyes felt like they were going to fall out of my head. I am glad to see they looked like hell, too. :)

Cora has a full head of brown hair, big eyes, and a little birthmark on her left knee. Cora and I spent the night at the hospital while Lee and Rosie went home to get some sleep. It was so sweet to be able to bond with my little girl over night. She prefers to be held most of the time, which I love!!! We brought her home on Christmas Eve. Talk about the perfect gift from Santa! The first couple days have been long as we are all spending time to get to know the likes and dislikes of Cora. She is the most precious little pearl.

Feeling better after being moved to my overnight room. Cora had not had her bath yet, so she is looking a bit rough.

Bath time! Lee went with Cora to the nursery to watch. Cora did NOT enjoy this. Lee said she screamed her head off. She looks like a cherry tomato in this picture.

Stephanie and Cora!!!! Stephanie, Doug, and her sis, Emily were able to stop by the hospital on the way to the airport. How lucky was I to have her visit before heading home? I won't be able to see her again until February. Thanks, Steph!!

Dressing Cora to take her home. We made it home around lunch time on December 24, 2008.

The proud Daddy with his little girl in her carseat. Despite the picture (she only cried for about 30 seconds), she did incredible in the car. Not a peep!

When this little baby is tired, look out. She slept in this position for about an hour. I was burping her and she laid her head in my hand and took a snooze. She looked like a little elf in a pink candy cane sleeper. Say it with me, Awwwww!

Rosie--aka Cousin Awesome-- having some sweet Cora time.

Lee and his little Cora. She is definitely cozy in his arms.

Our internet is acting up which is why this post is so tardy. We'll hopefully be getting it up and running again soon. I am a bit tired...ok, so really tired. Check back soon for some more pictures and updates.

Single Digits!

Yep, you read the title right. We are in the single digit countdown. Only 9, NINE, 9 days to go until December 21! I will probably go past my due date, but it is still fun to be in single digits. We've been doing quite a bit the last couple days to try to hurry this labor thing up. Eating curry, long walks, and tobogganing. Ok, you're all right. I can't fool any of you. Of course we haven't been taking long walks since it is much too stressful on my body. :)

We finally put the carseat into the car. We were really thinking that was going to be a huge milestone in getting ready for the baby. It turned out to be incredibly boring and didn't live up to any of our expectations. Woo Hoo! We're driving around with an empty carseat! Maybe I should stick a stuffed animal in there for a while. Puppy? Where are you?

Now, for the big news. We had our biophysical profile ultrasound yesterday. The results are in....drum role please.... Mom and Baby are A-Okay. Of course we are. I really wasn't doubting it. I did have my hospital bag in the car just in case, but seriously I didn't expect anything to be wrong. Cora just decided to be ornery the last couple of weeks and "appear" smaller on the outside. Our little Houdini. She is measuring back to 37 weeks this week. Already a stinker.

Cora's weighing in at 6 lbs 13 oz according to ultrasound measurements (good size for 38.5 weeks). I am thanking the pregnancy fairies/gods/whomever-may-be-concerned that she is not a behemoth of a baby. Phew. In case all y'all didn't know. I was a fat, huge, butterball baby. So fat my eyes squinted shut. U-G-L-Y!. Hahaha. Of course my Mom doesn't think so. But, really, I think my sister takes the cake for ugliest baby I've ever seen. She looked like a cross between and alien and a frog. I can write this because she doesn't have internet nor a passport, so she can't kick my butt. She created an incredibly cute kid, so there is hope for me.

It was interesting to see Cora on the ultrasound this late in the game. She still appears to have some plump lips on her. Lee swears she's going to be a runner. Her thigh bones seem so long! She will be a runner if she has her dad's gazelle-like legs and her momma's coordination, agility, and grace. Sorry, Lee, but I can kick your butt to the moon and back when it comes to sports. Anyday, anywhere. :) He also never reads the blog, so he won't know of the threat. Hahaha.

I have officially started laboring! The doctor gave me a boost by "stretching" me. DAMN! Did that feel good or what! Next week should be a lot of fun with Dr. Tankel. My cousin, Rosita Posita, is coming on Tuesday. We're going Edmonton club hopping when she gets here. If Cora is here, Lee can watch her. She'll be a few days old by then hopefully. If not, maybe the liquor will be enough to send me into labor. Hahaha! No, we are planning dinner on Wednesday with some friends that are still in town and then heading to the Legislature to look at lights and listen to the community choir. Seriously, the lights are freaking awesome! And, we're decorating the tree on Tuesday night. We'll play it by ear the rest of the time. If Cora is mega late, we might head to Ft Edmonton to go on a sleigh ride. I am so pumped for her to come. I haven't seen my Red Feather cousin since my wedding! In fact, I have only been lucky enough to see 2 of my cousins (Paula and Zach) this year. Poor me. I puffy heart my cousins.

Seriously, I am going to see if the Sears guy has came yet. Hopefully the next entry is titled I'M IN LABOR!!! Bye for now.

More Birthdays!

This last weekend was my 26th birthday. Lee took me to a fabulous rotating restaurant called La Ronde Friday night. We had such a good time and ate incredibly good food. We both had wild mushroom and pheasant crepes for the starter. My entree was white-tailed deer and Lee had bison ribeye with half a lobster tail. It was a little bit interesting getting dressed for this date. I needed pantyhose because it was cold, but of course mine don't fit. Well, they weren't supposed to fit, but I made them. HOLY UNCOMFORTABLE! I thought I was going to die. Note to self: Next pregnancy, buy thigh-highs. At least my legs looked tight and sexy. Hahaha! Here are a few pictures.

As you can see, Lee can really wine and dine. He's always taken me out for really incredible birthday dinners every year since we've been together. Well, with the exception of last year when I was playing in Antarctica. The best part of my birthday dinners is I never know where we are going. I'm glad I get to celebrate so many more birthday dinners with him. I am already looking forward to a babysitter, bottle of wine, and good food next year. Bring it on 27!

Lee also gets me very sweet, thoughtful gifts for my birthday. My first birthday that we celebrated, he gave me the pearl necklace I am sporting in the pictures. It was also the same one I wore to my wedding. This year, he gave me a framed print of The Singing Butler. It is gorgeous!

We had planned to walk over to the Legislature Building on Saturday to check out the Christmas lights. Guess what? It was RAINING!! Can you believe it? December 6th and it was raining in Edmonton, Alberta! Lee made fajitas and popcorn balls and we hid inside for the rest of the weekend. There is finally snow on the ground. I was starting to get worried, our Little Winter Baby wasn't going to come home in snow. Hopefully, this snow sticks around and the flakes keep falling. I love the winter, especially since I don't drive anywhere.

This next picture had Lee and me in stitches. Lee swears my belly looks fake. I guess my belly is living up to the "watermelon" inside. It really does look like I am hiding something under that dress.

Hopefully we'll have another birthday to celebrate soon!

The Future Cora

Lee sent this to me. With us as parents, this could be our child in 6 years. :)

Doctor, Doctor, Give me the news!

Today we had our 37 week doctor appointment. Good news and bad news in the land of babies. First, the good news. My blood pressure went down (Woo Hoo!), fetal heart rate was fantastic, my body has made no progress in starting labor (not sure if this is good news, but it definitely isn't bad news), gained 4.5 pounds in one week (hahaha, again, not sure if this is good news...), and Cora is the jiving baby she's always been.

Bad news is I've gained 4.5 pounds in one week. Just kidding! Really, I am still measuring small. Last week I measured at 35 weeks when I should have measured at 36. This week I measured 33 weeks when I should have been at 37 weeks. Hmmmm? Needless to say, I am going in for a biophysical profile (BPP) next Thursday. The BPP measures fetal heart rate, muscle tone, movement, breathing, and the amount of amniotic fluid. Dr. Tankel says I could be measuring small for a number of reasons. He said quite often it is just the position of the baby throwing the measurement off, but it could also be low amniotic fluid. Low amniotic fluid has the potential to cause fetal stress, which obviously isn't good. So, there you have it. Basically, I don't look as big as I should. Maybe that is why people don't give up their seat for me on the train. Nah, it's because they're a bunch of ill-mannered Canadian college students. :)

Lee and I have a new hobby. Instead of renting, we decided to start buying DVDs on sale at the supermarket. This week we've watched the Bourne Ultimatum, Talladega Nights, and Willow. It's a lot of fun and will be a fun way to spend time together when Cora gets put down for bed. We have officially decided our TV sucks though. After all these years of me saying absolutely no new TV and definitely no cable, I am seriously changing my mind. We could definitely use one that you can see from more than 3 ft away. Aaaaand, cable might come in handy when I am up all night with a babe. We'll see. With that, I think I'll close with a picture of our current TV. All the cords hanging to the right is our high tech stereo system. A Walkman CD player or Ipod hooked up to old computer speakers. Of course, our alarm clock was moved out there so we could listen to 100.3 The BEAR in the morning. Oh, and yes, some of those are VHS tapes next to the TV. ;)

Finally some pictures ;)

As I've promised for over a week now, we have pictures! I am officially 37 weeks and 1 day. That means I am full term. This whole pregnancy has gone by crazy fast. Lee and I did some shopping...er, I mean buying... on Saturday. I think we are locked and loaded for C to arrive. Tonight is the hospital tour! Lee and I are super pumped. We both forgot about our breastfeeding class, so we'll have to wing that one. I am sure the nurses, friends, Internet, and family will be plenty of help.

Belly picture at 37 weeks. If I look huge, it is because Lee cooked the most fabulous turkey dinner yesterday. ;) I thought these were funny because you can see how much my belly changes throughout the day. The first one was taken this morning by Lee. My belly looks really saggy. The second one was taken this afternoon. My belly looks so much higher! I think she nestles down into my lower belly during the night because I am always sore in the hips when I wake up. I think I may soon need a crane to hoist my butt out of bed. Lee isn't much help. I think he finds my grunts and groans amusing in the morning. Although I've been getting a lot of back and foot rubs lately.

The car seat we decided to buy. We liked this one for a gender neutral option. I can't tell you how badly I wanted the pink cherry blossom one.

The "organized" change table. I think we finally have everything we might need. The bunny on top is a gift to Cora from Mommy and Daddy. We realized we hadn't bought her something special, just necessary items.

Lastly, these are the 4 fabrics for the crib sheet. Lee helped me pick them out. The green one on the bottom is the completed crib sheet. The blue and purple/green/cream ones are flannel while the other 2 are cotton.

We almost have our hospital bags packed. Since we'll only be a few minutes from home, we're not planning on taking a whole lot. If our stay is longer than normal, Lee can go home for more things. Normal stays in Edmonton are under 24 hours. They like to get you in to the comfort of your own home. Nurses do housecalls to check on things.

I am feeling quite good. Today is a bit of a swollen day, so don't inspect my feet. Hahaha. We see the doc on Thursday, so expect another update around at the end of the week. Despite feeling good most of the time, I have some very hormonal days. I completely broke down on discovering more stretch marks! I know that stretch marks come with the territory, but why can't they give me a bit of a warning. I found ones on my belly the day after the doctor told me I was measuring small! I think this is some kind of mean joke mother nature is playing on me. Kind of like the stretch marks on my boobs yet I am still wearing the same bras as I had before I got pregnant. Explain that one!

Alas, it still hasn't snowed in Edmonton. My birthday is Saturday and it doesn't even feel like winter yet. Bah Hum Bug! I think I will get Christmas set up the weekend of my birthday. That way Cora can come home to a house ready for the holidays! Enough of me droning on and on. Happy December to everyone!