Cora had her first big trip to the cabin this weekend. We left Friday evening and headed north to Brooksville. I couldn’t help but turn around and check on her ever 2 minutes for the first part of the trip. We made it just north of Tampa when we decided to stop and feed her at a rest area. I was pretty proud of myself feeding her in a parking lot, I made good use of the “hooter hider” too.  Cora slept really well both nights, still only needing a 3am feeding, and I even got some extra sleep since there were so many other hands to help. Big cousin Hunter showed Cora all of  his stunts on his 4-wheeler. We also celebrated Aunt Julie’s 27th birthday. It was really nice to get out of the house and have a change of scenery. The cabin always offers some good R&R.

About three nights ago in the middle of the night Andy sat straight up in bed and gasped, “Where’s Cora?” to which I replied “I don’t know honey, I fell asleep and you were supposed to put her down.”  He then jumped out of bed and stepped out into the hallway as I said, “Did you look in the bassinet next to the bed?” He then rushed over the the bassinet stuck his head about six inches from her sleeping little face and said, “Oh.” We laughed until we cried when we remembered this the next day. About two mornings after that I was feeding Cora in her room around 7am when Andy heard her cry and rushed into the room with a horrified look on his face. He  thought that after he changed her diaper last in the middle of the night that he had left her on the changing table and went to bed. He was relieved when he saw me holding her.

I have not been waking up with these same irrational thoughts, however I have been having some similar fears in my dreams. Last night I dreamt two different dreams about me not being able to get to Cora or take care of her. One dream was that I had gone back to work for the day and Andy was staying home. I was on my way home from work when I saw Andy in his truck next to me at a red light. He smiled and told me  he had a great day at work. We had both gone to work and neither of us stayed with Cora, he tried to calm me down by telling me it was OK because he, “left her next to a vent.” I feel like I need to mention that while we are having these strange thoughts we actually do know where she is and she is being well cared for. Andy and my new joke is always, “where’s Cora?”

Wow, so much to write, I want to remember everything and I know I can’t but everything is so precious. I want to “treasure” all these things in my heart like the bible says Mary did. Things to treasure:

• Going to Java Juice at 9pm Monday in search of something light to eat and telling the young boy who was helping us that I didn’t want any energizers in mine as I was in labor. He responded with, “I… I don’t want to hear that.” and quickly handed us our smoothies.
• Contractions started Monday afternoon and were finally 3 minutes apart and 60 seconds long by 1 am. We were put in a cold dark lonely room to be monitored where we stayed until 5:30 am. The contractions were hard, all I could do was breath and sing the ABCs. Andy was half asleep in the chair next to me and we were sooo tired.
• Being ADMITTED to the hospital after almost being sent home at 5:30 am.
• Getting an epidermal!!!!!
• Seeing that Cora’s heartbeat was stable after a scary spike and a drop. Praise God!!
• Our nurses Kelly, who reminded me of Brigit, and Andrea who was lots of fun.
• Surviving birth and sharing it with my best friend/husband.
• Getting to drink liquid after 15 hours of ICE CHIPS.
• All of our visitors, seeing their pool of guesses, the giant welcome home Easter egg, birthday hats and good friends surrounding us.
• LEAVING the hospital. We were so tired and out of our element that leaving felt so good. I loved feeling the wind and sun as we walked outside for the first time Thursday at noon. We had been in hospital since 2am Tuesday. 58 hours.
• Sleeping in my bed and showering when we first got home. I don’t know if I’ve ever been that tired. The last night at the hospital we got about 2 hours of sleep. My mom made my favorite meal and it was practically gone after Andy and I ate like we hadn’t eating in days.
• Feeding my daughter. She was filled with amnionic fluid at first and thought she was full so didn’t see the need in eating after her first successful attempt she pretty much stopped feeding-hence we stayed in the hospital an extra day to ensure that she passed that and started eating.
• Gazing eye to eye with Cora throughout the day.
• Having Cora calm down as soon as I hold her to my skin.
• Getting cousin Sara’s voice mail about how special she thought Cora’s name was as it is our Great Aunts name.
• Finally getting a “wet” diaper after 24hrs of none, and a late call to the pediatrician.
• Feeding Cora ALL by my big-girl-self for all three night feedings. I didn’t even wake my mom up and Cora sleep as soon as I put her down after each feeding. How good is she!
• Seeing Andy on the floor with Cora, staring at her and lost in the moment.
• Giving Cora naked “sun” time in the window for her slightly yellow skin and watching her shoot poop about a foot across the room.  Andy was worried about the mess and I wouldn’t put down my crumbling chocolate covered strawberry to help, all mom and I could do was laugh historically.
• Getting peed on by  Cora in the small window where I held her with no diaper. I was covered chest down within a split second.
• Making Easter eggs as a family and putting Cora in an Easter basket filled with candy for a photo shoot.
• How great our daughter is getting her schedule down.  She starts to stir around about 5 minutes before we are ready to wake her up to feed.
• Cora.

Wow, so much going on and so little time. I hope to put some more details and pictures up soon but I’m exhausted. We were in the hospital an extra night because Cora wasn’t eating enough and we just got home around 12 today.  Cora is doing well now and is incredibly precious. Andy has been such a great husband and Dad. We have lots of friends and family helping out. God is good.

we will be here at Lakewood Ranch Women’s Center until 5pm today (4/8).  we would love to have any guests, but if you could call first that would be great.  if you can’t make it today and would still like to meet our beautiful baby girl please just give us a call and we would be happy to have you over to the house.  thanks for all your prayers.  she is healthy and precious.

This is just a quick note, but I realized that I might have left some people hanging yesterday if they were relying on the blog for updates. But, you know how it goes…your wife is in labor, she is pushing like a maniac, your beautiful baby girl is delivered and you end up loosing all track of time.

That’s right, I am proud to introduce Cora Jean Wells to the world (or at least the people who check our blog)! Both Jodi and Cora are doing well. She is so beautiful. God is amazing and he deserves all the praise. Thank you Jesus for the tremendous gift.

I plan on writing a more detailed story with more picture later today so stayed tuned.

It is official, Jodi is fully dialated. apprently that used to be the que to push. Our mid-wife said that since Jodi’s body is continuing to work we will be letting it do the work until Jodi feels some pressure. She said she expects the baby by 5pm today. But, it could be any time! Thanks for all the prayers. Please keep them up.

No new news.  Here are some pictures from so far.

We have been watching the heart rates of both Jodi and the baby. The baby’s heart rate has been pretty steady at 130ish. It went up to 200 so I went to get someone to ask if everything was okay. When we came back in the rate had dropped to 60!!! Talk about freaked out. The nurse called for back up, Jodi was on oxygen, and they started to give her some medicine. It was nerve racking.

Everything is back to normal now. Jodi is off the oxygen, the baby’s heart rate is stable. Thanks for your prayers. Please continue to pray for the safety of both Jodi and our child to be.

Jodi is now 8 centimeters. We are getting closer!