Pictures of Cora

Here is Cora's baby announcement. Michelle was so sweet and took all of these great pictures for us and then did a baby announcement. Thank you Thank you Michelle. I posted our announcement along with some of my other favs.

Easter

We had a great Easter this year. We were lucky and had my mom and sister here to celebrate with us (they flew in for a week and a half to be here when we had Cora). It was so much fun to have them here.

Here is Casen, Ciara, and Jace decorating Easter Eggs.

I love how excited Jace was doing the eggs. He thought this was great fun!

Here is Cora and Dad supervising the egg dying. Cora was not impressed.....Slept through the whole thing.

The Easter Bunny found us. He brought the boys remote control 4 wheelers and a basket. He brought Ciara a movie and her basket. Cora got an infant carrier as well as a basket.

Casen was very good at finding the easter eggs this year. The Easter Bunny did not fool him.

Jace absolutely loved all of the candy that came in his Easter Basket, especially the peeps. We ended up having to hide his candy from him. If we hadnt he would have sat down and ate it all in one sitting.

Cora Lynn Johnson

So....On Sunday April 5th we were busy celebrating Casens birthday until about 5pm. Then I started having contractions, consistently. We hurried and called Michelle and Matt and went and dropped the boys off to them. They had there first ever slumber party that night with the Bairds. Thanks so much you guys are the best! Then Skip and I were off to the hospital.

I was kind of dying the whole way to the hospital that we were going to have Cora on Casen's birthday. I really did not want my kids to have to share their special day. My goal was to hold out until after midnight.

When we got to the hospital (around 7pm) my contractions were about 6 minutes apart. I was already hurting. I was sad to hear I was only dilated to a 3 when I got to the hospital. Over the next couple of hours my contractions got a lot closer together and much stronger. I really really wanted my epidural. My nurse told me that my doctor wants you to be dilated to a 5 before getting the epidural. This is sooooo different than how they do it in Utah. In Utah you can get an epidural before you are really even hurting. So I told myself make it to a 5 and then I will be set. So the next time they checked I was a 5. I was so happy, finally I was going to get my epidural and some relief. They paged the anesthesiologist.

So the anesthesiologist shows up and begins to try and place the epidural (I have had two epidurals that were easy to place and worked great). He was having a lot of trouble placing the epidural. He could not get it placed where it needed to be. He attempted 3 times to get it placed. I was then feeling really light headed and I heard the nurse say something to the anesthesiologist about she was losing me. Skip later told me that I passed out. After so many attempts to get the epidural......unsuccessfully......Dr. V (ObGyn) said I was going to have to deliver without an epidural. I was dying. The pain at this point was worse than I even imagined labor being (and I imagined it pretty bad). About a half hour later I was a ten and was freaking out about the pain (literally.....freaking out). I am one of those people you do not want to watch deliver a baby with no pain meds....I was screaming, dying. The pain and pressure was unbearable. They kept telling me that she was right there. Dr. V could tell it was a big baby right when she started crowning. Dr. V grabbed a vacuum and started trying to pull her out while I was pushing. This is so far from my perfect delivery I had wanted. I really do not like the idea of using a vacuum or forceps during a delivery but to tell you the truth I was in such incredible pain that I did not care what she did as long as she got her out. Finally....Cora was born at 12:55 am.

It is amazing to me that even though in my mind this was truly a nightmare delivery it is all worth it when she was here. All the nausea/vomiting, pregnancy aches and pains, and the worst delivery ever, all worth it when this amazing little person gets placed in your arms.

Here are a few pictures from the hospital......more pictures to come in the future.

Here is Cora right after she was born. As you can tell she does not know what to think about this whole thing.

She weighed 8lbs. 8oz. and was 20 1/2 inches long

The proud big brothers

So sweet!!

Ready to go home.

Happy Birthday Casen!!

Happy Birthday to my Casen. His Birthday was on Sunday, April 5th. We started his birthday celebration by having his birthday party on Thursday at the Bounce Zone. He had a lot of fun with his friends. This is the perfect place for them to run and be crazy. On Sunday we celebrated his birthday with just our little family (until about 5pm...and then....more info to come).

Here is a picture of Casen and Jace before his party started. Both the boys were very excited about Casens party
.

Here is Casen on one of the many bounce things.

All of Casen's friends at his party

Casen opening his presents....he was very spoiled.

Blowing out the candle!

Happy Birthday my sweet Casen!!