Well, it's a complicated process. Having ordinance on the planes on a crowded flight deck is highly dangerous, so once you decide to make a strike you can start loading the planes with bombs and torpedoes. Each bomb and torpedo has to be armed as well. Fueling was also required, with its attendant dangers.

Then, you have to aim the carrier into the wind. This allows more airflow over the deck, so that the planes trying to take off are getting the biggest headwind possible. With more airflow over the wings, the heavily laden planes had more lift, making takeoff much easier. Getting the entire task force to turn with the carrier--dozens of ships usually--takes some coordination.

For Midway, there were additional complications, especially for the Japanese. Since they were not expecting the US fleet to be around, they were mostly concerned with making ground attacks. So, after their first strike they were rearming with bombs suited to attack ground targets. Unfortunately for them, the US had broken their naval encryption and anticipated the attack. So, when the Japanese scout planes found the US fleet, the Japanese were forced into a difficult decision--attack now with weapons ill suited for harming ships, or take the time to switch over to anti ship weapons. They chose the latter, and were caught in the middle of the maneuver.

How they got caught then rather than having the time to clear their decks is an unasked part of your question. Planes would take off one at a time, but then they would group up to fly together to the target. One of the things that takes a good deal of time is launching all of the aircraft and waiting for them to get into formation, as well as matching up the escorting fighters with the attack aircraft. The Americans had the individual squadrons go towards the Japanese fleet immediately--without escort.

This saved time, but it was a fateful decision in many ways. The first squadrons to arrive at the Japanese fleet were torpedo bombers, and they had no fighter escorts. They were savaged by Japanese fighters. Not a single plane survived from one squadron (George Gay was shot down in the middle of the Japanese fleet, and would bob in the water with a front row seat for its destruction). With the Japanese fighters still climbing back up to interception altitude, the dive bombers arrived. They didn't have escorts either, but they didn't need them since the Japanese fighters were still on the deck. Also, multiple squadrons of dive bombers arrived from different directions at the same time. This made the situation for the Japanese fleet very complicated, and in a handful of minutes the Japanese had three of their four carriers heavily damaged and on fire. The timing of the various squadrons arriving on the scene was good luck for the Americans, and it was heavily influenced by the decision to send the various squadrons on their way without waiting for them to form up for a standard attack.

Does that answer your questions? Followup questions from OP and others are always encouraged!