Two Week Check-Up

Today Francesca had her two week check-up. She's almost back up to her birthweight, weighing in at 9 lb. 3 oz. The doctor said it had been eight days since her last appointment and he would have liked to have seen her gain an ounce a day, but she only gained five ounces. Obviously she's not wasting away though, so he wasn't worried. And here I was thinking what a chunk she is, and he was expecting an ounce a day? Geez. Also, she measured in at 21 1/2", talk about a growth spurt. She's going to catch up to Annamaria before we know it. They're only one diaper size away from each other as it is.

She's still sleeping great. During the day anyway. She'll sleep through feeding time if I let her, and I can put her in her cradle and she'll sleep the day away. That is until the sun sets, then don't even think about putting her down. Maybe she's afraid of the dark? Doubt it.

On the fat front, as of Monday I was below five pounds below my starting weight. But today only four. I know it's only one pound, but I was getting exciting about actually loosing weight. Of course I made brownies yesterday, and felt the need to have a brownie sundae for dessert not only after dinner last night, but also after lunch today. And I wonder why the scale is creeping back up.

And since I'm still a lazy and haven't downloaded any more pictures of Francesca, here's a picture of Annamaria from my birthday dinner.

She's so happy to have a cup with a straw like the big kids. She cracks me up.

Introducing . . .

Francesca Diane

Born September 13th, 2006

5:15 a.m.

9 lb. 4 oz., 20" long

Sorry it has taken me so long to get the news out. It was really laziness and nothing else. We are all doing just fine, especially considering that we now have 4 children. My only complaint is that she's nocturnal. Other than that, she's a really good baby, the biggest by far. I can't believe she weighed over 9 pounds. I expected her to be another tiny considering I only gained 15 pounds with this pregnancy. Good news/Bad news: I'm already 3 pounds below my starting weight/I'm still about 35 pounds heavier than I should be. Oh well.

I was a little concerned about Annamaria being jealous, but she just loves her. She keeps trying to lie her head on the baby and gives her kisses whenever she gets the chance. It's very sweet. Sophia and Harrison love her too. Harrison is still not convinced that he didn't get a brother though, and calls her "him". Speaking of the baby, I hear crying, I'll post more later.

No Baby Yet

Well, today is my due date, and no baby yet. Perhaps I'm being a bit impatient, it is only 10 in the morning, but still. I'm tired of lying around the house, waiting to go into labor. Yesterday at mass, people would ask me when I was due, and when I would respond, "tomorrow", their eyes would pop out of their heads and their response would all be the same, "oh!". What do they expect me to do? Continue to lie around the house doing pretty much nothing? I thought I'd at least go to mass and do something good for myself. Of course if I was really on the ball, I'd have gone to reconciliation on Saturday, but I'm not that organized. So in an effort to get things going, this morning I vacuumed the house, swept the kitchen floor, windexed the mirrors, and emptied the dish washer. Still nothing. Patience is a virtue, but unfortunately not one that I possess.

Not A Good Sign

The other day we received a notice that our street would be closed for repaving on Tuesday, Sept. 12. They do this to us every few years, and the night before we have to park our cars around the corner, out of our driveways if we plan on leaving the house the day that the repaving is taking place. So since my due date is Monday, Sept. 11, I'm really considering this an inconvenience.

Now on my chart at the OB's office my due date is listed as Tuesday, Sept. 12, this is because the OB just couldn't stand putting 9/11 on my chart. But whatever, if anything a 9/11 delivery will just help redeem that day for me.

Then today as I was running errands, I was driving down Centre City Parkway, which happens to be a main road through Escondido, and the one that I use to get in and out of town from our house. While running my errands I see a big notice stating that Centre City Parkway will be closed on Monday, Sept. 11, and Tuesday, Sept. 12 for repaving. So the fact that if I go into labor when expected, I will not only have to walk down my street to get to my car to get to the hospital (luckily we only live four houses down from the corner), but we will have to find an alternate route to get to the I-15 to get to the hospital. Which by the way is almost 20 miles from our house, and getting from our house to Mary Birch (the hospital) in morning traffic can take over an hour. The past three times I've been lucky and gone into labor either at night or at some ungodly hour in the morning and have been able to avoid the traffic. So I'm hoping the two road closures and the distance to the hospital are the only obstacles we have to overcome. It's beginning to make me very nervous.

Birthday Update

O-kay, so the first half of my birthday was a bummer, but the second half was very nice.

My sweet, sweet husband, seeing how bummed I was about no chocolate cake, made a special trip to our local bakery and picked up a chocolate mousse cake for me. He returned with a very nice cake, and a bouquet of beautiful flowers.

Then we hit the road, picked up my grandma and met my mom at Buca di Beppo's for a very yummy dinner. Fried calamari, antipasto salad, baked ravioli and veal limon. A good time was had by all, and the kids were pretty well behaved. Especially Sophia. She enjoyed feeding her little sister, who sat in the booth with her and climbed all over her waiting for the next bite. For my birthday, my mom remade a lap quilt she had made years ago and I wore out with love. So she gave me the new quilt wrapped up in the old quilt, which at this point is still torn and worn, but I was happy to get it back anyway.




This morning my sweet, sweet husband woke me with a cup of decaf and a piece of cake for breakfast. A good way to start the day.

It Must Be The Hormones

Today is my 37th birthday. And all I really wanted was a really good chocolate birthday cake. I usually make my own birthday cake, being as picky as I am, but being in my 39th week of pregnancy I decided I just wasn't up to it. I also didn't want to spend a fortune on a cake that only I would be eating most of, so I thought Costco would do. They make this multi-layer "All American" chocolate cake that looks amazing. Then of course you can always pick up one of their sheet cakes, chocolate with chocolate mousse filling of course. So today my birthday consisted of working with Sophia through her school work, making french toast for breakfast for everyone, and that's about it. We went to Costco, needed milk and paper towels anyway, and what do you know? No chocolate cake. No "All-American" chocolate cakes anywhere. Of course they have them every other time I go in there, and I have to use great restraint not to buy one "just because". But today when I actually have a reason to pick one up, nope, too bad/so sad sister. So I head over to the sheet cakes, and guess what. No chocolate with chocolate mousse filling. If I wanted one I'd have to order one and wait until tomorrow to pick it up. Well, tomorrow is not my birthday, today is. They had white cake with chocolate mousse filling, and chocolate cake with cheesecake filling, but that's not what I wanted, and it's my birthday dammit, and I'm 39 weeks and 2 days pregnant, and all I wanted was a freaking chocolate cake! Apparently it's just too much to ask. I was so dissapointed, tears actually started to well up. It must be the hormones.

On the baby front, I had an OB appointment yesterday and the current conditions are as follows. 1 cm dilated, 50% effaced, with a very soft cervix. And no, I don't think it would be neat to have the baby on my birthday. It's my birthday. And I don't want to spend my birthday in the hospital in excruciating pain. Not my idea of birthday fun.