Back to real life. Sort of.

Well, we have gone back to semi-real life. Hopefully things will continue to normalize, because at this point I am still staying up waaaaay too late, and staying in bed in the mornings till an embarrassingly late hour. Nate's been back to work for a week, and he is much missed here at home.

Fiona and I are still adjusting to each other. Sometimes I feel like I am babysitting, and then I have to remind myself that no, she is actually mine for good. I can't believe how much bigger she is already. She's almost a month old already! Hard to believe, especially when you compare it to how friggin LONG the final month of being pregnant seemed.

Today babygirl is being a clingy little koala baby. Every time I try to set her down in her cradle she wakes up INSTANTLY. Which is not cool, cause I've been trying to get this place straightened up and finish folding all the laundry and get packed. We leave first thing tomorrow morning for Massachusetts. We are going up for Thanksgiving, and also for Emily's baptism.

And of course, a few new pictures.

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First Bath and Couch Potatoes.

Fiona is nearly 2 and a half weeks old. She already looks so different than she did when we were in the hospital. Her cord fell off yesterday, so she's finally got a belly button...which is insanely cute. Since she has lost the cord, we were able to give her her first real bath last night-

It was adorable. She was pretty mad when we first took off her bathrobe (which is way too friggin cute, thanks for that, Jada) but once we got her down into the water she seemed to like it.

We've had a busy first couple of weeks. Fiona has already done a ton of things and been a bunch of places, including-
- going to Mass with both grandmas and Aunt Emily when they were all visiting
- coming with us to vote on election day
- going out for coffee (woot finally can have my double tall latte guilt-free!)
- shopping at the outlet mall
- attending a tupperware party
- going to the ice rink to watch Daddy play hockey (ok, so she slept in her carseat underneath her Pittsburgh Penguins cover the entire time- but she went!)
- getting checked out at the pediatricians office twice already (she's growing well and doing great. By her 2-week checkup she was already weighing in at 7lb10oz, and was measuring above-average length-wise. So she's gaining weight which is excellent. But we already told her to enjoy that above-average height while she can, cause with a 5ft1in mother and a 5ft8in father there is no way she stays above-average height for long...)

We also like to chill out at home. When Dad's lying on the couch with Fiona they usually play X-box. When I'm on the couch with her we watch as much Law&Order as TNT, USA, and NBC will give me. Since this week has been pretty miserable weather-wise, we've been hardcore couch potatoes.

Sometimes I fall asleep mid-episode. As happened here.

Nate goes back to work tomorrow (boo), so I'm planning and hoping to make a list of things I need to get done, and get back into a more normal schedule. Maybe I'll even get dressed and go somewhere exciting like the grocery store. Or maybe we'll even venture as far as Target! Wouldn't that be an accomplishment.

All things considered, we are are doing pretty well thus far, with minimal hysterical hormonal crying breakdowns on my part. Which is always good.

(amanda)

One more photo to close it out-

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Update for Auntie Kelsie

Fiona is sleeping at the moment, so I'm hoping I can get this thing updated a bit... Kelsie's really been getting on me about it. Sorry Kel. I've been a little busy.

I can't believe it's already been a week. Time is flying by in a ridiculous manner, especially when you compare to how EXCRUCIATINGLY long the week before that was.

I'm not gonna write out the entire birth story right now... I've actually got it started, in draft form, but it's going to be harder to write than I had originally expected. I will, however, give you a brief overview.

Wednesday, October 29th- Woke up to some mild, regular-ish contractions, and just felt kind of weird and different. Told Nate that I didn't want to get his hopes up, but to keep his phone with him just in case. I continued with my plans for the day, which included making a big pot of chili in the slowcooker, and baking some oatmeal chocolate chip craisin cookies, and taking a looooong (just over 3 miles) walk... things picked up, contraction-wise, a little before midnight. We called the doctor, he said to call him back when the contractions were 5 minutes apart for 2 hours. Around 3:00am we called, and headed to the hospital. Long story short- they sent us home. However, the nurse said she was pretty sure we'd be back within a day.

Thursday, October 30th- Came home from the hospital, feeling kind of stupid for going in at only 1cm with contractions that slowed up once they hooked me to the monitors. Everyone assured me that I shouldn't feel stupid. It didn't really make me feel better.
I had a doctor appointment scheduled for Thursday at 10:15, they wanted to hook me up to the monitors for a non-stress test and check the baby's movement to make sure she was still doing ok in there even though I was, at this point, 9 days overdue by their count.

By the time I got to the doctors office, I had been having increasingly strong contractions, at fairly regular intervals, since about 8:00am. I got all hooked up to the monitors, had to lie there on the table, and press a little button every time I felt the baby move. She was pretty quiet, but the contractions were not. Eventually the doctor came in and checked me- I was at 4cm, the baby's head was at zero station, and I was definitely in active labor at this point. So he sent us off to the hospital.

We got to the hospital around noon, got me up to the room and all situated, annnnd fast forward about 5 and a half hours of crazy, intense, pain that I won't go into now...and they're putting this baby on my chest and telling me that "It's a girl!"

It's a what? A girl? Really? A girl?!?! I was so sure it was gonna be a boy! A girl? Ohmygod Nate, we have a girl! It's a girl!

And so Fiona Jeanne entered the world. Nate cut the cord, and went over and watched as they cleaned her up and weighed her and put that goop in her eyes and all that good stuff.

And now its a week later. It's also now about 6 hours, a billion feedings, bout 5 diaper changes, 2 naps, and 1 momma meltdown after I started writing this entry. I think I'll quit while I'm ahead and post what I've got, rather than try and get into the amazing cuteness that has been the past week. I'll just throw a few pictures up here and call it a day.

(amanda)

41 weeks pregnant and on the way out the door to the hospital-

And introducing...
Fiona Jeanne LaMartina!
born at 5:25pm on October 30th, 2008
weighing in at 7lb2oz, and 19.5 inches long

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Touchdown

Amanda is in bed right now resting up some more, but I wanted to take a moment to share the news. Fiona Jeanne LaMartina was born at 5:25pm, on this October 30th. She is 7 pounds, 2 ounces, and 19.5 inches long.

Fiona is also resting, and not hiccuping for once. She definitely gets that from me...

(Nate/Dad)

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Plus Five

That's right. Five days past my (later) due date, and still baby chooses to remain in the cozy womb. They've got a few more days to play with, and then... Monday the eviction notice is being served.

But seriously, come on.

This morning, while sipping on my cup of decaffeinated Lady Grey Tea, I made a list of things to do. Cleaning, and errands, and such. Did some cleaning up this morning, then at lunchtime Nate came home (I love that his office is only like 5 minutes from the house and he's able to come home for lunch sometimes), and we went to go pick out pumpkins to carve. We both got pretty big ones, I think they were both in the 20-25lb range. We were going to carve them tonight, but by the time we finished dinner I didn't feel like making a huge pumpkin-y mess, so we're planning on carving 'em tomorrow evening.

The after-dinner cleanup spurred on a desire to do some more cleaning, so I spent the past hour or so sweeping, and vacuuming, and scrubbing the floors on my hands and knees. I also put up the new shower curtain liner that I bought the other day, and finished washing and folding and putting away all the laundry.

So the house is pretty clean.

But there is more on the list. Tomorrow I'll tackle the closets...

(amanda)

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Day 4

Doctor appointment this morning. Not much to report. Baby's moving down, things are thinning out, but nothings opening up. (That's not too graphic for you people, is it?) So my next appointment is on Thursday, they'll do a non-stress test to make sure that the baby is still doing fine, and if nothing happens by Monday of next week I've got an induction scheduled for first thing Monday morning. REALLLLLLLY hoping I don't go until next Monday. That's NOVEMBER!

So...Don't take it personally if I am not answering when you call my phone, or not replying when you text. I'm very much in a hibernation state, and pretty much don't feel like talking to anybody these days.

It's not you, it's me.

(amanda)

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Still Here

Due date plus three.
Still pregnant.

Yesterday I ate kung pao chicken for dinner, PLUS Nate and I walked like 1 mile and a half once it finally stopped raining. Spicy food, walking... I had some pretty regular contractions as I was trying to fall asleep, but I did eventually fall asleep, so they obviously weren't anything too intense. And today's been pretty much a big fat nothing.

At this point I feel like every night when I go to sleep, it's Christmas Eve. And I am a little kid, and I am so excited for it to be Christmas so I can open my presents and get the stuff out of my stocking, and then I wake up in the morning, and....it's still Christmas Eve. And I still have to wait.

This waiting is exhausting.

Today we finally installed the carseat. We've been hearing from everyone about how hard it is, and how you better make sure you bring it to an inspection station before the baby is born to make sure it's installed right, and how they actually offer a half-hour class at some fire stations in the area so you can learn how to properly install your carseat. So we head out there, instructions in hand, ready to tackle the CAR SEAT INSTALLATION OF DEATH and...it was wicked easy. With the whole LATCH system thing that they require in cars these days, it was even easier than the old way of buckling it in with the seatbelt. Just take the strap and snap it onto the little anchor on either side of the seat and then look to make sure the little level thing on the side is level. Bam. Done. So easy. Now I'm wondering if maybe we did it wrong, cause it was so easy...

(amanda)

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