It Happened Again

I blinked and one of my kids turned 5!

Nicolo came into this world in a big way, all 9 lbs of him, and he stole my heart the moment I saw him.  He answered a lot of questions that I had, number one being can you love another baby as much as the first...YES! He is so different from Francesco and I love that the most about him.  He may not be my baby anymore but he will always be my baby boy. 

The Things I Don’t Want to Forget

• I truly believe that you children become what you tell them they are.  I love the saying from the book “The Help” where Aibileen tells Mae Mobley, “You are kind, you are smart, you are important.”  We say that often at our house as our family motto.  During the first week of 1st Grade Francesco had to write about himself, and this is what he wrote: I am 6 years old, I am an artist, I am kind, I am smart, I am important.  When he told me about it I almost cried. It goes to show that they are listening and my words do stay with them.

• One night as I was putting them down to bed we recited our motto.  I usually phase it in a question like, “You are?” So I said to Nicolò, “you are?” he said “kind”, I then said “you are?” he said “smart” then I said, “and you are?” he said, “acceptable!”  I love this kid.  He is very acceptable and important.

•  I get asked for a lot of things every morning, from where's my milk to can I have cookies for breakfast. My favorite request one morning came from Francesco, who just wanted to "snuggle for a minute."

• One time Francesco sneezed and no one said "bless you" so he got upset.  I told him that I "blessed him 100 times" so that if no one was around or no one said "bless you" he had my blessing.  He came to me the other day as said he need more cause his 100 blessings ran out. I am really not all that surprised he was keeping track.

•  Nicolò was looking at a book at Francesco's piano teachers house that was written in Chinese.  I asked him if he could read it his reply was, "No, it's in Spanish." Then one day he was singing the song Gangham Style which has Korean words and I asked, "what are you singing?" his reply was, "I don't know, it's Spanish."  If he doesn't recognize a language it's automatically Spanish to him.

• Gave Francesco a kiss one day and he then appeared to be wiping it off. I said, "Why are you wiping off my kiss?" His response was, “I’m not, I am just spreading it around."

• I asked Francesco to go ask his Dad how to wirelessly connect the PlayStation Controllers, first answer was: "put in new batteries". That did not help, so I sent him back to ask again. Second answer Francesco came back with was: "Google it".

• Asked Nicolò what he wanted to be when he grew up, he said, "in Kindergarten".  I said no I mean when you are a real grown up, he said, "a Daddy."

• According to Francesco if you want to get married you have to go to the city, find a girl that will be your friend, hopefully fall in love and then she will ask you to marry her.  I was curious as to why he had to go to the city, his reply was, "that's where all the marrying girls will be."  Good to know!

• One evening asked Francesco what his favorite part of the day was? His reply, "right now, because you got home." Am I a lucky woman or what?!

Come Monday

Eight weeks seems like a long time but it's not (unless you are 32 weeks pregnant and can't sleep).  Come this Monday I go back to work and I have mixed emotions.  Part of me is excited to get back to the project that I was working on and to my co-workers who have been so supportive.  A big part of me is going to miss the one-on-one time with Carmela.  Who wouldn't miss this cutie?



When it comes to getting everyone out the door in the morning I am not fretting too much about that process.  I am pretty sure the morning routine will be fine, we have that fined tuned for the boys.  During the past couple of weeks I  have been getting myself and the baby ready for the day and taking the boys to school.  My fear is the "end of the day routine", even before the baby I dreaded end of the day.  What to make for dinner that doesn't take too long and is still nutritious (I am not anal about the nutritious part but try to not make it a complete week of less than perfect nutrition), getting through the homework fight(which is my least favorite task), fighting about piano practice, fighting about showers and then the stalling that occurs at bed time. Even now with me home,  the end of the day is chaos.

Carmela is doing great, she got here first set of immunizations so she is ready for daycare.  She will fortunately get one more week at home with her Nanna before she heads off into the real world. My biggest fear about daycare is the germs, baby's always get sick once they start daycare.  Hopefully with her immunizations and with me still breastfeeding she will not fare to badly.  She is growing beautifully.  At 2 months she is 11 lbs, 3 oz and 22 inches.  She is right around the 50 percentile for head, height and weight.  It's odd to me that she is middle of the road since the boys were always at the high end of the 90 percentiles for everything.

 


We are  still breastfeeding with formula supplement but we have moved to soy formula in the past week.  I am still restricted from dairy and miss cheese terribly :-( That's okay though, she is totally worth it.  She still gets up every two to three hours at night so the breastfeeding morning and night has been helpful (since I don't have to make a bottle at 2 am).  I have some concerns about pumping at work since I've never done it and I am not sure when I will have the time or where I will do it (it not a pretty sight I tell you).  I am going to give it a try and see how it goes.

Monday will be here before I know it and I think I am ready.

Come Monday it'll be alright!

 

Pleasant Surprise

I occasionally allow the boys to take pictures with my camera as long as I am supervising.  Lately though in the midst of all the chaos that comes with a newborn the level of supervision has declined.  So when I went to pull off some pictures from my memory card I found multiple shots done Francesco that I was completely unaware that he had taken. It was obvious that their father was around but probably not paying that much attention (LOL).  It's fun to see things through his eyes and how he set up things to be photographed.  Let's say it was a pleasant surprise.



This is my favorite shot out of all of them, I love how Nicolo is trying not to be in the shot.

Run for My Money

You would think that by the time you got to your third child you would have it down backed.  You've raised 2 others who are still alive and kicking - and driving you nuts - so the third should be a piece of cake.
Well that is a huge myth!  Nothing about my third pregnancy or my third child is anything like the first two.  To start I had more complications during this pregnancy (that is probably due to my advanced maternal age, or as my chart states "elderly multigravida"). On a positive note, I am breastfeeding her more than I was able to with the boys. On a not so positive note, she has a allergy to cow's milk protein.  What does that mean, that means I cannot eat any dairy or soy (40 % of babies with cow milk protein allergy are also allergic to soy).  Since she was only a week old when she started having symptoms we are not even going to try soy until she is at least two months old. Plus since she did not gain any weight I now have to supplement with special formula - which only comes in a small canister.  It's been crazy but she is totally worth it!  Since we started supplementing she has gain weight, so that is good news.  I never had to worry about the boys, they were always in the 90th % for weight, this little one is only in the 50th.  On another positive note, since I can not eat dairy or soy, I will not be indulging in a lot of the holiday treats.  That should be good for my waistline (LOL). 

Of course I've been snapping a few photos.  I can't wait for her to be more awake but for now I love the sleeping baby shots.

She's here! 11/29/2012

Well, the day finally came and our little girl is here.  Carmela Rose was born 11/29/12 @ 11:15 pm, weighing 7 lbs, 14 oz and 19 inches long.  She came out kicking and screaming with a full head of hair and long beautiful eyelashes.
She was due on the 12th of December and we were scheduled for a C-Section on the 8th (today).  I had had some physical complaints along the way but nothing serious until the end.  My public bone was extremely painful to the point of not being able to even lay down on my side for the past month, I slept sitting on the couch.
Then something strange started to bother me.  I began to have this all over itching, my chest itched, my back itched, my neck, my arms etc. and I did not have a rash at all. I mentioned this to my doctor and told him I was concerned.  My clinical background as a Physician Assistant gives me just enough knowledge to be dangerous.  I had learned that itching in late pregnancy without a rash is a symptom of Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy.  (ICP) is a pregnancy-related liver disorder in which there are abnormalities in the flow of bile (a substance produced by the liver that aids in the digestion and absorption of fats). These abnormalities lead to a build-up of bile acids (components of bile) in the mother's blood, resulting in symptoms such as severe skin itching. There is also risk to the baby which could be premature delivery (prior to 37 weeks), meconium ingestion, meconium aspiration syndrome and even stillbirth.
So even though the primary presentation is itching all over with out a rash the most prevalent itching occurs in the palms of the hands and soles of the feet.  That I did not have, but to be sure the doctor did a blood test for my bile acid level.  It came back normal 8 (ref range 0-10).  So he felt that the itching was just due to pregnancy but not concerning for the baby.  I was told to take benadryl at night to help get to sleep.
A week and a half goes by and I am still itching even worse, I also am tearing up my skin from scratching all the time.  I call and ask if there is anything else I can do and they prescribe a steroid cream.  I also ask if we can do the test again, they agree and draw blood.  I go for my regular appointment and we talk about how he is still not concerned about ICP but do talk about moving up the c-section date due to the sever pain in my pubic bone.  He tells me he will call to let me know if he can move it to the 5th of Dec.
The next day I am out of work for maternity leave one day.  I am at home itching away and the phone rings, it's the doctor.  He was originally calling to tell me he was going to be able to reschedule the c-section but had checked my lab work prior to calling me.  The new test came back and my bile acid level was 80!  He said he had to sit there for a minute and process it, he could not believe how high it was after being normal 2 weeks prior. He called and said that the high level warranted having the baby @ 38 weeks to avoid any complications, and could I come in that night.
So, we rallied the troops and went to the hospital.  I had to wait 6 hours due to eating Oreo cookies and milk just prior to his call.
Then at 11:15 pm Carmela Rose was here and she was healthy!
 
Heading Home

Snuggle Time

And the countdown begins - Week 35!

 So I've made it to week 35!  I took this picture this morning and Francesco told me I looked like a blueberry.  I think I look like Violet from the Willie Wonka movie after she ate the gum.  Just waiting for the little orange guys to roll me away.



As of right now I have exactly 33 days till my scheduled C-section.  I am pretty certain that she will not wait that long since that is only 4 days prior to my due date.  I tried that with Nicolo and at 39 weeks exactly I went into labor, same for Francesco (except I did not have a C-section scheduled then).  I know that it take 40 week gestation to have a baby but not my babies, it take 39.  Not to mention that Nicolo was 9lbs at 39 weeks. 

We have been contemplating the height and weight of this little girl; Michael say she'll be 20 inches and 9.5 lbs., I say she will be 21 inches (cause she feels long) and about 8.5 lbs.  We'll see soon enough.  I have not bought anything in the "newborn" size. I did finally get the car seat so we can bring her home and a few baby essentials.  It strange that with number three I don't feel the need to have all the stuff that I had to have for number one.  I have a place for her to sleep, stuff to feed her, change her, clothe her, and get her home safe. Sound like enough for me!