Four weeks!

Frances has been here for a whole four weeks. I'm still getting used to it; she made her entry so quickly. I labored at home for about 2 hours, thinking there was plenty of time. Just as I was about to call my doctor and tell him we were on our way to the hospital, the contractions suddenly got very, very painful. We rushed out the door as quickly as we could, which was not as fast as I'd have liked, and got to the hospital just in time. Fortunately, the ER staff that morning was the most competent one I know and he got us up to labor and delivery quickly on a gurney. (I once delivered a baby in the L&D triage area as the woman was transferring from wheelchair to bed -- not ideal. Considering my water broke and the baby started to crown on the way from the elevator to L&D, I'm glad I was lying down.) An OB resident and friend of mine delivered Frances. My doctor didn't even know I'd delivered until that afternoon!

Anyway, Franny's very cute and sweet. And tiny! She only weighed 6lb 6oz at birth. I was not expecting such a small baby after having an 8lb Edith. Franny's been trying to catch up, though, and is quite the little piglet. She already looks so much bigger and fatter than when she was born. She enjoys being worn around the house and around town in my baby wrap -- wish I had had it when Edie was tiny. She sleeps or just looks around with her giant dark blue eyes.

Edie's still getting used to having a baby around. She mostly ignored Franny for the first few weeks when she realized that the baby wasn't a new toy for her to play with. She isn't overtly jealous, but she does get pretty frustrated when I can't pick her up or get on the floor with her because I'm nursing. Now that Franny's not eating constantly, I'm able to play with her a bit more and she's happier. She's also more interested in Frances, mostly patting her sweetly and blowing kisses, only occasionally trying to poke her in the eye.

In other super-important news, Edie is finally walking! She'd been cruising well and taking two or three steps here and there, but one day around the seventh of this month, she just started walking all over the place. She began by crawling on her feet and hands with her bum in the air, which was pretty funny. Then she just stood up and took off! Carl bought a little monkey backpack/leash for her, but we haven't really tried it out. I doubt it will be a big hit, but it's bound to be easier than holding onto her squirming hand when she's trying to fling herself into traffic or down the outside stairs.

My little walker just woke up from her nap and is going to the playground with Daddy. Her sister is sleeping sweetly in her wrap. I'm going to miss maternity leave.

Frances Caroline is here

Kristina labored for 12 hours with Edith, so we figured we'd have some time to get to the hospital when contractions woke us up a bit before 5 am on Wednesday, July 29. Turns out we were very wrong. Starting around 7am things became rather frantic. Frances was a three hour labor and she was almost born in the car (our blue '07 Kia Rio, known to some as "Pablo"). About 10 minutes after we arrived at the ER, Frances was born. The delivery room was packed with all kinds of people and machines. I felt a bit like the father in this video:

WARNING: THIS IS A MONTY PYTHON SKIT. IT IS SILLY AND RATHER GRAPHIC.



Fetus-frightenings notwithstanding, all went wonderfully and we are as pleased as can be with our tiny new addition. Once I have my feet back on the ground, I will produce some more movies and pictures. For now please enjoy Frances's Facebook profile. Non-FB users can still see her photos here.

Edith has been very sweet with Frances. This and she is stumbling about when it suits her (a max of 4 steps at the moment) and her spoken vocabulary increases weekly. She enjoys the words up, dog, woof and bye-bye (which she is starting to pronounce bye-byes which I think is to further differentiate it from baba which she uses to refer to Frances). She also stacks her blocks with speed and style, climbs up onto the couch and demands (through the use of sign language) that we read her books. In fact, we are currently using the reading of books as a motivator for eating her veggies and behaving well during nappy changes (she always tries to pat her butt when I change her diaper).

It's harder than I thought it would be, adding one more baby. Edith and Frances are far enough apart age-wise that they need to be monitored separately at the moment. I know that will change, but it doesn't seem like it will change soon. Kristina assures me it will be easier by the time she returns to work. I hope she is right. Then again, that's 5 weeks into the future and I'm the kind of person who has trouble planning more than 5 minutes in advance. I guess we will see when we get there.