Mia's first night home

None of my girlfriends here understand why I wanted to leave the clinic so early... but it was to have moments like this at home with my Boo and Thomas. We're still getting to know eachother but things are going as well as can be expected for the first week. Thank you all so much for your good wishes! 

How could you resist?

  

Unbelievable how cool she was just before delivering

 

Family all over

David ( my brother) Elodie and their duaghter Paola come to visit 

La nona and le grand pere

Well the grand pere looks happy too!!!
Mia is 1/4 italian, 1/4 french and 1/2 american!!
Pasta, wine and jazz music!! I love this and I love her... well I love both of them. 

La nona

La nona italiana!! (the italian grand mother)
We can't wait for the american one!!! 

Here I am!!

Very few comments just because my english is not good enough!
Carlyn and Mia will be back very soon.

Thomas 

Hello Mia

 

Say "aie", not "ouch"

So this is what everyone means by labor contractions being different than regular contractions... No totally sure I won't be sent home from the clinic but I think it'll soon be time to go and ask for drugs.

Boo's last sonogram

A beautiful little Boo. 

Birthday wish

What do I want for my birthday? My Boo. But I don't think Boo is ready to come out yet...

Two weeks to go...

Accoucher comes from the verbs coucher or s'aliter in order to bring a child into the world.

Thomas gets a kick out of the word "delivery" in English and the image it evokes of a FedEx employee asking you to sign for the reception of your newborn.


*Accoucher to give birth; coucher to lie down; s'aliter to put oneself to bed 

Extra outings and extra calories

I think I'll be relieved when Boo arrives because, no matter how nice it is to see friends and family, I'm starting to feel something of a social-butterfly overload; Dinner on Friday with friends, lunch on Saturday with Thomas' parents and grandmother, dinner on Saturday with more friends, followed by a traditional poulet roti and rugby with David and Elodie on Sunday. We skipped dinner last night (it was miraculously just the two of us) and today at lunch all I could imagine eating was a green salad.

It's completely illogically. Why does everyone suddenly feel they need to see us (translation= eat with us) simply because a baby is about to arrive? Don't they realize that this basketball makes sitting at a table really uncomfortable? I have to sit really far away from the edge in order to not hit my tummy and end up spilling half of my dinner down the front of my shirt. And despite my super low-cut maternity pants, I can feel poor Boo's head getting squished if I don't have enough leg room to straddle the chair. Not to mention the fact that someone has their fanny pushing up against my stomach which makes toast an extremely filling meal.

And Thomas just poked his head in the door to tell me we have another guest to dinner tonight. Whatever... this time I'm eating while horizontal on the couch.

Spring showers bring Boo's flowers

Rain, rain and more rain. That's all we've seen for the past week. We do have sun in the forecast for next Monday but the heavy downpours make getting out of the house almost impossible. At least Boo's tulips and daffodils are enjoying the rain. I keep telling Boo to wait at least until the sun comes out before coming into the world.

Month 8/9 visit

Interesting day… comical and disastrous at the same time…

I was able to escape the dust and noise of our construction site/home and had my second class with the sage femme at the clinic on bottle vs. breast. (The jury’s still out but I’m leaning towards the latter after such an informational film.)

After my class I had a strange message on my cell phone: Thomas' voice saying, "Hello, you must still be busy..." and then the voices of talk radio. It turns out he was in a minor car accident because he was talking on the phone and wasn’t fully paying attention to traffic. No one was hurt but it didn't improve his day, as he was already concerned about the letter he received from the French IRS regarding the chateau's upcoming control fiscal. All of this and he couldn't find parking and hadn't had lunch when he showed up for our appointment with Dr. Lefevre. "Grumpy" couldn't begin to describe his humor, or lack thereof. I, however, had a great laugh at his expense while he ate the vending machine sandwich I bought for him.

But things looked up then, even for Thomas. We saw Boo -- knees, heart, hands, and ears -- with the sonogram. We also learned that Boo has very long legs and, at term, should weigh between 3,2 and 3,4 kilos. And that was good news too: we should at least make it to the next visit two weeks from now without a trip to the delivery room ahead of time. I keep telling Boo that the printemps is just around the corner and that it's well worth the wait to be born an Aries. Plus we'll need some time to get the car fixed so I don't have to walk to the clinic.

control fiscal audit; printemps spring

The bag is packed

We're all ready for the clinic -- we just have to wait until Boo gives us the signal. Hopefully it won't be until the end of the month but I feel like I can sleep better knowing that if at 3am my water breaks, everything on the list is in the bag. However I did decide against bringing the suggested eau de toilette for Boo as I'm sure my little one will smell naturally sweet. All Thomas has to do is put my toothbrush in the bag and get me to the clinic.

The Anesthesiologist

It’s not often that you hear the phrase “dépassement des honoraires” come out of your doctor’s mouth in France. My surprise during the obligatory rendez-vous with the Anesthesiste-Reanimateur (other than that dubious second title) was that the peridurale is not covered by the national medical plan. Not that I’m overly concerned about paying 80 euros for happiness, which is entirely covered by our private plan, but I just find it interesting that everything else related to the pregnancy is 100% covered by the state. Except for the Wi-fi access in my room at the clinic, which is entirely à ma charge.

*dépassement des honoraires charge exceeding the statutory fee; peridurale epidural; à ma charge for me to pay