Our New Baby Girl

Isn't this a cute picture I just snapped. David wanted some cuddle time with Mia so they crashed together on the pull out bed and I thought it was adorable.



Here is the post everyone's been waiting for. I have pictures of Mia's first moments, I have funny stories about her delivery, and most anticipated of all, I have a name to share. Without further ado . . . may I introduce you to












Mia Isabella Franceschini
She actually picked it believe it or not. Dave and I were talking about the middle names this afternoon and he was leaning towards Isabella. She was sleeping snuggled in her daddy's arms so I leaned over and asked her, "Are you my Mia Bella" and she cracked a huge little smile in her sleep. I looked up at Dave and said, "well I guess that's that." In hindsight she was probably just passing gas, but it was too cute to ignore. Thank you to everyone for your votes and input, we love how everyone embraced the story behind this name.


Speaking of stories, her birth is quite a story in and of itself. It all started on Sunday with our pregnancy photo shoot and baby shower. After the shower my cousin Lynn gave me an awesome reflexology foot massage that started consistent contractions a few hours later. Those contractions lasted through Monday and Tuesday with absolutely no change, but Tuesday night we came to the hospital because they were only 5 minutes apart and super intense. I was still only 1.5 cm dialated so they had me walk for an hour. Well I wasn't about to deal with all of this no change nonsense anymore so I was doing lunges down the hall, squats, jogging in place, and after an hour we were to 2.5 cm. So we started on some contraction inducing medicine to try and make them more intense, and the medicine actually shut them down. By this point it was about 7 am on Wednesday morning and we got down to business with an epidural and Pitocin. When she came back to check at 10:30 am I was barely 4 cm and at the rate we were going it looked like we would be meeting baby Mia that night.

10 MINUTES LATER . . .

My contractions were completely different and painful so we called her back in thinking I needed to up my epidural dose. She had me explain the pain, raised her eyebrows, checked me again, and said, "Well honey, we don't have a cervix anymore." I was shocked. We'd gone from a measley 4 cm to past 10 and ready to go in 10 minutes. She was a pro as she preped the room for delivery and Dr. Watson raced over just in time. I pushed a total of 12 times over the course of 3 contractions and we were done. Mia was bright purple because the cord was wrapped around her neck twice but started breathing beautifully and showed no signs of distress. It was an absolute miracle that she came so quickly because my tailbone is totally in the way and she was face up so it should've been much harder. Had she spent any more time in the birth canal with that cord around her neck we could have had serious problems so thank you Jesus for getting her out so quickly and easily.


During this very quick and easy delivery my sisters Stacia and Sarah were by my side along with David. Sarah was hanging out up by my head and after witnessing two very mild pushes (no screaming or anything) she turned white, almost threw up, and the nurse barely got her on the floor before she almost passed out. It was hilarious! She'll never live it down the poor thing.


Eva was eagerly waiting across the hall with Grammy and was just so precious when she finally got to come in the room and meet her little sister. She sang to her, kissed her little hands and forehead, and made sure the paparazzi stayed away with their cameras because she noticed that Mia didn't like the flashes. She's going to be a great big sister! Here are some pics from her first moments and the visitors who were there to welcome her.

Her uncle Matt gets home from military leadership training tomorrow, and Grandpa gets here on Saturday so we'll keep the pictures rolling.