Sorry I’ve been AWOL for a while, but it was for a very good reason — Baby Frugalista entered the world five weeks earlier than expected!
Emily Leia was born on Groundhog Day, following a nasty ice storm here in the Northeast. I woke up for work at 8 am that Wednesday and *woooosh* — my water broke! There was no turning back at that point. While Mr. NSF ran around in circles, I calmly packed a bag (which I was going to do the coming weekend) and off we went to the hospital, which was only 5 minutes away. Contractions didn’t start until 12:30 pm, and then I was put on pitocin & saline drips. IVs in my hand = ick. But the pitocin, which is supposed to help get the contractions going some more, did the trick. By 2 pm I was howling for the epidural. That wasn’t a fun experience, either, but it was worth it.
Baby Frugalista was born at 6:27 p.m. Our little peanut topped out at 4 lbs., 8 oz. and 17 3/4 inches long at birth. We were blessed that she was able to hold her own and didn’t have to be kept any longer than the 2 days I was in the hospital. By the time she came home, she was only 4 lbs., but two weeks later, we’ve fattened her up to 5 lbs.
We were underprepared — the contractor had just finished our bedroom renovations, and the room still needed to be painted — but I wouldn’t change anything for the world.
And in case you didn’t know how crazy ambitious I can be when it comes to home improvement projects, I was painting that room just a week after coming home from the hospital. The rugs were put in a few days after that, and we’re finally back in our bedroom — and out of the baby’s room. We’ll be putting the crib together this weekend. I can finally decorate the nursery!
Our upstairs renovations are finished!
Personal finance portion of this post: Man, are diapers & formula expensive! I’m nursing, but I have to supplement with formula right now. Luckily, I’d signed up with the formula manufacturers and already have a number of the ‘checks’ (coupons) they send.
Congratulations again on the unexpectedly early arrival! She is ADORABLE!!
@Revanche: Thank you!
Hey Nicole, I was able to get my formula through insurance and didn’t pay for any of it! You should check into it. I have Aetna not sure what you have but the program was provided by Apria. They work with multiple healthcare providers. : )
@Allison: I’ll have to look into it — but I’m thinking most insurers may only help cover specialized formulas, as medically necessary…
I was going to stay ‘sorry’ that I haven’t stopped around. And then I thought, “dang it! she’s suppose to have that baby soon!” Sure enough…Emily is gorgeous (she looks like an Emily)! Congrats, Nicole! and Mr. Frugalista. How super exciting! (don’t you love that epidural?)
Such joy! Yeah!
My, oh, my I’ve missed a lot! Congratulations on your new little girl! She’s beautiful.
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