1 Month Later

Sorry for the gap between posts. I should have put something up sooner, but brain needs sleepy in order to typee.

So Via is, in general, just about the easiest going baby I could have asked for. She has a very good ability to calm herself (momma said she was starving yesterday in the Dollar Store and was making this known, but then just quieted down as if she had made her point and knew it would be addressed soon. Very cool) She's sleeping well through the night for the most part. Formula is the rule now, and her stomach isn't the biggest fan of the normal stuff, so we switched to the soy formula yesterday and it seemed to work right away. She had a couple gassy moments, but we got through all that and slept for up to 2 1/2 hours at a time! WooHoo!!

She's already holding her head up some (not sure what the time frame for that is, but the sooner the better I say) and she will stare you directly in the eye. Very aware of what's going on it seems, even if she has no idea what it is she's looking at, or how to control her reactions to things yet. Can't wait to interact with her more when she actually can smile and coo without it being the result of a toot. :p

Anyway, I will be more diligent about making posts. We'll be having Easter and Christening stories to tell soon enough! By the way, the Christening will be May 16th at 1:30pm. That's the week /after/ Mother's Day for those who may be concerned about mixing parties.

Carrot Top!

It finally happened! Victoria is with us and we are complete. :) Mom has decided her nickname should be Gorgeous (or at least that's what I think, because she calls her that more than anything else. :P ) And Greg finally has a little sister (diaper changing lessons coming soon!).

Little Via made her entrance about how I thought she would. Fast and furious! 15 minutes after Barbara's water broke we were beholding an orange-haired smurf! Of course her skin turned the lovely pink, but Victoria's hair decided to stay red! Go figure. And my 89-year-old grandmother called it the day before. She's like a gypsy prophet or something. I laughed out loud when I saw her hair was red. We're kind of hoping it stays that way, but you never know with babies.

We came home Saturday afternoon and have been on baby-watch ever since. Daddy takes the first part of the night till about 2 or 3 am, then mommy takes over till dawn and beyond (she's a machine I tell ya!). We'll see how this works out going forward, but it helps alot that Via is a very agreeable little girl. Already she's looking about and focusing on people's faces, very alert and responsive. Mewls like a kitten though, which is cute, but she can bark a bit when she's hungry. :p

Anyway, here are some of the pics we took over the first few days. We're going to break out the video camera tonight and take some rolling footage so you can see some of the expressions she makes.

Crisis Averted!

So it's been a while since the last post. Some of that was due to not much happening, and then it was due to WAY TOO MUCH happening all at once. :)

At 36 weeks we went for our visit with the midwife. She couldn't tell where the baby was positioned, so we had a new ultrasound done (got some new pics, really cute, though one looks like she's giving us the finger and grinning). The baby was breach and we've been spending the last few weeks trying to get her out of the comfy position she seems to have been in for the last 2 months (she was basically sideways).

We went to the chiropractor and he suggested using the Webster technique to get the baby to "spin" as they call it. He tried this for a few sessions, but wasn't having much luck. He then referred us to a lady by the name of Jeannie Ohm, who apparently learned from Webster himself how to do this technique. This was Monday of last week. On Tuesday Barbara went back to the midwife to speak with the doctor who partners with her about the baby being in breach. Unbeknownst to us, this was a consultation for a C-Section for this morning! And I was at work during this! At one point the doctor asked if she had any questions and Barbara said "No. but my husband will." The doctor said that even if we could get the baby to turn, they would induce anyway, as the chances of the baby staying in position were slim.

So here we are, scrambling to get the baby to turn. Trying to run here there and everywhere to meet with specialists and what not (during a BLIZZARD!) We met up with Mrs. Ohm and she did her thing, told us to call out sick from the c-section and gave us some incense to burn near Barbara's pinky toes to help enhance baby's calm (or something like that). This only helped to make Bea sick (she's midly asthmatic so inhaling any kind of smoke makes breathing even more difficult, let alone having a baby up in her ribs.)

By Saturday night we'd had enough. Between her laying upside down on ironing boards and half burning her toes with the incense to freezing her out with frozen bags of vegetables and taking weird homeopathic drugs, we said enough. We put it in the Lord's hands and said if it's going to happen, it's going to happen, but either way, this baby is coming on Monday!

So we spent part of yesterday cleaning the house, and then Bea and her friend Nell went out for mani/pedi/facial/shopping extraveganza! I bought a new TV (hey, we all cope in different ways). We went to bed and woke up at 4:00am to be at the hospital by 5:30 to prep for the procedure.

Long story short; it took them 4 tried to get the IV in her arm (ended up putting it in her hand and making her even more miserable), sat us down, and we waited till 7:30 when the doc and midwife showed. They gave us a courtesy ultrasound just to make sure where baby was at and.....Lo and behold, her head was in position! I have no idea what all the other bulges are in Barbara's stomach, but the one that matters is where it needs to be! Hallejujah!

The midwife did a quick check and said we are going home, as there is almost no dialation and Barbara's body isn't ready to deliver yet (though the monitor showed small contractions every 3 minutes or so).

Final analysis, we go back Wednesday night at 7:30pm (thank God. I'm dragging here at work after the early morning roll call) and they will give her a "ripener" to help the process along and possibly induce if need be. We are both just happy and relieved that we've averted any kind of sugery, and thank the Lord and all of our friends for any prayers or thoughts toward the health of our baby and mom. As it is right now, we'll hopefully have an update some time Thursday morning! :)

P.S. I'm also kind of glad it didn't happen today, since we're both sick! I don't get sick but once every 2 years or so, but feeling this crappy on the day my daughter is born would have sucked! So go Victoria! Make daddy happy! :p

This Ugly Yet Beautiful World

Went to "Birthing Class" this weekend. Thank God they didn't show the Miracle of Life video. Once in high school was enough for a lifetime. But they did show a DVD that followed a whole slew of couples on their way in and out of labor. Very interesting. I mean, these ladies were at the house, and the cameras were there with them. Then went to the hospital and it seemed like every one of these ladies had some different situation that played into the storyline (natural birth, needs epidural, need analgesic, needs c-section, etc.) And in the end, they all had the baby on camera. So yes, they're purple. Yes, they're gooey. And yes, I had to cover my face half the time because I was almost crying. Don't ask me why, but I got all choked up. Not because it was disgusting either. Barbara said she was getting choked up too, but I couldn't tell because I was trying to make sure the other men in the room didn't notice me near bawling.

Was a long day, but in the end it was pretty worth it. You can never remember /everything/ you need to remember, but it helps to get a lot of this information repeated over and over in hopes that some of it sinks in.

We also ran into a guy who went to high school with Barbara, so that was cool. We ate lunch with them and it was nice to have someone else to talk to for a bit that day. Not that we don't like each other's company, but we can only go on about how much her back hurts and how little I can do to make it feel better before we both go crazy! :p

So here we are, week 35! Installed the car seat base yesterday. I used the LATCH system, and I feel smart! We've switched cars. I now have the Rav4 and she's got the Alero. Makes for an easier ride when you don't need a booster step to get in an out of the car.

We have cleared a space on the dining room table to "Pack the bags". A week late, but as long as Via plays nice and stays inside mommy we should be fine.

Happy New Year!

So here we are! A new year. New decade. New New New.

And today marks week 33!! Anywhere between 1 and 2 months (hopefully the latter) before little Victoria Hong Kong Fuey's her way out of momma and takes over the world!

Speaking of mom, Barbara is doing about as well as can be expected. She's a little under the weather today, but she is fighting vehemently with lots of vitamin water and nasty tasting (yet power-packed) vitamin pills!

We also got some great exercise in this weekend when we went to Washington D.C. As part of our X-mas present to Greg we went down and spent Friday and Saturday in freezing temps (damn it was cold!!) running around the Smithsonian and other museums. I must say, while the D.C. metro is well put together, every single station looks almost exactly the same. We never came out on the side we thought we would come out on, and I generally picked the wrong side of the platform to stand on (we should have just started going against whatever direction I thought we should go, our success rate would have been higher).

Bea got her workout by having to climb and descend escalators that weren't working. That was fun. Those buggers are steep! And her knee was not happy with the situation, but she plugged on.

All in all, a very fun weekend though. Lots of free museums (rah!) a great hotel at a cheap price (St. Greggory, double rah!), and we even packed a cooler bag the first day and ate lunch at a bus stop before going into the museums, so it was a cheap date! (rah! rah! rah!). I think people were secretly envious that they didn't think of that one.

And so, on to the baby prep! Reading Hypnobirthing in full now (we have two copies so we can read it together), getting the birthing plan together, and making final arrangements for the big day! Can't wait!

Bedknobs, Broomsticks & other Implements of Destruction

Turning toward the home stretch this week. Getting ready for X-mas insanity/fun and then onto the New Year, where we will be celebrating in DC again.

For those of you who don't know, last year we said our vows again at the Catholic church we attend (gotta keep those priests happy). We did this on December 30th (my parents' anniversary), and then spent the next few days in DC together. The best part was a James Bond themed NY Eve party at the hotel. It was awesome. 10 different rooms with different themes from some of the more memorable Bond movies, and 2 Bonds (one looked like an older Sean Connery, the other looked like Pierce Brosnan). Great fun.

This year, we're going to take Greg with us. This will be one of his "big" presents. We're going to stay the night and then hit all the big landmarks. Should be a good time as long as the weather holds out.

This will also be the last trip of any kind for some while (and the last for a VERY long time without needing a stroller, diaper bag, change of clothes (or six), bottles, formula, pacifier & various assortments of ointments and powders, not to mention a baby!)

So bring on the holidays! And have a blessed Christmas and New Year!

Loooong time to Wait

I'm really sorry. We're in full blown pregnancy preparations right now and it's been tough to sit and think about all the craziness to generate a coherent post. But here I am now, so be prepared for a long one. :)

We had the baby shower on the 29th of November. Our Thanksgiving weekend was thankfully mild in the traveling and hectic-family-seeing-department, so the party itself was still a lot of fun to put together and run.

We started off with the Pledge of Allegiance (if you forget, it was a school theme, so I was playing it to the hilt!) and announcements. For those of you who missed them, they are as follows;

• Our friends Tom and Nellie Hewitt will be the God-Parents.


• The baby is due (for those who didn't know) late February


• Due to a New Jersey mandate to crack down on the spread of H1N1 (Swine Flu Baby!), no one under the age of 17 will be allowed into a hospital. The only people who are exempt are a pregnant mother or the father of the baby. Needless to say, Greg (who is 13) is severely bummed .


• Please check the registry if you plan on getting anything for the baby for x-mas or afterwards. Still LOTS of stuff on there.

And finally, probably the most significant announcement since we found out we were having a girl;

Our little baby's name will be Victoria Rose Spalding. Nicknames we like are Tori, Via (my personal favorite) & Vikki (only if the other two are soooo painful to use that you can't help yourself, but if you do, two Ks please :p ).

There was much debate and suggestions emailed, texted, smoke-signaled back and forth, but we feel this is the perfect name for our little one and we are very excited to meet her soon!

So, on with the rest of the shower! Here's a pic of the cake!

Very cute birth sweater with matching knit cap and booties! The best part is we had the colors match the blanket my grandmother (soon to be 89 years old) knitted for us. As for the rest of the food, we had sloppy-joes, mac and cheese made by my Aunt Mary (very delish), Ants-On-A-Log (for those of you who don't know, that's celery with peanut butter in the middle and then raisins dotted on top) which was a surprise hit, and PB&J for the kids. We brought cookie cutters and made doggie, butterfly & various other animal shapes out of the sandwiches. My 5 year old niece Marissa acted as human vacuum cleaner for the scraps. :p

After that, it was on to the games! We had a word find and we played a game to measure the size of Bea's belly (36 1/4 inches, which Barbara's father guessed exactly! and her mom came in second at 36", funny that). We also handed out Old Maid cards to everyone at the beginning of the program. When we asked, everyone flipped their cards over. Whoever had the Old Maid (there were 4 of them in all) got to come up to the front and play a game of old maid. We made them wear the silliest looking hats (made by Bea's mom Debbie) and while they were playing, everyone else played an Old Wives' Tale Trivia where they had to guess if the Old Wives' Tale meant you were having a boy or a girl. Barbara's grandmother won that one (go figure, the oldest person in the room knew the old wives' tales the best). Barbara's cousin Nikki won the Old Maid hand and won a nice little jewelry box shaped like a pin cushion (a lot nicer than it may sound).

After all the festivities it was time to play Baby Bingo as Barbara opened the gifts! Lots of gifts, lots of laughs and in general, everyone had a great time! I'm so grateful to all the help I got from Nellie, my mom and sister, Bea's mom, Aunt Brenda, Aunt Mary and the host of people who helped set up that day.

And a special thanks to my two helpers, Greg and Lexi (Nellie's daughter) for helping hand out all the paper I was throwing at people and collecting them when they were done. They were oh so helpful with the little ones too (which was no mean feat as there were about 10 or 12 ranging from 5 down to 1!)

It went really well, and I will have no problem letting someone else take the next child's baby shower!! :p

Eventually I'll get some more pics up. And tomorrow I'll post the new updates as they've come up in the last half a month.