iohelix

We welcomed little Ian into the world after a sudden and intense labor on Tues., April 13th, 2010 @ 2:40a.

Chelsea began to have sporadic contraction pains on Sunday, and everything pointed to false labor. Early Monday morning the frequency and intensity became too much to bear and we headed off to the hospital at around 5-6a. They placed her on the monitor and discovered she was dilating. Apparently the false labor wasn’t as false as we had thought.

After making sure she was progressing at a pretty good pace, they admitted her and get everything ready for a swift delivery of a pre-term baby. After they got her the epidural, the contractions spread out, and her rapid dilation all but ceased. We were hoping it would stop altogether and we could go home and let the little one cook a bit longer, but after discovering an infection in Chelsea which was affecting the baby, they induced labor.

Chelsea delivered the little 5lb. 13oz., 19.5 in. baby boy early Tues. morning, and they immediately took him for testing and observation. Having had prior issues this pregnancy, Chelsea had been given a steroid shot to help the little guy’s lungs develop a bit faster, so he was ahead of the curve in that department and has no issues breathing. And although his muscle tone was a bit low right after birth, he has since recovered a lot of that.

Both baby and mother are doing amazing, and are eagerly awaiting the infection test results for Ian before being released into the wild.

I found some notes from our Italy/Austria trip last year. Ahh, what a great trip!

THE SIGHTS:
The undeniable history the coliseum represents
Stumbling onto the choir inside St Paul’s Basicalla and hearing the voices bounce off those decorated, marble walls
Ancient Rome ruins amidst modern day Rome
The view atop the “castle” in Rome
Vatican City and St Peter’s Basicalla and its own history in the making
The gargantuan “monument” of Rome
The presence of the Pantheon
The train ride along the coast of the Mediterranean
Swimming in the perfect waters of the Mediterranean sea; warm, shallow, sandy, small waves
It was a tragedy not visiting the charming, rock-hugging cities of Cinque Terra, but it was nice train trip up the coast and seeing them all, albeit whizzing by
The globe collection and astronomical tool collection at the Leonardo Science museum of Milano
The train ride through the Alps and their absolute, breath-taking beauty and formidable stature
The largest castle/fortress of Salzburg, it just kept going and going
Indescribable greenness and vastness of Hellibrum
The intricate trick fountains of the previous
The stream right beneath our hotel in Salzburg to help conquer and noise and heat at night

THE PEOPLE
Children playing soccer in the quintessential piazza of La Spezia
The very, kind man who saw the exhaustion on all of our faces in Milano
The two old people, indepently, trying to help us out with the buses outside of the small village of Livorno. We told them we didn’t speak Italiano, but they just kept going, trying to be so helpful, it was so endearing.
Austrian lady on the train who told us we should go to Austria in the wintertime because the coldness is good for your health
A little Italian girl, 7 or 8 who kept trying to play with Skye on the beach
The lifeguard of the Pisa hotel who told us we had to wear caps and was completely stumped when Benjam asked why; it’s just the way it is
The tour lady of the colosseum
Holy cow, does Europe know how to do a “continental breakfast”!

FAMILY
The dinner we had in a quaint alleyway-street in Rome; bottle of wine, delicious brushetta, scrummy pasta and the good spirits of all of us
Swimming with Skye in the Mediterranean
Benjam showing Skye around the Leonardo Museum
Watching movies on the tiny laptop with headphones as Skye slept in the early evening
Watching the walking thing click with Skye on the grounds of the park and hotel garden
Skye holding both of our hands and swinging her, all over Italy and Austria
Dinner in Tirrentia, yummy lobster ravioli’s and best ever tiramisu while Skye slurped, or tried, a plate of spaghetti
Complete surrender when at the trains scheduling, cancellations, delays, ok not a highlight, but won’t be forgotten
Sleeping on the floor in Salzburg, with Skye sprawled in between us in the morning
Walking back to the Salzburg hotel at late dusk, Skye just jabbering away as the streets were emptying
The pizza and beer Benjam and I shared on the balcony overlooking the water as Skye napped
Watching Benjam try to outwit the trick fountains
Eating ice cream along the grounds of St Paul’s basicalla
Eating gelato by the Trevi fountains with the swarms of other tourists doing the same and hoping the water would cool us off. It didn’t.

NOT SO HIGHLIGHTS
Our sometimes inability to entertain a toddler on her umpteenth train ride and stoller confinement
Skye meltdown on the plane to Rome
Skye’s meltdown from Rome to Tirrenia/Pisa
Skye’s meltdown from Tirrenia to Genova
Skye’s meltdown from Genova to Milan
Skye’s meltdown in Milan, hence why we stayed overnight there, unplanned
Skye’s meltdown from Milan to Salzburg
Skye’s meltdown from Vienna to Bratislava and unacceptance of it all any longer
The uncountable trains, buses, trains, taxi’s, metro’s and trains
2 days of expensive transportation and accommodation in the middle of the trip, when the big Italian train explosion happened and jammed up everything. What a tragic accident though.
Our very first taste of Italy; stale, old, pizza that had apparently sat under the heat lamp for hours
Missing out on the Sistine Chapel because of  2 hour wait in the sun
Missing out on La Spezia/Portoverne/Cinqe Terra because of train problems