Sami Claus is coming to town....

Make a Smilebox greeting

First Carousel Ride

A few weeks ago we went to Atlantic City for the day....



This is one of my favorite pics....she's getting soooo long.....

Baby Welcome Party

Just a few pics of the Baby Welcome party thrown for my family in New York....

Sami's North American Tour 2009

Rolling through a town near you soon...

Baltimore, MD - June 17, 2009
Lewes, DE - June 24, 2009 (see pics below)
Cape May, NJ - August 11, 2009
New York, NY -August 15-16 2009
Atlantic City - August 30, 2009
New York, NY - September 8-9, 2009
Philadelphia, PA - September 20, 2009
Warwick, NY - September 26, 2009
Lake Winnipesaukee, NH - October 2009
Los Angeles, CA - Thanksgiving 2009

2010 Tour Dates to Be Announced

...and all the land rejoiced....

Just a few exceptional things that have happened since her royal highness decided to grace us with her presence.

- Fireworks Lit - A good friend of the family works for one of the US's biggest fireworks show companies. Think Macy's fireworks big. Had a show the night Samantha was born. In honor of her birth, Chris wrote her name and birthday on one of the largest caps before it was shot off into the atmosphere. So Sami literally did come in with a bang. A million thanks to Chris for that lovely and touching tribute to our daughter.



- Announcements Made - Sami's first baseball game - Who else? Boston Red Sox vs. Baltimore Orioles in Baltimore. Though we were not able to stay long enough to see it ourselves, Sami's name was rolled up on the Jumbotron. They also gave her a certificate commemorating her first game.






- Subjects Coming from Far and Wide - Visitors from California (Uncle Bud and Gigi), New Hampshire (Beanie), New York (Terri, Mita, Pop Pop, Great Grandma Maria, Aunt Millie, Titi Rita, Billy, Miriam, Jackie), North Carolina (Adam, Patrice, Zach, Lexi), Massachusettes (Cousins Jill, Andy and Corey)

Introducing....Miss Samantha Grace

Samantha Grace Martinez
June 19, 2009
12:14 PM
7 Lbs. 1 1/4 Oz.

It's been an exciting (and exhausting) 10 days and I finally have some down time to type up Miss Samantha's birth story. If any of this interests you, read ahead. Otherwise, feel free to check out the pics - which is all anyone really wants to see, let's face it... :)

Woke up on the morning of the 18th - my technical due date - to my water breaking. I didn't feel any contractions so I wasn't rushed or harried when I called the hospital who told me to come on in to check. I knew in my heart that this was it though. It just so happened that my mom was on her way down to Delaware anyway, thinking she was going to come to today's sonogram. She was an hour away and I knew we had time so I collected all the fun stuff I thought I was going to use at the hospital. You know. my portable DVD player, ipod, the important stuff. Called Jake who started giving me the details of my mom's arrival and I was like, "Hon. My water broke. We need to go to the hospital after you pick mom up from Amtrak."

Oh.

I made Jake promise not to say anything to her on the drive so when mom walked in I was like "Surprise! We're going to the hospital - not for the weekly sonogram - but to have the baby!" Needless to say, she was thrilled. We drove over and checked in to Labor and Delivery - I was given an interior room (no windows) so when I asked about getting an exterior room they said "Unfortunately, they are all taken right now." Which clued me into the fact that this little maternity ward was really busy considering they have 4 exterior rooms and a normal average of 14 births a week, that meant I was at least the 5th person today.

Mom and Jake went to the cafeteria to grab some lunch. While they were gone, Dr. Leader came and asked if I was feeling any contractions yet. I wasn't. So he said, "well then, maybe sometime next week", as he's putting on the gloves. He checks and confirms that my water has broken but I'm barely dilated. My wonderful Nurse, Karen, says, "You know, only 3% of women actually give birth on their due date". To which Dr. Leader responds, "There's only 11 hours left in this day...OK, so we are going to start you on pitocin and see where that takes us." For those not in the know, once your water breaks, most hospitals want to deliver the baby within 24 hours to prevent infection.

Nurse Karen came back with a slew of admitting paperwork which Jake and I filled out and then the waiting game began. Mom and Jake started calling everyone. Dad grabbed his bags and started his drive down the Turnpike and I slept, watched TV, slept some more. This is where the beauty of having the interior room came in. Since I had no idea of time from the changing of natural light, some 7 hours passed but it only felt like 2 or so. At around 6:15 PM I was feeling the contractions enough to want something for it. They gave me a shot of Stadol through my IV. Fun stuff. Like my childbirthing class teacher said "You'll still feel the pain, but you won't care." She had used it during her own labor and thought she was in Maui. For me, everything turned into cartoon world. Dr. Fred Flinstone, Nurse Betty Rubble, that kind of thing. Sometime around 8PM, they moved me to A Room With A View (of a wall). Nurse Karen was replaced by Nurse Cindy who brought me 2 ice pops. Grape and Orange. Tastiest ice pops I've ever had. This room had a rocking chair and the stadol had worn off. Nurse Cindy recommended that instead of another hit of stadol, I could try rocking in the rocking chair. And it worked! For awhile that is. Until the baby's heart rate started to drop after every contraction. Then I had to get back into bed and they put me on oxygen. And so for the next few hours we would do the dance. They would stop the pitocin drip until baby's heart rate evened out, but then my dilation wouldn't progress. Start the drip again, and the contractions would come back, and the heartbeat would drop. Obviously if this kept up, they said we'd have to start thinking c-section.

Meanwhile, I had to make a choice. It was 11PM. Getting close to quitting time for the anesthesiologist. Did I want the epidural before he left or did I want to run the risk of having to wait close to an hour for the anesthesiologist on call to come to the hospital in the night. I chose to have him do it before he left even though I was in tolerable pain at that point. I just didn't want to have to wait later if it came to that. Mom, Jake and Dad got kicked out of the room for the procedure which lasted about a half hour. I had been worried throughout my pregnancy that my (admittedly mild) scoliosis might prevent it's placement, but when I asked the anesthesiologist, he said, "the way your spine curves actually makes it EASIER for me to see where to place it." So all that worrying over nothing. I'm not really sure what happened with the first placement but all of the sudden I got really dizzy and my heart rate shot from the 90's to 120 BPM in 4 seconds so he removed it. That shook me. He wanted to try again and I thought to myself "If that happens again, I'd better brace myself for the pain because I'll go without." But the second placement worked like a charm. I never completely lost all sensation, was able to move my toes, but I felt no pain for the rest of the labor.

After that I slipped in and out of consciousness for the next 10 hours. Waking up to see them bring in a cot for Jake. My dad snoring. Mom wide awake and still on the edge of her seat. Woke up for real around 10AM. Nurse Karen was back. She told me that I was at 7cm to let her know when I felt pressure. About an hour later I told her I was feeling a lot of pressure. At that point they called for Dr. Petit (who had replaced Dr. Leader) who came in and checked. At 11AM I kicked mom and dad out of the room (sorry guys) so that I could start pushing. Oh, and did I mention my epidural had just worn off? They topped me off just enough to make it through. One hour and 14 minutes later, Samantha Grace entered the world. What was I thinking about during that hour fourteen? I'd like to say that I was thinking about meeting my baby. But I wasn't. I'm not proud of it but my mental focal point was, of all things, a can of Coke. "Once I have this baby, I can have a coke again. In fact, I'm going to have one here in the hospital. Here in this bed if they will let me. With Ice. Crushed ice. And a straw." And so forth.

An angel baby from the word go. She did not cry when they put her on my stomach. Just seemed stunned. Probably as stunned as Jake and I were that she was a girl (we'd both thought, unbeknownst to the other, that she was a boy). What I remember was her ruby red lips and her hair. Tons of dark black hair. Jake cut the cord and away she went to the heater where the nurse cleaned her and did footprints while they collected the cord blood from me and delivered the placenta.

After that, things were a bit of a blur. Not long after everything was done (I had to get some stitches) they gave her to me to try breastfeeding, which she took to right away. Thank goodness. And soon, too soon, they had me up and out of that room and down to recovery where we spent the next 2 days eating bad hospital food and getting to know each other. We were discharged on Father's Day, which was the sweetest gift of all.

I never did get that Coke though.

Mini Baby Shower #1

My sister and a few of my friends from NYC and Delaware decided to throw a tiny pre-baby shower for me. Living in the hinterlands of Delaware we don't tend to get many visitors down this way so it was so nice for everyone to come down for the day. We had a ladies-only tea with scones, finger sandwiches, salads and lots of yummy desserts. Special thanks to Sima for providing a delicious dip and lemon tarts. The girls also let their artistic sides show by decorating onesies, which resulted in some funny and cute outfits for the baby to wear.

Official Pregnancy Portrait

For Official Release - Wilmington, Delaware - May 17, 2009

The official "happy parents" portrait has been approved for release to the general public. Taken during the 35th week of pregnancy, subject dad was a happy and willing participant. Subject mom was quote "really uncomfortable" but put on her best face for the cameras anyway.

Catching up...

So after my lovely birthday, I followed it up with a lovely Philadelphia Film Fest, followed by a lovely Tribeca Film Fest which ended just yesterday. Back in DE now where I intend to stay put until this baby comes. Just a quick catch up on the baby. Baby is doing well and growing (and growing and growing). The placenta previa moved up and so there is no current worries that I might have to have a c-section at this time The only real new news is that now I have to go in for weekly sonograms called Bio-Physical Profiles. Basically the tech watches the baby for up to a half hour and makes notes of it's movements, basically assuring that all is well in there. Afterwards the baby gets scored (I can't believe they are already putting performance anxiety on my little one before he/she is out of utero but thus is the way of the world I guess...) and if the baby "passes" then I don't have to see the doctor that week.

The only reason I have to do these at all is that dreaded AMA (Advanced Maternal Age) stamp they gave me at the beginning of my pregnancy. So annoyed that I am just on this side of that randomly chosen borderline. :P

Anyway, baby looks good. Chubby cheeks, possibly some hair. Unfortunately the machine they use is super slow so the second you get a clear image of the baby, the tech pushes the button but the pic comes out all blurry b/c it takes a second to get the shot and by then baby has moved on to riverdancing on moms ribs or sucking on it's fist or something else.

My Last Birthday Ever....

Since I am well aware that your life basically is put on hold and the baby's life becomes forefront once you have one I figured that I better make sure I celebrated my birthday in style this year. So celebrate we did. Mom came down for on Saturday and tried (and tried...and tried) to get me to pick out a glider but considering it took over 4 years for me to find the "right" leather chairs for the living room and I haven't fully committed to the nursery set yet, she went back to NYC disappointed.

On Sunday Terri, Bill,(my sis and her BF) Jake and I woke up early and went into Philly. First stop, the Park Hyatt hotel. One of the Grand Dame hotels in the city. Their restaurant is on the 19th floor and has lovely views of the city. There are 2 dining rooms attached by a demonstration kitchen, the wine cellar, and the clubby (dark woods and leather banquets) bar. The dining rooms themselves are gorgeous 3 story rotundas, cream toned with lots of ornate plaster work and capped with lovely stained glass windows. One has an enormous pearl chandelier. Very fancy. First stop, the continental breakfast bar. Mini chocolate croissants and other mini pastries, bagels and lox, cheese trays, yogurts and cereals. At the bar, they were serving berry smoothies. Second stop, the asian station set up in the demonstration kitchen: 3 kinds of potstickers, vietnamese spring rolls, asian salads and sushi. Third Stop, raw bar: enormous shrimp and oysters. At that point you had to "order" your entree, which was a switch. Everyone else at the table had crab cake benedict while I opted for the farmers omlette. Then the dessert station, if there's room, which there barely was at that point. Shot glass parfaits of s'mores and strawberry shortcake. Choc/caramel tarts, cheesecake....so many good things.

We then decided to try and walk some of the gluttony off so we headed up Broad and around City Hall, thru Love Park and down to The Franklin Museum where they had the Narnia Exhibition. Lots of fun wandering through and seeing the props and costumes from the movies. It was opening day for the Phillies and I think everyone went to tailgate at Citizens Bank Park so the city - and the museum - itself seemed pretty empty.

On the way back, we stopped at a Borders where my lovely sis indulged my inner 13 year old girl by getting me the Twilight DVD, the Kings of Leon CD (excellent!) and the Paramore CD/DVD (cannot believe that girl can sign that well and is only like 20 years old). At home, got a card from Gail, Dre and Tina (MIL, bro and sis-in-law) and an excellent pic. drawn by 18 mo. old Mia (niece)!!

Thank you to everyone who sent me Birthday wishes via emai and calls. I am truly blessed.

Ultrasound at 27 weeks

Baby's pulling moves in utero that mom can't do after 10+ years of yoga. Big toe on forehead anyone?

Isn't it Ironic...

Went to my 27 week appointment.  Was scheduled to meet the head of OB, just in case he ends up being the Doctor on rotation when I go into labor.  He had had a late night delivery the night before so I ended up sitting in the exam room for an hour.  Funny thing when you sit in a bland, non-descript room for long enough time, you start to notice things that you wouldn't have otherwise.  For instance, the wallpaper.  I was just staring at it mindlessly for awhile, pale cream and soft green floral patter, totally inoffensive.  When all of the sudden, my eyes snapped to and started really looking at the design of the actual flowers in the print.  Then I started to laugh.  A lot.  I guess someone with a sense of humor was hired to decorate this OB/GYN office.  What I mean to say is, the floral pattern has a very, um, Georogia O'Keefe painting quality to it.  Wouldn't you say?  And the place is covered, and I mean COVERED in this print.  Too funny.

Frequently Asked Questions....

I'm getting the same questions all the time so I figured I'd answer some here.....

What are you looking like these days....?

Getting huge.  Lots of growing this month.  This pic at right is me at 22 weeks.  

How are you feeling?

Really good.  Got my flu shot for the first time ever this year and managed to avoid that craziness.  Why I never did before is a mystery.  Trying to do some yoga a few times a week.  Or at least some stretching.  

Are you going to find out the sex?

Nope.  Kicking it old school.  We'll find out when the doctor says: "It's a..." 

When are you due? 

Estimated due date of June 18th.  Father's Day week.  Looking forward to many outdoor birthday parties with double chocolate cake and tall glasses of iced lemonade.  

Nursery colors/theme?

No specific theme yet.  Colors are brown, beige and cream.  (Just like at our wedding).

The Good, the Bad and The Ugly.

Sorry (again) that it's taken me awhile to update...my and baby's first trip to Sundance made us both tired and we needed some time to recoup.   So where were we?  

First a brief Sundance recap.  12 days in the snow.  Working 10+ hours a day in the press office.  Fun Stuff.  Tried my best to see as many movies as possible but with working until nightfall and the overall exhaustion that pregnancy brings I was lucky to average one a day.  Midnight screenings?  Hahahahahhaahahah...not a chance.  I tried one, fell asleep in the first 10 minutes.  The place I stayed was lovely, if a bit remote.  I had to trudge thru first the woods then a snowy field to get to my bus station that was pitch black when I came home at night.  Tales of moose and elk in the area had me completely freaked out so I found myself singing out loud the few times I had to do it: "you can be as brave, as you make believe you arrrre..."  

Baby was very good for the trip.  Some cramping on the plane ride over but then really nothing for the entire time I was in Utah.  Most people couldn't even tell I was pregnant for the first few days - at least until I wore something a bit more form-fitting.  

February 4, 2009

Today's the day of my "big" Level II Ultrasound and Genetic Counseling.  No one had really clued me in on what to expect and I didn't research it at all since I had already had one ultrasound and thought "How different could it be?"  Guess I should have guessed something was up when they sent me a few towns away to get it done.  Briefly, your first sonogram is basically just for them to average the age of the baby by doing some quick measurements.  Any radiologist could do it and you're in and out, 20 minutes tops.  At the Level II, you go to a radiologist that specializes in maternal/fetal measuring.  And measure they do.  Every little bit of the baby to make sure all is progressing nicely.  Takes about 2 hours all told.  The last time I had to crane my neck to the right to see the same screen the tech was looking at.  Here they had a nice flat screen tv mounted at the foot of my bed to watch the proceedings.  Hate to say it, but most of it just looks like blurry things swishing back and forth.   There were times I was actually bored and wondered if I could change the channel.  But then something comes up that you recognize.  The spine.  The beating heart.  The bottoms of little feet.  And you're holding you're breath waiting for the next thing to appear.  The genetic counseling part was informative.  We actually started there and the nice counselor explained why they were measuring, to see if there were any physical markers for Down Syndrome, or Trisomy 13 or 18.  There were charts and diagrams and she asked about our family medical histories, which aren't that exciting.  

Back at the ultrasound, I was watching the tech's face carefully.  If they see something wrong, it's not their job to tell you.  They have to report their findings to the doctor, then the DOCTOR has to come in and tell you.  I noticed that my tech frowned once at the very beginning of my ultrasound but then proceeded to get chatty and pointed stuff out.  So I wasn't worried.  She stepped out and they asked if the trainee who had been in the room the whole time could "take a look" so she did, and explained a bit more in depth what she was measuring.  Then the first tech came back in and said that the doctor looked at the pics and wanted me to have an internal done to look at something a bit more closely.  Ugh.  Internals are done with a wand-like probe.  Need I say more?  It's not as bad as I thought though, done in 15 seconds and she's off with the pics again.  

About 10 minutes later the doctor comes in and gives us the good news and the not-so great news.  The Good:  Good news is that the baby looks fine and everything is measuring where it's supposed to be.  The Bad:  The not-so-great news is that I currently have marginal placenta previa, which means that the placenta is too close for comfort to my cervix.  1.5 cm. to be exact.  They say this is common at this stage of the pregnancy and it will hopefully move up as my uterus expands.  I think to ask, "but what if it doesn't?" - not for myself, I already know the answer but for Jake's benefit.  But the doctor doesn't want me to worry, so he says "we'll worry about that when and  if we get there.  97% of these things correct themselves." Which is reassuring.  In the parking lot I explain to Jake that if it doesn't move up, I'll have to be scheduled for a c-section as a traditional delivery could cause excessive bleeding.  I really calm about all of this though.  I have faith.  In God.  The Doctors.  Modern medicine in general.  So I'm sure that however it ends up happening, it will all be fine.  

The Ugly:  So here are the pics from the Level II ultrasound.  The first one is OK, but the second one of floating baby skull head is a little freaky, no?  I hate to say it, but the earlier sonogram's pics came out better.  Don't ya think?