parents!!!!!

allora, i know it's been SO long since we've written. and we're sorry about that. but really, things have been a bit crazy in rome these past 3 weeks.

luca: hungry man, also poop machine. we're going thru diapers like no tomorrow. it's no sooner he's changed and he poops again. and sometimes not always in the diaper...

the other day superdad (a.k.a. justin) changed luca's diaper. there are many reasons, or excuses you will hear, but this one is true. we;ve finally settled on pampers brand diapers, and every other diaper has been another story. but i did ok with those. so i change him. he's crying thru the whole thing of course, but i do ok and he settles down, and gets to sleep. about a 1/2 hour later he starts again with the crying, hungry of course. so i pick him up to change his position and maybe get him to stop crying. then i see it! poop! on the bed... "superdad" isn't used to pampers.... although it must be said, this was the second time superdad's diaper change resulted in a leaky poop. at least this one was contained.

aubrey was playing the role of "supermom": cooking and holding luca at the same time. a short time after i changed him. i'm checking the email, waiting for my pasta all'amatriciana from the kitchen when i hear, "oh my god!!" naturally i run to the kitchen to see poop dripping down aubrey's skirt onto the floor and all over luca's clothes. needless to say, luca had a smile on his face. although aubrey and i were both laughing, he was probably the only one satisfied in that moment...

today i went to the anagrafe (civil records office) which is a HUGE office near the bocca della verità to get luca's birth certificate and "estratto di nascita" so we can take those official documents to the US embassy to get his US equivalent of a birth certificate and his US citizenship and his US passport which in total will cost us more than $100. i was told it would take 2 weeks for the documents from the hospital to arrive in the records office, so naturally i waited 3. apparantly this wasn't enough. the office was easy enough to find, and i found the office i needed within the main office with relatively no problem. they couldn't find him in the system. i was then sent upstairs to find if they received the forms. after about 20 minutes searching the same computer files and finding nothing, the woman says, oh wait a minute.... disappears... and reappears with his documents. i got very excited at this point. however... they needed time to enter everything into the system. so they gave me the reference number and instructed me to call back the next day and find out when the records would be ready to pick up. va beh. questo è italia. at least there weren't any lines.... so we'll tackle that italian bureaucratic obstacle tomorrow. however the fact remains that we need all this stuff done soon, so we can get his ticket to return to the states in december.... :) :(

there are some new pics of bathtime in our tubby from everyone's favorite candadian on the pics page. and some new video too... but not much. and we promise more frequent updates in the future. really... well ok, we'll try our best.

happy birthday luca

happy birthday luca! 03 september 2003. just about a month early, depending on who you talk to. and aubrey and i are parents. just like that! 8 hours after i woke up that morning seeing aubrey sitting up in bed rubbing her tummy saying, "i think i'm having contractions..."

that's how it started. i jumped out of bed, packed a bag real quick and the thoughts in my head started. oh my god, he's coming, he's coming... aubrey called valeria, our midwife and she sounded a bit worried that it was so early. i was instructed to run out to the pharmacy and buy some pills that would slow down and stop the contractions that were about 10 minutes apart. when i got home, aubrey was still on the phone with her; she took a pill, and the midwife called the doctor who did our ultrasounds 2 days earlier. after the doctor said that luca looked great from the last scan, the midwife said ok, grab a cab and come to the office.

we did just that. as soon as we got in, aubrey was checked out by the midwife. she finished the exam, put her hand on her leg and sighed. then said, "well....... you're about five centimeters." aubrey teared up a bit. at this point the pills would do nothing. we were having the baby! this was at 10am.

we went to a quiet room in the office and sat on the big pillows and just relaxed. her contractions were getting a bit stronger, but still about 8-9 minutes apart. at 1130 when the midwife finished her last appointment we were called back in for another check. she didn't say anythiing right away, just told aubrey to relax. then she sent me out to the pharmacy again to get the stuff that we hadn't bought yet (since we thought we still had another month or so left to go...) i heard her say in italian to the secretary that she was at 7 centimeters now.

i ran to the pharmacy, panting and panting, my heart getting faster. of course there was a line. as i handed off the list to the pharmacist she was taking her sweet time getting it ready. i was having a hard time thinking period, let alone in italian to communicate with her. i said, "oh, il bimbo sta arrivando adesso!" (the baby is coming now!) then they picked up the pace a bit. i got back to the office and i caught a cab, aubrey rode with the midwife in her smart car to the clinic.

along the ride i had a conversation with the cab driver about fatherhood (he has 3 kids), being involved in the birth, and that i have to raise luca a roma fan, not lazio. (the roma-lazio rivalry is comprable to a yankees-mets thing) i said ok, forza roma, and left the cab.

i filled out the paperwork as aubrey and valeria headed upstairs. after about 20 minutes i was in the room. there was a couch in the corner, we had our own bathroom, and balcony with a nice view of some trees. this was about 1230pm. the contractions were getting a bit harder, but still not too bad. valeria came in, got some things set up, followed shortly by dr grimaldi. we all said hello, and grimaldi said, "i guess luca didn't want you to miss the birth, justin. now you can go to slovakia in peace." he checked her out, and said she was at full dialation 10 centimeters. he said it in italian to valeria, with a strange face, like something was wrong, and he didn't want us to know. valeria looked at him and said in english, "don't make that face!" aubrey told me later she had to concentrate to block out that face he made...

in and out went valeria and grimaldi, as the contractions got harder. grimaldi came back with lunch, and then coffee, and then laid down on the couch, sunglasses and all. at this point the contractions got closer together and harder. i;ve never seen aubrey, or anyone really, in that much pain in my life up close and personal. feeling helpless and emotional and not wanting to imagine what she was going through. but between each one, she sighed and said, "ok, that was a good one!" after about a half hour, i stopped being ridiculous and remembered this pain is the only way for our son to be born. and since aubrey didn't want any drugs (not that valeria would have given her drugs anyway) there was a considerable amount of pain.

so now we're at about 330pm. we move off the bed, i'm sitting in a chair and aubrey is squatting between my legs, holding onto my hands for support. then the contractions got lighter. she had to push mostly on her own will power. it wasn't easy. grimaldi came off the couch, removed his shades, and gave a little help pushing, helping luca down. then, a miracle. at 407pm luca was born! and it was absolutely, the most beautiful, wonderful, emotional and amazing thing i have ever seen, or probably will ever see in my life. i cried my eyes out when i heard him crying for the first time, and felt aubrey's great sigh of relief. valeria cleaned him up a bit, and put him right on aubrey. our little family of 3 sat there cuddling for about 10 minutes in peace. it was beautiful. i was speechless. i couldn't even say hi to luca. the tears were just running down my face.

then i got to do the honors of cutting the umbilical cord. grimaldi, myself and my son headed down to the nursery for his first check-up. everything looked good. his blood sugar level was a little low, and he was light, but he is a preemie, so it's normal. i carried him back to aubrey and we hung out. us. our family. amazing.

i ran home to get the bag of stuff for luca that didn't bring, since we thought only aubrey was going to be in the hospital to stop labor. the clinic is far enough away from our home, so i called another cab. another nice conversation, and another roma fan... i get all the way home, stop for a quick coffee and to tell francesco at the bar that luca was born, and i realize i left my keys in the clinic! i called our neighbor enzo, but he didn't have the keys, and the landlady wasn't answering her calls. so i hopped another cab back to the clinic to grab the keys. this driver was a roma fan, and a roman. i'm talking real roman. we talked about roman names, and antique names, and he said luca was a good one. in between the "cazzos" and "mortacci tuas".

i got back to the room, kissed my boy again, and went off back home with valeria. she had to stop near the termini, so i was going to wait for the 40 bus back home, but instead took a cab after 20 minutes of waiting. called alfonso in the meantime and he offered to pick me up at home and drop me back off at the clinic. so in fact, alfonso and claudia were our first italian friends to see luca!

he did well through the night, although he wasn't latching on properly. we were giving him formula, some sugar solution to boost the blood sugar levels, and he was doing fine. the next day our friend daniella came by in the morning, and later carmen and sara jane. we met a really cool pediatrician, a friend of valeria's, dr armeni. she gave us some tips about breast feeding and what to do in general.

i must say, that this clinic was alright. ok, we had a private room, private bathroom, and luca was able to stay with us always. that, i think, was the most important part. but even the food was not bad. we had pasta, of course, buffalo mozzarella, chicken, minestrone soup and all sorts of other great things. there was a bar downstairs for coffee, cornetti, and tramezzini. the coffee was shit, but at least it wasn't a hospital coffee machine. we only didn't like 2 or 3 nurses who were quite rude, and the rest were great and helpful.

friday we left the clinic. stephen and tonino came by to pick us up and take us home. when we got home, he sent over a woman to clean the house, and did our shopping for us. really, he did too much. he was saying, it's the least we can do for you. but really. again, i'm speechless, and i feel like an idiot saying thank you over and over again, but i don't know how to re-pay him for what he's done for us! aubrey and i are wholeheartedly touched by his kidness, and will never forget it. alfonso came by and took my to get a breast pump and formula and other things. and he paid for that. his first gift to baby luca, he said. our upstairs neighbor sally stopped by in the clinic and brought us sheets for the crib, and later on stopped by the house to drop off her food, as she was leaving for california for a week. claudio and michele stopped by the house last night, and valeria as well to weigh luca again. we've been flooded with emails, and sms messages and phone calls. it's been a bit crazy to say the least.

today, saturday, was a little better. he woke up twice or 3 times in the night, we fed him, and he went back to bed. i made a nice breakfast sanwitch for aubrey and myself (and for luca too, but he didn't eat it until later on!) and then some chicken cutlets and a salad for lunch. he's sleeping now. he's getting a little yellow, and valeria is coming by in about an hour to weigh him again and give us a run-down. if he gets jaundiced worse, we'll have to take him to bambin gesu' children's hospital for a day or two. i'm worried, but i'm not worried. it's just that he's SO small, and helpless, and it's up to us to basically keep him alive for a while. we've got great friends and great doctors and midwives, and i'm not worried. ok, maybe a little, but it's normal. wow, i need some help.

tonight is paul's last night in rome, and phil is coming out tomorrow to replace him. i will probably skip out for an hour to see him off and show off some pics of our beautiful baby boy. his picture will be in la botticella in no time at all!

we'll try to keep you posted as frequently as we can. much love and peace,
justin aubrey and luca!

ultrasounds and dog shit

we had our doctor's appointment yesterday for the final ultrasound. dr grimaldi said everything is perfect! if luca were to be born today, he would be able to survive without any (or much) medical assistance. so that's fantastic news... he's head down, ready to make his journey into our world, weighing in approximately at 2.5 kilos (5.5 pounds), his lungs are working well, bladder was full and he had 133 beats per minute. the video is not wonderful this time. but if you look at the head turning video, his head in the foreground (so that his mouth is on the top). from the profile still from the last ultrasound aubrey thinks he had my profile, but from this one i think he's got aubrey's nose and she says he's got my lips. who knows????? and better, who cares, we'll find out soon enough what he looks like... all we know is he WONT look like giovanni.

last night we had dinner with our neighbor sally from upstairs. she's an american flight attendent living in rome for 4 years. i've known her since she moved in, but this was the first time we hung out. we had a great time, and were out for a good 6 hours. we had dinner at tonino's (my favorite restaurant ever) and then mojitos and caiparinas at giovannis and then passed the rest of the evening in the chiesa nuova. we also think we saw mars. anyway, we had fantastic conversation, and definitely will hang out with her again in the future. the only problem is that she's only in rome for 2 weeks or so, then gone for a month...

we also found out some interesting things about the people in the building, like the old woman we see across the courtyard is NOT enzo's wife. she doesn't even live in our building. and here we thought enzo and his brother luciano who live together (next door) left the poor old woman home alone, while they were at the beach all summer. we cursed them out so much! plus we never saw her in the hallways, and figured she wasn't allowed to leave the building. we had a whole story for her, but we had a great laugh when we realized we weren't even close to the mark.

the other day we saw an interesting thing. let me start by saying i used to call our street, vicolo della campanella (alleyway of the little bell), vicolo della merda dei cani (alleyway of dog shit). it was really getting out of hand for a while last summer. this summer it's a different story. the other day we saw a guy on a white motorino with a vacuum attached to the back of it. he was cleaning the dog shit up. it was amazing. aside from the fact that the motorino was white and he had a white helmet and looked like a stormtrooper ridding the streets of rome from the nightmare that the dog shit has become, it was just funny to see the vaccuum! and how would you put that on your resume? shit vacuumer? defication removal? it was a strange thing, i thought anyway. i wish we had thought to take a picture of that.

tomorrow i'm getting a web cam and might be able to put some live images on the website as well. we'll see if it works.

in the meantime, the weather is SO perfect this week. nice breeze, and really fall-esque temperatures. aubrey is beside herself with happiness. which means so am i!