He's finally here!

After our trip to Rome, we headed home to rest up for the arrival of the new baby. My due date was January 31st. Instead of waiting it out, we decided to induce because we live so far from the hospital. The trip takes an hour and fifteen minutes, and since this is our second baby, our doctor thought there was a chance we wouldn't make it there in time. Or at the very least, that we'd be in for several false and inconvenient trips to the hospital because we'd have to be so hyper-aware of labor starting. We were scheduled to induce on Wednesday, January 21st (the first full day of the Obama administration I might add). My mom was scheduled to arrive on the 19th. We were all set.

Then, with a week and a half left to go, Eli got sick. He had a fever and a head cold that lasted a full week. I caught the bug a few days later and the virus then spurred on a sinus infection. I was too sick to even go my doctor's appt that week. Finally when I was able to drag myself to an appt, two days before the induction date, it was obvious that I would be too sick to go ahead with the plan. We decided to ply me with antibiotics and delay the inducing until Saturday, January 24th (sigh of relief). It ended up working out well. My mom had more time to get her bearings, and Eli and I had more time to heal before the big event.

Saturday morning, Sam and I drove to the hospital at the crack of dawn. The doctor wanted us to get there early. It was a gorgeous drive on the Via Cassia and we got to watch the sunrise behind the Apennines. Once we got to the hospital, they started me on a Potocin drip, and so began the labor. All in all, I was in labor for 8 hours. It wasn't nearly as startling or painful as it had been with Eli. I was enjoying the controlled nature of it all actually. It was a lovely environment in which to have a baby. Dr. Trouve speaks English, as I've mentioned before, but the rest of the birthing team spoke only Italian. By the end of the day, my Italian was very good - blame it on hormones and Adrenalin. Not only that, I had the undivided attention of the birthing team for the entire day. My own doctor, midwife, anesthesiologist, pediatrician, and nurse - I had them all to myself for the entire eight hours. It was amazing.

I spent part of the day on Potocin and part of the day having my own natural contractions (spurred on by the initial dose of drugs). In the last hour of labor they started me on the Potocin again because the epidural I had was beginning to stall my labor. At this point the doctor and I made an agreement not to introduce more painkillers through the epidural so the Potocin could do it's job more efficiently. Because of this, I felt a great deal of the actual birth. It was the most painful and simultaneously wonderful experience I've ever had. How do you spell r-e-l-i-e-f! My God! And to top off our beautiful day, a double rainbow appeared in the window ending in a field just across the street just before Phin arrived.

And so Phineas Tevere Savage arrived at 5:37pm on Saturday January 24th.

The remaining three days in the hospital were heavenly, though, I admit, we would have liked to see a bit more of Phin during that time. The nuns that run the clinic kept him going to and from the nursery for hours at a time. They changed him, bathed him, weighed him, fed him sugar water, and cared for his every need. We almost had to beg them to see him. Even then we were told that Phin was on a schedule and would be returned to us in due time. A bit frustrating. Nonetheless, Sam and I both got some much needed rest.

Meanwhile Eli stayed in Viterbo with his Nana and great aunt (who was dubbed Big Nana by Eli upon their first meeting). We missed him a ton and were anxious to get back to him. He visited us once while were were in the hospital to meet his new baby brother. Eli was a bit nervous and shy at first. He hid behind my bed when the nuns wheeled in Phin's bassinet. But once Sam introduced them, Eli seemed very relieved. I believe his first words were "Ohh (I get it), it's a baby."

Now we're back home and nesting with our new addition. Phin is adjusting to life on the outside very well. Eli is still a bit "squirrely" (my friend Lisa's apt description) but slowly beginning to adjust to having a baby brother around. All is well in the Savage household tonight. It feels great to be a family of four.

Befana: Eli's last hurrah

Above: Eli enjoying a ride on the carousel.
Below: Eli plays in the fire truck inside the Explora Museum.


Above & Below: Eli and Caroline at the Explora Museum.


Above & Below: Fantastic pics of the Pantheon courtesy of Sam.


Above & Below: Views from our apartment in Rome.


Above: The Befana Feste in Piazza Navona
Below: Eli and Sam and Caroline ride the carousel.



Here we are finally getting the chance to catch up on our blog entries. I thought I'd start with our trip to Rome at the beginning of January where we got to celebrate Befana with Eli. Befana is primarily a children's holiday for Italians. It's the twelfth day of Xmas, January 6th. Italians have traditionally exchanged gifts on this day instead of December 25th (but now the British/American holiday traditions of Santa, etc, are becoming more popular). The Befana story has it that the three wise men stopped at a good witch's house for a respite on their way to meet baby Jesus. After their stay, they invited the witch to come along on their journey, but she declined. Once they left, she immediately regretted her decision and set off to find the baby Jesus on her own. Since she didn't know how to recognize the baby Jesus, she gave gifts to every baby she met on her way in case he/she was "the One". So now the witch comes on the night of Jan 5th and leaves candy and gifts for all Italian children.

In Rome there's a large fair in Piazza Navona to celebrate Befana and we had fun taking in the scene. I must say I'm getting pretty good at finding us accommodations wherever we go. This three night stay in Rome may have been the best yet. We stayed in a very elegant apartment on the fifth floor of a building with a view of the Tevere toward St. Peters. The apartment had a beautiful wrap-around balcony to take in the view. With comfortable accommodations, it was easy to take it slow and concentrate on Eli's fun (his last hurrah before baby brother arrived).

The first day we ate at a restaurant called La Campana. Really great food! I had artichoke ravioli in a pink sauce and Sam had papperdelle with a rabbit meat sauce. Both very tasty. We each followed that up with a fried seafood mix with a fried artichoke on the side - both of which were as light and fluffy as can be.

That night, and every night of our stay, we headed to Piazza Navona for the fair. Eli fell in love with the carousel. We rode the horses three or four times every night. There was food and trinkets and street performers galore.

The next day we went to the Explora Children's Museum. It was a hit! We expected a bit of a shabby science museum, but instead we were treated to a very modern toddler's play space/museum that's on par with some of the larger Children's Museums in the states. Eli played to his heart's content and then we went out for some Neopolitan pizza at Pizza Re. Heavenly!

Our next morning was spent at the zoo in the Villa Borgese. The zoo was a bit shabby, as expected, but Eli happily got his first live glimpse of all the animals we've been reading about in his books. He had a blast. That night we went for a nice hearty meal a very neighborhoody place around the corner from Piazza Navona. After dinner I finally got to try the famous Tartufo dessert at Tre Scalini. It's shameful that I've been here a year and half and haven't tried one yet - especially considering the gelato buff that I've become. Delicious!

Our last day in Rome was spent in doctor's appointments, but it was nice to see the doctor again and get a 36 week update on the pregnancy. Tutto benisimo.

After we got home from Rome it was time to start nesting and getting ready for the new baby. More to come on that topic in our next post.

Love to all...
The Savages

Buone Feste!

Above: Eli and Caroline play in the snow in Viterbo (and yes, we did not have mittens for Eli - who knew it would snow in Viterbo?)
Below: Our street covered in snow.


Above and below: Eli and Sam opening presents on Christmas day.


Happy Holidays or, as the Italians say, Buone Feste! It's been awhile since our last post and there's a lot to catch up on. The Savage 3 (and counting) had a great holiday here in Viterbo. We celebrated the season by cooking and baking up a storm. A few firsts included cupcakes and cookies for Sam's advisees and peppermint bark for friends and colleagues. I have to say that the peppermint bark turned out particularly well and will become a Savage Xmas tradition in the future. We experimented with lots of Italian dishes over the break and even hosted an Xmas Eve dinner for eight. Sam roasted an incredible Turkey with a pancetta-sage gravy (pancetta-sage butter was also used to keep the bird moist during the roasting process). The description alone is drool-worthy. It was a smash success! I made a delicious fresh wild mushroom soup (if I do say so myself) and our potato-gruyere pie was also a hit. Our guests rounded out the meal with some fantastic contributions as well. I had a strange hankering for pot pies all year so the next day I made turkey pot pies with the leftovers. It was a great Xmas day treat.

Anyway, enough about food and onto Xmas day. This year Eli started to catch-on to what Xmas and Babbo Natale mean in terms of presents. For days ahead of time he excitedly anticipated the big event. We had about 6 presents for him to open. The funny thing is that he took all day to open then. He wanted ample play time with each individual gift before moving on to the next. It made for a good day actually. His favorites included a Thomas train whistle and a Lego construction site. Sam got me a beautiful Max Mara scarf in addition to the Sculpture Studio workshop that I attended earlier in the month (big gift since it entailed the cost of the workshop and two full days of babysitting). My gift to him was a much-coveted leather messenger bag and an assortment of expat foods that kept the cooking trend alive for the rest of the vacation.

Besides the American food blitz, the rest of the week was a bit boring since all of Italy closes down for Xmas Day, Boxing Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day. In a fairly rare event we did get a bit of snow on the 28th which was great amusement for half the day. After the downtime that was forced upon us, we capped off Sam's vacation with a four day excursion to Rome. It was a fantastic trip! One for the books. I'll cover it in my next post. Until then, ciao belli!