Tuesday, November 9, 2010

Getting Stronger


As the little tortuga grows, she is getting stronger and becoming more alert. To help with her Torticollis (or what I like to call a stiff neck) she has to do extra tummy time. Check out the video of her practicing her skills.

Wish the little one luck as we go in for the two month shots this week. Mommy is the one that is going to feel the pain! 


Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Gabriella’s First Rally and Halloween


There were many characters at The Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear, but they did not faze our little girl. She was excited to be in the thick of it. How often do six-week-olds get to listen to two comedians discuss the state of our Nation’s politics and hear Yusuf Islam?

The entertainment was not only on stage, there was plenty to see just standing in the crowd. Gabriella’s favorite was the VW Bug with the politicians driving us towards our future. She is an activist at heart!!

The next day, we went down to watch the Marine Corp Marathon. Gabriella sported her monkey costume. Then that night we went trick or treating. What a weekend! 





Monday, October 18, 2010

Gabriella Turns One


Today our little one is one month old! She is growing like crazy too. At her last appointment she was 9.14 lbs and 23 ¾ inches. She is in the 97 percentile for height. 





Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Gabriella's First Words

I know Gabriella is only 3.5 weeks old be she already spoke her first words. Ana thinks she was just making noises and not actually speaking, but I took a video of it as proof that she learned how to talk. I knew she was smart, but I didn't actually know she was this smart.

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Three Weeks and Almost Three Pounds


Our little girl is growing so fast. She celebrated her “three week birthday” yesterday. We went to the Fairfax Fall Festival to celebrate and apart from a little issue with getting her food in time, she was great.

Many thought that we would have a big child at birth, but Gabriella surprised us all by only weighing 7 lbs. However like her mother and father, she does not shy away from a good meal. In three weeks she has almost gained three pounds. That’s right she is almost 10lbs now. Todd says she gained it all in her face. You be the judge. 






Tuesday, October 5, 2010

What about the Grandparents?


All this talk of Gabriella and we forgot to mention the Grandparents. Abuelita Constanza, Nana Carol and Papa Tom were there for the birth and the week that followed. Abuelo Rick will be here soon.

Todd and I would like to thank all the Grandparents for their help and love. Here are a few pictures of them with the little one.


The Trip Home


After almost five days in the hospital, the new Kolodzinski family made its way home. What a joyous day. We had the grandparents and Cali waiting for us at home. Gabriella was also welcomed by the neighbor kids that have been waiting to finally meet the new baby.

Thanks to Nana Carol and Abuelita Constanza, the house was decorated and prepped for our arrival. 



Bad Bilirubin

At 36 hours after birth the hospital tests all babies for Jaundice. It is torture to watch some stranger prick your little baby in the foot and then squeeze blood out of her foot for about a minute. The results came back in the middle of the night and we got the news that she had Jaundice.

Our little baby had to go under the lights for treatment. We had to change rooms again and start feeding the little one formula to flush out the biliruben. It was our fourth day in the hospital and we were ready to head home. After one long and stressful night in the pediatrics wing, we were cleared for departure.


Gabriella’s Birthday


After the epidural, we had a little rest before the big event. At 5am Doctor Bannan said the words I wanted to hear “the baby and mom are ready”. I was so stressed that I would have to get a cesarean section, that the news the baby was ready was almost as exciting the birth itself.

Little Gabriella came into this world at 7:12am. About 24 hours from the time my water broke. She made it in just under the wire, because if we had gone any longer the risk of infection would have sent us to the operation room.

September 18th is a blur, between the joy of having a healthy little girl and the exhaustion of labor and delivery, I only remember parts of the day. I have to thank the grandparents and Todd for all their help that day and the days that fallowed. 


Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Little Tortuga Arrives!!!

Sorry we've slacked off a little. Life has been busy with the new arrival.  It turns out that Little Tortuga is a wonderful baby girl. We named her Gabriella Victoria (but we will call her Ella).  For a blow-by-blow of what happened we will start with the day Ana went into labor and update from there....Ella (not Gabby) would like to thank everyone for all the emails, calls and texts. We had a long week with some minor bumps along the way, but the Kolodzinski family is happy to report that both Gabriella and Ana are doing well.


Without going into too much detail, here is a quick synopsis of the day Ana went into labor:

(Todd’s version of the story) On Friday morning, September 17 we woke up early in the a.m. and the Mrs. sprung a leak and did not have any contractions. We quickly called the doctor’s office and were told to book it to the hospital. With the mandatory calls into the grandparents, we made our way to the hospital. Sure enough her water did break, but the slow leak did not progress and the contractions did not start.  So began the induction….

I’ll cut to the chase. Once you get induced it is evidently very painful. Ana started active labor around dinner time.  I’m just the coach, but by 10:00 p.m. the contractions were fast and furious. We were trying to do a natural birth, but once you get induced, evidently it is too painful to not get the epidural. Sure enough before midnight, the contractions were one on top of the other with no breaks in between.  Also, it was “back labor” which is evidently extra unpleasant.  Ana described the pain to me as “I felt as though my spine was going to snap from the pressure." Some time after midnight she called for the drugs. Tune in tomorrow for the next episode....




Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Due Dates

The funny thing about a due date in pregnancy is that it is more of a fluid guesstimate than an actual finality. As a perpetual student and a Type A Communicator, my life has been built around due dates and deadlines. I have made a career of getting the right project/product to the client or teacher on time. Now that I am the one waiting for the “project”, the due date is slipping.

As you may have guessed today is little Tortuga’s due date. Yes for the last nine months or so, Todd and I have been looking at this date as the day our baby will arrive, yet here I sit in our apartment writing a blog post. I guess this will be my first lesson in motherhood, patience.

The good news is there have been signs of progress. My “pre-labor” contractions are coming more frequently and getting stronger. It is only 7:30am, the day is still young and we could have a little one by midnight. We will be sure to keep everyone posted.

Friday, September 10, 2010

Slow Going

For those of you who are ready to meet little Tortuga, Todd and I are, you are going to have to wait a little longer. My doctor visit yesterday revealed that he/she is has no plans of making an appearance any time soon. However, as is the case in any pregnancy, that can all change at any moment. I will be sure to keep people posted if anything changes.

However, I do have one big change to report. Today is my last day at CLS. I am sad to say goodbye to such great people. We have had some good laughs and some stressful moments. To all the CLS-ers, I thank you for a wonderful year and a half. Adios

Monday, September 6, 2010

Mother Nature’s Little Tricks


Over the years, I have heard about all the ways Mother Nature prepares us for a child. The women I worked with at Target Communication’s “baby making machine” provided me with more information on pregnancy, childbirth and babies than anyone. Plus with some close friends recently having babies, I have been able to use them as a resource. However, even after all these tutorials, I still didn’t know about the lack of sleep that comes right before the big day. At 40lbs over my normal weight and with limited lung capacity, I have trouble staying asleep for more than a few hours. To prevent myself from going mad, Todd and I took a drive to the beautiful Shenandoah Valley yesterday to enjoy the beauty of Mother Nature.

What a wonderful day! The humidity was low, the temperature hovered at 80 and the sun was high in the sky. We stopped at our favorite road-side-dinner, Spelunkers, for two delicious malts and a great burger. After Spelunkers we headed for the Virginia State park in the Shenandoah Valley to find a swimming hole for Cali and I.

Autumn has already arrived in the Shenandoah. The leaves have started to change and the air is crisp and clean. We walked for about two miles on a nice path and then off the path several times to find the right swimming hole. Once we found it, it was beautiful. Cali played for hours and I simply sat in the water allowing the cool Shenandoah river to wash over all the aches and pains of carrying a 7.9lb baby. Little Tortuga loved it too. As soon as my feet touched the water he/she went crazy kicking and punching away. He/she is going to be a swimmer!

Here are some pictures of our day out in the Shenandoah and of Todd with the dresser, which is corresponds to a previous posting.

Thanks to everyone who sent in comments. It is great to know that others are reading.   

Friday, September 3, 2010

T-11 Days and Counting

Todd and I have our weekly doctor appointment today with Dr. Armstrong, where we are going to try to strong-arm him into our wishes for a natural childbirth. He has the highest rate for cesarean sections in the practice, so we are going to take this opportunity to “kindly” remind him that we have decided to have a natural childbirth: no pain medication, little to no intervention and avoiding a cesarean section unless necessary! I will report back on how it goes.


Tortuga is making progress and growing at rapid speed. I wake-up each morning to a bigger belly. At our last visit, Dr. Hennessy predicted he/she was about 6lbs. Today we will find out how much more the little one has grown in a week. Seeing that I have grown a ton in one week, I am guessing so has the little one.

I promise to post pictures soon!!!

Monday, August 30, 2010

The Build Up

As the date approaches, we are anxiously waiting to meet little Tortuga. Todd and I are franticly working to put together the nursery, make last minute purchases and take all the necessary classes. We spend every weekend running errands and finishing up parts of our very long To Do list. All the work is worth it, because when little Tortuga comes, we will have a warm and cozy home ready.

Todd has been hard at work on the dresser. I never new staining a dresser could be such hard work, but between Entourage episodes and walks with Cali, Todd has become obsessed with perfecting our little one’s dresser. I will post a picture soon.