Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?

I think worrying comes natural to a new parent. It has definitely been a daily struggle for me not to worry, and a challenging spiritual exercise to continually throw my worries about my precious, new little man at God's feet. He's so dependent on me. He cannot eat, change himself, raise his head, travel anywhere without my help. It's hard not to worry about doing the right thing. There are so many decisions. Every day is a new adventure, and I adamantly want to do the right thing. But I don't want to be a worrier. Studying the Scriptures I don't think it's ever what God wants for us so how not to worry.

Daily, no that's not right, hourly surrender.

It has been and continues to be my favorite word. Surrender. So incredibly vital to a healthy walk with Jesus. And so vitally important as I venture forward, boldly, in my first year as a mom.

Lord, help me. ;-)

Eli and sleep

Life with a newborn is never dull. I think it's because that regardless of the fact that my life consists of an endless cycle of feeding, changing, playing with, and trying to help Eli fall asleep, my mind is constantly working, constantly pondering what is it I could do to help Eli be the best he can be, namely in the area of sleep.

Eli has a hard time going to sleep. He revels in the warm comfort of a heartbeat and has a very difficult time falling to sleep if his ear isn't nestled against mine. ;-) I love my cuddlebug, but this does make certain activities in life very challenging: making dinner, cleaning, going anywhere, taking a shower, moving at all. Therefore, my mind is constantly working on ways throughout the day and things that I can do to help the little guy sleep so that his times of being awake are filled with happy grins and not discontented cries.

I love my little guy so much and have been told by my mom on several occasions that I had a hard time sleeping and don't that beat all, I still do. ;-) So hopefully Eli's light sleeping and need to be sleeping in someone's arms isn't a long term indicator of his future success as a sleeper, BUT he's also got his father's genes and praise the Lord, Joe is an amazingly gifted sleeper. ;-)

Eli's Here ;-)

It has been a VERY exciting week at the Gallucci household. On April 24th at 11:57 we welcomed our new baby boy, Eli Rocco Gallucci, into the world.

On Thursday, April 22nd I went to my ob appt. and was sorely disappointed because I was one day past my due date and not very dilated yet. My doctor scheduled me for an induction on May 3rd, which I really didn't want to have to do. Joe and I went on an hour long walk that night.

I didn't have to wait long. On Friday, the very next day at 2 in the morning I started feeling some strong contractions. At least I thought they were strong at the time. ;-) I got out of bed because I couldn't sleep through them and told Joe in the morning. We timed them, called the doctor, and went in at 8 am for a check-up. I was only 1/2 centimeter more dilated than I'd been the day before. Disappointed because I really thought that it was going to be the day, we went home.

However, to Joe and I's surprise the doctor's estimation that it would days before I had the baby were not correct. Throughout the day, the contractions got stronger and stronger though they weren't consistently close together so we stayed home. That night I tried to go to sleep, an extremely unfruitful goal. I took a shower and a bath, which didn't seem to help much, then I woke up Joe. He was very loving, and I had a tough time on the rocker and our yoga ball. When we started timing the contractions at about midnight, they were about 2 minutes in length and 2 and a half minutes apart. We called the doctor, and we headed to the hospital. When we got there, the nurse said I still had a little ways to go until I could be admitted. She told us to walk the halls for an hour and come back. Definitely the worst part of labor so far. The contractions stayed as close together as they had been but they got even stronger with all the walking. It was not fun at all. At that point it was 3 am, and I hadn't slept for 25 hours.

The nurse was amazed at how fast I'd progressed and admitted me. I opted for an epidural because I was so exhausted at that point. I felt immediate pain relief, but they had a hard time placing the needle and the medicine crept up toward my lungs so they could only give me the smallest dose to be safe, which proceeded to completely wear off during my hospital stay but eventually they gave me some more which was wonderful. I was progressing nicely and when I started to deliver Eli, he was born only 15 minutes later.

He was tiny and purple and so beautiful. I held him on my chest and stroked his little fingers. Joe then got to stand with him as they checked all his stats. He was a very healthy little boy.

8 pounds 1 ounce, 20 and a half inches, and 13.98 inch head.

We had a great time bonding with him, and he was a great eater from the very beginning, which was SUCH a blessing. We are filled to the top with blessings and have had a simply amazing time at home with him, learning his three favorite things: being changed, eating, and sleeping. The joys of having a newborn. ;-) Looking forward to every day that I get to spend with our little boy.