A Baby Story
Soap Opera Weekly: How is motherhood?
Anne Sayre: It’s wonderful and overwhelming. You can’t even imagine your capacity for love and fear of something happening to them. It’s wild. I never want him to leave my sight or go to school or get married or have anybody hurt his feelings.Weekly: How did you and Tony come up with the name?
Sayre: I’ve always liked the name John and I idolize (AMERICA’S MOST WANTED host) John Walsh — I think he’s a really great role model — so he’s kind of named after John Walsh. We also like Johnny as a nickname because we think it sounds cool with Grimaldi. Johnny Grimaldi sounds like a cool dude. My dad was happy about [Sayre being the middle name] because I was the last of that line.Weekly: How was the birth?
Sayre: The birth was good. I wound up having a C-section because he is a big boy and I’m a little girl. So that makes it a tough recovery and a little harder coming home and getting everything taken care of and carrying him around when you’re recovering from major surgery. But it was very smooth. He was born at the Holy Name Hospital (in Teaneck, N.J.) and the nurses there were unbelievable, taking care of me being all weepy and crying non-stop the first couple of days and taking care of him with such love. They call it the Holy Hilton.Weekly: Have you heard from former castmates or the fans?
Sayre: Terri (Colombino, Katie) and Artie came to visit us at the hospital the day after he was born and that was nice. They were so cute. You could see they were so excited and had lots of questions, just anticipating themselves being in that position soon. Terri held the baby and she was a natural. They brought me the cutest little outfit for him and little sunglasses to go with it.
The fan club sent me flowers at the hospital and I’ve been getting cards and e-mails from the Web site congratulating me. Everybody is anxious to see pictures. I got a dozen roses and box of Ferrero Rocher hazelnut chocolates from the head writer (Hogan Sheffer). Those chocolates came in handy at 4 in the morning!Weekly: What is John’s nursery like?
Sayre: His room has a retro outer space theme, so there’s lots of reproductions of tin toys, like rockets and robots. We have glow-in-the-dark stars and planets and rockets on the ceiling. It€™s all red and blue. The first time I brought him in he was looking around because it was so colorful and he looked like he liked it. We love it, too.Weekly: Any tips for pregnant fans out there?
Sayre: It is very important to plan ahead. The week before I was due, I made sure — even though I was tired — every day I got up and set my hair and put makeup on. I never do that in my regular life unless I’m going somewhere. But I knew that I wanted to look decent in the hospital because I’m going to be taking pictures that my son is going to be looking back at and see his mommy with him the first couple of days. I also bought myself a pretty nightgown to wear after I gave birth so I could feel pretty and not be wearing a hospital gown. That way I got a really nice picture of me and the baby when he was first born. [In the picture] he looks like the Grinch when the Grinch finally finds his heart.
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