Back To Work

Well, two weeks off from work has been nice. I can't say it was much of a vacation of course... but it wasn't intended to be. It was family time. It was getting to know my little girl. It was trying to figure out her somewhat confusing ways!

All I can say is the time went so fast. We took lots of pictures. But I suppose its good to get back to the status quo. After all, if I can't work, the family can't be supported. I'm grateful that I had enough vacation time to take the two weeks off with some to spare. it was also quite nice that Aimee's old boss hand-delivered our bonus checks when she came to see the baby. We are certainly grateful for the extra cash right now... we aren't hurting as of yet, but we just started the one-paycheck thing. But I know God will provide, He always does :)

Uncle Chris Comes To Visit

Little Eva may doesn't have too many aunts and uncles, just one of each. My mom only had two kids, and so did Aimee's parents. So Eva has an Uncle Chris and an Aunt Joanna. One week after Eva was born, Uncle Chris came to visit for a week.


Chris was a great sport about being confined to the house for an entire week, and he helped out with the cooking and dishes. We also just got to hang out and talk, play some board games, watch some movies, and basically take it slow, which was nice. I've felt the need to 'slow down' for a while now, and well, there's no remedy like having a baby.

Thanks for coming Chris! Your turn, Aunt Joanna!

A Post From Aimee

Hello Everyone! Thank you for reading our blog. I thought that it was about time I made an entry. The topic that is most important to me to share with all of you is in regards to Justin. Ever since I had my first contraction Justin has stepped up and done everything he possibly could to help me in labor and delivery (and let's just be honest - with a natural delivery he had plenty of things to do), in the first two weeks helping me get through my daily meltdowns and even now that he has returned to work he comes home and is ready to help in any way possible with a smile and without complaint.

I knew that Justin would be a wonderful father because he is a wonderful husband. When Eva is in Justin's arms she stares at him intently as he speaks to her. He has been building a solid foundation in our marriage so that our children will be able to start their life in a loving, nurturing environment.

Here are some pictures of him as a husband and now as a father.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9oX71IwDAE

So Tiny! So Cute!

Sorry we've been a bit reclusive. Not all phone calls are getting answered or returned and we haven't made it out of the house much. We're still just taking it all in ourselves!

Aimee snapped this great shot to show our tiny little girl:

She will be such a beautiful girl when she grows up (she is now too of course!)

And here she is just being cute:

More to come soon!

Your Comments, Please

I just want to take a moment to encourage everyone who reads this blog to leave comments. You can even go back all the way to the first posting if you want. Aimee and I are considering turning this blog into a book at some point in the future, in which comments would be included. If you don't have a Google or Blogger account, you can always leave a comment anonymously. If you do leave a comment anonymously however, please state your name at the end, for example "Nice pictures! - John Doe"

Your feedback and comments are important to me. Thanks.

So Much To Say

I have so many things to say about this wonderful little girl. First I wanted to include a picture of what she looked like the moment she came out and was handed to Aimee. As you can see, her head was round, she had some hair, and her skin was almost completely clean. Amazing.

Also, she didn't even cry for the first few minutes, surprisingly. Aimee cried of course, since she went all-natural. No pain meds, no epidural, not even an IV! I am very proud of her. It was her choice to have the birth this way and I fully supported it. It was how God designed it to happen, so that's what we wanted to experience.

This little girl was picking up her head moments after being born. Also, she had her eyes wide open many times and was very attentive. She stared at mommy and daddy a lot! It was a great bonding time, and there was lots of tears. And just like many of her 3D ultrasound pictures, her hands were always up in her face. Her little hands were so tiny!

Of course, there was very little sleep that first night. Eva stayed under the heat lamp for a while and I was paranoid that she would spit up and choke on it or something, so at every little sound I got up to check on her.

I think pretty much everyone does this when they first have the baby. Now it's been almost a week and we still check on her several times a night to make sure she's ok. We're catching up on sleep slowly but surely.

Before we left the hospital, we sung her happy birthday, complete with a cupcake and "zero" candle!

Please pray for Aimee to continue healing, as it is very difficult for her to go up and down stairs (and we live in a town home). Quick healing is needed!

Since you haven't had enough, I'll leave you with one last picture for now:

My handheld device for work tells me I have 611 new e-mails, and its only Thursday. Dishes are piling up in the sink. Mommy is sleeping. Baby is sleeping. Lights are getting left on, while I forget what I was going to do in that room. My normal to-do list looks impossible. Today I made a list with less than 10 items on it and it still looks ambitious. Did I mention that three of the things on the list are shower, clip my fingernails, and shave? Why am I still in my underwear at 1 in the afternoon?

But it's worth it. Every little bit. Mom is tired so I get to play super husband. I'm still learning to be super dad, but thankfully I have some time.

Here is a little video of Eva while she was only two hours old. Once you see this, you'll understand why none of the above matters right now.

Internet Not Working

I apologize for the lack of updates. I know you all want more pictures and stuff. Yesterday my internet connection at home went down right when I was getting ready to do an update. It still isn't back up yet. Right now I'm (borrowing) my neighbors wi-fi to get this message up. I got my new modem, but for some reason it isn't registering with Comcast, so I've been on the phone with tech support this afternoon. Hopefully it will be up and running soon, as I have a cute little video to post for you all!

She's Here!!!

Our little baby girl was born at 11:55 PM on January 13. She weighed 6 lbs, 9 ozs and was 19 inches long.


Little Eva came out picture perfect. No funny shaped head or stuff all over her skin even. It was almost like a movie.

The labor went quick! We got checked into the hospital at about 9 PM, and Aimee went into transition labor by around 10:45 PM. She was actually ready to have the baby by about 11:20 PM but the Doctor wasn't there yet! They didn't think she would go that fast, but she did! Once the Doctor was in the room, there was just a few pushes and little Eva was out of the womb and in our world. They actually had to tell Aimee not to push for about a half hour when the baby was clearly ready to come out. If she did it would have gotten delivered by the nurses, but everything worked out okay.

Thank you all so much for your prayers and support. As much as we love everyone, we don't want too many visitors. Please call us ahead of time as we've instructed the hospital not to let anyone in.

It's almost 3 AM but I already know its going to be difficult to sleep tonight. The baby has hardly cried at all amazingly. But the excitement will keep us awake!

It's Starting!

Aimee had her first contraction at about 2:43 PM today, and her water broke around 5:41 PM, and she's soaked up several towels since then. Thankfully we were almost all ready to go to the hospital so we had time to make some quick dinner since we can't eat anything at the hospital (or so we're told.) The contractions are coming quicker so we'll probably be leaving for the hospital soon.

Your prayers are appreciated! Please continue them through this process!

Doctor Visit Update

Aimee had another Dr visit today (hopefully her last!) Slow progress is better than no progress. She's now two centimeters dilated, and 60% effaced, and the baby's head is at station -2. If you are so inclined, you can watch a brief video about effacement here and about stations here.

We went to Cracker Barrel for dinner tonight and we sat next to a couple that had a 6 week old. It just slept the whole time and it was so precious. Then we briefly spoke with the waitress about having a baby (I wonder how that topic keeps coming up?) and the waitress said that her baby was three days late, but until then there were no signs of labor and it felt like it wasn't going to happen. This was a relief to Aimee because that's about how she feels right now!

Look for an e-mail (if we have your e-mail address) and a blog update shortly after little Eva is born!

Looks Like Eva Wanted a Different Birthday

Today was officially little Eva's due date, and although the day isn't over yet, even if Aimee went into labor right now the baby would likely be born tomorrow at earliest. But, one good thing is that we got the video camera we ordered before the baby got here. We have been playing around with it tonight and decided to make this little video of the nursery. Keep in mind we're amateurs!

Some Interesting Statistics

Now that everyone is planning their dates for visiting, and it's technically only two days away from little Eva's due date, we are getting anxious! So of course it is at this time that I am confronted by these statistics:

Did you know?

• Only 5% of babies are actually born on their due date
• 80% of babies are born within 10 days of their due date (either before or after)
• 70% of babies are born after their due date
• Only 8-10% of women give birth earlier than 10 days before the due date
• About 8% give birth beyond 10 days after their due date! Whew!

Unfortunately, it is in fact extremely common for first time moms to go several days past their due date. We are really hoping little Eva gets here on time. We are ready and the room is ready and we are waiting! I really hope she comes on time so Aimee and I can spend two weeks (while I'm off work) mostly uninterrupted with her before our families come to visit.

Here are some other interesting birth-related statistics:

• 80% of women receive an epidural (at our hospital at least)
• 80% of women in Denmark have their babies at home, they don't go to the hospital!
• Almost 1 in 3 women (about 30%, as of 2005) in America end up having a C-section
• The number of C-sections have increased 46% from 1996 - 2005!
• 10.3 hours is the average length of labor

We'd appreciate your prayers for an all-natural, on-time baby!

And the Doctor Says....

No news! But of course, as he left the room he said, I'm on call this weekend.. maybe I'll see you! Because that's how pregnancy is folks, random and unpredictable. And of course it would be more convenient if it happened on the weekend.

Aimee has officially gained 35 lbs. I have gained about 7 sympathy pounds (so please have sympathy for me, they aren't going away!)

We'll keep you posted and let everyone know as soon as the baby arrives.