Birth Announcement translation

Many of you who look at this blog have received a birth announcement for Jill, but maybe said, what the heck? This ain't English. I think only two of you speak Dutch and maybe some were industrious enough to find a Dutch speaker or try to translate it with a website. Even though most of the text is pretty straightforward, I'll save you the trouble:

One plus one is...three

Born on 3 July 2008, weighed 3570 gram (7lbs 14 oz)

If you'd like to come count my little fingers and toes, then please first give my papa a call. (rhymes and sounds much cuter in Dutch)

We're all slowly starting to get the hang of each other and maybe will make our first outing together this afternoon. Wish us luck!

-Sean

Jill one week old

Here is Jill at one week of age. She has already changed quite a bit. Here eyebrows are getting darker and here chubby cheeks are smaller.
She has been a happy and content baby even though it was a rough start and she had to be really patient at times when her mother was recovering.

Everybody's doing fine

Good news, Sandra and Jill can probably come home on Wednesday!! It's been a long road, but we can finally see the finish line (at least for the hospital stay).  

In the previous post I implied that it was the troubles with the epidural and anesthesia that cause the complications with  Sandra, but after talking with Dr. Lips (our OB/GYN) it's clear that it was quite serious. Sandra developed the HELLP symdrome (Hemolysis, Elevated Liver enzymes and Low Platelets) See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HELLP_syndrome for more info. Some women end up in intensive care with this, Sandra luckily not, but it was pretty serious. Now her blood pressure is stable since Sunday morning and if it stays like that through tomorrow (Tuesday) then she can go home. 

For now a happy picture of mama and Jill as Jill discovers she has feet. 

She's here and her name is Jill!

Yesterday we had a little girl, Jill Anne Diehl

She was born at 6:16 a.m. on 3 July 2008 and weighed 3570 grams (7,9 pounds).

On Tuesday Sandra has the early signs of preeclampsia (high blood pressure and abnormal lab results) and the

OB/GYN decided to admit her that evening and induce labor the following morning (Wednesday). Jill was one

week overdue at this point. The labor was long (23 hrs) and despite her best efforts, San's body and Jill didn't get the hint that it was time. The doctor then rightly decided to perform a C-section after it was clear that a natural delivery wasn't possible anymore. Sandra had a hard time with the epidural with elevated BP again, buy yesterday the excellent staff at the Kennemer Gasthuis Hospital in Haarlem got everything under control. jill has been a veryhapy and satisfied baby which mama and papa really appreciate during mama's recovery. 

We'll be in the hospital and will update here as we get time. 

Clover is less happy about going down a rung on the ladder, but will get used to it and will be a fantastic big sister. 

Love, Sean, Sandra, Jill, and Clover

41 week check up

I just got back from my gynecology appointment. It took forever and I had to go from one department to the next and back. Unfortunately the gyno was a different one than normal and in a big hurry. He didn't give me a good feeling at all. I told him that things are getting uncomfortable, that I haven't been able to eat much in 2 days etc, but he didn't seem to hear much of it. He was more busy instructing the intern what to do and preferably as fast as possible. The first time the intern took my BP I was wondering why I didn't feel weird, b/c it measured 150/110!. I think the gyno also had his doubts and suggested to look at my belly first. Nothing changed in that department. Jr is still high in my belly (explains why my stomach is the size of a peanut) and there is still enough amniotic fluid. After this he checked my BP again which was now 130/90 so still a little high. That resulted in having some blood drawn, collection of urine and I have to go in for the day on Thursday so they will monitor Jr and my BP for an extended period of time. Do you get a discount after a certain number of hospital admissions by the way?? Based on those results we guess they will come up with a plan. Because when I asked him about their policy on inducing labor he was not to nice and said "we can do it tomorrow"... we are taking 3 actions already now, blood, urine and hospital admittance for a day on Thursday. That wasn't my question, I just wanted to know if they would let me go past 42 weeks (if everything looks fine for me and Jr), but of course I prefer to start naturally and don't want to just start it tomorrow. So in the end I am not convinced if my high BP was due to an adverse reaction to the Dr. or the extension time of my pregnancy.
We will find out soon....just some more wait and see for now!

A July baby

Unless I go into labor right now and have a super fast delivery I think it is safe to say we will have a July baby. I was also thinking about the fact that the baby technically can be born on two different dates if you look at Dutch versus US time..... how funny is that.
One thing I do know for sure is that Jr isn't here yet and I am starting to get quite uncomfortable. Pretty soon I will be desperate enough to start trying the tricks to induce labor like drinking pineapple juice, tonic, biking on bumpy roads etc.

Serious baby talk

I have to have a serious talk with Jr soon. This week the weather will get hot, Wednesday it will get up to 30 degrees C (90 F) and I don't feel like dealing with contractions then. So either today or tomorrow it needs to happen, but by now I am guessing we will have a July baby and Jr is going to stay put till next weekend. How about a 4th of July baby? Then both mom and baby have their birthday on a holiday..... me Sinterklaas, and Jr independence day.