Photos

Chilling with Oma - Thank you Oma for all that you do for both Kate and I, we love you dearly and could not imagine having to do all this without you.


Here are some close ups of Kate






And finally asleep on the bed...



Love Marlies

Sinterklaas

I had a Sinterklaas party with my work. For those who do not know what Sinterklaas is, he is the dutch version of Santa. He comes from Spain on a boat with his white horse and black 'Piets'(his helpers)He was a real man - Saint Nicklas and did give presents to the poor about 400AD. The tradtion lives on since about 1500 and that is where Santa comes from. Here everyone receives presents on the 6th of December and not on the 25th. So Kate just had her first Sinterklaas. Though she did sleep through it all...

Caleb to the US

Yesterday Caleb left and went back to the States. he will start work next week after spending some time with his family in NY. Here are some family shots with the 3 of us before he left.

Dedication

Last Sunday we had a mini dedication for Kate. It was so that we could be prayed over as a family before Caleb left. The theme was about another generation going strong for God, that is why it was such an honor for Opa to be there and pray for Kate as well.
We will probably do something more full in a few months or so.

Some Kate expressions

The sleep look - considering she is asleep and all...




The Ok I'm awake and content look




The why did you wake me look?




The smilie




The leave me alone look.

Kate

Kate is doing really well, She is slowly getting used to sleepling at night - which is a great realief to mum and dad. She is putting on weight and all her vital organs are working like they should (in other words lots of nice full nappies)

I have to say she is soooo cute!!!!!!!! ;) - just look at her.




Posing for a passport photo




Mum and dad giving Kate's first bath at home



Kate at one week old

Photos

We are doing well - Kate still has to get used to night as sleep time - as you might see below we are tired. Here are some photos for now

The family of 3



Kate in Dad's clothes



Kate is now back to her birth weight 3.850 - with cousin Chloe's cloths on



Chilling with mum - with cousin June's sweater on.

Home again

Hey everyone, we are now safe and sound at home. I got to go home earlier then I thought(this is Marlies typing) so that was a really nice surprise.
I have to be really careful that I do not do too much - which means that getting up to go to the loo is enough at a time but it is great to be home.

Kate is doing really well - she is feeding really well and has put on 55 grams - not a lot but it is a great sign. So is feeding so well that she has to learn to slow down a bit cause sometimes it is too much too fast so it all comes back out. But otherwise it is all really great.
Oh and we finally found out that she was 54cm in length (about 22.3 inches) Yes she is nice and long.

Caleb has been awesome this last week and no matter what he says he is amazing with Kate and will be a great father. (as you can tell below)



I also wanted to add some comments about the birth - while it is still in my memory and before I forget enough of it to go through it again later.

It was much harder then I thought but then the reward is much greater then I thought as well. I was going to talk about the pain - man was that bad - I dont know what I would have done if I did not get those 2 epiderals - I had the contractions in my back which were bad and then before the c-section. But that is not what this is all about, It is all about the moment that you become a parent. It is so amazing realizing that it is no longer all about me but all about us as a family. That this miracle that God has given us is just too amazing to understand. God has been there every step of the way even when I felt helpless when I could not pick her up as I had to recover a little more first I knew that God was there and it will be ok.

I love the picture that Caleb made it really touches my heart the way that we are just as precious in Gods eyes as Kate is in ours.

Well those are my thoughts for now, I will add some photos later when I know where Caleb put them.

Love you guys
Marlies

Here She Is!!!

Born on the 7th of November 2007. At 1155pm(2355 military time)
Weighing in at 3.30 kg around 18" in length(sorry they didn't measure her yet).
Her name, Kate Antoinet Clemens, a beautiful and healthy girl.

It all started at around 800pm November 6th and was all was going well(outside of some serious contraction pain) until 1030am the 7th, when the midwife broke the water and noticed fecal matter in it. This is not a crazy emergency thing but it then required more active monitoring, so we went to the hospital. With Kate's heart being monitored along with Marlies' contractions we awaited full dialation. During the last hour or so, Marlies pushed and pushed to no avail and the Doctor was called in to give an opinion about an irregularity in the heartbeat. He came in very quickly, and due to no real progress from that time on it was decided to have a c-section done.
Marlies was prepped, so was I!
The surgery went well, and was extremely fast and Kate made her first little sound.

The pediatric physician allowed me to help clean and comfort Kate.

After a quick clean up mother child bonding ensued, this is the firm belief that a child knows its mother and needs her touch as soon as possible, which I believe in also.

Stay with me people, I know its a long post and everyone only likes photos, and I hate typing so just hang on a bit more to go!
I had the honor of staying with Kate the whole time pretty much, And as the midwife and I dressed and did some more minor cleaning I then got to hold her. As soon as I picked her up she made this amazing sound(for before this it was kind of like a cat).
Best described as a sigh of relief but with a little hum to it.
For those who do not know, nor understand the meaning of joy, having a child explains it beyond any words capacity.
The next day I arrived at the hospital around 10-11 am, after probably the worst night sleep ever and got to hold Kate and be with Marlies some more.
My two favorite women!

Then some more cuddle time with me, Daddy :D

That was Yesterday, but today was bath day!
Kate very anxious and cold squealed for all she had even a couple seconds into the water, then enter nirvana. I can tell bath time is going to be a good calming technique. Those are not my arms by the way. I still feel a strange clumbsiness and me ug and me crush baby feeling around Kate. So I let the assistant take the reigns and I sat back with the camera and one hand holding Kate now and then.

And just one last image that I took to show you how small and precious she really is.
And again remind me(and hopefully you) of what the joy and the perfect Love of the Father is when tangible to our eyes. This is my revelation of how He sees us, and until I had my own child I did not understand this, but now I do.

Still nothing

The baby is still not here yet, It must be too comfortable in there - though with how uncomfortable I am getting - my ribs, back and sides it is hard to imagine that the baby is comfortable.
We have an appointment with the guynocologist this afternoon to talk about when we can induce - so hopefully today or at least in the next few days.
So the next update should be with a few real baby pictures.
Laters
Marlies