Elise Katelyn Lundholm, was born at 3:16 p.m. on Thursday December 11th. The labor and delivery went really well. It took about thirteen hours altogether. Heather is doing really well. We are just adjusting to the joy and responsibility of being parents. As I hear people say and I now understand, words cannot describe the experience of becoming a parent. When I first got to hold my little girl in my arms, all bundled up and precious, I was just overcome with how adorable she was. And it occurred to me that God, our father, views us the same way. He adores us and we are precious to him! Our pastor visited us at the hospital today and he shared the same thing with us.
Heather's Dad Mark, Mom Ellen, Stepdad Dave and sister Holly all arrived shortly after she was born. They begin traveling from missouri the moment they got the message that Heather was in labor. What a day! Our little daughter was eager to spend time with us so much so that she decided she would rather have us hold her all night than sleep. And of course she slept most of the day the next day! Heather and I are very tired but we don't care because we're so happy to be with our daughter.
Day two update..... Elise got to do a lot of good sleeping during her second day born (probably making up for the sleep she missed last night! And as of writing this entry (very late on her second night) she has kept her "pattern" if you would call it that of being up at night and sleeping in the day. Oh well, what can you expect from the kid!? She enjoyed spending more time with family and friends. She also met a few new friends who stopped bye. They were our pastor Walter, Jeffrey, Bethany and Zeke, and Matt and Sarah.) What a fun day. Elise had some tests done at different times of the day. She passed her hearing test with flying colors, and she got a sticker for her effort! She got her poor little heel pricked for a blood sample. She was weighed and observed by the nurses a few time. And she was evaluated by the pediatrician first thing in the morning (who said she was perfectly healthy). Baby and mommy also made some progress today learning how to feed Elise.
Day 4 update...Sunday December 14. We brought little Elise to her home yesterday. We were discharged from the hospital around 2 pm on Saturday, after about 48 hours of post-partum stay. Elise was so precious in her little carseat. She didn't make a sound as we put her in it, or all the way home. She went to sleep in the hospital, and woke up at home! Heather' mom and dad, stepdad and sister were there to help us out of the hospital. They all spent most of the previous two days with us. When we got home we were in for a surprise. Our friends Jeffrey and Bethany came over and cleaned and decorated our apartment!! What a sweet thing. We left it particularly messy that night we went in, so that was a huge blessing. We also received a visit from my friend Steven. He and his wife Dawn bought us a little dinner kit and some sparkling cider and stopped by to say congratulations. We didn't get to see Dawn or the kids who were out in the van, but we look forward to seeing them soon. Little Elise is adjusting well to her new home (to be honest I don't think she cares where she is as long as we are holding and feeding her!). Heather and I were really depleted of sleep on that day we came home (but still very happy to have our baby girl and family with us). We noticed what was happening to our bodies and minds as our sleep deprivation deepened, so yesterday we were more serious about getting sleep. We got several hours last night with the help of some family members. Auntie Holly held her till 2 am while we slept a little. Last night we got a very exciting surprise....my mom called and said her and my stepdad Buddy were getting on a plane to come out. In her words "We just couldn't stand it anymore." They arrived late last night and made it to the apartment this morning to see their first granddaughter! What a joy. Dave and Holly left this morning to go back to Missouri for a few days. They will be back to spend the Christmas holiday really soon. Ellen will stay for a while to help. Mark also left to go back this morning.
Grandma Robin and Grandpa Buddy meet Elise
Day 7 update....
Tomorrow Elise will be 1 week old.....wow that week flew by fast! It was quite a whirlwind. It is like a switch went off in her mind two nights ago and she decided to start sleeping some at night. The last two nights she slept three or four hours in a row (she would've kept on sleeping but we had to wake her to feed her.) She has already learned how to make a bunch of funny faces. She is definitely an indoor baby right now as the temperatures here in Grand Rapids are getting lower and lower....we will be in the twenties in the coming days. We are very glad to have Grandma Ellen, Heather's mom around for the next week or so. Without her help it would be much more difficult. This has given us a new appreciation for single mothers. How do they do it? It would be so hard without support for the mom.
We want to say something to anyone who wants to visit. We want to see you and would be blessed by your visit! We will be thinking about how to handle this, so if you want to visit please call and we can figure out a time. We would be very happy to see you and introduce you to this little princess.
SOMETHING RANDOM
My dad emailed out a picture of the view from his living room after a fresh snow. He lives in St. George Utah with a view of Snow Canyon state park from his living room. The scene from his living room is amazing.
