Daniel Peter Is Here!

Wow, this is the first time in almost 4 weeks that I have been able to sit down and start writing this blog. I know that I may not be able to finish it in one sitting but at least I've started and it feels great to finally do something different - outside of feeding, changing diapers and trying to get much needed sleep whilst the baby sleeps. I just managed to get him to sleep so hopefully he will have a nice long nap...

Our sweet little boy, Daniel Peter, arrived at 5:35 pm on Monday, March 3rd. He weighed 7 pounds and 6 ounces and was 20 inches long. After all the moving around inside of me, I was relieved to discover that he was head-down when I went into labor - amazing, he had been breech only 2 days before I went into labor and I was already 39 weeks. My contractions started regularly in the early hours of March 2nd, I was officially admitted into the hospital at 3:30 pm that same day but he was only born about 26 hours later. Even though this was my second delivery, my cervix was slow to dilate but thank God, once I got passed 6 cm it went very quickly and he came out after pushing through only about 4 contractions.

The moment of hearing him cry, the relief of knowing that he was indeed healthy and well was truly amazing...I don't have the words to describe the feelings of joy and relief. Child birth is indeed a miraculous event, I still can't believe he came from inside of me! We had the best care from our midwife Kathleen and I will in particular never forget how she helped me with getting him to start breastfeeding soon after birth. Without her help, I think it would be much harder. Nursing is harder than I thought it would be - even though I already "theoretically" knew that from all my public health work. Thank God it is going well though, I have lots of milk and I'm getting used to it - but it is indeed very demanding and I can now understand why women choose not to nurse.

Daniel Peter is so cute and I'm growing to love him more and more each day. It is so special to look at him and know that he is our child and no one elses. It is an amazing feeling, though definitely overwhelming at times since it's hard work and exhausting! The first two weeks were the hardest but it's getting a little easier each day as I get used to the sleep deprivation and he has started to sleep for about 3 hours at a time at night - as opposed to 1 and a half hours! Jonny has also been giving him a bottle once a night with my expressed milk for the last week so that has given me a chance to sleep a bit more which has really helped. I have also recently started to go outside of the house - spring is here and I've been able to go for short walks around our neighborhood and yesterday even managed to go to the hairdressers with him - with my mother's invaluable help.

Jonny is an amazing father. I always thought he would be, but seeing him with Daniel is so special. So far, he has been the only one to bath him, since he just has this special way of doing so with much care and tenderness. He takes such good care of him and is a perfectionist when changing his diaper - my mother was happy to have him around to teach us to take care of his "bits" since he is the only one around who understands them! It's still a common occurrence to be peed on but I think we are getting better at predicting and containing the "mess."

Wow, he is still asleep... it's been 55 minutes and I've been able to write this peacefully. I hope to upload photos soon, the next time I get a chance!

Just waiting and many questions...

So now we're officially “just waiting”. I'm 39 weeks pregnant and Daniel Peter could arrive at any moment but we just don't know when - the estimated due date, March 7th, is now only 6 days away. Every few hours we ask ourselves: Will it be today? When will it be? Will we have to leave for the hospital in the middle of the night? What kind of delivery will I have? Will he be head-down? Will it be quick or long? So many questions that will soon be answered - but we just don't know when!

Everything is ready waiting for him, my mother is here, our hospital bags are packed, both Jonny and I finished in the past week important work-related tasks we wanted to... so... “Come baby, we can't wait to meet you!" I know that I'll soon look back at this "waiting time" as a special time, but it's hard at times since I'm feeling more and more uncomfortable and feel that we can't do much else to prepare except to be very patient and resist our natural desire to want to be in control of events...

Yesterday, was a fun day and I was thankful for feeling more energetic than usual. After our weekly appointment with the midwife and finding out that he was again in a transverse/breech position (we're still hopeful he will turn again, he continues to do so every few days!), I went to get my hair washed and blow-dried at a salon and then had a luxury pedicure. It was fun to be pampered and get my toe nails painted since I haven't been able to reach my toes easily in a few months and will probably not have time to take care of them for a while!

Anyway, I hope that the next blog I write will be to announce his arrival and to write about our first moments together... but in the meantime, we will continue to “just wait" and enjoy this special time of anticipation and many questions...

Up or Down: What will it be?

So right now we just don't know if I'll have to have a c-section or if I'll be able to deliver naturally. Daniel Peter, at almost 38 weeks, continues to flip from being bottom-down to head-down every few days! At 32 weeks he was breech, then at 34 head-down, at 36 breech, at 37 head-down and now tomorrow, at 38, we will have to see! Earlier this week I was convinced that he was breech again because I could feel his hiccups close to my stomach but then this morning, I felt them way down! I hope he is head-down again and stays there because the bigger he gets, the less likely he’ll be able to flip. But I’ve already prepared myself that I just will not know until the end what kind of delivery I will have and that the most important thing is that he will be healthy and coming home soon!

Is this a sign of what he will be like? :-) I think God is preparing me for the reality of parenting even before he arrives: you just don’t have as much control as you would want over your child’s life and you must take one day at a time, trusting in God’s sovereignty and goodness.

Anyway, soon we will find out which way it will be… Can’t wait!

Expectantly waiting for Daniel Peter's arrival!

It's been a long time since I last wrote on our blog but I think we're back! So much has happened over the past 7 months...

The biggest news is that I'm currently 37 weeks pregnant and we are waiting expectantly to meet our second son, Daniel Peter, very soon! I first stopped writing our blog because of feeling so ill in my first trimester and then just lost momentum... But we now have so much reason to continue to keep loved ones updated on our family life, especially with Daniel's arrival so soon!

I just can't believe I'm officially full-term today and that he may be arriving anytime soon (estimated due date is March 7th)! It's been a long journey of faith this second pregnancy; counting each passing week and praying for a healthy baby. So far, all is very well and Daniel is a healthy little boy, currently estimated to be 6 and a half pounds (almost 3 kilos). We are just sooooo excited to meet him!! We just can't wait to hold, love and kiss him! And he is such an active little boy too - if his activity level outside the womb continues as it has been the past few months, boy, we will definitely get a work out! :-)

What joy it will be to officially announce his birth and post photos on this blog for all to see! The miracle of new life is one that we have learned not to take for granted and so here we are, waiting and hoping eagerly!

Daniel Peter, we are waiting for you with so much expectation and excitment! Can't wait to finally see you face-to-face and begin the parenting journey!

Florida, here we come!

We are leaving for Florida today to visit my cousin Manuela and her adorable twins. We are excited and are so looking forward to enjoying the beach of Boca Raton - about an hour north of Miami. This will be the first time that we've gone this far south in Florida. Look forward to blogging when we come back about our time there!

A special birthday wish to: Mainha do Recife! FELIZ ANIVERSARIO!!! Estou pensando muito em voce hoje e lhe desejando toda felicidade, amor e paz do mundo! Um grande beijo bem especial para voce, com muitas saudades!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY FAFA!

Tomorrow, July 9th, is my dear sister's birthday and I wanted to write a special blog, just for her. She’s currently visiting my mother in Portugal and will be able to read this in the morning.

Fafa, HAPPY BIRTHDAY! I'm already thinking of you today and thanking God for your life! I so wish I could be there with you tomorrow to give you a special birthday hug but I'm happy to know that mommy has been spoiling you and already started celebrating your birthday a few days ago!

Here are some of the photos that she sent me of the surprise birthday party she had for you with some of her friends, last Friday night:

Mommy surprising Fafa with a birthday cake!

Fafa, Stephen and son of a friend

Beautiful birthday woman!

Honey, I’m so blessed to have you as my sister and your birthday is a special day for me to remember that! This year is even more special because we both know that we have never been as close to each other as we are now. God used the last difficult year to bring us closer together and this too, is one of the very special things that your nephew, Jonathan David, did for us. Thank you for being such a wonderful, loving and caring sister! I will always be grateful for how you loved and took great care of me during the last year.

I hope you have a wonderful day tomorrow and really get to enjoy your day, surrounded by people who love you so much! I look forward to all the amazing things that God has planned for you in this new year of your life. Each day that passes you become more of the amazing woman God created you to be and I feel very blessed to be a witness of it. I love you so much and can’t wait to see you again in September and personally give you your birthday hug!

FELIZ ANIVERSARIO MINHA QUERIDA IRMA!

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And also to honour this day - this is my (Jonny's) first blog entry! Happy Birthday Fafa!!

I am glad that you are having a wonderful time in Portugal and I am wishing you all the best for the year ahead. Thanks so much for the support you gave us over the last year and for being the wonderful sister-in-law and aunt that you are!!

Lots of love,

Jonny

Here we are thinking of you!

Squiz's visit!

My friend from work, Hope, her husband Jacob and their cutest son Eli came over for dinner tonight and we had a lovely time with them. Eli, who is affectionately called Squiz, just turned one and the last time I saw him he was about 3 weeks old - it was so nice to see him again and to see how he has grown. He's got so much energy and is a very happy little boy. Congratulations you guys for doing a great job with Squiz!

Hope, so happy we finally got to do this! I so appreciate you and look forward to getting together again soon after you return from your trips! In the meantime, I'll look forward to reading your blog! :-)

Fourth of July Holiday!

We spent a relaxing day today with our family friend Maria Helena. Jonny cooked a wonderful evening meal - we joined most American families today by having a "cook-out", just before the thunderstorm came.




Maezinha, you will be very happy to know that I took advantage of Maria Helena's visit today to finally clean out and organize our storage closet in the living room! We've been in this house now for almost a year and have been using the closet to hide all our mess and at the same time lose everything. I'm so relieved that we finally got it organized because every time we've had guests over and I've had to "find" something, I would get embarrassed of the mess and the fact that I could never find what I was looking for! Here is the evidence of the organized closet - there is so much space now that Jonny can even sit inside!

Remembering Jonathan David: 5 months on

Saturday, June 30th, was two anniversaries related to Jonathan David: 5 months since he was born and exactly a year since we found out that we were expecting him. We remember clearly our excitement of finding out we were pregnant - one year ago we had no idea what we would go through...

But glory be to God because we have come such a long way in our healing. We remembered Jonathan David a lot (as we do every day) but this anniversary was different - much less grief, more acceptance and peace. We are a living testimony to what 1 Peter 5:10 says: "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm and steadfast." There were days and weeks that I thought I would never be able to smile again; but here were are, 5 months later, smiling and restored. We are not the same people (we will never be and are grateful for that) and we miss our son so much - but we have been restored, are strong, firm and steadfast. Thank you Lord! You are a faithful and good God and we continue to trust in you.

Last weekend of June: Catching up with friends

I can't believe we are already in July! June just flew by! We are excited about this new month since we will be going to the beach soon: first to Florida (Boca Raton) to visit my cousin Manuela and family for a long weekend and then to Chincoteague in Virginia for a lab retreat with Jonny's colleagues. Should be fun!

We spent the last weekend of June catching up with friends that we hadn't seen for a long time. On Friday night, we had dinner with Daniel, Carol and Marcelo (Carol's sweet younger brother who's visiting from Brazil) at a lovely Cuban restaurant in Silver Spring. It was so nice to catch up with them after a long time and in much happier times.

On Saturday, we spent the evening with the Hargraves in their beautiful new home. We got to enjoy their wonderful hospitality and Dirck's cooking! It was also so nice to get to know their son Connor better (6 months) and to see how Taylor has grown (3 years old)! Thank you guys for a memorable evening together! Here are some photos of our time together: