Two pictures taken on Sunday at church by a friend.  Thank you Suhail!

Five weeks?!?!

WHAT??!! My baby is almost five weeks old already??? Where did the time go??

Yup, tomorrow Chloe will be five weeks old already!  Seems to go so quickly!!  How?

Our days are mostly filled with sleeping and playing and sleeping ... with the obligatory diaper change and feedings thrown in as well.  We chat with Grandma almost every day, and to some of the aunts as well during the week.  We walk down to get groceries every other day almost, since the fridge doesn't hold that much food.  But Chloe likes that.  The motion in the pram puts her right to sleep. :)

We took the bus to church a few weeks ago, and that was fun.  Chloe slept the entire trip there, the entire service, and started to wake as we left, but fell back asleep again as we started to walk back to the bus stop.  We haven't made it back again, since the weather wasn't that nice, cold and damp two weeks ago, and yesterday we had family coming to visit.  That was interesting, since they don't speak a whole lot of English and I don't speak a whole lot of Dutch!  But we got through about an hour long visit just fine! :)  Thankfully we have been able to log on and watch our church services from back in Oregon on the weeks we couldn't make it.

Speaking of Oregon, three more weeks and we'll be heading back.  Our stuff was picked up by the moving company last week, and we've received word that it is supposed to get put on a ship leaving April 2nd.  Which hopefully means we'll see it the beginning of May sometime.  YEA!!

The beginning of May is also when we plan on baptizing little Chloe.  Hopefully the gown Grandma made still fits!! :)

Here are some recent shots of Chloe:

one of her favorite sleeping positions

Mom!! Stop taking my picture!! 

her other favorite sleeping position ... and on Mom's bed :)

The album is here... enjoy!

Introducing ...

 Chloe Tiena Kulbe!!

Just so you know ... the following is a semi-birth story ... nothing gory, I promise! :)

During my pregnancy, my blood pressure has always been a concern.  It would fluctuate between 120/80 and 170/100 ... so great to completely horrible!!

I was going in weekly for blood pressure checks, as well as blood work and urine tests semi weekly, to make sure I didn't have too much protein or other issues.

Thursday, Feb 9th I had an appointment and my BP was around 150/95, and they sent me up to the maternity ward for a CTG scan to make sure all was well with the baby.  The scan came back fine, her heartbeat was going strong and steady.  At my appointment on the 16th, I had to do blood work and urine test again, since my BP was high again.  I was also scheduled to go in on Saturday for another CTG.  Everything was fine.

Monday the 20th I had another appointment.  When she took my BP it was 170/100.  She consulted with a few of the other OB/Gyn's and decided that I should be admitted, with the thought that if my BP was still high in the morning, I may possibly be induced.  I was also at 2cm dilation already as well.  Monday put me at 37 weeks, 4 days.  They hooked me up to the CTG again, and as per usual, everything was fine. :)  Throughout the evening they took my blood pressure a couple of times and it was consistently elevated.  I did sleep pretty well most of the night, other then the time that the lady in the bed next to me went into labor and was taken out of the room.

Tuesday the 21st I was awoken to a typical Dutch hospital breakfast of bread and cheese or jam.  Yum!! :) LOL  They connected me to the CTG machine and took my BP.  It was 170/100 still.  A tech came and took a couple of vials of blood and I was left to "enjoy" my breakfast and listen to by daughters heartbeat through the machine.  Just before Aaron got back to the hospital in the morning, around 8:30, the two midwives came by to discuss that I was going to be induced because of my BP.

As Aaron arrived, Saida, our nurse for the day, arrived to take us down to the delivery suite.  I had the corner room, the largest room!! :) After a bit of poking and prodding they got the IV in that started the Oxytocin drip, the hormone drug of choice at this hospital for inductions.  This was all shortly after 9:00 am.  The midwife came in again, and did a quick check and I was still at about 2cm dilated.  About an hour later I was up to 3cm.  I did decide to go with the Remifentanil for pain relief.  It is an opiate that only takes the edge or crest off of the pain.

By around 2pm when they came to check me I was at 10cm and ready to push.  I pushed for about 36 minutes and she was born at 2:46 pm! :)

She was put on my chest and covered in blankets to keep warm.  She immediately grabbed one of my fingers and one of Aaron's.  We stayed that way for about 30 minutes, while I delivered the placenta.  That took about 26 minutes, so they called in one of the OB/Gyn's to help with that.  Aaron cut the cord while I just lay on the bed, trying to stay with it.

I wasn't able to move, sit up or do anything for quite some time ... since I lost so much blood  They said that I lost about 1-1/2 to 2 liters of blood.  After a while they brought in some food to us, since I hadn't had anything since breakfast, other then juice and water.  I figured I was feeling better after a couple of hours, and the nurse came to help me shower.  Thankfully Aaron had placed Chloe in the bed already, since when the nurse asked me to stand up I passed out, and she had to yell for him to come help her get me back into the chair.

Once I was sitting back in the wheelchair I was fine.  I was brought to my room and made as comfortable as possible.  Because I was so dizzy I did end up having to have a catheter, since I couldn't get out of bed to go to the bathroom.

Wednesday I was still feeling a little dizzy if the bed was put into to high of a sitting position, but it was starting to get better.  When they did my blood work my hemoglobin was at 4.5, so they gave me an intravenous of iron, in hopes that it would raise the levels enough to make things better.  The next morning when they checked they were still low, at 4.8 only.  So it was suggested to have a blood transfusion.  Aaron and I talked about it, and after discussions with the nurse, we did decide to go with it. Friday morning my levels were still only 5.2, but a bit more acceptable, so I was allowed to go home.

Day by day I'm feeling better.  My energy levels are still low, but I'm more able to get up and walk around and do things without feeling the need to rest for half an hour.

To see some pictures of Chloe, just follow this link.

Chinese Light Festival

Yesterday, Saturday the 14th of January, Aaron & I headed up to visit some of my cousins in Northern Holland.  They had some baby stuff for us to look and and buy if we wanted, since they are finished having children.  I got a pretty sweet stroller with many added parts, as well as this lovely baby blanket!  Echte Nederlands!

After it started to get dark we headed into town to the Chinese Gardens to check out the Chinese Light Festival going on.  Was pretty cool.  Reminded me of the light festival that they have in Niagara Falls.  (I forgot to bring my camera with, so all these were taken with my iPhone. Not bad I must say!)

This picture was taken by my cousin Rieanne.

The balance of the pictures can be seen at the end of this album.

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar!

WOW!! Can you believe it is already 2012??

2011 started off with a surprise visit for me to my family ... and ended with me visiting my family again :) But oh so many things happened in between those two visits.

January ~ surprise visit to my family, for my birthday ... was so much fun just showing up at my parents front door!!
February ~ sorting, packing and selling off some possessions in anticipation of the move
March ~ we moved to Amstelveen, The Netherlands
April ~ my parents came to visit us, and we toured around a bit of the northern Netherlands
May ~ we went down to southern France for our anniversary
June/July ~ we spent a long weekend in Poland with our churches mission team, evangelizing and helping them grow the churches in Poznan, they carried on further and went to Gdansk as well
August ~ we found out we are expecting!!!
September ~ we spent a whirlwind week and half in Portland visiting friends
September/October ~ Grace came to visit and her & I went to Switzerland
November ~ Aaron & I went to northern France for his birthday, as well as with a colleague of his to Antwerp, Belgium
December ~ I went back to Canada to visit my family for Christmas


I'm now at the end of my 31st week of pregnancy ... according to "THE" calendar, I'm 222 days pregnant, really doesn't seem like it! :)  It has flown by so far, and other then tiredness, I have been feeling pretty good.  I never did suffer from morning sickness, for which I am very thankful, since I hate throwing up!  I avoid it at all costs, if possible.

The only other thing going on now is that my blood pressure has been higher then they like, and I was just diagnosed with a form of gestational diabetes.  I don't have gestational diabetes itself, but an elevated level of glucose, which, if not monitored and watched can turn into gestational diabetes.  So I spent the morning seeing a doctor of internal medicine, a diabetes nurse, and in an hour I see the nutritionist as well, to try to get this all under control.  I also now get to puncture myself 7 times a day to check my blood glucose levels.

For the elevated blood pressure, I have to go in weekly now to have that checked, but it has come down again slightly, and is not to the level that they want to put me on medication.

Hectic.  Crazy.

Oh and in the midst of all this, we are trying to find a place to live in Portland for when we get back in April.  It is hard to do from over 9000 miles away.  Pictures don't always do apartments or houses justice. I'm sure it'll all figure itself out, but still, it can be kinda frustrating.  We wanted to move back into the complex we were in before, but it is such a nice place that people don't want to leave!  So, sadly, they don't have any openings!

Sorry, I don't have any pictures to post today.  It has been a cold, wet winter so far and I haven't really been out with the camera in quite some time.  The forecast for the next few days is sunny and dry, so maybe I'll go for a ride out to the Amsterdamse Bos again, and see what it looks like without leaves.  :)