Miss Chloe gets her picture taken

A good friend from church came over on Friday morning and took some shots of our little girl.  I don't have them all to put up here yet, but here is a sneak peak and a couple links to some more.

Here is one post done by the photographer:

Miss European Traveler
Generations

Chloe was also baptized on Sunday May 6th, when my family was in town.  Here is a link to the message given by Pastor Hayes when he baptized her.

Chloe's Baptism

Saturday was also a baby shower for Chloe and me.  Here is the devotional given by our friend Connie.

Chloe's Shower Devotional

Once I get the pictures off the CD, I'll post more from her photoshoot.  As well as from my family over the weekend!

Home!!!

We're home!! Well, we're in our new home, in our old country.

Monday night (the 16th) was a short night.  Chloe didn't want to settle till about 10:30 and at that, she wouldn't sleep unless she was lying on me, so we snuggled together in bed till about 1am.  She then woke around 3:30 to eat.  I didn't sleep well after that, since I never really do when I know we have to catch a plane and be up early the next morning.  So when the alarm went off at 5:45, I had only had about 3 hours of sleep all night... it was going to be a loooong day!

Getting to the airport was fun.  Aaron went with our friend Graeme, and Chloe and I took the bus for the last time.  Checking in was a bit of a hassle, since we had two extra bags and the lady thought we were going to argue about having to pay the extra fees.  But we knew ahead of time that we would have to pay, so we were fine with it, but she still asked us if we could do anything with our suitcases.  Was a bit frustrating.

Going through passport/resident control was easy.  They asked a few questions as to why Chloe didn't have a resident card, but were satisfied with the answer that since we were leaving, she didn't need one.  And we had no hassles with the fact that our cards had expired and our new ones hadn't come yet.  We had no issues at security either, thankfully!

Once through security I changed and fed Chloe and then put her in the Bjorn.  She stared around at different things for about half an hour and then fell asleep.  She slept through boarding and takeoff, and landing!  She did great through the whole flight, sleeping about 8 out 10 hours!  Most of that time she was in the Bjorn, or on my lap, but she was content and quiet when she wasn't sleeping, so I wasn't too worried about having to hold her.  She didn't like it too much in the bassinet since they want to have a mesh covering closed over it so the baby doesn't fall out.

Other then missing one suitcase when we got to Portland, it was a great homecoming!  We were met by a couple of families from church and it was wonderful to see them!

Our new place is nice!  We are excited to have enough space to have family and friends come over.  Our only concern area is the living room.  It is only 10' wide so having a couch and stuff makes things complicated.  We did find two armchairs at the second hand shop, and bought a new love seat.  The armchairs have a little issue with the design of them ~ a "beautiful" golden yellow with peacocks on it!  Thankfully SureFit came to the rescue and two garnet chair covers are coming next week! :)

Here's the link to the picture album.

Have a great weekend!

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.