What a week
It’s been seven days since we checked into the hospital. Such a short span of time, and my life is so different. I drove through an epic snowstorm (by Seattle-area proportions anyway) to get to the hospital, camped out at Laura’s side for a four-day hospital stay–including 23 hours of labor and nearly 4 solid hours of pushing on her part–to witness the birth of my baby girl, brought said baby girl home, had our first baby poo related emergency (on an outing, of course), and enjoyed our first few days hanging out “just the three of us”. Easily the most exhausting and wonderful week of my life.
The baby, Anne Marie Sandver, was born at 7:54 A.M. on Christmas Day. She weighed 8 pounds, 14 ounces and was 21 1/2″ long. The poor kid’s been hanging out on one person’s arm or another basically 24/7 ever since and she’s probably sporting a wicked crick in the neck, but we hope she’ll forgive us. I can’t get enough of looking at her. I love watching the faces she makes as she sleeps, and looking into her big, dark eyes when she’s awake. I love watching her interact with her mommy. Good stuff.
A big “thank you” to family and friends who braved our winter wonderland to keep us company in the hospital. Thank you to Mom for bringing me food, holding down the fort at home, keeping an eye on Rufus, and supporting us through our first days at home as parents. Thank you to Dad and Donna for the beautiful, hand-built rocking chair. (I know, I haven’t actually sat in it yet, but it looks great in the photo and I can’t wait.) Thank you to Vickie for the handmade baby blankets, to Pat for photos with Santa, and to Emily and Will for photos at the hospital. Thank you to everyone who gave us baby gifts, making it so much easier to prepare for the new arrival. If you haven’t received a proper “thank you” note yet, please bear with us; you haven’t been forgotten.
Processing and uploading photos is my project for tomorrow, but it may take me a couple days to get through it all–there’s a lot. Stay tuned.
