Small update (with photos)

This time a little blog written by me (Marieke).

Wow, where do we start?
Let's start with the fact that we are still and again experiencing that God is SO faithful. He doesn't change and we are so impressed by His love and faithfulness. When things were not going well in our circumstances over the past few years, but also now that things are going so incredibly well with all 4 of us 🙂 🙂 .

The delivery went very well and the recovery afterwards was actually perfect as well. Perhaps it also helps that I am not easily impressed by pain and discomfort. But the delivery story is very special and we will share it later for those who like to read it.

Maternity week was fantastic: relaxed at home with the four of us and with a maternity nurse who was very sociable, maternity visits from family and otherwise just peace and quiet. (As far as that's possible in a maternity week 🙂 ).

Feeding was a bit of a thing for a while, Rosalie did not have enough strength to drink the feed from the breast and production was not going well. So we entered a vicious circle in the first week, because even though Rosalie had nice chubby cheeks and a nice birth weight, a baby should not lose more than 10%. This was the case, so we started supplementary feeding. I started feeding, pumping and then a bottle for Rosalie. (First fingerfeeding, see photo, I was quite a bit exhausted there) Sometimes with some artificial feeding, but I am very grateful that it was soon possible again with just pumped milk. Two weeks later, Rosalie was at a good weight and my motherly feeling told me I could start feeding on demand and, lo and behold, it went well! Full breastfeeding was one of my biggest dreams though. after we gave pumped feed via tube for 7 months with Gideon, so how grateful I am that this is working out!

Rosalie is a very contented girl who prefers to snuggle up with us. We enjoy that to the full. At night, she lies in our room in the co-sleeper and I can hear her when she comes for a feed. How special it is that as a mother you sleep extra lightly when your baby starts to get hungry. This allows me to get ahead of the crying and quietly change and feed her, without waking the men.

What fun it is!
Gideon is a proud big brother who enjoys all sorts of little things. He laughs when Rosalie looks difficult, or farts. (Yep, Gideon remains a real boy) He is endeared when she has a laugh or when she sits on his lap. He always wants to show her off to everyone and all his friends, he says, need to come and play so they can see that Rosalie belongs to us now.

For Gideon, it is healing to see that our Rosalie is alive and well. He asked several times during the pregnancy how long this baby could stay with us. How wonderful that we can enjoy her for life!

For us, of course, it is also hugely healing. A baby who after delivery was 'just' allowed to lie directly with me, 'just' allowed to come home with me, who 'just' breathes, 'just' drinks from the breast, does everything 'normally'. What a miracle and how incredibly grateful we are that we got to experience this.

There is still so much to tell, but this is just a little update. We will continue to enjoy ourselves for a while longer 🙂