Oh, what a night!

That's right, what a night... one of the longest of our lives. But a very rewarding one. After about 24 hours of labour, Suzanne gave birth to our beautiful little girl, Liya-Jean (yes, the spelling has changed since this morning - sorry grandma's, gonna have to change those quilts), at 7h55 this morning (1/1/11), weighing 3.025 kg.

First things first, pronouncing Liya-Jean... as it's a bit of an issue. Liya is pronounced 'Lee' (as in Bruce 'Lee') + 'Yah' (as in 'Yah'we) or 'ja' (as in the European 'yes'). Jean is pronounced 'je' (as in 'je' t'aime - French for love) + 'an' (as in Arm'an'i). Make sense? Also, I should probably warn you that 'LJ' is not an option, unless you want to face Suzanne's wrath.

A little summary of the labour. Suzanne starting having contractions a few days ago, but things started getting really intense yesterday afternoon at 12h. After a few trips to the hospital, we were finally admitted at 3h30 this morning at which point Suzanne wasn't even in established labour. Two hours later, however, at 5h30 she was just about ready for delivery (almost fully dilated). And two and a half hours later, our baby was born.

Sounds easy enough, doesn't it? Well, it wasn't. Let me just say that I have the utmost respect for all mothers. Suzanne had such intense contractions that we hardly spoke two sentences for about 20 hours straight. She was so brave. I am so proud of her. To be honest, I don't know if it's worse going through labour or watching your wife go through it!

At one point, things were so hectic that Suzanne was desperate for an epidural, but by the time one of our midwives finally finished whatever paperwork she was doing, it was too late. In the end it was by God's grace, because the actual delivery part went really well with Suzanne knowing when to push.

Having said all of that, we are very pleased with the way things went for our first labour and we are very grateful for all God's grace where our faith was seriously tested.

Thank you for all your support and prayers.

For photo's, please click here.

For video's, please click here.

Excited to be parents... Liya-Jean - onwards and upwards,
The three of us

Comments

Unknown said…
Hi friends. Liya-Jean is PRAGTIG. Ons is so trots op julle! Mag die Here se vrede en geduld :-) met julle wees in die hierdie tyd. Ek kry sommer 'n knop in my keel as ek na die videos kyk.

Dit is so 'n spesiale tyd in julle lewens, ek glo julle gaan die beste tyd saam hê.

Net een bietjie raad- Julle het seker baie raad gekry en boeke gelees en google searches gedoen, en julle gaan seker nog baie, maar onthou net een ding dat God vir julle, veral vir Suz 'n gu feel/instink gegee het en meeste van die tyd kan jul dit maar volg.

Sterkte met al jul great tye saam!-j

PS: dit wat jul tussen 12h en 4h in die oggend vir mekaar sê tel nie, dit moet vergewe en vergeet word!
3 January 2011 at 06:45
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