our elise

elise is almost one month old and she is getting cuter by the day! we are all doing well, mainly because my parents are here to help out with so much. elise is not sleeping through the night yet (still waking every couple of hours to eat), but she goes right back to sleep after her feedings so that is great. lucas and emma continue to love and adore their baby sister. at 2 weeks, elise weighed 7.6 pounds...3 ounces above her birth weight. way to go, elise! but, at almost 4 weeks now, she still hasn't lost her umbilical cord stump. elise is very alert when she's awake and she loves to look around. about 4 days or so ago, i noticed that she looks back at you when you look at her. i could just hold her in my arms and stare at her face all day long. i already feel like she's growing up way too fast and pretty soon she won't be a baby anymore (sniff sniff). look at how she's growing...

1+1=5

elise lee tuan september 2, 2008 | 8:06 am7 lbs, 3 oz  | 19 inches
our little elise arrived 11 days early, on tuesday, september 2.  allan and i were so thrilled to finally meet her!  lucas and emma met their baby sister the day after she was born.  as soon as i saw lucas, emma, and elise together, i knew that our family was now complete.  the three of them will be the best of friends, with a few fights here and there, of course!

it all began with me feeling mild contractions around 8 pm monday night (sept 1) as i was dozing on the couch. i decided to head off to bed at 10 pm and was woken up by strong stomach pains around 2:45 am. i couldn't tell if they were just regular stomach pains or if they were labor pains, so i decided to wait awhile to see if they would get worse.  they DID. in merely 20 minutes or so, my contractions were 6 minutes apart and became extremely painful. i still wasn't convinced that i was in "real" labor, but i decided to play it safe.  allan and i headed over to the hospital around 3:45 in the morning.  i found out i was 5-6 cm dilated at 4:30 am, and by 5 am i was 7 cm dilated. my contractions were working! my water broke at 5:03 (exactly), and i got my epidural shortly after (whew!).  i labored comfortably after that while chatting away with my labor nurse, becky, who was a doula for 18 years. she was great! she gave me great tips and helped me through my contractions. at 7:45 am i was fully dilated and ready to go. tanya, my new labor nurse, was incredible. she and allan (and my doctor) helped me through 10 minutes of pushing, and at 8:06 am a perfect little girl came into the world...our little elise.  we thank and praise God for such a special gift from above.
:: at the hospital ::
:: our cuties ::
:: home at last ::

1+1=5