We did promise you an ultrasound photo so here it is at 33 weeks of gestation (left to right - baby's brain, eye, nose and side profile, part of left hand, right hand lower down):
But we thought you may prefer to meet her in person, so here she is :)!
Elise Kai-Yi Trouilloud arrived Thursday morning 3:15 am on the 10th of May, she was 2.8kg at birth and 2 weeks early, born at the same hospital as her paternal grandfather, at the 500 years old L'Hôpital de l'Hôtel-Dieu in Lyon, overlooking the Rhone river. We joked with Julien's parents when they called at 7 pm Wednesday night that she was a good baby and will wait for her maternal grandparents' arrival the next evening, but at 8 pm we had to call them to ask them to come sleepover with Etienne as Kae's water broke (not dramatically, just little leaks, it was the same for Etienne so we knew we had an hour to get ready before leaving for the hospital).
It was a calm night at the maternity ward so both mummy and baby had lots of attention, and Kae even slept through some of her labour with the nice epidural they gave her. Both mother and child are well and left the hospital on Sunday. Meanwhile, Julien greeted his in-laws who flew in from Malaysia with the surprise news, since they were in the plane somewhere in the sky when things got exciting.
Etienne has taken very well to having a baby sister despite still naming the baby in his tummy Timmy (after his friendTimmy Borrow on the Anastasis), he especially welcomed the gift baby brought along (a toy landrover with a horse carrier and two horses), he brought her a gift of a rattle too. Kae is much relieved to find it possible to love another baby as intensely as her first, though she had a big shock as she realised that Etienne is not a baby anymore (he seems so big now... so tall... so grown up... sniff sniff.) Kind of a personal analogy for general feelings about Anastasis who will always remain dear in our hearts, and welcoming the new baby Africa Mercy who is now sailing towards Africa for its first outreach in Liberia (
www.mercyships.org). We are sure there will be the same sleepless nights and figuring out again how to bath and dress a new baby and anxiously counting toes and fingers and listening out for cries and burps, but she will grow steadily in good time under God's care.
So thank you for keeping in touch and forgive us if we don't update our blogsite as frequently as we deal with baby parties in the nights and toddler parties in the day! Blessings and love,
Kae, Julien, Etienne and Elise
