An update from The Mom

Little Anneliese (pronounced "On-Ah-Lisa") just after her oxygen tubes were removed.
This is the German spelling and pronunciation.

I checked out of the hospital yesterday. Alexander, the little gentleman, insisted on rolling my luggage up to the house. Anneliese is still in NICU Level Two. She will stay until she can eat all by herself for a whole day. That is the only thing that we are waiting for. She has a feeding tube and has a "bili blanket" which helps with the Jaundice - it is a blanket with blue lights in it that slides up her back inside of her onesie - it's like using a tanning bed without all the bright lights and sunglasses. You can see it glowing under her blanket in the pic below.


Her condition is very common for a 36-week-old baby. She is eating the right amount every 3 hours and is starting to differentiate between being full and hungry. She will nurse, and will sometimes do a very good job, but she doesn't have the energy/stamina to nurse long enough to get full. It is exhausting to her, so I am feeding her every other time to let her conserve her strength. This allows nursing to be a positive experience for both mom and baby. They feed her through the tube at night and the off-times during the day when I am home trying to rest. Overall, she looks really good and we just need to be patient and let her development take place. The doctors and nurses are excellent and I feel so good about the decisions we are making together about her care. Emma and my mom came today with me to feed Anneliese. Because of RSV germs, Emma is not allowed inside the NICU unit. They watched through the window as I showed them all of Anneliese's tubes and gadgets : )


Christian hops on a plane tomorrow! The whole family can't wait!!! Grandma talked with him this morning and told me later "that's one homesick daddy." : ) I'll talk with him the last time tonight and then we'll see him Sunday evening. We're excited for daddy to be here!!!

Introducing Anneliese Rebecca Marchant

Yes, we have a name. Anneliese Rebecca is named after her Auntie Anneliese Wood and Grandma Becky (Jennie's middle name is also Rebecca). Jennie's sister Anneliese passed away a little more than three years ago and blessed all those with whom she came in contact. We hope our own little Anneliese can touch the lives of others in her own way.

These photos are cribbed from my sister Desiree's blog. All those family members out there reading this blog that have pictures of my little girl need to e-mail them to me. Love ya!

New Baby Girl!

Jennie went into labor this morning almost exactly a month early. Our new little girl not only came early but quickly as Jennie was only checked into the hospital for about 45 min before she was born. They didn't even have time to give Jennie her epidural. She is such a Super Star! Our little girl was born at 6:45 am (MST) on February 24 at the American Fork Hospital in Utah. Our new bundle of pink weighed in at 6 lbs 3 oz and a petite 17 inches. I'll post pictures as soon as I get them.

I am still in Vietnam and will be flying out this Saturday to be with Jennie and the kids for the whole month of March. I called United and begged for them to move up my flight but they wanted me to pay $2,200 (in addition to the $1,500 I already forked out for the ticket I bought several months ago.) For those of you keeping track, yes I missed Xander's birth similarly as well during our time in Prague. I guess I win bad Daddy of the year award - again.

We hope to announce our little girls name soon. Stay tuned...

Obamarama and Krazy Weather

It has been interesting living in Vietnam and listening to people's thoughts on our new President. His name seems to be gold here and now the entrepreneurial Vietnamese seem to be trying to cash in on it. In fact, just around the corner from the U.S. Embassy a new karaoke joint was just built (the Vietnamese LOOOOVVVVVEEEEE karaoke). The name of the new establishment you ask? Obama Karaoke. I truly wish I had a camera right now to post a picture of the sign outside. Alas, our camera is with my cute wife and adorable kids on the other side of the Pacific ocean. But to describe it, the words Obama Karaoke are in a gothic white script on a black sign. Below that sign is just the word Obama in blue neon lights. Talk about classic.

As for the weather, today in Hanoi it reached a high of 94 degrees (tomorrow will be 91 degrees). Yes, you read that right and no Hanoi isn't South of the Equator where it is currently summer. It is still "winter" here in theory. I love seeing people all bundled up on their scooters zooming around town. On the ride to a meeting in the middle of the day today I felt like yelling out the car window "It is 94 degrees! What are you doing in a winter parka???"

This winter has been incredibly warm here as contrasted to last year's cold winter. (I know if it never snows here it can't get too cold right?) Well, we are in Northern Vietnam and it isn't the tropics. In fact, on a recent work trip to the Chinese border I was informed by some government officials that in one province alone 13,000 water buffalos died last year due to the cold. Those poor water buffalos just couldn't adjust to the cold weather and keep themselves warm. Luckily, that was last year and not this year, since we are now celebrating the year of the water buffalo. Talk about a potential for some serious bad karma.


For the record, we love water buffalos! They are so mellow and extraordinary (they aren't as cool as elephants but definitely "splendid" - to use a British-ism). They were also the only thing that kept us from going unhinged on our tragically long bus rides in Laos. Xander loved spotting the "buffwos" as he called them and it helped pass the time.

Snowy Utah

(Posted by Jennie) The kids and I made the long 35-hour journey to Utah this week.  We arrived Tuesday evening with bloodshot and glazed over eyes, but with big smiles on our faces to greet Gma Becky, Gpa Briant and Auntie.  The fact that I am blogging about our journey several days later is an indication of how eventful the trip was : ) Don't get me wrong, we are extremely grateful that we made it safely, but here are some of the highlights...

First flight (depart Hanoi at midnight, arrive Narita, Japan 7:00 a.m.):  The kids didn't sleep a wink until the plane had landed and we were taxying to the gate.  I think the in-flight entertainment options were too good, and the excitement of flying on an airplane.

    

12-hour layover in Narita.  The kids were exhausted and we checked into a day room and got all settled down...and then the giggles start erupting from both kids - aaaaaaaaaaah!  A very tired mom declares "That's it!  We're going on a walk!"  We walked down a very charming street toward a temple known for it's healing attributes. They even had a special pathway up to the temple for the elderly and disabled. Many white-haired people were there inhaling the healing smoke from incense at the main altar.  We got back to the hotel completely exhausted and crashed until it was time to go back to the airport and check in for the next flight.

   

Flight two (transpacific flight to San Fran): Thankfully we travelled at a non-busy time and were upgraded to business class.  We had four wonderful flight attendants who enjoyed checking up on us.  I waited until the right time for the kids to have some real sleep and I gave them some prescription strength Robitussin AC (with Codine).  Let me insert here, that I did some research online before deciding to pack this in our carry on.  I use medicine carefully, especially with our kids.  I settled into my chair to wait for the promised affect to take place.  To my HUGE surprise it backfired and Xander started behaving like he had just downed a box of candy bars.  Emma didn't zonk out either - I think she was too entertained by Xander.

Finally after a couple hours of this a flight attendant recommended some warm milk. She brought it to us in a Japanese Sake bottle and said "don't worry, I rinsed it out before I poured in the milk."  After downing two bottles of milk and listening to mom's soft voice reading stories from a children's magazine, the kids zonked out and we were all able to get a few hours of much-needed rest.  Below is a pic of Xander totally ready to sleep as he watches the action on the tarmac.

Flight 3 (SFO to SLC): A wonderful saint-of-a-woman offered to sit by Emma on the flight.  She said "You might think I'm crazy, but I'm a grandma and I love children."  I heartily thanked her.  Emma chatted away and played with her toys and was soooooo excited to finally be in Utah!  Xander made a speedway and ran his favorite tractor and dirtbike up and down her legs and arms several times.  We finally arrived in SLC to smiling faces : )  The best part of the trip.

Highlights in Utah so far have been: 

- Enjoying Grandpa Briant's special breakfast and talking with him.

- Spending a day with my sister Melissa before she went back to CA.

- Taking Xander to Wal-Mart at 1:30 a.m. because he woke up and decided he didn't want to sleep.  We came home at 4:00, took a walk in the frosty air, ate a bowl of cereal and went to bed at 4:30.  Thank heavens for a store that stays open all night.

- Meeting up with my sister Natalie and her cute daughter Taelin for a playdate.

- At the playdate, Emma climbed on top of a dinosaur head with another little boy.  She asked what his name was, introduced herself and then asked "what country are you from?"  I didn't hear his answer.

- Xander snuggling up to my brother Michael in the armchair (Xander only does this when he's super tired or not feeling well).  We consider his snuggles a rare treat.

- Sledding in the snow : ) with blue skies and white-capped mountains in the distance.

- Talking with my sister Emily and knowing that we're almost in the same time zone : )

- Emma feeding the ducks with Auntie.

- Jennie going to lunch with Bonnie and John Haymore (former humanitarian service missionaries in Hanoi) and Kim and Travis (Vietnamese students at BYU) who are from the Hanoi Branch.  

- Shopping a sale at Old Navy and going to Costco : )

I look forward to seeing many more dear friends and family members while we are here.