Julia, Christmas Eve!

Facts:

Julia's uterus has been behaving itself well for the past 24 hours.

Julia will stay on bed rest at Sacred Heart in Eugene until the birth.

Viggo and Julia toured the neonatal unit, it is very advanced.

The doctors explained how things would transpire once Daniel decides to come on out.

Julia and Viggo were able to stay in the same spacious room after all.

Feelings:

What a joy it was to awake this morning! Barbara and I realized we had slept in our own bed all night without a single emergency phone call.

Below is the tiny room that Julia was in that first day at Good Samaritan.
It is the same room where she was born more than 23 years ago. Barbara had a 20 plus hour labor with Julia. She was born on her due date. I slept on the floor for a few hours during the process, otherwise I was on duty!

Another joy, the whole family went to church today (minus Julia and Viggo, of course). It is times like this that we more fully realize the importance of our church family.

After a quick lunch and a bit of last minute preparation, we headed down to Eugene. Fortunately, the Norwegian tradition is to have gift opening on Christmas Eve. Also fortunate, Julia's room is so large that all of us were able to fit comfortably and even have seats! Julia was dressed in street clothes for the first time since Thursday afternoon! One of the doctors told her that he had been so sure that Daniel Jakob was going to pop out that first night (Thursday) that he had stayed at the hospital until two in the morning waiting for the delivery! Now the usual baby/hospital situation is very unusual. We visit before the birth. We tell the mother that we hope she will be in the hospital for a long while yet! We do not want to see Daniel Jakob yet! We were glad to learn that he is kicking Julia and otherwise letting everyone know that he is in good health.

When we arrived, Viggo was actually working a bit at his computer doing a translation job. He should be able to continue taking jobs (via the internet) while he and Julia stay in Eugene for the next couple of months.

The work ended then and the partying began. We had a buffet spread of seven layer salad, chips and fancy salsa, pate, hawaiin bread, salami, sparkling cider, champagne, and more. Then we exchanged gifts with Julia and Viggo. After an hour or two we saw that Julia was getting tired.

Barabara drove us home through a black night and a torrential downpour while Kent snored beside her.

Perhaps one of the greatest lessons for us is that we never really know what the next day will bring, good or bad. We will cherish the days like today. We thank God for all the good things he has done. We will continue to depend on him to get us through the tough times as needed!