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dawnsandoval
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Name: Dawn
Country: Denmark
Metro: Copenhagen
Birthday: 10/30/1980
Gender: Female
Interests: my husband, my family, music, art, scandinavia, photography, a good book, anything that inspires me, beauty, cafes...
Occupation: starting and working with the
Industry: Nonprofit
Message: message me
Member Since:
3/15/2004
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| Birth Story of Hope Cecilia Sandoval
Born: December 18, 2008
So here I am, finally sitting down and attempting to write my personal account of Hope’s birth. First of all, the purpose of writing this all down is so I have my memories recorded before too much time has passed. Also, I know that writing out my story can be very therapeutic and is something I just really needed and wanted to do as part of me being able to process all that had happened. Therefore, I won’t place too much focus on medical details, as I can not even remember/understand all that took place throughout the whole experience (I have my “birth story” written down in detail in Danish by the midwives at the hospital, but still have yet to go in and have them talk me through it, like they usually do.)
To give a little background, my due date was set for December 11, and a mere 2 weeks before my due date Stephen was admitted into the hospital because it seemed like he was having another “episode” with his AV (arterial vascular) malformation. He spent several days in the hospital, but returning home at nights, because technically at that point I could have gone into labor, and we both didn’t want me to be left home alone in the middle of the night. Due to some problems with the spinal tap they performed on him, his back was completely in pain, and couldn’t move. He was on heavy pain killers and I remember the nurse looking at me sitting next to Stephen in his hospital bed, just shaking her head, taking pity on me in my current condition with a husband unable to move and being so far from family who could help. Needless to say, after several days of that, we were both stressed to the limit and exhausted from sleepless nights; with Stephen being in pain, and me having to take care of him. So that’s the setting of this “birth story” ….oh and Stephen was supposed to finish his thesis before Hope’s arrival, and so you can imagine, the mounting stress and frustrations. It was definitely one of those moments where we were saying…”God this doesn’t make sense at all…what is going on..??”
Two days before my due date I started having consistent contractions. They started at about every 10 minutes consistently, but I knew from our birthing class, that there was no need to call the hospital until they were 5 minutes apart for at least an hour. Well, the day after my due date (in the morning) my contractions were getting much stronger and had been 5 minutes apart for several hours, so we called the hospital and they told me to come in. The on-call midwife checked me and I was only 1 cm dilated and not effaced at all, but the machine that was reading my contractions was showing they were strong and perfectly 5 minutes apart and so the midwife said, that at that rate (the contractions would continue to dilate me etc…), I could deliver within the day. That was so exciting, but we went home to wait until things progressed more and the contractions were even stronger. Okay, these next few details are a bit fuzzy in my mind, because we went into the hospital so many times and every time it was a different midwife and since it was usually in the middle of the nights/ early mornings and we were already virtually without any real sleep at that point, everything is definitely a bit hazy. So, after the first trip to the hospital, the contractions were getting much stronger and were still 5 minutes apart or less, so later that night we went in and they decided to also do a urine test and discovered I also had a bladder infection and also noticed that because I had this one kind of Strep B infection (no, not exactly the kind you get in your throat) in my first trimester, it’s protocol and necessary to put me on an IV drip of strong antibiotics whenever I do go into labor. Therefore, they thought perhaps the bladder infection was irritating my uterus and causing the contractions… so I stayed in the hospital for a few more hours after and started taking some antibiotics. At this point, we were already SO tired. My body was exhausted from non-stop contractions. I wasn’t sleeping, except for an hour here or there, because the pain was so great. Then mentally and emotionally we were so exhausted from being told that I could probably be in active labor soon, and thinking I would finally hold Hope in my arms, then to seeming soooo very far away from the moment. The next day or so, the contractions started calming down in intensity, but still remained consistent at about every 10 minutes or so. So, while the bladder infection could have been contributing to the contractions, it didn’t seem like they were the only cause. The contractions still continued.
And then somewhere between the 13th of December and the 16th, (it was one of those days) my contractions started picking back up and they told me to come in if I noticed a little bit of blood (indicating possible effacement), and I did, so we went in at around 1am and unfortunately that particular on-call midwife was pretty abrasive and rude and while she started checking me out, she proceeded to inquire about our Danish speaking abilities and discuss foreigners in Denmark etc…but anyway…in between contractions at 1am is not exactly the appropriate time to bring up such a discussion…gosh…and then shortly after that, she flatly told me that I had not progressed at all. For me, that was a bit of the breaking point. (Her rudeness probably didn’t help either.) She mentioned I should get this sort of “pain reliever cocktail” because of the days of contractions, intense pain, and not being able to sleep. I didn’t really understand what it was, but then luckily my midwife who I met with throughout my whole pregnancy came into my room (she just went on shift) and kind of took over from the other lady (such a miracle at that point). She just put her hand on my forehead and could see I was ready to cry and just said, “it’s okay, just let it out…” and so I did. I just cried and cried, and was so grateful to have MY midwife there who knew me, knew my whole story and was sensitive enough to see how hard all of this had been (and knew about Stephen just being in the hospital.) So, along with my midwife, we decided it was best to stay at the hospital that night and get this “pain reliever cocktail” that they give to women who are having extra long labors….it was a shot of morphine in my thigh, and then another shot which was a little sleeping aid and something to slow/stop the contractions. I never really got any sleep (yet another sleepless night) but was able to lay down and rest my body for about 3-4 hours since the morphine took a little bit of the edge off of the pain (and that allowed Stephen to get a little bit of sleep as well.) In the morning, we were able to get a nice hot shower at the hospital (OH, and to add to more of the craziness, the hot water pump in our apartment building broke, and we were without hot water for a week….ya, no relaxing, cleansing showers during this whole saga!!) After the showers, the new on-call midwife had us walk around the hospital to see if things would naturally progress, but after lots of painful walking, there was still no significant progress. They gave me an enema, to see if that helped things along..but it didn’t. So, we left and went to the mall to walk around some more and try and take our minds off of things and also to get things moving some more. The midwife and doctor (that morning) discussed that the next step in inducing the labor would be to insert one small pill up near the cervix, to help soften it and that it could help the contractions get stronger and dilate more. However, it would be a slow process, because it usually takes two days of coming in to get the pill placed and then waiting 24 hours and getting another put in, and then perhaps another if needed. (They REALLY don’t like to rush things or do anything too hasty in Denmark, which is good.)
So, again after another night of contractions and Stephen and I discussing the inducement, and being SO torn about the whole thing, I finally felt a peace about at least starting the process. So far, things had not turned out at all like I had envisioned or expected, and apparently it seemed like my body needed some help. So, after inquiring about starting the inducement because all of the doctors needed to meet together, in order to approve my request and then see if there was an opening in the days schedule to do it (yep, that’s how Denmark does it…there is a waiting list for everything) luckily, it was all approved and even recommended and the doctors didn’t have a full day scheduled. So we went in (I think that would have been the morning of the 16th) and got the pill placed and waited there a couple of hours and then headed home to wait and see how things went. They informed us that it usually takes at least two rounds of the pill to really get labor active…..however, by 9pm that evening, I could feel things REALLY intensify. I tried to rest in bed, but I just thrashed around, and then finally at 1am, I woke up Stephen with my contractions having been 2 minutes apart for several hours and told him the pain was so great, I was nearly out of my mind. (I was doing every stance, exercise, breathing technique I could to deal with the pain. By this point, I had been having contractions for so many days, so I knew I needed to wait it out as long as possible at home…but I realized if we didn’t go into the hospital at that point, I would have needed to be carried out of there, because I was in so much pain…and with them being 2 minutes apart, there was NO break in between them.)
It is safe to say, my body was trashed at that point. We finally made it into the hospital at 3am and I was more dilated (can’t even remember the amount) and was finally getting more effaced. We still had to wait several hours till I was considered to be in really active labor and then taken to the room I was supposed to give birth in. Thankfully, the bed I was in had one of those bars above it with a dangling strap so I could pull up on it and really use it to work with the contractions while I was doing all of my deep breathing through each contraction. So, again this was another long night in the hospital, but I did my best to give Stephen nap breaks and just work through the contractions on my own (it worked well for me to just concentrate myself…since I had been through this for so many days already, I pretty much knew what to do). So, by breakfast time, things were looking good and they gave me an enema (ya, that’s rough to do when you have to hold it in for 10 minutes and then run across the hallway to the toilet when having contractions every 2 minutes) but that’s so your emptied out for the labor…it’s pretty nice actually. They then broke my water ( let’s just say I will never look at a knitting needle the same way again…my whole body was shaking because of my weariness) and they discovered the water was very dark, which could indicate that Hope was stressed, so they sent me quickly off to the active labor room. At that point they hooked me up again to all the machines in there (baby heart rate, contractions) and were trying to put in an IV into my left hand. I warned the midwife that when I had an IV put in last year during my sinus surgery, that it was very difficult to do and hurt TONS. So she tried and tried to put the needle into my vein, but it never worked…it hurt like CRAP!!! Sure enough, they discovered what I was trying to explain…that my veins are really thin and hard to locate. So after lots of failed attempts, she called for the doctor, and she tried it on my right hand. Thankfully, I wasn’t watching, because I am not fond of needles to begin with, because the doctor made a loud noise and jumped back and later I found out that my vein had pushed the needle back out and squirted blood all over the floor and on the doctor’s clothes. Yep. She kept trying, which really was frustrating, because I had to have it, because of the antibiotics I needed to have, plus I was going to get an epidural, which everyone decided was a really good idea, since I was seriously trashed from the week long contractions and sleepless nights already. FINALLY, she got the IV in and they were able to get me hooked up to everything. The anesthesiologist was available pretty quickly and I was able to get the epidural fairly fast. Due to the bad spinal tap that Stephen had about two or so weeks earlier, I was a little nervous about getting a big epidural needle stuck in my back…but actually it didn’t hurt….at least not compared to everything else.
Within minutes, I felt such a relief of pain from the contractions. It was heavenly…so much so, that I was able to call my mom in America and say hello. I even tried to use a bed pan (so not fun) because I didn’t want to have a catheter put in if I didn’t need it….but I needed it (and that wasn’t so enjoyable either) (-: However, slowly I started feeling the contractions again….the pain in my back on the left side returned and slowly moved to the front, and I asked if it was possible that the epidural wasn’t working correctly. They said, sometimes some of the pain returns, but then like a wave, the full force of the contractions came back and it was all over for the epidural. They concluded that perhaps the needle/tube didn’t get put in far enough, but I think (just like the rejected IV needle in my hand) my body just rejects things like that…so strange. So there I was, expecting to be having some relief after so many days of pain and exhaustion and I found myself in the midst of the most intense pain and it was escalating every second. So, because of the mind-numbing pain and the possible delirium from all the exhaustion (you may think I am being funny…but oh man. I am serious) it’s especially hazy in my memory from here on out. I am not sure how much I was dilated at this point and all of that, but I do know that even with the intense contractions, it was taking FOREVER to really progress substantially, so they put me on pitocin to intensify the contractions even more….oh my goodness, I thought I wanted to die!!! It’s the strangest feeling to be in so much utter pain you can’t even fully comprehend it afterward, therefore you feel you might just certainly die and are convinced of it, yet you know you have to make it through, and so you dig deep within you (and cry out to Jesus, which I did a lot!) and fight with everything you have….at a few points Hope’s heart rate would really speed up and so they were concerned she was showing stress from it all, but I tried to tell everyone, that at that time of day she gets really active, and her heart rate goes way up for an hour or two (every previous time in the hospital, it was like that, and they were concerned, but it always settled down and everyone saw what a very active little girl she was!) But because of her continued elevated heart rate and the color of the amniotic fluid, they warned me that if things didn’t look better, they might have to do an emergency c-section perhaps…but after some time, sure enough, just like I thought, her heart rate returned to normal. The on-call doctor (Henrik) came back into my room some time later, and said with a smile…(after it was very obvious..) “so, ya, we don’t have to do a c-section.” He thought he was being funny, but in fact, he was just a little eccentric.
So, after several hours of intensifying, freakishly painful contractions that were back-to-back…which I think is really the hard part, that it is just constant pain, no break in between…I started to feel the need to push, which meant I was heading towards the end (so I thought)….so I kept asking over and over if I was dilated enough so I could push, but every time, my midwife said “no.” So, I kept doing my breathing exercises, so my body wouldn’t push. That was incredibly hard, because it just took forever…and because through all of it (except for the few hours in the beginning) I didn’t have any pain relief, they gave me a mask to put over my mouth that was a mixture of oxygen and laughing gas…which did nothing for the pain, but at least let me feel like I was at least doing something (I have had laughing gas for my wisdom teeth removal, and this stuff was not nearly as strong as the stuff from the dentist) so, ya, not too helpful.
Oh, and to back up a little (how could I forget) when they needed to put in the pitocin into my IV, they already had so many things hooked up through my IV line, that they needed to put in another IV…in the midst of horrifically painful contractions. And since I couldn’t really talk or discuss this with them, (as I was in the midst of labor) some lady tried to put in another IV line into my original left arm..in the middle of my forearm….it did NOT work and I screamed in pain…seriously, that was it…I felt like I had been poked, prodded and hurt so much already, I felt like a piece of meat. After that, they realized there was no way it was going to work so they rushed my next bags of antibiotics through me super quickly ( I had to have like 2 bags of antibiotics every few hours I was in labor..it was insane!!) So, it really hurt the veins in my hand and arm, because they were speeding the antibiotics through me, so they could get that batch done and hook me up to the pitocin…..okay, so back to the pushing phase….FINALLY, my midwife said I could start pushing. So, it was Stephen holding up one leg and Maria (my midwife) holding the other, and so began the crazy, intense pushing. But then time started passing (which was irrelevant to me at that time) and more time passed and we were closing in on an hour of pushing (at this point, it was a shift change for my midwife…and then MY midwife, also named Maria, who I had throughout my pregnancy, came on shift) and she brought in a younger midwife in training…and because it had been an hour of pushing, they knew things were getting serious, and they sprang into action, moving the bed around, pushing, pulling, shoving my legs, and her mid-wife in training was VERY aggressive…I was sure she was convinced that if she just dug around enough, she could pull Hope out herself…OUCH!! They made me change positions several times, because Hope just wasn’t making her way out…they could see her head, but she wasn’t budging. So I got on my side and then they had me get on my hands and knees…all of which hurt like HECK!!!! Because Hope was stuck, she was just getting pushed deeper into my lower back (which we didn’t realize at the time) so all of this moving around and such was horribly painful (which is the largest understatement of my life!!) I remember the younger midwife getting up right next to my face, while I was on my hands and knees, and just saying, “come on…you can do this..” but since she was shouting at me, I just looked at her and shot back… “I know I can, I HAVE been doing this!” She just came on the scene and I wanted her to know that I was serious and doing my work…and her being a tough cheerleader was not what I wanted in my face. (haha, kind of funny thinking about it now) So, now at this point, things were getting scary…so instead of just having two additional people in my birthing room, all sorts of doctors, and pediatricians and people who I had no idea who they were, started coming in my room, talking, moving around quickly and performing all sorts of tests on Hope…(which, if you, ahem..uh, remember, she is still inside me, so ya…OUCH!) Because she was not coming out, they needed to put an internal heart rate monitor on Hope, to get an even more accurate stress reading on her throughout all of this trauma, which consisted of them trying to shoot up an instrument that would attach under her scalp, so they tried it several times, but every time it never attached (poor girl). And then they tried taking some blood tests on her scalp to see if it would indicate stress, because the other thing didn’t work, and luckily it worked the first time, so they didn’t have to try that a second time..she was still okay, which was amazing of course. The doctor then tried to use the suction cup on her head to assist in pulling her out while I was pushing, and with that, they tried it several times and that never worked, because they said she had so much hair (which was crazy at that point to realize they could see her head, and she had lots of dark hair…crazy!) The doctor, kept trying with the suction cup, and kept saying,… “okay, okay, this is the last time we try pushing, otherwise, we have to do an emergency c-section” and I was just so overwhelmed, because at this point, everything was going so fast, there were so many people getting a front and center view of all of me, I was working so hard and for so long and I didn’t fully understand why she was stuck. To be honest, I thought it was my fault somehow….and they were of course concerned about Hope and so they didn’t have the time to explain it all. And of course I AM in Denmark (although great, it’s still a foreign country). After many “last tries” they said okay, that’s it…we gotta go. So then they had to push her ALL the way back up inside me (which was so depressing in itself)…and my heart sank…in one second, I felt devastated, but in the next, I knew I needed to be brave and just asked God for peace, because even before her birth, I released the whole labor situation to Him and even though I NEVER expected all that had happened, I knew I had to trust that somehow He saw so much more, and knew so much more than I did. I had been put to sleep last year for my sinus surgery, so I was thankful that I had experienced that, so I didn’t need to be super afraid of being put to sleep this time. All the doctors and people in the room started prepping me for surgery and wheeled me into the operating room and they asked me some questions (can’t remember what) and then it all went black……………………………………………………………………………
The next little glimpse of memory I have was seeing Hope’s eyes…apparently when they were done and stitched me up and Stephen was holding Hope in the hallway and they were wheeling me past…they tried to wake me up and show me Hope, but I was still totally out of it..but my eyes fluttered open once and I fought to see her face…all I remember seeing was her eyes…..and then the next thing I remember was waking up in the ICU, and there were nurses sitting at their desks nearby and I was alone. Last year, after my sinus surgery, it took me forever to wake up from the anesthesia, and this was the same…they thought they were being nice by letting me rest a few hours, but truth was, I wanted so badly to wake up, I was just having such a hard time doing so…I wanted to see my baby girl and hold her…after all, this was not at all what I had expected or prepared for (and of course, it’s not something you can prepare for)…for the first time in 9 months, I was separated from her and that was such a weird and heart wrenching feeling. Something I am still processing. Emergency c-sections I heard were difficult, but I never fully understood or knew why….but now I do…and it’s not something that can really be explained. I kept asking for more morphine, because I was in so much pain and so sore from the cut…and finally because I realized they weren’t going to bring Stephen or Hope to me until I asked, I asked, “uh, can I please see my husband and baby.” And because I was still partially out of it…I don’t clearly remember how it all went, but I know they gave me Hope finally. Finally. I certainly worked hard for that little girl….and she sure endured a lot during the labor…she had so many wounds on her head from all the tests, but she was intensely beautiful. A few days later I finally understood why she was stuck and needed a c-section. Babies are normally born coming out face down, but Hope was a “star gazer”/ she was face up, and that makes things pretty complicated. Plus, instead of having her head and chin tucked down, she had her chin and head turned up and so with every push and contraction, she was just getting pushed further into my backside and there was no way she was going to be able to come out. So, she had suction cup marks and wounds on the front of her head (instead of the back of the head) And apparently, even while she was coming down the birth canal, she was still twisting around…she is my little wiggle worm..always has been, probably always will be.
I wish I could say that from there on out, it was all better and easy, but it was rough…my body was trying to recover from the 7 days of contractions, ridiculously long labor, and then finally a c-section. Because of all of that, my body was not really producing anything for Hope to eat, and she was super hungry from all the trauma and hard work. After lots of crying on her part (she lost her voice, she cried so much) and frustration because she was so hungry, they gave her some formula the second day, and due to that, and her temper when eating, (she has a fiery little personality when she tries to eat, and is not patient enough to wait for the milk) and due to some other factors (which I won’t go into detail) she had a rocky start with breast feeding that just never got better. So, sadly, even though we planned on breast feeding, and after LOTS of hard work and trying and screaming, it just never worked out….but she is doing great, and we are blessed to be using the best possible formula for her and thanks to Denmark, we get a great discount, since it’s SOO expensive. Then, about 2 days after her birth, I started getting intense pain in my back, that felt like a needle was stabbing me in my back and it hurt to even have my shirt touching my back. My nerves were hyper sensitive and in pain. At first, one midwife thought nothing of it, while another was really concerned, once the doctor heard about it, they got really concerned and immediately ordered a CT-scan for me….they took me to get a scan and found they couldn’t accurately see what they needed to, and because there was a slight chance that it could be some very serious problem related to the epidural, they needed to do a contrast scan. Stephen told me once about this procedure he had to have done and said I was lucky I never had to do it…and there I was..having it done. This involved putting a needle in and another IV…I just started tearing up….the drama and pain felt like it was never ending…I just wanted it all to stop. They tried several times on my hand, and were about to try on my arm which is worse, when another doctor came and offered to give it a try, seeing that I had been through so much pain as a new mom already. He was able to get it in (after tons of pain) and they put the contrast into my veins and took the scan. They didn’t find any problems, but couldn’t explain the problem I was having….they concluded that it was a hemorrhage into the muscles around the spine, from the needle of the epidural. A few days later, I had MASSIVE bruises all over my arms and hands from all the needles and bleeding from my veins, so I can only imagine how traumatized my back was, from that bleeding, if that’s how my arms and hands looked. Scary.
So, there is the story of Hope’s entrance into the world. It was hard. It was laborious. It was a sacrifice. But every time I look at her, I am filled to overflowing with love for her and with gratitude that she was so strong and was incredibly healthy and was never stressed throughout the whole ordeal. She has been, and will always be our little miracle…for so many reasons…she is the joy in our life..God’s greatest gift to us. This story is what it is…I couldn’t have chosen it, nor would I have…but it’s the story that Hope and I share, and it will forever be ours. It seems like every day, I remember something new about the whole experience, or I wonder about something and ask Stephen about it. It really is something to work through and process, because SO much happened and some things I really missed because I was put to sleep. It’s taken me awhile to work through it all, and I am still processing, but like I said, through it all, I am grateful for much…I am grateful to be living in a time, where Hope and I could come through something like this so easily. That is a miracle in itself. I am grateful for such an amazing daughter, she is precious and sweet and beautiful and am deeply in love with her. She has my heart and I would give my life for her. I am intensely grateful for Stephen, who stood by me, helped me, supported me, and was strong throughout all of it and never complained once…never…and it was a LONG journey (and he has his own daily pain and medical issues.) And I am thankful that my brother and mom could be there just one day after she was born, and see her, and love on her and support me and help us out when I felt utterly exhausted and emotional the days after the birth. We are so thankful to all of our friends who called, wrote, sent cards, packages, meals (Thanks to Thomas and Inge and re:gen for all of the cooked meals!) We were deeply blessed with every kind gesture. And mostly, I am thankful that God gave me the strength to endure it all. I fought hard, I did well, and that is all because of God’s grace. He certainly doesn’t promise to remove us from pain or difficulty, but He does promise to walk with us through it….amen.
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Hey everyone! so it's been FOREVER since I have posted anything. Well I figured I would just post two recent photos of my baby belly. Here are two photos of me currently at 34 weeks pregnant! Just 6 more weeks to go! CRRazy! Time is flying by. We are doing well, Hope (the name of our baby girl) is doing great, growing, moving and enjoying her warm little world in there by being VERY active! Can't wait to meet her and learn what her personality is and get to know this beautiful little person. Stephen is crazy busy with trying to finish his Masters degree thesis by the time Hope comes, plus doing a great job with teaching and running the new school he helped start with several other Danish churches. Plus, we finally moved into our new apartment, and are thoroughly enjoying it! So, lots of changes and busy-ness, therefore not lots of time to just do tons of exciting things before the baby comes (that's just life) but we are really looking forward to January, when Hope will be here, Stephen will have a bit of a break and we can finally just enjoy our little family of 3.
Well, hope you all enjoy the photos...i cherish pregnancy and the miracle and wonder that it is, but I am really looking forward to having her here with us, in our arms! (and that way, she won't be able to kick my ribs 24/7 or punch my bladder with her cute little hands.hehe)
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| Guess what???
I am going to be a momma!!! Yep, that's right, we are 3 months pregnant (3 months and 1 week actually) so our little bundle of joy will arrive in December in Copenhagen!
We are so happy!!! Our life is for sure an adventure...a real walk of faith (adventure sounds nicer than "challenge")
our life will be changing in every possible way next year: apartment, jobs, life as we know it...oh and we are having a baby too...(: haha.
for anyone (girls) who will be in the Chicago area Saturday June 21st, Stephen and I are having a Baby Shower at my home church in Naperville (Calvary Church). Since we won't be back in the States again until after the baby is born, we are having the shower now (with our American friends and family), before we leave in 2 and a half weeks. (send me your emails, so I can send you an invitation)
so, yes...we are super excited and can't wait to see this little Sandoval in December!! | | |
| so much going on....so much. but luckily, my head isn't spinning quite yet. which surprises me. MUST be the grace of God, that can be the only explanation. ha.
but as for tomorrow....we are off...off to Chicago. looking forward to down time with a healthy change of scenery.
might be the last of our relaxing time before things shift into high gear in july.
but for now...i pray for a good flight, one where i am not sick the whole time...breathe, just breathe.
adios for now. | | |
| Happy Easter dear friends and family!
We have had a great Easter weekend.....yesterday we woke up and got ready for the day and headed off to Joseph's skate competition. It was really amazing getting to watch him skate alongside of so many amazing danish and swedish skaters (2nd largest skate competition in denmark i guess). He really did a great job and you could tell he was having fun during his runs. Everyone in the place really enjoyed his skating and you can also tell everyone really respects him for who he is and his talent as well. After that, we met up with our friend (and mentor) Karin and she treated us to an incredible modern japanese restaurant. it was our "family dinner" with her for the holiday, so it was so nice and extremely delicious...then we dropped by dave's place to hang out with him for awhile (joseph joining us).
Had a good sunday service this morning and then joined the potluck lunch afterwards (i contributed with my blueberry muffins). Not wanting to just say goodbye to everyone and not having any other Easter plans ourselves, we jumped in Chris's car with Jacob, Joseph, Stephen and I, and found a cafe downtown. Despite the bitterly cold air, the sun was streaming through the windows in the cafe, warming us up quite nicely.
I would say it was a good two days spending time with friends and enjoying copenhagen.
Hope everyone else is having a blessed Easter celebrating Christ's resurrection!
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