These are the days of Elijah

It all got started at 6:00 am on Saturday, March 17th. Steph whispers to me, "I think I'm in labour". Of course I responded with a question, "Really?" We called the midwife, Steph got into the tub and I fired up some coffee and waited. Thankfully once labour was underway, the midwife called over to St.Boniface hospital and they had a lot of room for us. We sped off to Winnipeg, with Steph lying down like a beached whale in the back of our wagon. Once we got there, we followed specific directions from a receptionist, just to find ourselves on a floor with a long empty corridor full of locked doors and no people. Needless to say, we eventually found our way to the labour and delivery ward.
After 15+ hours of the craziest thing I've ever seen a human do, out pops Elijah Cornelius Paul Loewen at 9:37 PM on St. Patrick's Day. Due to meconium (stool in the amniotic fluid) and the chord wrapped twice around his neck, he came out "flat"...meaning no movement and no breathing. I look at Steph and don't know what to say. I tell her it's a boy as he's whisked into the corner of the room where the doctors suction him and revive him. Thankfully the specialists were on hand due to the meconium in the water and Elijah was able to get immediate help. Praise God! His breathing started and he headed off to NICU. We got to see him about 3 hours later and had to wait until the morning to hold him for the first time. By the next morning, his breathing had stabilized and was in good shape. He had a rough start, but after a few days he was definitely moving and kicking lots. On Tuesday, we were discharged from St. Boniface Hospital and headed home to Steinbach.
Since being home, it's been all about working on very little sleep, trying to get to know this new person in our lives and what he needs, and finding time to shove food in our mouths. It's a lot tougher than we thought it would be, and thankfully I've taken off a month of work to adjust. Steph's mom came to stay with us for a week and what a HUGE blessing that was for us! We have seen so many of our small and big prayers answered and can only continue to praise God for His faithfulness in helping make this major change much more manageable.
Elijah is now 2 weeks old and is super cute, as well as becoming more animated. He has started making a "Weeee" sound when he seems happy. He smiles as he's drifting off to sleep and flashes us his sweet dimples (that he got from mom.) He loves being cuddled and held close to us, and often falls asleep within minutes. We're excited to be parents and to watch this little guy grow. Oh yeah, there's a bonus photo of Cory when he was a baby thrown in the mix here. Any similarities? So, call him what you want...Elijah, Nelius, ECP, Eli, or any other new names we haven't heard.
Ultra proud parents,

Cory and Steph