The Nielsen Family

Well we’ve been back home for nearly a week now.  Mum and Dad have been great looking after Isabel while we were at the hospital.  We came home on Sunday for my birthday (pretty good birthday present!) and have been trying to get used to a toddler and a baby at the same time.  On the whole it’s been going pretty well.  Isabel is being very good at being gentle with Alexander and he is doing a lot of sleeping.  It will be interesting to see how it goes when I go back to work.

We are pleased to announce the arrival of Alexander Thomas Nielsen born at 1:50pm on Wednesday 16th July, 2008, weighing 3.810kg (8lbs 6oz).  He is 50.5cm long and a 36.5cm head circumference.

Lisa was admitted for observation on Tuesday night because Alexander’s heart rate dropped during her ultrasound but when we got to hospital, Lisa’s blood pressure was up again so it was decided to break her waters artifically the next day.  This was all that was needed and the labour and delivery 5.5 hours later went very well (from my point of view anyway, Lisa might have a different opinion .  Mum and baby are doing fine and Isabel is having a great time with her Nanna and Far Far down from the Sunshine Coast.

Here’s some photos.  You can also just look at Alexander’s gallery for all his photos.

Isabel, Cookie and I went down to the Gold Coast Pet and Animal Expo on Saturday.  It was lots of fun although it is a bit of a challenge trying to wrangle a toddler and a dog at the same time when Cookie isn’t allowed into the things that Isabel wanted to do.  It was quite interesting looking up after Cookie had a wash to see Isabel playing with a crocodile and then finding Cookie and the crocodile didn’t like each other much (as you can see in the photo) so I couldn’t just pick her up.

Isabel also had a great time in the petting zoo and harassed the baby animals for much too long.  I don’t know how they put up with it.

We had a bit of excitement today.  Lisa went to her usual OB appointment and got a high blood pressure reading so the doctor said he wanted her to check into the maternity ward under observation.  I left work, got a bag packed and headed over to the hospital where I found Lisa strapped to a monitor (flashbacks to Isabel’s delivery).  The monitor had been picking up contractions (although Lisa couldn’t feel them).  We both stayed the night at the hospital (Isabel got her first sleepover with Cindy and Dominic) and were convinced that he was ready to come out at any time but come morning, Lisa’s blood pressure was back to normal so they let us go.  Ah well, we treated it as a night at a hotel.  I’m sure it’s not long now before the real thing.

Isabel drew her first picture today that I could recognise.  I found it pretty exciting.  She entitled it “Penguin”.