Down Under with Jan Mikaela Nora and Ella

Something remarkable happened the day little Nora arrived home. An owl landed in our patio, and it has been there ever since. At night it flies out, but every morning it returns back to its spot, staring into our living room, as if it’s keeping an eye on Nora. You might not believe in fairy tales, but it feels very surreal being watched so closely all day, as if we’re in a Harry Potter story. Look for yourself at this video . Do you think it’s a sign of good luck? Talking about night owls: little Nora definitely deserves that nickname. She’s almost a week old, and mummy and daddy are already totally worn out. Her rhythm (as far as she has one) has more in common with the owl than with ours, so you can imagine we are longing for a good night sleep. Feedings are also a bit of a struggle at times, but our midwife Megan reassures us it is all part of the learning curve. So we keep faith and do the best we can. She is absolutely adorable, and probably every parent has been through this phas...

After a couple of days in the hospital it was time to go home. Both Mikaela and Nora have done absolutely great. Nora is feeding well, and we are slowly getting used to eachother. The care in the Woman's and Childrens hospital has been fantastic. But now we're on our own. Let's see how we will do as new parents ;-) We collected some photo's of Nora's birth and arrival home in this slide show . Hope you enjoy it as much as we do...

There she is!!! Our little baby girl finally arrived this morning, after a long but rewarding labor. It started very sudden. Yesterday morning around 4am Mikaela woke up with back-pain. An hour later she already had regular contractions every 5 minutes and by 6am it was down to three minutes. Our midwife Megan rushed by, and took us straight into the hospital. By 11am we had 3cm dilation and Mikaela started to get tired. We decided for an epidural, to ease the pain. Then things slowed down: by 3pm we had 4 cm dilation, and at 7pm we still had only 4 cm. How frustrating?!? It took until way after midnight before cervix was completely open and the baby was in a position to push. Mikaela gave it all, and then finally at 3.49am, helped by the force of a forceps, she saw the light. What a relief to find a healthy girl, after almost 24 hours of labor. Weight is 3.7 kg and length 51 cm. And such a beauty, although the poor thing still has quite a few bruises on her face due to the forceps....

.... so all we can offer now are some pregnancy pictures .....