More pics from Amsterdam

My first trip to China

I'm less than 3 months old and a few days before Christmas I had my first flight. It was a cold day with snow we left Oslo and Norway. The first leg of my journey was to Amsterdam. All the time I have behaved so good that I don't think my parents were even nervous before this long trip. I cried a little bit at the beginning because it was so noisy and also because next to us was a small boy who cried all the time, but then my mother gave me some milk and everything was ok and I also got some sleep.

In Amsterdam we had a break and it was so much to see....so many shops, lights and Christmas decorations.

The airplane from Amsterdam to Beijing was soo big! We also got some special seats at the front of the middle row which was for babies. After a while they hung up a cradle on the wall in front of the seats in which I could sleep...and I did sleep a lot. In this airplane it was a steady low noise from the engines that made me sleepy. I don't think I was to much trouble for my parents. When I was not sleeping or eating my daddy walked around with me in his arms and a lot of people liked to look at me and smiled to me...and I smiled back to them...that's what I'm supposed to do, isn't it?

The flight took around 9 hours and my parents said I slept maybe more than half of that time.

Beijing greated us with sunshine but a bit cold. My Grandparents and one of my uncles received us at the airport and then we drove in mama's car to my new home in Beijing.

Still growing...and smiling

I was at the Health Center again today and guess what...I had put on 240 gr in exactly one week, so today I was 6430 gr.
The bad part of todays visit was that they gave me an injection again and oh, boy..it was painfull.
I was a bit sceptic at first because I think I remebered this place and the same thing happened last time I was there as well...so next time I come there I don't know what i will do! I can't promise to behave so good then as I have done so far.
Nothing to smile about today but the last few weeks I have started to smile and laugh more and more...I think my parents was a bit worried because I didn't smile in the beginning. Well, it was not that I wasn't happy but it was so many other things to consider...I had no time or energy.
But now it's ok, and I also found out that it pays to keep my parents happy!!

Photo session 2

This week I was to the Health Center again. I got two vaccinations this time and it was very, very painfull so I had to cry.

At the same time they weighed me and I'm still putting on weight; I was 6190 gr this time.

Photo session

Christmas Party

Last weekend I was at my first Christmas party at Noa's home. Leah was also there. It was nice to see them again. Noa's parents and Regine had decorated the house nicely and also made traditional Norwegian Christmas food....it was good...at least so they say...I was not allowed to even taste it! Maybe next time I will.

To go there we travelled by train and I really liked that. It took nearly 1,5 hour but all the time I was sitting on my daddy's lap watching the landscape passing by...it was nice and even more interesting than TV..and so many screens!! I didn't sleep at all so I was tired when I arrived but I found it a bit difficult to sleep there...I have never slept anywhere else before and everything was so strange...not the same things I was used to seeing from my own bed so I couldn't relax properly and also it was a bit noisy, so many people and I'm not used to that either.

Anyway, it was a nice and very interesting day for me. I looked forward to go by train back again but then I was so tired that I slept all the way home.

I'm growing fast!

This week I have been to the Health Center for control again. This time also a doctor was there to check me and luckily they said that everything was ok with me...a strong and healthy boy! Hm..

Well, I was 5570 gr this time and have put on 700 gr in 19 days, not too bad!

They don't want to measure my length until I'm 3 months old for some reason I don't understand. Anyway my parents do it at home (they are not stupid!) so they say I'm already close to 60 cm (about 58-59 cm).

Party

Last weekend we had a little party and some of my relatives was there and two of them are about same age as me as well.

Here are Noa (born in March) behind me and Leah...she is only two days older than me and even born at the same hospital.

New look

As you can see my mother has been out shopping again and this time I think I'm really cool!

Other things happened this week was that I finally got my Norwegian passport so now I'm ready to travel and my first destination will of course be to my mothers country China.

My New Suit

One afternoon my mother was out shopping and guess what she bought for me? Yes, that's right..a new suit with shirt and even shoes. I know she likes shopping very much but I'm only 5 weeks old!!

I think it's still a bit big but it will hopefully be perfect for Christmas and New Year's parties coming up.

Haircut

When I was 5 weeks my parents decided to shave my head so I had my first visit at the hairdresser's. It's a Chinese tradition to shave the hair when you are about one month old. I had nice dark soft hair, now it's gone but hopefully it will come back soon and then thicker and stronger. It was done in almost less than a minute and I didn't feel any pain at all so no need to cry. I felt a bit cold though so they put a soft cap on for the next days even inside.

4-5 weeks

At 4 weeks I was already 4780 grams so I was growing quite quickly. When we was at the health control I also got an injection against Hepatites B; that really hurt...and I didn't feel well whole that day and most of the next, I slept a lot and luckily I didn't get a fever, only a little bit.

Nearly 5 weeks old and ready for Fight Club!

Check out my gloves and start position.

My First Month

Most of the time I behaved quite good compare to most babies. My mother had enough milk for me and 3 weeks old I was already over 4 kilo. I drank a lot or rather many times during daytime...it was like it was sleeping medicine in the milk because after drinking just a short time I got so tired and fell asleep although my mother squeezed my hand and rubbed my neck to keep me awake....so I just slept and after half an hour or one hour I wake up again and felt hungry because I didn't drink enough. I think this was a bit hard for my mother.
Some days I was really good and spent a long time in my bed just looking around without crying or complaining. My parents also took me to the living room on the sofa there and let me stay there and I liked to lie and just look around...so many interesting things and sounds and it was also good to have them real close to me.
I knew it was most important to behave well during night also because my father had to get up early every day for work, so every night I slept 3-4 hours between the meals and went straight to sleep again.
I liked very much to go out as well. Unlike most other babies I didn't have a pram but something called a babyholder, http://www.babyholder.no My father took me out in this from I was about 10 days old. I liked it because it remained me of being inside my mother's stom. I was in constant movement and I could feel the warmth from my fathers body and it made me feel very safe and secure. Most of the time we were out, even in shopping malls I slept like a log most of the time.
I think my parents found it a bit strange that I didn't smile much the first month. I din't have much time to do that...it was so many other things, so much to see like watching my parents faces and so on. On the other hand I was quite strong and just after some days I could turn my head from one side to the other while I was lying on my stom. From a few weeks old they trained me every day like this, lying on my stom for some time and sometimes I got fed up because I rather wanted to sleep or eat.

My first days at the Hospital

It was busy at the hospital and it took some days before my mother had enough food for me. Because of that my level of bloodsugar was a bit too low and I also had a little bit of icterus (jaundice) which made me tired. So they woke me up every 3 hours to give me some milk with sugar and also took bloodtest in my heel every 6 hours so I was quite fed up and had pain in my feet. Eventually after 5 days they found out both me and my mother was doing so well that we could go home.
Finally I could use my own clothes and they put me in a kind of bag and my father carried me out of the hospital and out in the big cold world.

Videos from my second day:
http://profile.imeem.com/1RxvknY/video/m-rWQVGj/baby_2_movies_video/
http://profile.imeem.com/1RxvknY/video/iHVNll7W/eyes_opened_movies_video/

Preparing to go home:
http://profile.imeem.com/1RxvknY/video/n-ceAla_/going_home_1_movies_video/
http://profile.imeem.com/1RxvknY/video/H5skQcsn/going_home_2_movies_video/

Sunday 7th of October

This morning I decided to go for it...it seemed it caused a lot of pain for my mother as well but I had to go out of this place. Without much water it's not so comfortable to stay here any longer...not at all like before.
The midwife put some things around my mother's stom to meassure my heartbeat and the contractions. When the contractions were on top my heartbeat fell too much and the doctors didn't like it, they were concerned for my wellbeing and I must admit it was quite hard each time.
A few times they took bloodsamples from my head while I was inside to check if everything was ok with me.
I was supposed to move downwards into a channel to get out and I did as best as I could but apparently my head got stuck or some kind of wrong position so for many hours it was not much progress and I couldn't do it. Eventually the doctors decided to take me out another way and, oh boy, that was quikly. I saw some strong lights and heard something coming through my mothers belly and suddenly some hands lifted me out...I was so shocked and surprised that I immediately started to cry...and all those strong lights and I also felt a bit cold.
I saw my mother for a few seconds but I had to go with a nurse and my father to get weighed and meassured and finally some clothes and a small bed on wheels. I was 3515 g and 51 cm long; quite normal they said and I was born at 15.40 in the afternoon.
For a long time I was together with my father waiting for mom to be ready to see me. Finally I could lie down with her again....I knew it was her because I recognized her heartbeat and also I tried to suck her nipple in hope for something to drink but not much yet.
It had been a hard day for both of us so we tried to relax and sleep but if you have ever been to a hospital you'll know it's not easy because so much is going on there. Later that night another newborn baby came to my room and she was so noisy that it was hard for us to sleep.

You can see my first video here:
http://profile.imeem.com/1RxvknY/video/KsnBBZ9T/hallvard_baby_shortfilm_video/

The day before I was born

It was a sunny, cool October Saturay afternoon my parents had just been out buying a bed for me and my father had just finished putting it together and my mother was lying down for a rest...then I decided that enough was enough and I broke the waterbubble that surrounded me so my mother got completely wet. All the time I've been in there I have jumped and kicked as much as I liked and now I gave it an extra strong kick. That worked!
They quickly gathered some things and took a taxi to the Hospital. At the Hospital they checked my mother and me and measured my heartbeat etc. I started to wonder what all this fuzz was about and thought maybe I had done some terribly wrong by bursting the bubble and I noticed that things were not so comfortable anymore so I decided to take it easy for a while. My mother and me stayed over the night at the Hospital but unfortunately my father had to go home.