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| Today was my birthday, and I'd like to share with you a few pictures my dad and the nurses took of my grand entry into the world. |
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| This is me in my first outfit shortly a few hours after I was born. Let me tell you about that experience. |
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| Mom started feeling contractions at about 4 in the morning. My mom and dad waited until about 9 AM before finally deciding to go to the hospital. This is my mom just before the delivery. |
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The nurses monitored our progress on this machine. The left plot shows my heart rate which increases and decreases with the size of the contractions shown on the right plot. |
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| My mom had already made good progress by the time we arrived at the hospital, so went straight to the warm bath. She chose some gentle classical music for the delivery. |
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| My dad put his trunks on and joined us in the pool. Both mom and dad were very calm and relaxed during the delivery. The doctors and nurses were especially impressed with my mom who showed a steady concentration and confidence throughout. |
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| This is me seconds after I came out. Mom and dad chose to deliver under-water without an epidural and it was a big success. |
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| When I was first born, I was blue ! |
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But don't worry, I'm not blue anymore. |
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| Mom and dad were allowed to hold me, skin-on-skin, for several hours before the doctors weighed and measured me. Everybody says that at 52 cm and 4.4kg I'm a huge baby ! |
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Here I am with dad. |
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| This is me with my proud godfather, Karel. Mom says he makes a small fortune playing football in Belgium. They won the championships this year and my god-dad was awarded the MVP trophy. |
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Here I am with my tante Mieke. |
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| This is me with mom and Tante Lieselot. |
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| Sophie is Tante Lieselot's mom. |
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| All in all, it was a pretty exhausting day, but I'm happy to be alive ! |
