Baby Elijah

Ryan, Sarah and Cora are proud to announce that Elijah Paul Nielson was born on January 29th, 2011 at 3:11 am. He weighed in at 7 lbs 13 oz and was 20" long.
Labor and delivery went well; Elijah had passed some meconium before delivery which made us a little nervous, but he was fine. He took a while to get cleaned up and returned to us after birth, so it was a relief to finally get to hold him (see picture above.)My contractions started right as Ryan was getting home form work, about 5:45. We packed bags for ourselves and Cora, and Mom took Cora to our friend's house while Ryan and I went to the hospital just before 8 pm. (I hadn't packed bags yet as I didn't want to jinx myself, but I had a list ready that made packing fast.)

Mom had come out early to make sure she didn't miss the birth, since we were all sure that the baby would be early like his sister. As it turned out, I was slightly off on my due date; instead of January 31st the doctors were saying it was the 27th, so Elijah was actually overdue. We had plenty of time to get everything ready for him before he came, including making a baby quilt.

After the baby came we spent two days in the hospital, since I had tested positive for Group B strep and they wanted to observe the baby. We came home on Monday the 31st.

Cora met the baby on Saturday and loved him instantly. She was a little mad at me and wouldn't hug me, clinging to Mom and Ryan instead, but she wanted to hold the baby the whole time. She had learned his name by the time she visited again on Sunday - she calls him "Zhi-zhah." Elijah has fuzzy light brown hair and blue-grey eyes that we predict will stay light-colored.

Flowers from Ryan, Mom and Dad in Hawaii, and my Mom and Dad.Elijah getting ready to leave the hospital on Monday.We can't believe that we are now a family of four, but we are so happy to finally have our little Elijah safe and sound with us. He is a teeny little bundle of joy and very loved.