Adorable

Daisy's grandmother was here most of the day today, pretty much refusing to let go of the baby apart from (reluctantly) at feeding time. She even had dinner with Daisy in her arms.

When she had to leave she wanted to help change a nappy first, so we made a two woman job of it. Daisy made the otherwise uncomplicated procedure slightly more interesting by projectile pooing as soon as the dirty nappy came off. Grandma is quicker than she looks, she got out of the way and didn't catch any of the mess. My trousers and the bedsheets however had to go straight in the washing machine, and we definitely need to buy some carpet cleaner tomorrow...

Dwayne was equally shocked and impressed by the capacity of such a little body. I have warned him, this is only the beginning of the encounters with Daisy's bodily functions. There will be plenty of poo, pee, vomit and other unpleasantness to deal with in the years to come.

Good thing she's adorable.

Daisy's first bath

Five days old, enjoying a nice bath.

Attack of the monster boobs

My baby and my boobs have now all decided that milk rules. My boobs are GINORMOUS.

They don't even jiggle any more, they just  sit there in all absurdness looking like the most overstated boob job you ever saw.

Geez.

Third day blues, and fourth day home!

So I, the least hormonal woman on this planet, ran straight into the classic third day blues yesterday. I have not accumulated that much crying through my life I think.

I had a terrible night leading up to day three in the hospital. Daisy refused to feed even though she was clearly hungry, I struggled with her for hours in the night without success. There was some drama happening in the maternity ward and the midwives didn't have time to help us. When I did manage to catch some sleep, I had terrible nightmares.

The morning of the third day started with general weepiness, crying because my husband is so great or because my daughter is so cute. But then the pediatrician entered the scene...

I don't like doctors. Even the nice ones have a scary clinical way about them. They possess none of the coziness the midwives all have. This one was two apples high and had an annoying chirpiness about her. I'm sure she was nice enough, but she came to tell me my baby had lost 1% too much weight (yes, one percent) and I was not going to be allowed to leave the hospital and to top things off I would have to feed the baby formula.

Through my veil of hormonal tears what I heard was: "You can't feed your own baby who is now dangerously dehydrated, so we're going to hold you hostage and force feed your baby artificial crap."

Need I say I got slightly hystercal after that? Dwayne, having barely ever seen me cry and certainly never seen me fail and despair, got angry and went and spoke to the midwives. They took him seriously and started paying me a lot more attention, but unfortunately none of the girls that I already knew were on duty. I saw different people every feed, had to explain the situation over and over again, and the worst bit - each midwife had a completely different opinion and approach. So I cried and cried and Daisy refused to eat and all was miserable.

But then, as the night shift started, my saving angel Belinda came on! She is a down to earth, no nonsense, comforting person. She actually pulled out a chair and sat with me and listened and let me cry. She reassured me and explained the situation to me and made everything seem so much less like the end of the world. Then she helped me feed Daisy Piglet through the night, first breast and then a top-up of formula. She made sure I slept and she came in to wake me up for feeding time and didn't leave the room until things were working. By this morning Daisy was eating perfectly well and we haven't had to give her any more formula since.

Even the small chirpy pediatrician was happy to discharge us, so this very moment Daisy and I are snuggled up on the sofa watching telly whilst Dwayne waits on us. Bliss!

Sleepy girl with tummy full of breast milk.

Third day with Daisy

Daisy Piglet is doing well. She is not entirely sure about the feeding process, which is why we opted to stay in the hospital an extra night and get some round the clock feeding assistance. But today is going home day for Piglet!

View from my hospital window. I'm sure if you're here for a less joyful reason, this view would help brighten things up. 

Most drastic and fast weight loss ever. 

Daisy Piglet, barely three days old.

Daisy Piglet

Daisy Joan Cassidy (aka Daisy Piglet) has arrived! She was born on a horrendously rainy winter Sunday (23 June) and spent her first few minutes in a room lit up by lightning. But hey, is there a better way to spend a horrendously rainy day than to produce a baby?

I went through labour pretty much the same way I went through the pregnancy - with minimal fuss and no complications. 

It all started as if someone had turned on a switch at 8am, with contactions every three minutes, and progressed steadily from there. We went to the hospital at midday to check on things, and then I opted to go home again to chill for a bit. Around 4pm Dwayne decided it was time to go back to hospital, so we went in and by 7.32pm Daisy was born.

In my opinion childbirth is not as terrible as one is lead to believe. I did not want any drugs, but had decided to go for gas if I felt I needed it. I ended up not using the gas in the end, because I didn't want the distraction.

It's terribly uncomfortable, rather overwhelming at times and all-encompassing by the end. But totally doable as long as you have the right mindset.

Here are my top tips for childbirth:

- Chillax. Whatever you do, don't waste energy stressing. Play dead between contractions and pretend that the last one never happened and that you have AGES before the next one.

- Have a rock solid birth companion with you. Dwayne was amazing. I wasn't very communicative, but he immediately learned to read one word sentences and act accordingly. He also didn't leave my side for a moment, didn't take his hand off my back for the entire process, and knew not to bug me with anything but relevant questions or midwives' orders.

- Make sure said companion hits the gym in advance. Dwayne had to hold the entire weight of me and Daisy Piglet when the midwife suggested I needed to stand up right near the end. I hung off his neck, not actually standing at all through contractions. It did cross my mind that it must be very heavy for him, but I quite  frankly didn't give a pony's tail.

- Turn off the lights, make sure people shut up unless giving you helpful hints, don't look at the clock, in fact don't bother opening your eyes at all. Go into he zone and stay there. Time is of no relevance.

- Don't be afraid. Millions upon millions of people have done it before, and succeeded. It has to be done, no turning back now, so go with it.

- And finally, it's hard work and not for the faint hearted - so don't be faint hearted! 

There is an amazing prize for the winner in the end after all. In my case, a fat pink Daisy Piglet. She skipped the blue stage and went straight to incredibly cute and pink, with no drugs in her little body. Just the way I wished for her first moments on Earth to be!

Come on little Blob

Let's go for a walk!

Happy due date, little Blob!

40 weeks today. It's a grey and and rather boring day. I have no other plans today, so come on little Blob, let's see some action!

(Or perhaps tomorrow, I did actually plan to make pasta sauce tonight...)

Now, where's that baby?

My Hug-a-bub baby wrap has arrived! All I need now  is a Blob to put in it.

I went to the midwife clinic this morning and Blob seems comfortable in there. He/she is also fully engaged and apparently in position to arrive any day. It doesn't feel like it to me though... I am totally comfortable still and there are no signs that anything is changing. I'm curious to see how this ends...

Next week I'm booked for a doctor's appointment to assess and plan in case they want to induce me. Bah! I refuse to be induced! (Unless they can prove to me that Blob's suffering). Here in Australia they only let you go until week 41 + 3 days before they induce. Please little Blob, come out before they force medical procedures on us...

Hug-a-bub

I bought myself one of these today:

It's a lovely baby wrap to carry Blob in. You can carry the baby upright or cradled sideways, or outward facing once it's older, and it looks so much nicer than the harness style ones. I hope Blob likes it!

39 weeks!

Today's mission 1

Washing about a hundred pieces of baby clothes in various sizes.

Life of a housewife, day 2

So, yesterday was my first day of maternity leave. I have to ask - what do people DO with their time? My life has clearly revolved around work for way too long.

Yesterday I went a bit crazy with it. I got up at 5am, cleaned the house, did two loads of laundry, prepared the baby cot, went for a 7k walk, watched some daytime TV and had a  minor housewife breakdown by dinner time. And that was just day 1.

Today is day 2 and it's a grey, rainy and boring looking day. It's 10.30am and so far I have moved from the bed to the sofa. I have watched Ellen, Come dine with me, and Real Housewives whilst drinking tea and devouring an entire pack of milk chocolate Hob-Nobs.

I need a project. I might cook up a rabbit stew.

One thing I learnt...

... is to ignore books and advice as needed.

Don't eat salty food, the books say. It'll make your feet swell. Well, the photo in my previous post was taken after two weeks of no potato chips. I have now reverted to eating as much deep fried potato as I wish, and combined with long walks my feet are back to pretty much normal.

Not eating potato chips is only going to cause mental damage, I say.

Week 38

Still not suffering from any tiresome pregnancy symptoms really, except for the ever growing bump. But as of last week, I suddenly have terribly swollen legs and feet. What happened, where are the bones, sinew and sticky-outy bits that normally characterise my feet? I look down and find myself standing on someone else's legs.

My GOODNESS.