After care

No one really tells you what happens in the hospital. I thought that you would go on, have the baby and be out in a few hours and even with my wifes complications I thought one night.

The truth is you will be in a minimum of 1 night and you know what its worth it. You get good food (3 courses at lunch and dinner), you have midwifes at the touch of a button, you're with mothers in the same situation and you learn allot.

My wife wanted to breast feed so they said they could only discharge her once her tests were cleared and she had done 3 or 4 successful feeds on her own.

I must saythe level of care she got from the birth to the following few days exceeded my expecrations and I still ring the ward (as its 24/7) if I have any queries

My advice here is dont think you have to be home straight away, enjoy the support and learn the basic as it will make your home life allot easier

OMG I want to break my phone

One of the most stressfull things about the birth is that everyone wants to communicate with you, from saying congratulations to wanting an update or scheduling a visit

Now over the few days when my wife went into labour to being disharged I must have had a few hundred txt and I spent alot of time replying rather than enjoying the moments

Note if you're going to update people do it with enough information. I told people the baby was born and that my wife had complications which made everyone worry, my next update was 6 hours later which made people worry for too long.

My advise is send out a bulk update but be thorough, then turn off your phone and only use it several times a day and dont worry about replying to congratulations messages

My phone now is permanently on silent and I check it 4 or 5 times a day so I can simply enjoy the moments

Rounds with mike Tyson

I had written a long post on the birth of my daughter however I think I will leave it un posted. I certainly don't want to scare new parents and the post might do just that as it was my thoughts at the time.

In hind sight it was a good birth, and it gave me my wonderful daughter however one thing that took me by surprise was how different the baby looked to what I expected.

Firstly the baby was very swolen and looked like a fat baby (which I guess she was). The second is she was a bit battered and bruised to the point she looked like she had done 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.

You will love your baby with all of your being, however I was glad after a few days when the swelling had gone down and the baby lost some weight and thus looked like what I expected a baby to look like.

I may be biased but to me she is a beautiful baby

The lead up

Hi

Again a little while since my last post but things generally slow down in the third trimester to the point were you sometimes forget your having a baby

My wife in the last few weeks (36 plus) has become really tired again and can only waddle for around 20 minutes before needing a long rest. Most my days are spend making sure she is ok and tidying up. Often I would come in from work and all that was in the cupboard was sweets and she developed more of a sweet tooth (obviously)

Most the stuff is prepared, we need to pack the overnight bag, get some last things from Mothercare and were ready.....ish

My wife is starting to panic about the birth but is also getting excited for the little one arriving 

Ps we are still thinking on a name

Panic over pyjamas

So me and the wife spent half a day googling what we would need to put the baby in to sleep at night. We are currently moving home and therefore goong to be using the moses basket for the first few months.

There is not one way to do things, nor one website which says you need x y and z and you do this and our done.

We gathered you put the baby in a sleep suit or equivalent but then what? Which balnkets do u use? how many blankets? How do you know if there too warm?

One website was on about swaddling were you get a sheet or shawl ad wrap you baby like a mummy so it cant move an then wrap more blankets if its cold.

The second website suggested swaddling increased the risk of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) and advised simply tucking a blankets (add layers as appropriate) around the baby under the  armpits and tuck under mattress leaving there hands outside the blanket so they can move (scratch mittens are then used) an if using a cot place them at the bottom so they cant wriggle underneath them.

So after hours of research we finally decided for the later and ordered some moses blanket sheets to put over the mattress, some cellular blankets as its the summer and their cooler and we already have many sleep suits. 

So hopefully the new baby will sleep like a rock while we don't sleep at all due to worrying we got her pyjamas wrong

Shit I am having a baby

All of a sudden it is becoming real that i am having a baby. You think his would be obvious but you forget.

It came after the anti natal appointment when they showed us around the delivery ward and you see the bed with all its features for birth and you suddenly realise your wife has to give birth and your going to have a child

At this stage my wife just wants the baby to be here so she can stop worrying so much (i don't think this will change much after the birth) and also to be able to do more as she is able to do less and less as the weeks go buy

We have most of the suff we need now and technically are ready, but there are often times when I go shit, I am having a baby.

London is no place for a pregnant woman

Me and the mrs had a trip to London recently. We had booked it about a year ago to take my niece to a concert and even though my wife was 29 weeks pregnant at the time we thought nothing of it.

The train down was nice and relaxing but as soon as we got there it all changed. I went into over protective mode and was on edge all of the time. On the tube I had to run on and reserve a seat as no one would offer, and people were so rushed and pushy I was so concerned about people bumping the bump.

When we walked places she needed to rest allot of the time but I was so tired from being over protected I enjoyed the breaks.

One plus side you can walk in anywhere and use the toilets if your pregnant and as the partner you can too. This is great especially when you see other people being turned away.

The trip was enjoyable but in hindsight I should have cancelled and should have opted for a few lazy days, especially as I will never get lazy days once the baby is born