(… oh what a bore)

JW (as S insists on calling him with a v. bad Texan accent) has put on a pound in 6 days, passed his hearing test, slept for a 5 hour stretch a night (aided by a large glass of Merlot), grown out of many of his newborn clothes, had a trip out with me to town & been registered.

I think he & C like each other …

Boast post here

Simon took C swimming last night (they were there for hours) and she swam four lengths of the big pool (25m - two length at a time) breast stroke.

I’m so proud of her

First glimse of Jasper, at less than seven weeks pregnant, a mere 8mm long. You can just make out the limb buds & his yolk sac (the round thing next to the embryo). I remember clearly the utter amazement we felt when we saw his heart beating away.

… a few months later … enjoying his first bath!

Jasper (aka Lucky Seven, Mellow Yellow or (Nipple) Shredder) continues to be perfect (doh! Obviously ). I can’t believe the difference that extra couple of weeks gestating makes - he is alert, he can lift his head & hold your gaze, he sucks, he cries, he poos, I’m sure he grinned at me last night when I nibbled his nose - just like a real baby! He has celebrated his one week birthday with a bath (which he loves), a trip out in the pram (which we all love), more blood tests (boo hoo ) and regaining his birth weight plus some (7lbs 4 down to 6lbs 14 on day three, now up to 7lbs 6 at day seven). He looks very much like Claudia did, rosebud lips, a stubby nose and dark hair. He’s put himself on three hourly feeds and is champion at the boob (I love breastfeeding & it is lovely to have a babe who finds it easy); he has already wee-d and pooed on Simon and managed to pee on his own head; he likes radio 3 but nothing with too much brass.

Claudia is adapting beautifully, it was very difficult for her when we were in hospital; not only the logistics of being passed from pillar to post & dealing with a very tired & stressed Simon but because she was worried about us both. She hated the idea of me having surgery and was so worried that Jasper would be very ill. Now we’re all home life is more normal & C is much more relaxed.

I feel fine! The biggest problem is that I feel so well I try to do too much (ummm cleaning the bathroom ) & then get tired. The ob made a lovely job of my scar, it looks great compared to last time. My blood loss was minimal & HB is still over 10 (PPH with an initial HB of <7 last time). I was up and had showered by the afternoon of the section.

Jasper is still jaundiced cycling through suntanned, lemon yellow & orange depending on how long since he last ate & pooed. His bilirubin levels were going up pretty quickly on day 0 & 1, stabilised a bit then shot up before my milk came in. The highest they got to was 278, nicely below the treatment threshold (300), then came down on their own. We are beyond pleased that he didn’t need treatment - I’m sure because he is such a good feeder.

Simon is back at work today & it is quite nice having the three of us together. It seems so much easier this time around - is that normal? - parenting a new baby seemed so fraught & complicated last time, this is just joyful, he makes me laugh so much. I love seeing C & J together, I love having both of them to think about. My life is fantastic, my children are healthy, I can’t stop smiling - I think I’m in a slightly euphoric state

The birth was just wonderful, truly wonderful. So emotional. I can’t believe that it could ever be better. More of that later.

Si is at home now until the big event & I feel much happier - I honestly don’t know how those of you who have long pregnancies cope (I’m claiming this is a disproportionately large baby just as C was - I’m HUGE). Only puked twice today.

S has plans to text everyone straight away!!!!!

I sense that there isn’t going to be much HE blogging for a while. I had wanted to be all superwomany & carry on as normal until the last possible moment but then some sort of late pregnancy malaise struck (I have the worst insomnia I have ever had) & even holding a conversation is difficult. C has spent a lot of time on Brainpop & Studydog this week, she’s done loads of drawing & ‘creating’ and decided she wants ‘channel TV’ so she can watch Batman, the Simpsons & Atomic Kitten, she say’s A has got ‘really good channel TV’

The hospital yesterday was beyond exhausting - I don’t have any energy for a rant but I despised the stupid fucking ignorant bitch who was trying to get herself bumped to the top of the list because she had a ’spastic colon’ - I thought I’d got everything sorted out but then the wrong people turn up and I have to go through it all again. Everything seems okay - platelets are co-operating, they’re going to actually cross match me a couple of units of blood (they usually just group & save), anaesthetist was happy to do a spinal etc. They want us to put a CD together for the section - I so do not care, I feel like a time bomb and can’t get my head around the idea that anyone would think I’d have the luxury of caring about stupid stuff like music when I still think he’s dead at least twice a day. I’m still not convinced by the paediatrician situation, but I guess I can’t control all things.

Simon has Friday off work so I’m going in for another CTG.

Thursday was a bit of a wash out - C did some work in the morning (lots of reading all of a sudden) I made some bread (resurrected the bread machine) then we fought the traffic across town to football. We were coach-less though - C had a run around with the other kids, but we left fairly early, I’m so knackered and the screeching was a bit too much. Did some shopping in the afternoon.

I had a terrible night on Thursday & ended up calling Simon home from work on Friday morning (first time this pregnancy which is pretty good going I think ) I slept for a couple of hours while S & C did stuff (not sure what). Then we spent the afternoon doing chores - getting the last few baby bits, prescriptions, bits for me & a major Tesco shop. We didn’t go to ERAPA but C went to GB in the evening.

Saturday - Simon worked in the morning (painting mainly) and C spent ages on Brainpop. In the afternoon we picked Gwenny up & took the girls to a GB activity day. They enjoyed most of it but swimming wasn’t well organised & C ended up hysterical & G bored. We snuck off early to get the girls some food & dropped G at home (saw the beautiful harvest moon & some lovely fireworks on the way). C was asleep almost before we were home.

After another fairly sleepless night Sunday started early when I dragged everyone out of bed ‘to be productive’ . C did all her puzzles & Brainpop, I did loads of cooking and Simon did some odd jobs then built a fire surround for our sitting room. In the afternoon we dropped C at my parents - she made bread picked apples & made apple pies and planted a load of bulbs so I think she had fun

Simon has just taken C swimming but apart from that we haven’t done much today - some cleaning, C did some maths, Brainpopped & made a Moby puppet . I did some more cooking. My mum came around with more baby stuff .

I have pre-op clerking at the hospital tomorrow.

Craft stuff.
Couple of chapters of HP.
Xbox.
Watched HP.
Went for a walk.
Some stuff with geometric solids.
More drawing & writing.
Reading (2xEL & a couple of Bob Books) - fluency really improving.
Maths - 3 subtraction excercises & some number bond revision.
Lots of cuddles.
Planted some seeds.

Ho hum.

My longest pregnancy! I’ve never said I’m 37 weeks pregnant before. Went in early for monitoring - all is well, pre-op clerking next week & section the Tuesday afterwards.

Today ~ woke up very early (as usual) despite being utterly exhausted (x trips to the loo + y doses of gaviscon + z checks on C to the power late night & entertaining). Made breakfast & put some washing on then I helped C build a den downstairs and half watched a film with her while trying to catch up with email. Was sick between 10 and 11 then went back to bed - C brought a stack of books up & we read together (Franny B Kranny & others) until she decided she was starving. Made lunch & put some more washing on (pattern emerging here) the C decided she wanted to do some reading (!!! ). We whizzed through six 100ELs (we’re almost back up to where we stopped last time), three Bob Books and a couple of pages of Franny B Kranny. Did some Getty Dubay and a marathon maths session. C declared herself tired and ‘rested’ in her den while I read a couple of chapters of HP Philosopher’s Stone which she is really enjoying. C made a pile of bookmarks while I packed a bag for her to take to her grandparents, then Simon got home to take her to her swimming lesson. They stayed for a swim after the lesson & C very proudly announced that she jumped off the middle (3m) diving board she wants diving lessons now.

Sunday - woke up to the chatter of kids & cries of ‘Xbox!’, fed them unsuitable breakfast foods then tottered down to A&C’s for brunch. After lunch we headed off to buy paint & Si spent the afternoon doing odd jobs while I dozed & C moped around being horrible. Bed time was good.

Saturday - spent the morning cleaning (nesting hahahahaha) & shouting at Simon. C got more and more hysterical at the prospect of having N&A to stay. They arrived, wine was consumed then we walked around to play at A&C’s. The kids left fairly willingly with promises of Xbox - Nic & I got tarted up & met up with the rest of the party to hit the Town . Had an amazingly cheap meal, then wandered home (the men having got accidentally too drunk to collect us) reasonably early (it was still Saturday - just) with sore feet but baby still in utero

Friday - did chores in the morning, C did some maths & writing, read some HP. After lunch we went to home ed group which was amazingly busy (17 families!), C painted the pots she made last week. We left late & had to rush for GB - not sure what she did but it involved a ’secret for God’ ??? Rushed around Tesco then picked her up.

Thursday - had a very quiet day - C mostly played with jigsaws, geomags & her babies. She did lots of writing & a few pages of Singapore maths, I persuaded her to read to me.