November 2006 Archives

Still no end to the sickness around here. Yesterday was bad with a number of moments, including 2 lots of pooy pants (sorry!) and what seemed like jugs of vomit over the sofa (all because I was trying to get Emily to eat something - not that my cooking is that bad!). As you can imagine its not a bundle of fun here at the moment and the laundry is in a constant cycle, what with all the additional sicky washes to do too. All I can say is thank god for removable sofa covers!

Em is actually in good enough form despite it all and her illness seems to have progressed into a bad cough and cold, with a constant streaming nose. Harrison, although he is a bit sickier than normal, seems to have settled a bit and is resuming some long sleep stretches, which is a godsend.

Looks like we'll not be going anywhere for the rest of the week and I will have to do something to put my cabin fever at bay. Em, at least has had some lunch today, after not eating for the past 4 days, so hopefully things are looking up.

Phew I could do with an afternoon in the spa...mmmm jacuzzi....hey Santa I'm a good girl you know!

Well this weekend has been mad thats for sure. I think it definitely has been a test for us. I suppose it started on Friday when I noticed that Harrison had a rash on his body. We called the out of hours doctors and after a chat with them decided that it was nothing to worry about. That night Emily came into our room in the early hours saying that she had been sick on her pillow. When we put the light on we discovered that her hair was completely covered, as was her bed and of course rubby! She was very distressed, especially as I had to get her in the bath and wash her hair, while Warren stripped the bed and picked the chunks of vomit up of her bedding and floor (sorry for graphic detail but when you have kids there is nothing you can't talk about!).

She slept with me for the rest of the night and Warren slept in her bed (after it had been cleaned of course). The next morning she seemed a bit better but after I had fed Harrison and was cleaning up his sick (sitting in bed) Emily sat bolt upright and puked all over our bed, duvet and my lovely furry blanket! Aaahh! So more cleaning up along with us having to send the duvet and blanket to the laundry. The poor thing was obviously unwell and had flu like symptoms and wouldn't eat a thing - not even a chocolate biscuit! We put her on the sofa with a blanket and TV.

Meanwhile, Harrison was going through marathon feeding sessions, which are leaving me exhausted and unable to do a single thing. Whilst changing his nappy I noticed that the rash had spread to his legs and seemed even more prominent than before. We decided that it would be best to get it checked out so I took him to the out of hours doctors whilst Warren looked after Em. I had to wait ages and feed him in the waiting room. When we eventually saw the doc he wasn't overly worried but because it was such a bad rash and seemed to be progressing he thought it best that we took him straight up to the childrens hospital to get him checked out by a 'kiddy doctor'. I have never been to this hospital and don't know that part of town at all, so we had to get Warrens mom round and I picked him up so he could drive there. I couldn't stay with Em, cause of Harrisons feeding demands, so I had to go too.

We had to wait another few hours while he was checked out, by this time we were both getting worried about him and worried about how Emily was. Eventually, thankfully they decided it was just a viral infection and nothing to worry about. Probably both had variations of the same bug.

So that was our Saturday. We never managed to pick up our duvet or make it to Tesco to replenish our cupboards (we really are Old Mother Hupboard!) and we were both completely worn out by the evening.

Emily was a still a bit sick in the night but was much better today thankfully. We even made it out for a trip to a craft fair, which to be honest I think was just what we all needed. Still not 100% but much better than yesterday.

Just a quick post to share one of the lovely photos of Emily & Harrison. Warren is still trying to figure out the best way to display our photos, so until then I thought I would post one here and there. Emily just adores him, which is all we could've asked for. Yesterday she spent the day asking if she could cuddle him, bath him, help change his nappy. It was so sweet. Although she still doesn't like his crying, but its not pleasant for anyone listening to a baby cry his lungs out is it? We have tried to explain this to her and explain that this is his way of communicating. I think she understands, she just finds it hard to deal with.

Today was a pretty bad day in that respect. I am having a particularly tired day (despite Harrison only being up at 3am for a 45 minute feed, then slept through till 8!). Its just the intensity of having to deal with two very young children, each with their own demands and when those demands coincide it becomes difficult. I am sure it will all settle down and I will be able to juggle this more effectively and less emotionally once I have had more practice. Today he was screaming while I was changing his nappy, at the same time I just made Em soup and sat her down on her little table to eat it (i normally still feed her soup but because Harrison wanted feeding I had to coerce her to do it herself). This wasn't going particularly well when the midwife turned up and decided to clean his belly button - which he really didn't like. So I ended up with her trying to talk to me, him screaming and Emily crying with her hands over her ears saying she didn't like the noise!!!! Talk about crazy. I had to give in and fetch Warren from his back-bedroom temporary office to save me.

Yesterday marked the falling off the crusty cord! Revealing Harrisons lovely (but still a bit crusty) belly button beneath. Can't tell if its an 'inny' or an 'outy' yet but I am sure we'll know soon enough.

Also Emily, Harrison and I went to Tesco's all by ourselves as a little experimental expedition. I thought I had better get some practice in of being out on my own with them. Coordinating getting them in and out of their car seats and getting used to the complicated nature of Harrisons seat and then trying (for a good while) to fix the seat into the pram frame. I got there eventually and although there wasn't any room for shopping we managed to get a couple of things in the bottom of the pram. Emily even decided to go one step further with our experiment and decided she needed a wee!

Apart from the fact that it takes forever sorting them both out it was a successful trip and Emily was my good little helper!

Well as I am sure you can imagine this past week has been pretty mad for us all. The transition from having one child to having two and getting used to having a little baby again is taking up all of our available time - hence the lack of posting and photos! Sorry about the lack of photos, hopefully we will settle into a routine soon and get a bit more organised.

I am sure some of you are aware that I was always a bit anxious about having a boy for some reason. But I can tell you that all of my worries vanished the moment that Harrison arrived, he is just so adorable. I love him so much and can't stop staring at his lovely little face, watching him dreaming and his cute little facial expressions. I am so excited at the difference a little boy will make, how bringing up a boy will be different to a girl in all manor of respects. Of course it also gives me an excuse to buy lots of cute stuff too!

I probably should be in bed but as it is very late and the sensible thing would be to get some sleep before he wakes for his next feed, but I thought I would give you a quick summary of our first week - starting of course with the labour (don't be scared - it will be minus graphic detail!).

Labour Day
Some of you probably already know the story but I will give you a quick recap anyway. Just when I thought I had had enough of my pregnancy and reached the end of my tether, at about 12.30 Saturday lunchtime my waters broke. By the time we had packed Emily off to Warrens brothers we got to the hospital around 1.30pm. The midwife did a kind of litmus test on the 'water' and told me it tested negative so it must just be wee. I just knew she must be wrong and also I had got slight contraction pains on the way in the car. But I didn't want to argue with her, she knew best after all. At 2pm she said I might as well go home and I could always come back up if I was worried. Literally 5 minutes later I started to get really bad pains and another midwife came in, redid the test and said my waters had gone and by the look on my face she knew I had started labour. It was all so fast. We went straight to the delivery suite, where I was told the pool was out of action so I asked for a bath and begged for the gas & air! By the time another midwife came down to tell us the bath was ready I had progressed too far to make it up to the ward and into the bath. Then by 3.50 Harrison was born, after apparently only 8 minutes of final pushing!

It was such a shock to go so quickly and if we had gone home, it would've had to be a home birth with no pain relief and Warren doing the delivery! I was hoping to see the midwife again but unfortunately didn't!

In The Hospital
So as you already know the details, I will just add the he was almost exactly the same size as Emily. He was just 3oz lighter and exactly the same length, with blonde hair and finer features. He definitely has a different look about him and already looks like such a boy! I would've left on the Sunday but he was very red and so they took a blood test and kept us in another night. Turned out he was just dehydrated and after a second test had started getting a bit better. His colour has definitely settled down a lot now and he looks very healthy.

Week One at Home
The week has been a mad one of visitors and phone calls and getting on top of things. He is a very hungry baby and has spent a few days feeding constantly, and he is already back up over his birth weight after losing an initial few pounds. He has found his voice but only really cries when he is hungry or getting his nappy changed - he's not too keen on that. Its also been a learning curve for us changing a boys nappy compared to a girls and we soon learnt our lesson of 'willy down' (thanks RIchard) after a couple of nights with soaking sheets and lots of changes!

The nights haven't been too bad and I have been coping fairly well with him feeding every 2-4 hours, with Warren helping out with the nappies or changes. I had one extremely bad night this week where I literally didn't get even 5 minutes sleep the whole night until 6am. It was awful. But other than that one time so far (fingers crossed) it hasn't been too bad.

We had our first family outing on Warrens birthday which was lovely and thankfully stress free. We went out for birthday lunch and luckily Harrison slept through the whole thing.

Emily
I was so anxious at how having a new baby would effect Emily and our relationship, but I think it is going ok considering. She really likes him and can't wait to help with changing nappies and baths. She thinks having a brother is 'great' and 'lovely' and the other day she looked into the basket and said (totally unprompted) 'He's just so cute'. She doesn't like him crying though and either puts her hands over her ears or runs away upset. I think it just depends how she is feeling as to how badly it effects her. Sometimes she just wants to know what is wrong with him. She is VERY clingy to Warren and wants him to do everything. I suppose its understandable but I think things are settling down gradually as she gets used to him being around. She has had such a busy week with a lot of changes in her routine, its hardly surprising she gets a bit grouchy and confused sometimes.

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Anyway its 12.30 and I really should be in bed! I will try and keep you updated and hopefully Warren can add more to my week account, but until then night night x

Born on the 4th November 2006, at 3:48pm, weighing 9lb.

Both Mother and Son are well. More news and pictures soon. :D