Thursday, April 27, 2006
it's true, doctors really don't write legibly
A big giant envelope containing my hospital records and maternity notes arrived in the post last week. The whole process was surprisingly easy: I sent an email to the hospital, they emailed me a form to fill out and post back, and around four weeks later, my documents arrived. All for the low, low price of £10 (they can charge you up to £50, depending on the hospital). Reading everything was far less traumatising and upsetting than I thought it would be and in fact, there was nothing in there that I didn't already know. The main document of interest to me was the surgical notes, however they are written in scribbly doctor handwriting and barely decipherable. As far as I can tell, I've got a "v. floppy" something and my abdomen is "very vascular". Alrighty then.
The main point about getting these records was to go over them with my (independent) midwife the next time I'm pregnant. I figure that if she has all of this information she can a) help me make sense of what happened and b) can help me avoid this again next time. I'm worried about the lack of progress during my induction, particularly because one midwife uttered the dreaded "small pelvis" diagnosis at one point. So now I'm paranoid that Jack never went more than 2/5 engaged and I never dilated because I'm not built for birthin' babies. Yes, yes, I know. The truth probably is that nothing happened because Jack simply wasn't ready to be born yet. Doesn't stop me from being paranoid, though.
I read today that if you don't go into labour, your milk production may not kick in quite as well. Thanks for telling me this NOW. *mutter grumble*
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
my son is a rooster
Every morning, whether it's a weekday or the weekend, Jack wakes up at around 6:00 in the morning. As Dougal from "Father Ted" once said, "I've never seen a clock at 6 a.m. before!" I am not a morning person and no child that has my genes should be either. He used to wake up cheerfully, making happy little baby sounds that melted my heart. Now, he makes a *cough cough cough* spluttering noise that always precedes the screeching that doesn't end until someone releases him from the confines of his cot. It's a very effective alarm clock, I'll give it that. The trade-off is that we have a child who sleeps through the night, but we've got to get to bed early if we want a decent stretch of sleep. I think that I would opt for early mornings over interrupted nights, as memories of waking and feeding every two hours still linger in my mind.
In other "look what my genius son can do" news: Jack says "uh oh" whenever he drops something, nods his head when I ask if he's "all finished?" at the end of meals, points and says "dat?" when he wants to know what something is, enjoys dancing to the ER theme song and (sadly) the Sheila's Wheels advert, uses cutlery very well (but much prefers the mouth stuffing with both hands method), and is now drinking from a Big Boy Cup. Tommy Tippee do beakers with a lid and hole (sort of like the cups you get from fast food joints with a hole for a straw), which has been really great for teaching him how to drink from a cup. I often end up with a very wet child, but I'm sure he'll get the hang of it.
Thursday, April 20, 2006
lost light
Yesterday, a 10-month-old girl died after choking on some food at a nursery close to our office. My friend/workmate's daughter goes to this nursery, and was in the same room as this little girl. This is way too close to home.
I already experience enormous amounts of guilt about leaving Jack in the care of virtual strangers four days a week, and always felt tentative about entrusting his safety to girls who look no older than teenagers. When my friend got the call to pick up her daughter because there was "an incident" at the nursery, I wanted to get in the car and take Jack home. It's the complete lack of control that scares me the most; I simply have to trust that Jack is being taken care of properly while I'm at work. That's a lot to gamble on. On the other hand, things are not always in control even when I'm around. This morning, I turned around to find Jack leaning forward and holding on to both sides of the baby gate at the top of the stairs - which was wide open because I forgot to close it. My hands shook as I picked him up, and I cursed myself for being so incredibly stupid. Maybe sometimes he is actually safer in other people's care.
Last night, as I cradled Jack and sang to him before he fell asleep, I became too overwhelmed to continue. I could only stare at him and hold him tight, knowing that someone else would not be holding their baby that night.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
in the jungle, the mighty jungle
Blog amnesia - I meant to write about our day at the Woburn Safari Park in Bedfordshire, but completely forgot to do so. I posted the picture of Jack in a bouncy castle at the park, but neglected to write about our day. Babies steal your brain cells; tell all of your friends.
First and foremost, I want to big up the park for providing healthy, organic food for babies and toddlers. They do have a standard chicken nugget and chips canteen-style menu, but they also sell organic meals for babies up to around two years, from purees to pasta dishes. We like that.
It was an expensive day out (£15 for adults, under 3's are free), but really good fun. The first part of our day was spent on the safari drive, looking at Canadian bears and wolves, lions, and the ubiquitous monkeys seen at safari parks worldwide (you know, the kind that rip your aerial off and poo on your car). After lunch, we did the safari walk and looked at elephants, sea lions, birds of prey, lemurs, marmosets, and my personal favourite, penguins. There is a huge "adventure ark" play centre that will be good for Jack when he's a bit older, the bouncy castles I mentioned, and several safari trails for little ones to climb and slide down. A train runs during certain times of the year, but unfortunately it wasn't running when we were there. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and I'm sure we'll be back several times over the next few years.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: having a kid is a great excuse to do fun stuff like this. Cadbury World and Legoland, here we come!
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
the easter weekend in pictures
Jack's Easter car:
Jack's Easter card:
"Get offa mah land!!"
Jack's first professional haircut (my sister-in-law is a hairdresser). Note the distraction tactics: toys, daddy, cousins, and gingerbread man. Note how Jack still looks skeptical despite the distraction tactics.
No goal for you!
Experiencing a bit of static cling:
Thursday, April 13, 2006
smile
Things that made me smile this week:
-Jack made a card for us at nursery. It's got a painted yellow chick on the front.
-The English language is very confusing. Jack uses both a toothbrush and a comb to brush his hair. He understands the word "brush" in terms of hair grooming only. This has led to much hilarity and toothpaste in my son's fluffy hair.
-The dramatic pointing: Jack toddles around like a lunatic and will stop suddenly and point. I think his thought process goes like this: "Run run run run run run run run run...wait! Look at that! [stand perfectly motionless and point with great enthusiasm] Done now. Run run run run run run run run..."
-Every time he goes into the kitchen, he inspects the washing machine to see if there's anything interesting happening inside.
-Jack says "hiya!" We're not sure if this is in a Miss Piggy karate kind of way, or if it's some form of greeting.
-Jack's discovery that the toilet roll is a great source of amusement.
-There's a picture of Jack at nursery of him standing with two of the "big kids". Apparently they were all outside playing and Jack wanted to be with the bigger boys. The picture shows two older kids (maybe 3 or 4 years old) standing against a fence looking like "What's this pipsqueak doing with us?", and Jack standing next to them with a huge grin.
And the look on Jack's face when I pick him up at the end of the day. No one, not even the dog, looks so happy to see me.
Tuesday, April 11, 2006
le jambon
"I am Tupperwaretron. Take me to your leader."
"What the...? How did Jasper get so little and climb up on to the mantle?!"
Oh, the drama!
Monday, April 10, 2006
it'll be cigarettes and whiskey next
Today, my son ate an entire package of crisps for lunch today, and nothing else. They were organic, healthy, "no junk, promise" corn crispies, but it's horrifying nonetheless. He wouldn't touch his tuna sandwich and screamed in anger after he finished each crisp (I was only giving him one or two at a time). Now he's fast asleep and I can hear his little tummy rumbling from a lack of proper food. Oh, this is how it all starts...soon he'll be eating Twinkies and Cherry Coke three meals a day. What have I done?
Thursday, April 06, 2006
this n' that
I have made two fantastic discoveries this week: ionic hairdryers and decent straighteners. Like all mums, I don't have a lot of time in the morning, particularly to devote any effort to my personal appearance. This was made evident by my fondness for ponytails and no makeup until I returned to work. So now that I have returned to the working world, I try to slap on a bit of war paint and do something to make my hair look presentable each day. I have a lot of hair that takes a long time to dry - behold, I have discovered the ionic hairdryer. It dries my hair in 5 minutes instead of 15; I kid you not. They are roughly £30, which isn't much more than a regular hairdryer, and widely available. Go get one if you want to save yourself a few minutes in the morning. Many thanks to mum-in-law for purchasing said item for my birthday! In a similar vein, I have swapped my cheapo Braun hair straightener for a paid-way-too-much-for-a-hair-appliance GHD straightener, and goodness was it worth it. Silky smooth hair in scant minutes, I tell you. Now if only my dream of a shower pump comes true, then I could wash and rinse my hair in seconds. Those are my top yummy mummy tips for the day. Thank you.
In the world of Jack, a few new things to report. The "just say no" phase has moved on and he now nods yes when I ask him stuff. He also sometimes says "yeah!" if I say it to him first, which is so cute it makes my heart burst. He is definitely saying "mama" and "dada" to each of us specifically, and I'm certain that he refers to Jasper as "da" ("dog" maybe?). He's also very into pointing and making an "uh uh uh uh uh" noise at things he wants. So that shows me for complaining about his lack of communication. Silly mummy.
Jack's now off the bottle - all of his milk (and water) is delivered in Tommy Tippee sippy cups. We always gave him his water in a cup after meals and started giving him his afternoon milk in a cup a while ago, but still gave him milk in a bottle in the morning and at bedtime. It's now been about a month and it's made life so much easier. No more bottle and teat washing! No more sterilising! No more leaky stupid crappy Avent bottles! We figured that it was better to get him off the bottle habit sooner rather than later (like when the dummy got put in a drawer when Jack was around 9 months old), before he gets old enough to raise a stink about it. It's worked out really well.
Oh yes, and he knows where his toes are and can give toys to Jasper when asked. My brilliant boy.
Tuesday, April 04, 2006
make it snappy
Jack discovers the thrill of driving:
Cousin Guy is so very pleased to share his quad bike with Jack:
"I said, is your fridge running? BWAAAHAHAHAHA!!"
