The dishwasher has been plumbed in this last week, finally, (hurrah!) and the rather disgusting lino that was on the kitchen floor has been lifted up to reveal some lovely deep pinky red quarry tiles that after about 6 goes of mopping from my other half came up gleaming, a vast improvement! Sebastian found it very exciting when I demonstrated how good they could be for dancing on...
Since turning another year older last month, when asked what I wanted for my birthday I had to really think about it. With all that was going on I struggled at first to come up with something practical but then of course I got inspired. My lovely workmates wanted to get me something and got me season 5 of Madmen at my suggestion. I had the box set of series 1-3 when I had Sebas and it came in very handy through all the epic feeds. I would look forward to sitting down with the laptop at my side and watch an episode with a baby snuggled on me. Even Mark got into it a bit. I still have season 4 to watch, so that and season 5 will keep me happy when feeding the newest addition...
So then I received my first copy of December's issue of Vogue a week ago. A real treat I think to get an annual subscription to a glossy mag, and what's even more great is it lasts throughout the year. Thanks mum! Again perfect just to have something as a bit of escapism from all the nappy changing ahead. Buying a copy of October's issue prior to this had got me thinking as it had a great page about grandmothers and how inspirational they are. I found this great website www.granniesinc.co.uk dedicated to grannies who love knitting and will knit designs to order. A friend of mine, Eleri, has a little girl who has a very industrious grandmother. Every time we would meet up little Mabli would be wearing a new creation be it a little cardigan, tank top or slip on dress, hot off the press, she always looked lovely! When I first looked on Grannies inc I saw a lovely little poncho although we still have so many baby clothes from the first time that we don't really need to buy anything, at least not straightway. I've never really got that into knitting though, (although there's still time one day) I remember starting to knit a scarf in college it was rather of the style of Tom Baker/Dr Who with different panels of colour, probably as I kept running out of wool. I did even get quite adventurous and try purl but I never learnt to cast off so the scarf kept getting longer and longer and wider then narrower depending on the type of wool used. It's probably in a box somewhere still on a knitting needle waiting to be finished (or unravelled!)
The latest issue of Vogue will come into hospital with me although from what I've flicked through and seen which isn't very far is the Arts page. A new book "Priscilla" by a writer called Nicholas Shakespeare remembers his extraordinary aunt who he described as having a "shed-load of secrets". She was especially distinctive for her Hermes handbag which was her statement accessory inseparable to her. Going back in time to 1937 aged 20, three months pregnant and penniless, she was crossing the channel journeying to France to get an abortion. On the Newhaven steamer she meets Robert a Vicomte from Normandy. "The tall young blonde on deck reminded Robert of a "cork in a rough sea". In Paris he got Priscilla's number from her best friend Gillian Hammond, an art student, and invited Priscilla to the Folies Begere. He had no idea when she danced non-stop that Priscilla was following the orders of an abortionist, hoping to bring on miscarriage. From Gillian, Priscilla learned to put her odds and ends in a handkerchief, which she dropped the whole time, so that Robert was finally moved to whisper to Gillian: "Don't you think she could do with a handbag?" He subsequently took her to Hermes and bought her a beautiful leather bag and they married in 1938.
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| Priscilla By Nicholas Shakespeare - a tempting read... |
Yesterday we brought out the moses basket, the rose embroidered nursing chair, and the changing unit all into our bed room. I did about 3 loads of washing of muslins, baby blankets/bedding and general build up to the big day washing. Before we moved house I'd washed and stored in sealed plastic boxes all the baby gro's so they were all organised and ready to wear. Our bedroom feels more organised and clear too, the bay window now is all set up with the nursing chair and moses basket, I'm looking forward to sitting by the window facing the view of Conwy and the Snowdonia mountains in the distance. Beautiful.
It's such a precious feeling, feeling your unborn baby moving inside you, comforting and reassuring you. I'm sitting here with a glass of the hard stuff (full fat milk) my nightly tipple and that always provokes a surge of movement, stirring of appreciation, as well as the very gentle and rhythmic pattern that has to be hiccups! I will miss it in a way. It's getting to the stage now though depending on what I'm doing especially if I'm on my feet that I'll be visiting the loo 3 times in an hour. The same at night, I'm sure I'm not alone in saying I've had some very broken nights of sleep. It's also been more uncomfortable notably in this last week on my hip, pressure on the pelvis, the pregnancy hormone 'relaxin' is to blame as it does just that, relaxes and loosens the joints. At least we're on the home run now so to speak. I do feel for all those women who go full term and then some. I'm having a planned caesarean section as my pelvis would not take the strain of natural birth. I have a risk of fracturing easily (Osteo Genesis Imperfecta) so it was never questionable.
Last time with Sebastian it went very smoothly, pregnancy through to birth, although we had a bit of a waiting game even though it was planned. I was booked in to have my baby on the thursday, Mark and I got there bright and early at 8am, we both got 'gowned up' me in my lovely hospital gown and Mark in his theatre pyjamas. We waited, and waited and waited. That day there were three of us having cesareans. Yours truly unfortunately had the short straw and was number three on the list. Being nil by mouth all day there was nothing else to do but lie on the bed, Mark was at my side in a chair and we both ended up snoozing on and off intermittently. Patient one got wheeled off to have her baby at around 9am, a nice girl I had a bit of a chat with her, she had a 2 year old daughter and from the sounds of it had to have a caesarean last time due to her pelvis not being able to take it either.
Before anything else happened though a nurse came through and apologised saying sweetly that they wouldn't do that to me - i.e make me sleep in a ward full of new borns. So I was transferred into the next antenatal ward which was somewhat quieter (for now). I had a bath, read, wrote in my diary and then as it got to about 10pm the beds started rolling in. One bed that became my neighbour separated by a thin curtain was hooked up to a machine to check the heartbeats, so the intermittent beeps sounded, reassuring and frequent. As time went on though it turned out she was a snorer and a very loud manly one. The mum of five boys from the previous ward popped her round the door at one point, I don't know if she could hear the snoring from outside, I wouldn't be surprised if she did but she looked into the room and then at me and gave me a quizzical, sorry for me "Wtf is that noise?"… look!
Hospitals. I don't think anyone ever sleeps well in them (even with ear plugs). Anyway it got to morning, nil by mouth. Mark arrived, we sat and waited. Mr Klazinga who was my really nice obstetrician came through mid to late morning apologetically saying "don't shoot the messenger"… Basically we were delayed again as not all the back up SCBU (Special Care Baby Unit) were present. Due to my medical history they wanted to have everything in place, which we totally agreed with. A nurse bought me a sandwich and a drink and I quickly got dressed. I was asked if I wanted to stay the weekend (!) or I could go home, so I very politely said I would prefer to go home and see them bright and early on Monday morning.
We had a a great weekend. The Conwy Feast was on, a vibrant, busy and increasingly popular food festival right on our door step. We walked down from our little terraced house just outside Conwy's walls in to the milling hubub of people, smells and tastes on both days. Funnily enough one of the staff from the maternity ward was visiting someone in our road on the saturday and recognised us which was bizarre, I did a double take and almost said the classic "I didn't recognise you without your uniform". A great sociable weekend was had, the weather was dry, lots of friends were out and about who we kept bumping into, and we got to sample some tasty world cuisine on both days sitting on Conwy quay, chatting. It was perfect.
Monday morning arrived 24th October 2011. At 12:21pm, with 'one two three shake your body down' repeat, warbling out of the cd player in the hospital theatre (the staff kept apologising as it was the only cd they had) the doctor held my baby up in his arms "WahWahWahWah". Mark at my side was smiling, speechless, in awe...until prompted by the doctor and nurses... "Are you going to tell her what it is?" After a pause "It's a boy" he said proudly full of love beaming down at me, the emotional flood gates opened and I burst into tears of joy. 6lb3oz, an impressive weight coming from my tiny 4ft 10 frame. After having our first family photo Mark then totally smitten went and sat with Sebastian in the recovery room, we named him straightaway. "There's serious male bonding going on there" said one of the staff as they performed what felt like washing up in tummy. The cd was a compilation and "I'm not in love" by 10cc came on next, ethereal and mellow while they finished rummaging in my tummy and put me back together.
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| The smiles say it all. |
When Sebas was 2 weeks old we went to Gobowen and started seeing the doctor at the clinic there. Weekly we would go and for 5 weeks they would recast his leg each time manipulating his little foot into a better position. We got to bath him as a treat in between plaster casts before being newly set again. I found out from chatting to other parents at the clinic that some babies have feet that are pushed in and even up the leg, so Sebastian's case was fairly mild compared with some poor little mites. He responded well to the treatment and to our joy was out of plaster for his very first Christmas. On the plus side also he did not need to have surgery to release the achilles tendon in his heel, as his heel was stretching well by itself. He then spent 10 weeks solidly in the boots and bar, day and night with a little bit of bath and respite time out. Then it was just wearing the boots and bar at night which he still does now. We were told he would have to wear them until he is 4 or 5, but it may not be quite so long as it does appear that he has Osteo Genesis Imperfecta so his ligaments may be softer. We noticed Sebas had blue sclera (whites of the eyes) like myself when he was born which is a sign of my Brittle Bone condition. It was always going to be a 50/50 chance. Sebs went for a full skeletal x-ray on the second day of his little existence and came back clear. During the last couple of years he's had trips to AlderHey to see a specialist there, the prognosis being any sign of fracture come back, but they cannot test his bone density until he is 3 as there are no records to compare to earlier than that. However so far it is looking really good, he seems to be a robust little boy, has had his fair share of tumbles and gave me a huge fright falling off the bed when much smaller but no sign of fracture came up on the x-ray thank goodness. So we are crossing our fingers and toes that he has it very mildly which is what the specialist seems to think. We were also waiting for the results from the cranium plate x-ray taken just after birth which could indicate evidence of Osteo Genesis Imperfecta, to our delight they came clear another good sign…
In comparision I had experienced my first fracture when I was a tiny tot apparantly 6 months old or younger, a green stick leg fracture from getting my leg wrapped around a bar when being picked up. I also had clicking hips (which Sebas was checked for and was fine) and subsequently had to wear a contraption over my nappy to keep my hips in place so I sat like a frog for 9 months. The whites of my eyes were the clear indication and diagnosis to the doctor that I had Osteo Genesis Imperfecta. Although I have always been a milder case, not like some poor folk who fracture so easily. Today there are biphosphates that can be administered intravenously to help a child's bones be much stronger in density than they ever were in my day. Back in the 1970's and 1980's a glass of milk was the "medicine" if it could even be called that.
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