Today started much better than yesterday. Yesterday with both myself and Helen rather upset with Harry still not being settled and causing us much worry and lack of sleep we decided to take action! A friend down the road had recommended a Graco Baby Swing that she had for her little boy and praised it no end. So off I went in search.
First point of call was of course the Internet. Toys R Us was the first stop and yes they sold the Lovin MyBear version which was the one we wanted. It is a rather large contraption that swings at several different speeds, plays music, nature sounds, and even mothers heartbeat as well as having its own mobile of toys. Unfortunately it doesn’t feed or change the baby, but you can’t have everything!
So off to Toys R Us in Preston. Once I arrived it took me some time to wade through a number of the different toys in the store until I found the very items that I wanted. Problem. “I am sorry sir but we have none of these left in stock, although the line is still active so they should be in soon” said the lovely Beth (store assistant). No good I thought, we need this sorting today, so Beth rang around and found one in the Bolton store. Great I thought, near the Reebok easy to get too and reserved it.
On closer investigation of the location of the store it was clear that it was nowhere near the Reebok and therefore I would have to venture further afield to the south of Bolton. On the M61 I got and off I went. The journey was fine until I left the M61 at junction 3. There was a diversion going onto the A666 into Bolton, the very road I wanted.
Half an hour later I rejoined the A666 and finally spotted the store on my left. As I walked into the store, there was Donna and Julie the very assistants that I spoke to on the phone. I quickly located the item, and even remembered to buy batteries otherwise it would have been a wasted journey.
Then it was time to set off after a quick stop at Burger King (sorry I know not a good thing but it was 1430 at this point and I had not eaten!). The journey back was simply a nightmare. I ended up going round the houses all over as I could not get back onto the M61 at junction 3. So through Tyldsley, Leigh and finally onto the M6 at Haddock (Junction 24) and back home.
It was relatively easy to construct even with the crude diagrams that are supplied with the instructions. It is very funny watching Harry in it, and on the whole he seems to like it. Lets hope so and here’s hoping that he settles down soon.
Over the last few days Harry has had a nasty, but little cold. Coughing and sneezing and keeping us all up through the night. Its not his fault poor thing, but is is very sorry for himself at the moment.
However today he was much better as he managed to get some sleep during each feed. He was long overdue sleep as from 0200 on Saturday morning to about 0400 on Monday morning he never really got any more than about 2 hours of quality sleep. I think he was over tired and not feeling well.
Hope fully he is on the mend and will be back to his usual self again soon. The photo was taken this morning in is only comfortable position really. He does look ever so cute.
Harry is now getting on for almost 2 weeks old and during this time I have had to master the art of changing a nappy. Although by no means perfect I think I am some way towards acheiving this as you can see below!
The trick is to work fast and not be too gentle. Too gentle and Harry seems to have his own way straight away and the nappy never gets in place correctly and he usually ends up weeing everywhere!
Well you have all been asking for more photos of Harry and so I thought I would let you have some of the photos that we have taken over the last couple of days.
This afternoon Harry lay on his back on his changing mat for a good 1 hour with Helen whilst awake and alert and Helen managed to get some good shots of him.
As we have been trying hard to get Harry into a routine of night sleep and day feeds due to his night time winging we have been trying to regluarly feed him during the day so that he gets enough during the night. Therefore we need to wake him up to feed which is harder than you would think, as you can see from the video below:
Well we are finally home from hospital and it seems so long since mother was home. It was Monday night when she started with labour and not until 10:52am on Tuesday was little Harry born into this world. This is the first time in about 4 days that I have managed to sit down and have a minute so I thought I would write this post about what has happened over the last 4 days as I know that many of your are eager to find out.
Helen’s water broke at around 2300 on Sunday and it was on Monday after a doctors appointment that she started feeling gentle contractions that at this point were about every 20 minutes. It was all calm and we had a few people over for coffee and everything was going well. The contractions then started coming deeper and stronger and with less time between them and after a bath and something to eat we decided that it was time to ring the delivery suite at the hospital and see what they said.
Forty minutes later we were in hospital and Helen was having very strong contractions and already asking for the gas and air! In fact her first dregs of this were hilarous as she burst out laughing and comically told the midwife that she felt really pissed! We all just laughed. The gas and air seemed to be working well at this point but as the contractions got stronger through the night and it became clear that Harry was not for putting in an appearance until the next day the pain was getting worse.
I remember looking around at the delivery suite that we were in (no. 12) and thinking that actually it was better than some of the hotel rooms I had stayed in, in the past. What amused me was the Whiteboard on the wall. Was I expected to write Objectives and Outcomes like at work? Objective – to learn to give birth with as little pain as possible and outcome to give birth I presume. Helen had a laugh about that too which settled both our nerves I think.
At around 0145 Helen decided that an epidural was what was necessary and looking back this was an excellent decision. At 0210 the anethasits (Emma – who was great!) popped a needle into Helen’s spine and the wacked in some ‘stuff’ which knumbed her from the waist down. Now I always thought that you couldn’t feel anything from the waist down after an epidural, but things have moved in recent years. Helen could just about feel someone touching her legs and she could even move them and wiggle her toes but the pain of the contractions had gone, and although Helen couldn’t sleep, she was able to rest in reasonable comfort.
At 0800 in the morning it was clear that the pushing part of the labour was going to start and even though Helen was in no real pain (thank goodness as it is hard to watch a loved one in pain) it was hard work ahead.
About 40 minutes into this it seemed clear that Harry was not going anywhere fast and so the doctor was called it to take a look at why. After a lengthy examination it seemed as though little Harry was stuck as he could turn properly. So it was off the Theatre to attempt a delivery with the Forceps.
I suppose the best bit of this part was that finally I got to dress in scrubs. I had watched ER for years in the 1990′s and always wanted to don the blue srubs t-shirt and pants and finally I got the chance. I was amazed at how many people where in Theatre. There must have been about 12. I have to say though that it did not feel like I thought. That team of people in there were outstanding. They were calm, collected and polite even though the responsibility on their shoulders were massive. There was lots of banter and by the end of the it all when Harry was out I felt like I had known them for ages.
There was a lot of preparation and then all of a sudden Harry emerged as a funny blue colour although this soon changed to a pinkie red. He was just delightful and Mum had done ever so well. He was weighed and checked over after spending a few moments on Harry’s tummy. Unfortunately with him being born in Theatre Dad was not able to cut the cord, but that is a small price to pay for his safe entrance into this world.
After a few days in hospital recovering we are all at home, safe and sound. As I write this both mother and baby are sleeping away in their beds, although Harry will no doubt be winging soon as he needs his feed! All in all a good days work from the two of them.
Yes Harry Wilkinson has finally come into this world. After a long tiring labour he arrived at 10:52 on Tuesday December 30th 2008. Well done Mum and Harry, for a brave excellent delivery. You both did great.
I know a lot have been asking for photos and the first post about what happened and that but we have been really busy at the moment with hardly any time for a blog post. However today he settled for a few minutes, long enough for me to finish this post. So here is a photo of him just to keep you all informed.
Yesterday I decided to finish off the Nursery by putting up some more of the decorative stickers that we had bought for the walls. Therefore I wrote Harry’s name on the wall and added a few more dinosaurs for effect.
