Pregnancy
I had a wonderful pregnancy. I have not had a lot of morning sickness, only mildly the first 3 months. It was wonderful to be able to enjoy the little miracle growing and to be able to se the development on the ultrasound and to hear the heart beat on the Doppler, and of course to be able to feel the baby kick! It is a fantastic feeling. But towards the end of the pregnancy, I got pretty much sick of everything and couldn't wait to have the baby. My hips got sore, mainly from sleeping on my side all the time, I was tired because I wake up 100 times during the night, just to turn over, and I was very sick of not being able to get comfortable in any way. We chose not to know what gender it was, we wanted to keep that as a surprise.
Graces first weeks of life
Grace Charlotte was born at 0325 on 27. January 2005. She weight 3155g (6lb 2oz) and after a 28 hour long labour, with 2 failed epidurals, she was delivered by caesarean section and I was under general anaesthetic, knocked out in other words. Trevor was there all along and a great support for me. Little Grace is beautiful and in general a pretty good baby. She eats well, a little too well, she gulps in the food so fast she gets a belly ache so I have to slow her down every now and then. She put on 205 g in 3 days!! We are having some problems getting her to go to sleep, she stays awake for 2-3 hours in a row (especially of a night time) but when she sleeps, she sleeps for 3-6 hours so she is very good that way.
I haven't been the best myself, though. I had so much milk when it set in that I got mastitis. I was "crook as a dog", but I am a lot better now, with the help of some antibiotics. But I have still got a cold, although it is slowly getting better.
It is all a very big learning curve, but we will get there. I have a lot of help and support from many people around me, especially Trevor, who is fantastic. He helps me with Grace and with things around the house, and takes her to settle her when I need a sleep.
3.3.05
Grace is now 5 weeks old and doing fantastically. We went to the maternal and child health nurse today and she has put on lots of weight. She weighs 4540g and is 55.2 cm long. We are doing great, my milk has settled down and she is feeding great. She is also sleeping very well. A couple of weeks ago we went to a "sleep-school" run by the hospital. There I learned how to teach her to go to sleep in her own bed. I also learned how to recognise tired signs and not letting her get over-tired. Since then I have only needed to get up once during the night. And she goes to sleep a lot quicker and always by herself in her bed. We occasionally have to go in to re-settle her, but not very often.
You can see plenty of photos of Grace if you click on the link below.