And then there were four.
Well, I finally have a daughter. Elliot (Ellie), born 20 January 2010 at about midday. Via a c-section, which this time I actually got observe from the other side of the curtain. It was a bit weird watching someone root around in your wife's nether regions, but fascinating nonetheless. Anyway, here we are:
She weighs in at 6lb 3, which is smaller than we were expecting (she was a couple of weeks early), but is so far doing well. She's taken to breast feeding, which Jess never did, and Ali is recovering brilliantly. In fact, one of the things this time around has highlighted is just how ill Ali was last time. Two years ago she was in for a week after the c-sec, and looked like absolute shit. This time around she was straight on her mobile in the recovery room, i.e. about 20 seconds after the final stitch was made, chatting away to her parents about it. They let her go 48 hours later, and she was well enough to stop in for a pint on the way home to celebrate. I just hadn't appreciated how much of the state she was in was due to the pre-eclampsia. As it is it appears that something like 98% of it was. It's probably a blessing I had no idea how seriously ill she was.
Jess has taken her with mild disinterest; he was very sweet initially - stroking her, laying his head against hers and giving her a kiss. However, the appeal of something that doesn't light up or tickle him clearly wore thin after about 20 seconds and he galloped off to go and hide in a cupboard instead.
More pics here should anyone be a glutton for visual punishment.
I've now come back to work, leaving Ali, Jess and Ellie up at my parents' place for the week, which seems a bit odd. I also managed to get an hour down the M1 last night before realising I'd left my fucking house keys behind, so managed to turn a 2 hour drive into a 4 hour one. Clever.
I am going to sleep like no man has ever slept before tonight though.
So, we're done. I am absolutely delighted, needless to say. Now if I can just get my family back home, and we can get into the new place quickly, we can get on with our lives.
She weighs in at 6lb 3, which is smaller than we were expecting (she was a couple of weeks early), but is so far doing well. She's taken to breast feeding, which Jess never did, and Ali is recovering brilliantly. In fact, one of the things this time around has highlighted is just how ill Ali was last time. Two years ago she was in for a week after the c-sec, and looked like absolute shit. This time around she was straight on her mobile in the recovery room, i.e. about 20 seconds after the final stitch was made, chatting away to her parents about it. They let her go 48 hours later, and she was well enough to stop in for a pint on the way home to celebrate. I just hadn't appreciated how much of the state she was in was due to the pre-eclampsia. As it is it appears that something like 98% of it was. It's probably a blessing I had no idea how seriously ill she was.
Jess has taken her with mild disinterest; he was very sweet initially - stroking her, laying his head against hers and giving her a kiss. However, the appeal of something that doesn't light up or tickle him clearly wore thin after about 20 seconds and he galloped off to go and hide in a cupboard instead.
More pics here should anyone be a glutton for visual punishment.
I've now come back to work, leaving Ali, Jess and Ellie up at my parents' place for the week, which seems a bit odd. I also managed to get an hour down the M1 last night before realising I'd left my fucking house keys behind, so managed to turn a 2 hour drive into a 4 hour one. Clever.
I am going to sleep like no man has ever slept before tonight though.
So, we're done. I am absolutely delighted, needless to say. Now if I can just get my family back home, and we can get into the new place quickly, we can get on with our lives.