A whole new world
I'm typing this one handed with a sleepy baby on my lap. What a wonderful thing to be able to say!
In case anyone didn't already know, our son, Brennan Gray popped out on January 31st. He was born at home as we had planned but after keeping us waiting 10 days past his due date he was having none of the lovely relaxed water birth we'd anticipated. The labour was just over three hours from the first contraction to birth which was quite a contrast to Ember's 27. The birth pool had about three inches of water in it and I didn't even make it down the stairs, let alone into it. His birth involved no pain relief (even the tens machine was missing a lead when I came to put it on) but rather a lot of noise and choice language, and the bedroom carpet will never be the same again. It was pretty damn fantastic really. I'm part way through writing the birth story up in full so it may get posted here at some point.
So, we have a son! He is of course stunningly beautiful and adorable in every way. He even proves his extra-special-ness by having two webbed toes and a birth mark in the shape of a heart on his thigh. I'm not quite sure what super powers that combination of physical anomalies will give him, but I'm sure he'll have fun trying to figure that out. Ember was determined throughout the pregnancy that she was getting a brother, so is rather pleased with him and we've had no signs of jealousy or any other arrival of new sibling behaviour issues. They seem to get a great deal of pleasure from each other already - Bren grins at her more than anyone else and she loves to cuddle and sing to him. It's all very cute and way more preferable than the alternative. :)
Not only that, but Bren is an extremely chilled out kid. We had some issues with thrush in the first few weeks but despite them he's fed like a dream from the start and already he's sleeping 7-8 hour stretches at night. Ember still rarely does that at 3!
Life now is complete chaos, in every way, but we seem to be muddling through. R's work is as stressful and time (and thought) consuming as we anticipated. It will be October before we get any let-up so I am having to carry the majority of the home/parenting workload in a way I didn't have to when Ember was born. It's not easy and I've been having some wobbles but mostly seem to be holding up OK. The anticipation was worse than the reality and my newly local parents have been stars, offering childcare regularly and being rocks generally. It's made a massive difference. I thought it might be strange having them close by after never living anywhere near them since leaving home at 18 but it's been pretty marvellous actually. I just hope we can be equally cool parents to our kids.
Our kids. There it is. We've got two of them! Life is manic and the prospect of having more than 30 seconds to myself ever again seems like a distant dream, but I signed up for this and I couldn't imagine a life more fulfilling and joyous. We are lucky buggers, we are. :) (The turkey baster is now officially retired though. There's only so much joy and fulfilment these girls can take...)
In case anyone didn't already know, our son, Brennan Gray popped out on January 31st. He was born at home as we had planned but after keeping us waiting 10 days past his due date he was having none of the lovely relaxed water birth we'd anticipated. The labour was just over three hours from the first contraction to birth which was quite a contrast to Ember's 27. The birth pool had about three inches of water in it and I didn't even make it down the stairs, let alone into it. His birth involved no pain relief (even the tens machine was missing a lead when I came to put it on) but rather a lot of noise and choice language, and the bedroom carpet will never be the same again. It was pretty damn fantastic really. I'm part way through writing the birth story up in full so it may get posted here at some point.
So, we have a son! He is of course stunningly beautiful and adorable in every way. He even proves his extra-special-ness by having two webbed toes and a birth mark in the shape of a heart on his thigh. I'm not quite sure what super powers that combination of physical anomalies will give him, but I'm sure he'll have fun trying to figure that out. Ember was determined throughout the pregnancy that she was getting a brother, so is rather pleased with him and we've had no signs of jealousy or any other arrival of new sibling behaviour issues. They seem to get a great deal of pleasure from each other already - Bren grins at her more than anyone else and she loves to cuddle and sing to him. It's all very cute and way more preferable than the alternative. :)
Not only that, but Bren is an extremely chilled out kid. We had some issues with thrush in the first few weeks but despite them he's fed like a dream from the start and already he's sleeping 7-8 hour stretches at night. Ember still rarely does that at 3!
Life now is complete chaos, in every way, but we seem to be muddling through. R's work is as stressful and time (and thought) consuming as we anticipated. It will be October before we get any let-up so I am having to carry the majority of the home/parenting workload in a way I didn't have to when Ember was born. It's not easy and I've been having some wobbles but mostly seem to be holding up OK. The anticipation was worse than the reality and my newly local parents have been stars, offering childcare regularly and being rocks generally. It's made a massive difference. I thought it might be strange having them close by after never living anywhere near them since leaving home at 18 but it's been pretty marvellous actually. I just hope we can be equally cool parents to our kids.
Our kids. There it is. We've got two of them! Life is manic and the prospect of having more than 30 seconds to myself ever again seems like a distant dream, but I signed up for this and I couldn't imagine a life more fulfilling and joyous. We are lucky buggers, we are. :) (The turkey baster is now officially retired though. There's only so much joy and fulfilment these girls can take...)