Time with Daddy

They say a lot about the feed/play/sleep cycle. Genevieve often falls asleep at the breast, but at other times she's as bright as a button.

At those times, it's very easy to communicate with her. She will react to your voice and the things that you say.

Or... as is happening here - you can just stare at her for hours!

Guess date for the gestate

Today was Genevieve's actual due date, or 'Guess Date' as we preferred to call it. She's such a part of our lives now, it's amazing to think that she may not have been here until now - or even in a few weeks time.

Here she was yesterday in her 'Sunday Best', as provided by Nana.

First 'outing' into the city

Our good friend Jane was having a combined birthday/bon voyage do in the city. She's headed off to live in New Zealand, following her fella Richard who'd left a few weeks ago. This evening had been planned for some time, and it was a matter of whether Naomi had given birth yet as to if we would be attending. Little did we know that we'd be going, with Genevieve in tow. It was great for Nai too - to have a drink and be in her normal, styley clothes again.

The little girl did really well, sleeping almost the entire time. We would have left slightly earlier, if not for a Summer downpour. That one train earlier would have been the pick, as Genevieve awoke and was pretty hungry for the brief train ride home.

More Tummy Time

Here's a gorgeous shot of Naomi and Genevieve enjoying tummy time. Her little bot now has two gorgeous cheeks, and she's really happy to show them to the world.

She's also just as adept at lifting her head and taking a look around. Quite an active kid - which is so cute at the moment, but I'm sure will prove the death of us later on!

We go to Wendy's house

This week seemed to roll around pretty quickly and it was time to go and see our maternal health nurse. It was also a good chance to test-drive one of the strollers. Here we see the beautiful, and shrinking, Naomi strolling through the park.

Wendy again asked if we had any questions. We were concerned that over the past day, Genevieve was getting a bit or a rash on her tail (pretty common - as are many rashes. One of our books has a whole chapter on rashes!) Wendy agreed that it was time to take action, so it's cream on the tail until it subsides.

There was also the standard weights and measures. It appears that our little Genevieve is not quite so little anymore. She's grown 4cm since birth. And in the week since last weigh-in, she's put on a whopping 355g (remember... 150g per week is the average). Way to go Genevieve!

In their last few weeks in utero, little bubbies just stack on the weight. Seeing how Genevieve missed out on this, she still has a little catching up to do, but that puddin-belly is progressing nicely!

Tummy time!

Plenty of the books say that a decent amount of 'Tummy Time' each day is pretty important. I reckon that's because these days you don't let your kid sleep on their belly (as a SIDS preventative). It aids in them strengthening all over their body, but in particular their neck muscles.

We combine her tummy time with, as Kas Cooke (Up The Duff / Kid Wrangling) puts it 'letting the bot run free'. It's also great to get some air on her bot, and it also gives it a chance to try out a little.

But forgetting about all of that, Genevieve seems to love it. When she was around 30 minutes old, she was plonked on her belly as a part of them checking her responses. Even then, she was lifting her head for a look around. She's even managed to turn herself over one time, but was stuck on her back, turtle-like from that point. It's pretty scary that by Christmas she'll probably be mobile!

Feeding

"Breastfeeding is a skill which must be learned" is something that we'd heard from classes, midwives and books. At it is a skill that Genevieve and I are still learning every day.

As she is still very new, she hasn't established a routine or habits yet, so each feed is different.

One of the big things is that she does have a tendancy to fall asleep during her feed, which means that we need to work at ways of keeping her awake long enough to feed from both sides. One technique that seems to work with a high degree of success is the half-time nappy change, before swapping sides. While he is still off work, Cory has been in charge of all things South of the Border. I take care of the input and Cory takes care of the output. Only fair really...

Back in hospital, they had us vigilantly keeping track of when feeds were, for how long and of course, which side she was feeding from. This, I carried on, once home, in my work diary. However, middle-of-the-night feeds tended to go unwritten and so consequently come morning I'd have no idea. So now I just try to remember each time. I do feed from both sides each time, so I try to mix it up which side goes first a couple of times each day.

She also has a tendancy to 'play with her food'. She can spend up to 15 minutes each feed mucking around. She's cute when she's gently holding on, but not when grasping or scratching. If she hooks a little fingernail in, it can be extremely painful.

It still feels a bit wierd at the moment, but we're working on it and getting there.

Sleep

....or lack thereof.

People who know me well know that I love my sleep. Or more correctly, I need my sleep. I don't function terribly well without it, and can actually get nasty headaches and even flu-like symptoms if I don't get enough of it.

So one of the many worries I had about having a kid, was that of surviving the dreaded first three months of sleep deprivation.

I'm happy to say that at the moment, it isn't going too badly. Yeah... we both get pretty tired but if we can have a nap (or two?) during the day, it's all good. But those in the know says that it gets worse before it gets better, and after I go back to work it may be a completely different story.

We need supplies

We needed to get some food (and plenty of extra things, but mainly food) so it was time to hit the Stupor-market. I thought that it would be a good idea to take the whole family. It got Nai out of the house for a bit, and it tested us to see we could do it, without having our hand forced for some reason.

The capsule which we got on eBay (with a matching 3-wheel stroller which it clips onto) worked a treat in the car, and as you can see, clipping onto the end of the trolley. Throughout the whole trip, Genevieve slept blissfully. I'm sure it'll be different when she's 2 years old and throwing a tantrum in aisle six!

Oh... and any single guys out there... if you want to borrow her to pick up, I think she'll work a treat. Especially if you're after someone over 40! I don't think I've had as much attention in a supermarket since the time I wore that pink bunny suit... but that's another story!

Rub a dub dub

Our house has a 'European Laundry', which is a nice way of saying 'cupboard'. It's been great so far, as our place doesn't have a heap of space, and a laundry really is a luxury. But the lack of a laundry trough has been a cause of concern with regards to the little one - both for laundering and for bathing.

Nana (that's Nar-Nar for the pedants out there) Beunen had bought us a great baby bath, with a wheeled stand and a drain hose etc. So it was time to give Miss Stinky a go in it. I used one of those hoses with a shower end that you can stick onto a tap to fill it (well, when I say fill, I mean put a few inches of water in it) and wheeled it down to the lounge area.

We stripped Genevieve off and I gently placed her in. As you can see from the photo (click on it for a larger version - they all work like that in case you've never noticed) she wasn't too happy about it. So a quick clean - starting from the eyes and the cleanest areas to the dirtiest (and given she isn't out playing in the mud just yet, you can guess how her dirty area gets dirty!) Then she was out.

Something else that is a great gift are these wonderful hooded towels. It isn't too bad now, as we're still in Summer - but come winter, getting the kid warm and dry quickly is pretty important. Nanna (that one is pronounced with the short 'a') Thel's next door neighbours (yes... it's amazing who will give you gifts - thanks so much Terry and Car!) gave us a great bright pink pig themed bath set. The 'ziggy piggy' as it has been dubbed is a favourite with all three of us.

After she was dressed, I wheeled the bath back into our bathroom, hung its little hose in the bath and pulled out the plug. Seemed to work really well - so that's one use of a laundry trough negated.

Mummy's Girl 1

When we brought Genevieve home, she was still a little jaundiced, but not enough for her to require any further treatment. However, one of the treatments on offer is to stick her under UV lamps. So we thought we'd give it a go, in the sun coming in our loungeroom window.

We only gave her a quick go, as her delicate skin can burn easily. However, she seemed to really enjoy it. More proof that she is Mummy's Girl - she kicked back in the sun and really enjoyed it. Now if she could tell us she'd rather be on the beach with a novel I would've got really worried!

So what does Ben think of Genevieve?

While we were all still in hospital, I was ducking home each day (generally around 10:30 or so) to give the Benno a walk and a feed (and a bit of a scratch too).

Each day, I meant to bring some of Genevieve's clothing home, so that Ben could have sniff. I didn't manage to remember this until the 3rd day (even though I had it in a bag, ready to go). On Ben's first sniff of Gen's stuff he was pretty interested... giving it a pretty decent sniff, sniff, sniff, sniff.

The next day, I managed to remember to bring something else. This time, he gave it a cursory sniff, and then felt that lying on his bed was the better option. This was the reaction that we thought he'd have. Initial interest, but then afterwards, oh... OK... so that's how it is then.

When we brought Genevieve home, we had her in the house for about half a day before we brought Ben in. When we did, we make sure we had his collar and just gently led him up the hall (his norm is to bound down at a fair clip). He didn't really notice her at first (she was resting in her crib) and went straight down to plonk on his bed. When she let out a sigh, or a wheeze, or a squeak, or one other of the many noises she has, Ben slowly got up and wandered over. He had a quick sniff and you noticed the look of recognition in his face, looked at the both of us and then plonked back down on his bed.

Now, the only time he really has an interest in her is when she is crying. Now I may be wrong here, but it appears that he is genuinely concerned for her welfare and he has this look of worry on his face. We reassure him that everything is OK and he (you can probably guess by now) plonks back onto his bed.

The morning after Genevieve came home, her waking and feeding in the morning coincided with the time we normally take Ben for a quick walk in the park next to our place. So we thought we may as well do this, with Gen as well, so that Ben realises that she will be a part of his routine life. So the photo (above), shows a very tired me with Ben and Gen on that first walk (it wasn't really that dark - but the camera's flash makes it appear so).

An interesting outcome of this is that when we have Genevieve in tow, when Ben is playing with his 'friends' in the park, he is not any more aggressive per se, but he does let out a low growl at times when running around with them. Again, we're no 'dog whisperer', but we think that just him exerting a little dominance amongst the pack to protect Genevieve. He had never done it before.

So, he's never in the room with Genevieve without supervision, but we're pretty happy that he's quite OK with her being around.

Wood looks nicer than perspex!

Don't get me wrong, the perspex cots at the hospital work really well. They make it easy to 'tilt' the kid (if need be). They also make it very easy for any visitors to see them (although at that time they are often asleep). And, of course, they are very safe in there. Probably easy to clean as well.

But it appears that Genevieve was very happy to be home, and in her wonderful little bassinette/cradle/crib (just what do you call it? - I suppose it depends upon where you grew up). We picked up this one on eBay for a bargain price, but got a new mattress to reduce the likelihood of SIDS (they aren't sure why, but the stats say that using the mattress of someone outside that of their direct siblings increases the likelihood of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome). It also has castors, so we can wheel it into the family area during the day, but next to our bed during the evenings.

Genevieve seems pretty happy with it!

Wendy comes to visit

Sometimes, the Government does get some things right. When you have a kid, they assign you to a local maternal health nurse. Every month or so, you are to rock up to their office and get your kid weighed, injected and measured, with it all being recorded in their special funky little folder/booklet.

But for your first meeting, they come to you. That was no stress for Wendy, as her office is directly over the park from our place - a good 4 minute walk. (She did end up driving here however, as it just worked out easier that way). She ran us through the processes, the vaccination regemin and asked if we had any questions. It was all pretty cool.

In her backpack she had a set of scales, and so Genevieve was weighed. Now there may have been some variation in the accuracy of the scales from the previous day, but it appears that Genevieve had put on 101g in around 24 hours. Seeing how the average is 150g per week, we were pretty impressed. I suppose we'll get her weight gain confirmed onthe next Thursday, when she's weighed again, but this time, at Wendy's office.

Home Sweet Home

We'd got all of the essentials (and plenty of not-quite essentials) that the house was likely to need to set it up for the impeding arrival of Baby Boardy. But in reality, as this was all very new, and we really didn't have any idea what we were doing, we were a little (only a little) worried that the house itself would "work" with a newborn.

Getting the process working in the hospital is one thing - but seeing if it works at home, without all of the extra support, is another thing entirely. Thankfully, it seemed that it was all going to work. We went through a few feed/change/sleep cycles and with a little tweaking of what we were doing, it all came together very easily.

On the plus side, it was such a relief to get home. As much as it was great to have the support of the hospital, they were somewhat intrusive at times. In particular, the mornings were pretty full-on. As well as checking on us, there was generally a weighing of Genevieve, as well as (unfortunately) a few heel-pricks to test her jaundice. The paediatrician would stop by, as would Dr Lionel (our obstetrician). Getting home, it was just the two of us - oh... make that the three of us now. That will probably take some time to get used to hey?

Hello world!

Now that Genevieve has arrived, we thought that we'd move on from the BabyBoardy Blog site, and onto a site of her own. So now you'll have a different blog to bookmark into your favourites. Now and Gen will be updated semi-regularly. I'd imagine pretty often in the first few weeks, and thereafter whenever we feel we have something to add.

As per usual, feel free to add any comments as you see fit.