Aintree Park Group Practice

To all my friends at work - thanks for having a look at our blog. There's loads of photos- the very early ones are being moved into archives now (Click on august on the right hand side at the bottom) - including her first bath.

Feel free to add comments if you want to,

Enjoy :)

Special guests

Nanny and Grandad came to visit last week, and we all had a great time.

It was great having them around, they helped out so much around the house and garden, cooked us some delicious food (slow cooked lamb shank!), and were also able to help with Katie when she got a bit too much for us. They are welcome back whenever they want :)

However, Grandad was a little naughty... we are trying to get Katie into a routine and to get her used to settling down on her own. It is really hard because it would be lovely to cuddle her to sleep and when she cries it would be much easier to just to pick her up and cuddle her, but we have decided that it would be best in the long run if she can learn to settle down herself and not be reliant on cuddles from us. Sometimes her cries are really loud and sound so desperate but we are being strong and not giving in.

Grandad doesn't have the same sort of will power and loved cuddling Katie and letting her fall asleep on him (admittedly, they did look cute together). Also, as soon as Katie cried he wanted to give her a cuddle. It meant that on a number of occasions Grandad got told off (in a loving way). Poor Grandad, he can have cuddles, but as soon as she yawns, she needs to be wrapped up and laid down in her moses basket. Although it was lovely to see, we knew that if Grandad carried on spoiling Katie, it would be us that paid for it and we would have a really rough week this week trying to get her to sleep on her own.

Katie cried all day long the day after they went home!

Sorry we've not got any photos of the visit, we didn't have chance to get our camera out as Grandad had his permanantly on Katie. We think he loves her very much.

What news

Hello,

Been a while since we posted - so here's a little update.

Katie is definitely growing. She doesn't fit her "tiny baby" clothes anymore so we've moved onto "newborn" which opens up a whole new world of pink, teddy bear covered vests and sleepsuits.
She doesn't fit any of her hats yet - which makes her look especially cute.

We've come across a genius invention called the slumber bear . Its basically a cute teddy bear but inside is the clever bit. There is a little box that, when activated, plays the sounds recorded from inside the womb. It's supposed to instantly calm your baby down. We were a little cynical but thought it was worth a go - and it was. It does definitely have an immediate effect. At the very least it turns proper cries into grizzles and often turns grizzles into a happy sleeping baby. Whats more it turns itself on whenever she cries or moves. Genuis. We need new batteries and lots of them!

Katie has now become good friends with Mungo too - he lives in her cot most of the time. Poor donkey gets dribbled on, sucked, punched most of the day long. But Katie seems to like him.

We'll post again in a day or two, so much to say - so little time - goodnight.

Waaaaaaaaa!

Katie is bored of sleeping. Apparently she doesn't like it anymore. Not during the day anyway.

She's still good at night - just one feed from 11pm till 7am. But she really doesn't sleep much during the day. We're trying to teach her to be able to fall asleep by herself (ie. not being cuddled). She lies there for ages, grizzling at first then crying, then grizzling etc. Then eventually she goes for it and screams her heart out.

We have a book that we use a lot called "baby secrets". It talks a lot about routines, and how to get your baby to sleep right through the night. It is mostly very good but one line was a bit irritating yesterday. You'll see what we mean:

"If your baby is crying and has been awake more than an hour and a half - put her down for a nap - she might be tired."

No kidding - she might be tired! If only we'd have thought about putting her down for a nap.

The book also has lots of examples and advice along these lines:

"My baby sleeps all day - I'm so worried - what should I do?"
"I can't wake my baby for feeds - will she be ok?"

That must be awful - having a baby that sleeps too much!

Sorry if I'm a bit sarcastic today - I think our honeymoon period is over - and we're tired.

More pics for you

Last week we went for a lovely walk in Formby with my dad. It was a good road test for our buggy - which performed well.

The books say babies start sleeping in the "starfish" position from about 6 weeks. Apparently not.

Nice Toga!

Happy Grandad - Happy Katie

What a beamer! (Wonder what she was dreaming about)

Who's a clever girl?

We would do a great Daz commercial!

Myths about parenthood

1. Don't worry - your instincts will kick in and you'll know what to do.
When she's screaming despite cuddles, nappy is clean, had a feed, been winded etc. we haven't a clue what to do.

2. Babies don't smile until they're 6 weeks old.
Katie smiles all the time. She smiled once when I kissed her head - probably coincidence but still special. Managed to get one on camera too. Maybe she doesn't know what she's doing but she's still smiling.

3. They'll have 5-6 wet nappies and 1 pooey nappy per day.
They're nearly all pooey. I think she follows through a lot.

4. Baby sick smells nice.
It doesn't.

5. Babies can't stay awake for more than an hour and a half.
Yeah right - katie had an hours sleep from 10 till 7 yesterday.

Perhaps it should have been poos, wees and vomits?

What a day!

It started so well. She beat her sleeping record last night - from 11pm to 5.15! She's getting there. Mum and Katie got up together and shared some quality time whilst dad slept in. But an hour later the day started to go pear-shaped. Mum was feeling a bit peaky and we weren't sure whether she needed to see a proper doctor but decided on a bit of bed rest for now. A bit later we got a visit from a lovely health visitor (also a midwife which is handy). She was very reassuring and agreed mum had overdone it and should stay in bed for a bit - but no cause for concern. She was nice.

Mum was a bit bored and sick of daytime TV and puzzles - but dad made her a lovely bacon and runny egg sandwich to cheer her up.

We had some visitors after lunch who we hadn't seen for a while - so that was good to catch up - and it's always a joy to show off our Katie.

Katie - to be fair - had a pretty good day today until about 5ish. Then she was screaming good and proper for ages for no apparent reason. Until she let out a tiny burp. That got it.

All was well again until getting her ready for bed. First nappy change required a change of clothes. Second nappy -Dad offered to do but mum insisted (and regretted it later). Horrible pooey bottom to start with then weed everywhere - new clothes again. All sorted, nice and clean and warm, swaddled up. Trickled sick everywhere - no big deal - new sheet. Then projectile vomit over baby, clothes, sheet, mum, carpet etc. All settling then another big, goey vomit (sorry for details but this is our world!).

Babe looked well and truly shocked and miserable. So did mum. Dad made reassuring noises to both. From a safe distance.

Well - it all ended well. We've got our daily white wash in progress, Katie's sleeping soundly and mum is feeling much brighter.

No photos today - don't want to ruin your image of our beautiful daughter.

More news soon...

Photo shoot

We thought we'd show you a few more photos of little Katie. We love looking at her and if we could we'd have a 24 hour camera attached to her so you could all see her all the time and see just how cute she is. There have been lots of facial expressions that we havn't been able to capture on camera yet and it's a shame that so many of you are missing out.

Debbie was worried that people would get bored of seeing more pictures (parents always think their baby is cute and can sometimes bore other people by going on about them), but then I reassured her that there are many of our family and friends that live a long way away and don't get to see Katie every day like we do and that you'd love more pictures, so here they are:

Big Yawn!

Future Bandmaster

Drying her nails

Nice and snug


Mothercare's kingsize cot

Can't decide (left or right?)

Do you love me?

Katie's had a irritable day today. Wouldn't sleep, wouldn't feed - just generally a bit grumpy. Now to top it off she's got grumpy parents too!! Last night she slept from 11 till 4.15 - pretty good huh! Should have known it wouldn't last! Ah well- she's had a bit of a feed now and gone to sleep but don't know how long for. Well - tomorrow is another day...

First day at church

We've had a busy day. It was Katie's first day at church! It's weird - I was really nervous this morning - as we were getting ready - don't know why really.

Anyway - we had a brilliant morning meeting. Loads of people there, great worship, good sermon and friendly chat over tea and coffee afterwards. And Katie was the centre of attention- which she seemed to enjoy. She was handed round loads of people and slept through the whole thing.

Then we had a lovely afternoon in the park with our friends, throwing frisbees, playing catch, climbing a scarily tall climbing frame and generally being big kids. People don't use parks enough. Katie got to road test her buggy and it seemed to do a fine job - the 4WD came in handy.

A fun and tiring day - its just after 8pm and mum and baby are both asleep. Might join them in the land of nod soon. Goodnight.

Katie lives up to her blog's name

Katie does a lot of eating, pooing and sleeping. She does all three very well. She does a bit of crying too - not a lot though - that's not really her area of expertise.

eats..
Katie is feeding really well. She feeds about every 2.5 - 3 hours during the day and 3-4.5 hours at night which is great. I wish we could show you some photos of Katie feeding but she gets a bit shy (and so does mum!). You've never seen a baby look so content. Halfway through a feed she just looks drunk, eyes rolling, silly grin - I tell you- this milk must be good stuff!

Wind is nasty though - she doesnt like it much- as you can see.

poos...
We've discovered a whole new world of poo. From black, goey, sticky stuff to yellow, seedy, runny stuff. With a variety of interesting odours. We weren't sure if she was unwell to start with but no, this is how it's going to be apparently. They say poo from breast fed babies smells less. What do "they" know! We'll save you the pictures- it's not pretty!

sleeps...
We're glad she's good at sleeping. Once she's blotto on milk she'll sleep for England. This has been great at night time (we often end up waking her for a feed!) and really handy during the day as she gets passed round our visitors.

Here's two very happy girls :)

A mother's perspective

Don't worry, I'm not going to go into detail about the birth or tell you my feelings on contractions, pain, labour, etc. but there is a myth going around that I had a really easy labour. It may only have been 4 hours but let me assure you there was nothing easy about it!

Rather than give gory details (because that's not everyone's cup of tea) I thought I'd share some of the lighter moments of my time in hospital.

For those of you that don't know I went to hospital at 7.30pm on Thursday to be induced. There was concern that Katie was going to be small, so they wanted to get things going rather than hang on. The first 8 hours were pretty uneventful and I have to say dull. I was being monitored every hour even though we knew that nothing would happen for at least 12 hours.

However at around midnight there was a strange noise coming from the corridor that can only be described as a werewolf. It was bizarre. Amongst the sounds of heartbeats coming from all the machines came this really loud howl. I thought I must be hallucinating but I hadn't received any drugs at this point! Then there it was again, one howl after another. Will was playing a game on his laptop at the time that involved swords and monsters and stuff, and he thought the werewolf was part of it, but when he realised that I had heard this noise too, we looked at each other in disbelief. The werewolf was actually a woman giving birth! Oh my gosh, in 12 hours time that could be me!

Around 7.30am I started getting a few pains but I wasn't sure what they were or how bad they were going to get. I knew that midwives often suggested paracetemol for the early pains, but I wasn't sure if these were them or not and I had no idea how bad they were going to get. So I decided not to ask for any painkillers just yet, incase it was all about to get a lot worse and I held out a bit longer for when I really needed them.

However turns out that these 'mild' pains were in fact contractions and within half an hour of them starting I was on gas and air. For those that have never used this form of drug, I truly recommend it, for any occasion really, it's great stuff! It really took the edge off the pain...to start with. After a while, however, I was really beginning to love the stuff and used it a lot. It frazzled my brain somewhat and I had no idea what was real conversation going on in the delivery room and what was going on in my head. It was all a bit weird but oh so good.

Mixed with a little pethedine it does become lethal. Yes great for pain relief but not so good for the brain. I wouldn't recommend this combination for recreational use, but childbirth definitely. I have heard people say they wouldn't have this drug because it messes with your head, and it's true, it does. However, for me I'd rather have a messed up head than deal with the true pains of childbirth.

I guess I did miss out a little. I can't remember the moment that Katie was actually born, I can't remember Will telling me we had a little girl. I remember at one point looking up and seeing a face I didn't recognise (up until then, there had been Will & two midwives in the room). It turned out to be a doctor who had come in to help out about 20 minutes before - oops. It's not a complete blank, I can remember lots of things (including the pain and the stitches!) but there is a lot that Will has had to fill me in on.

I must say that Will was an absolute star. He was so supportive and lovely. You'd think that being a doctor he'd know all about childbirth, what to expect and what to do, but I think it is a little different when it is your wife lying there in pain. He says he didn't really know what to do, but as far as I was concerned, he was great. I would definitely recommend him as a birthing partner (if anyone is looking for one) but I'm not sure he'd appreciate me offering his services like that.

Sorry it's taken me so long to blog about this. I've been meaning to do it for days now and it seems a little outdated (Katie is now 5 days old), but strangely enough I've been a little busy over the past few days and a lovely bundle of joy has taken over my time completely. We're both really sorry for not putting up more info or pictures, but we promise we'll do some more blogging over the next few days. We've got loads to share, it's just finding the time to do it.

Some introductions

Katie's had quite a few special visitors in the last few days:

First she met her grandparents - who were very doting! There were a few moist eyes for sure. Its a shame nanny and grandad Waring live so far away but we know they'll be back soon.























Last night she met her cousin Rosy and her uncle and auntie - Bob and Judy. Rosy had drawn a little card for her which was a very lovely thought (they're kisses in boxes - obviously!). She had also brought a couple of her favourite toys that she doesnt need anymore - I'm sure Katie will love them to bits. (We only managed to get Bob's legs on camera).
















Then her auntie Gemma came to see her along with the marks and spencers baby department (thank you!). Gemma is a trained nursery nurse and is a key part of our team so will now be known as Nanny Gemma.

After such an exhausting day - Katie slept well during the night. There were a few tears at bedtime but on the whole a good night was had by all.

Splash in the bath

Sorry there was no post yesterday - it was a busy day. Katie had lots of visitors in the morning - the baby doctor came to see her - all was well. The bounty lady came with a load of freebies and took some lovely photos. And then, the highlight of the morning, she had her first bath! She is definitely a water baby. The care assistant kept saying - don't worry they normally cry at this bit - but she never did- she seemed to really enjoy it - as you can see.

Do you like my new hair do?!

Then we had to get past the next obstacle - convincing the midwife to let us go home!

Now this was no ordinary midwife. We have a theory that in midwifery, your prospects for promotion are proportional to your size. All the student midwives were from the kate moss school of nutrition and our midwife yesterday was obviously very senior.

With a bit of sweet talking, persuasion and bare-faced charm - Katie had her under the thumb in no time and our "Go large" matron was defeated - we were going home.

Couldn't resist a few more pictures

Which one of us has just given birth?

Katie the philosopher

(caption anyone?)

Our new arrival!

We have a beautiful baby daughter!! Katie was born at 1.05pm and weighed 6lb 12oz. From start to finish it took about 4 hours - not bad for a first baby! Debbie is absolutely fine - just tired but happy. Katie seems very contented and happy to be with us :)

Many thanks for all your kind words, thoughts and prayers. There'll be more photos and news soon but it's been a long day!