A Late Arrival

Well, happy (belated) new year!

After a long wait and a Christmas more full of waiting than anything else, baby B., a beautiful little girl, was born on new year's eve, weighing close to the average for a 2-week-late baby. Mother and baby are, as is traditional to say, both doing well, though this is very tiring for all involved.

So, what have we learnt? Well, some of the points...

• The delivery suite team at the John Radcliffe are superb people, though occasionally run ragged with stuff to do. They looked after us well and helped <3 through a difficult labour to produce a perfect baby.
• Similarly the maternity team at Wantage Community Hospital are fantastic. We didn't get to see how they handle a delivery, but the postnatal care was great and the environment was so much more relaxed and comfortable than the JR.
• <3 is my new number 1 hero after seeing the feat of strength and endurance required to deliver a baby. She was magnificent.
• When it came to cutting the cord, I was handed what seemed like a pair of round-ended kiddie scissors (I guess they don't trust new fathers with sharp objects) which required me to hack a few times before getting through (an umbilical cord is thicker than I imagined though on reflection, given it's function, this is not surprising).
• Sometimes the father's mind goes blank when shown the baby's "bits" and is expected to tell the mother that she has a baby girl. "A boy without a winkie... Wait, I know this one..."
• After recuperation they let you out of the hospital with your baby without having to prove that you will be a fit parent. We felt that it would only be a moment before someone stopped us and demanded to see authorisation.
• Babies take a lot of love and attention. They have simple needs, but do not have the gift of patience.
• Nappies are not that bad really (so far — we are bracing ourselves for that doozy that involves the contents escaping and finding its way to all corners of the babygrow).
• Sleep is something that can only be got in small snatches, particularly for <3, who so far has all the feeding duties.
• You don't need to be quiet when the baby is asleep — in fact, quite the opposite seems to be true.
• After feeding, a young baby has a really goofy, almost drunk expression on her face.
• It can be an amazingly complex exercise in logistics to even leave the house with a baby — can't wait until we don't expect her to sleep through the entire trip (which she did this time).
• Babies are cute, but there is nothing cuter than our own baby when she smiles. (OK, I know that technically it isn't really a smile, but I don't care.)

I could go on. Maybe I'll add more later. What am I talking about, maybe? Of course I will — the youngling is likely to be my number one obsession for some time to come.

So 2006 ended on a massive high note. 2007 is set to be great — though tiring — as we learn how to live as a proper family.