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(new pictures added 21st May 2002)
Tuesday November 19th
Woke up after a dreadful night's sleep full of flashbacks and disturbance. Sent an email to various people I hadn't rung with the first photos of Grace - the wonders of modern technology!
When
I got to the hospital the paediatrician was giving Jackie a lecture on winding,
temperatures and how bendy a baby's legs are. Jackie had had a dreadful night's
sleep. All the other women on the ward had had c-sections which meant they
needed drugs throughout the night, and each time they needed to pick up their
babies they had to ring for assistance. What's more, the nurse handing out
the drugs had left her torch shining into Jackie's face which was the last
straw - 20 minutes with her glasses off wasn't the sort of quality recovery
time she was after. Consequently when the midwife came round she had made
up her mind to come home, and operation homecoming swung into action.
Several of the midwives came to admire Grace's hair - and one even asked if she could come and wash it when we were ready. When we were ready? I thought they should have done it yesterday.
Jackie's Mum and Dad were called. As we still hadn't received
the pram they had to bring a car seat down so we could bring her home..
By the time we got home though Jackie and I were exhausted, and not particularly communicative. Ali, who was heading off for a week in the sun had "booked in" to ours previously so he didn't have so far to drive to catch his plane on Weds morning. I'm not sure he had bargained for seeing two washed out individuals and a tiny baby.
The family left early. However it was then that the fun really started.
10pm - Jackie feeds baby and goes to bed.
10pm - 12pm - I walk around trying to calm baby down. She's fed and watered, and has a clean nappy, what else can she want? Oh, and nappy changing - what a laugh that is. Not as smelly as I'd thought but trying to deal with a wriggling baby just is plain hard work. I think I need to get myself an extra arm from somewhere/
12:15am - Give up and go to get Mum to give her some food. Find out she's starving.
1am - Finished feeding but now the nappy needs changing. Doesn't settle at all in her Moses basket so end up hugging for some time.
4am
- A couple of hold changeovers, more food and a nappy change. We've both seen
every hour, if not every ten minutes since midnight. I'm already exhausted.
6am - An hour and half of sleep. Praise be! I believe! If every night turns out to be like this I shall no longer be able to speak. At least the dawn is coming, which is a blessing, as I'm sure Grace's cries are not as loud in daylight.
9am - Struggled out of bed. How glad were we that no visitors
were planned for today. Tried to "top and tail" Grace but she ended
up with no more than a quick wipe of the face. I'm sure everything will sort
itself out over time.
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