Silence is not golden

I have to say a baby who sleeps and is quiet all the time is as scary as one who continually screams the house down. We've been worried about Aidan since around the fourth day when he was becoming extremely lethargic and more jaundiced.  And things came to a head yesterday.

Erin and Aidan are tonight spending a second night in hospital.  For those of you who don't know, they went back to St Thomas' on Sunday after the midwife came round to our house.  We saw that he was jaundiced and getting worse throughout the week, and worried, but because of the holidays we weren't able to get a visit from doctors or midwifes.  He also wasn't latching on to Erin to feed so we fed him through expressed milk and a medicine dropper.

When we got to hospital on Sunday they said he'd lost a little more than 10 per cent of his body weight and was jaundiced and needed to stay in for a few tests.  It was an awful feeling but we were, however, reassured that through what we'd told them, they said we'd done everything right.

The tests showed that he was dehydrated and slightly jaundiced.  He and Erin have now been feeding every three hours.  It's exhausting for Erin, but as ever, she's been a trooper and is digging deep.  Even after a full night of feeding and not too much sleep she had the patience to get Aidan feeding this morning by singing songs to him and livening him up.

Tonight he was being cheeky and playing with us (and his food), showing a lot of life, so he's certainly on the road to recovery.

I'll let you know when they're back home, hopefully, tomorrow. 

4th Day

Grandma De Vos and Roby are around at the moment with the Waller Grandparents.  Photos are being taken by the family-paparazzi.  Aidan knows what Posh and Becks feel like. Here are a few favourites:

Three generations of the same hairline.

At his most active.

A wrinkle for every time he kicked his mum inside her belly.

What a difference a day makes

Here's Aidan on his second day.

He slept most of it.

Here he is...

...with mum.

And taking centre stage.

The reason for this blog

Just to let you know, Erin and I are the proud parents of Aidan John Waller who arrived on December 22nd 2008 at 17:26hrs, weighing in at 8 pounds.

More to follow...

On the other side

This morning I woke up late and walked into our lounge.  Erin was sitting at the computer and asked if I wanted to go out for Sunday breakfast as 'it will possibly be the last time we'll get the chance as just a couple'.

I thought this was great idea.

The choices were to either go to Clapham or Wandsworth.  We settled for Wandsworth (or Nappy Valley) to go buggy and bump spotting.  I wanted to go to the usual cafe called Boiled Eggs and Soldiers but Erin insisted we try another place.  This led us to going into Crumpet. 

If we'd have gone in here nine months ago we might not have been in the state we are now. Even if we'd have gone in 6 months ago it would have been scary.  Admittedly today was a little worrying.  But exciting too.

There are two sides to Crumpet.  The first, where we sat, as you enter, is a normal coffee/brunch place for DINKY types.  As you go further into the cafe you see it opening up a little.  There is a buggy park opposite the tills.  Then deeper still, is a larger room with high chairs, family friendly space and a dolls house in the back.  It's a bubbling hive of activity. Possible frightening to those who haven't even thought about tears and nappies yet. But a haven to parents who want to escape the walls of home a little. 

We thought our life of papers and coffee on a Sunday morning might be over.  Not after today though.  Crumpet has opened up a whole new world.  Life-as-we-know-it, officially, does not end after a baby arrives. 

Waiting

As I write, Erin is pushing the buggy around our flat finding areas where it's tricky to manoeuvre. She's just been sipping on Raspberry leaf tea after eating a curry.  She's a little antsy.

Yes, she's due in 10 days but is ready. The baby bag is packed, mother's bag is packed and dad just needs to put his spare clothes in.

People must know we'd like an early arrival as we're also getting texts to see if there are any signs.  There aren't.  

This week has been a bit up and down too.  Erin went to see the midwife and was told she had high blood pressure and possible symptoms for pre eclampsia .  This news sent the blood pressure even higher as she worried about all this would entail.  A lot.  The next day she saw the doctor and the blood pressure was down.  Life was back to normal. Phew.