One month old!

Matthew is one month old today! Of course I havent updated my blog as often as I would like but im going to try not to stress about not doing it and concentrate on when I can.

The last few days with Matthew have been tough. He is as good as gold when we go out or have visitors and noone believes me when I say he can cry but over the last few days he has been really suffering from wind and some constipation and it is heartbreaking to see him cry as he tries to get things moving. He must be so uncomfortable and not know why. The health visitor has recommended a different formula so hopefully in a few days that will help. Last night was a tough one - he barely slept at all. Thank goodness my husband is happy to look after him too so we both got a few snatches of sleep. Of course Matthew then slept all morning for a trip to Sainsburys and for a little while after.

I took a few photos to celebrate his one month birthday and because he looked so peaceful after such a stressful night.

I havent done as much scrapbooking this week or had time to upload the layouts I have done. But mustnt beat myself up about it. There is no rush!

Since I last posted we have had more visitors: Jane, Lorraine and Jenny, and Meenal. Been to Wimbledon Common with Dai; Met up with the NCT girls and had a trip to Sutton with my mum ( which Matthew slept all the way through!)

Tomorrow we look forward to the NCT girls, babies and husbands coming for lunch. On Wednesday we plan to go out for my Mum's birthday and on Thursday Im going to be leaving Matthew with Simon for about 3 hours whilst I go to school and present the Year 13 Leavers awards.

A busy schedule!

Well I have now written up all of Matthew's first week but what has been happening since then? We have been busy with visitors and outings; and getting used to feeding, and the pram and all the other day to day dealings of a being new mum and a new baby. Matthew is as good as gold when visitors come and hardly anyone has seen him cry - but he can be very unsettled at night and we have had a few nights with very little sleep. Every now and again we get a 'good' night and manage to get a couple more hours. Simon is very good at helping with the feeds and one of us can sleep while the other has Matthew. We are nowhere near any routine with feeding and sleeping but we have to keep reminding ourselves that he is only 19 days old and that he has a lot to learn as well.


So what have we been upto since day 7. On Thursday 29th April Simon went back to work. Fortunately for the first two days he did half days so I was gradually introduced into being number 1 in charge! It was fine and we all managed well.


We have also been busy with visitors and trips:

• 29th April - Dan and Helen bring Eva to visit ( she was born on the same day as Matthew)
• 29th April - Registry office visit
• 30th April - Becky comes to visit
• 1st May - Dave, Isabel, Jacob and Anna visit, trip to the clinic ( Matthew is now back to his birth weight) and we go to my mum's for dinner.
• 2nd May - first trip to the shops - Tandem Way, Colliers Wood- family outing!
• 3rd May - Simon's sister Lyndsey visits - I leave the house alone and go to the supermarket!
• 4th May - Health visitor
• 5th May - Go to my school and see all my friends and collegues- Matthew is very popular and gets loads of cuddles. My mum comes over for the afternoon and we go to Wyevales and have a cup of tea with Simon's mum.
• 6th May - Sandra visits
• 7th May - Paula visits and then in the afternoon Matthew and I go to Great Auntie Linda and Great Uncle Ted to meet new cousin Evie who was born 5 days before Matthew.
• 8th May - again I leave the house without Matthew to go to the opticians
• 9th May - My Dad and his wife Sue come and visit
• 10th May - My close friend Jeremy visits. He shares a birthday with Matthew.


• 11th May - Another trip to Tandem Way with my mum and my first visit to Starbucks since Matthew arrived.
  

As you can see, we like to keep busy and have an equally busy schedule for the new first days.

My photos wont upload at present - so come back later for pictures!

Life with Matthew - Days 5 and 6

Wow - can you believe that Matthew is 2 weeks old today. I dont know where the time goes - he will be 18 years old before I know it! Here is a bit more on our first week together.

Day 5

Simon was still off work on day 5 so we all went out for a walk together. We went and registered Matthew at our GPs surgery and the walked to the local pharmacy. We were out for about an hour and I took this lovely picture of Matthew all snuggled up in his pram. He loved his first outing in his pram and was as good as gold. It took Simon and I a while to remember how all the different bits of the pram worked but with a bit of teamwork we managed to sort it out. A week or so later and I can report we are now much more confident with putting it up and down etc.
Also on Day 5 a health care visitor came to visit us and Matthew had his first bath. At first he wasnt sure but I think in the end he quite liked it. Simon is keen to make this one of his tasks with Matthew.

Day 6

Matthew was 5 days old and this meant a trip to the clinic and for a weigh in and his heal prick test. We were pleased to see the midwife who had booked us in at St Helier hospital when I was just a few weeks pregnant. She was lovely and checked both Matthew and myself thoroughly and answered all our questions and gave us loads of tips. Matthew had lost some of his birth weight ( but this is normal) , but within what is expected. He was as good as gold for the heal prick test - but was hungry after!

This lovely photo of Matthew was also taken on this day.

Life with Matthew - Days 3 and 4

Wow - the time certainly seems to fly by with a little one in our lives. Each day I write a list of jobs to do and I do get some of them done but updating my blog seems to take a back seat.

I really want to go back and record the first week of Matthew's life and any major miles stones - so here goes with days 3 and 4.

Day 3

Day 3 was a big milestone because we came home from the hospital. Although prior to giving birth I was somewhat nervous about the thought of going home and being 100% responsible for my baby, after 2 days in hospital I was keen to get away from the pressures of breast feeding and home where I would be back in 'full control'. It also meant we would start to be a family properly together.


The journey home was exciting. Unfortunately I dont really have any good photos of Matthew in his car seat - but he loved it and soon fell asleep with the movement of the car.




When we got home there were flowers from Sandra and her family and lots of cards to open. The evening flew past as family all came over to visit again.


Day 4

We decided that day 4 was going to be a quiet day at home with no visitors and just the three of us. The midwife came to visit us and check up on us. Again the pressure was still on to breast feed and we did have some success that afternoon with Matthew taking some food this way - but in the evening it became very stressful again. By the end of the evening we had pretty much decided that breast feeding wasnt working for us as a family and that Matthew was doing better with the bottle (although he still sometimes took a long time to have a feed ) and I could monitor how much he was eating. I had my first little cry on this afternoon as Matthew hadnt had any bowel movement for 36 hours and the midwife advised that if nothing happened overnight that we should take him to A&E. I was just so worried that something was wrong but later on that evening there was nappy action - who knew I would be so pleased to change a soiled nappy!!!!!!

Life with Matthew - Day 7

I know I havent yet got round to writing about day 2- 6 but yesterday felt like a real milestone and I want to record it while I remember.

Matthew was a week old yesterday. He spent most of the morning sleeping ( he seems to enjoy his morning down time!) . But during the rest of the day we noticed him doing things he hadnt done before. Yesterday was the first time he was awake and alert for a proper amount of time. Usually he is either feeding or sleeping but yesterday he had long periods of time - half an hour or more when he was just awake. During this time he was looking around and making loads of eye contact and noticing new things!

Also yesterday he was in his bouncer and when Simon moved it from one room to another he grabbed at one of the rings and held on to it! Such a small milestone - but amazing to us.

Matthew was also made official yesterday. We took him to the registry office to record his birth. He also met for the first time little Eva Scarlett. Our good friends Dan and Helen had their little girl on the SAME DAY (!) as Matthew.

Yesterday was an excellent day . Last night wasnt so good - his feed in the middle of the night took 1 hour and 45 minutes so I hope he gives me time for a nap today when Simon gets home from work this morning.

I wonder what Matthew will do today?

Life with Matthew - Days 1-2

I want to be able to remember the first few special days with Matthew. I am sure that we will get many more special moments and days but these ones are very special as we bond as a family and get to the know the new little man in our life.

The Birth and Day 1

My waters broke on Wednesday evening at 10pm. As I was not yet having any contractions I had to go to the hospital to make sure the baby wasnt too distressed and that my blood pressure etc was ok. Everything was fine and we were told to expect labour in the next 24-36 hours. We were also booked in to be induced if nothing had happened by Friday. We went home expecting to have a very boring Thursday at home waiting for something to happen!

At 1am we went to be bed and immediately i started to have back pain. This started to come in in waves up my body and I realised they were early contractions. By 2am I was having uneven contractions every 4-6 minutes. I rang the hospital but they asked me to wait until the contractins were more even. I rang at 4am when contractions were coming very evenly and they agreed I should go in. ( although I think they stil thought it was too early and I was just a first time Mum panicing!!!). When I arrived at the hospital at 4.45am my contractions were every 2 minutes!!!! They had to monitor me for an hour to check I was in labour before checking how much I was dilated - just in case I wasnt in labour and as was now open to infection. At 5.45am they checked and I was 5cm dilated. During this time I started to use the Tens Machine for pain and occasional gas and air.At this point they agreed I was in labour and started to run the bath for me to get in for the last part of my stage 1 labour. The bath was fantastic and I loved the soothing of being in the water. I could also use the gas and air in the water. Things were starting to get very painful and Simon and our wonderful midwife Gerti ( who took over from Kate at about 6ish) were both fantastic with back rubs and encouraging me to take deep breaths of the gas and air. Things moved very swiftly from then on and Simon and I agreed that I would stay in the water to give birth. Matthew arrived in the water at 9.36am. This photo was taken soon after.

The rest of day 1 went pretty quickly and by early afternoon I was down on the labour ward. Simon popped home for a bit and my mum and Simon's family came to visit. Istayed in hospital overnight to try and get help establishing breast feeding.

Day 2

Day 2 was also spent in hospital. Simon came over for most of the day and my mum came for another visit. The time spent with Matthew was so special and it really was time for bonding. But the day was a difficult one due to trying to breast feed and real concerns that he wasnt eating enough. Although the NHS and staff overall for my pregnancy and labour have been amazing - I must say that on this evening there were lots of problems with staff and inconsistency of support. By the evening we decided that Matthew had to have some bottled food or he would loose too much weight. I had very little sleep either night that I was in hospital for a number of reasons .

But as I say - the time with Matthew was still precious and the breast feeding issues will be forgotton. Here are a couple of great photos from Day 2. My mum's hand with Matthew's and proud Mummy and Daddy with our new addition.

Birth Announcement

Just a quick update to say that Matthew Arthur Ellis was born on Thursday 22nd April at 9.36am weighing 8lb3.

We are all doing well and I will post a longer version of events later.

Here are some pics from first 3 days.