Rumble in the Bumble

Being at work means that although I am around in the evening/night, I am not around to help out in situations like this...

Really hot day today - over 25C in the flat, which is always cooler than outside. Stefanie didn't sleep much last night due to worry caused by Elias breathing noisily and not easily. Anyway she decided to go up to Hampstead Heath with him to break out of the prison of home. But, having driven up there, there were no parking spaces. She decided to come straight home and stop off at Bumblebee http://www.bumblebee.co.uk to pick up a couple of things. Having got there and parked outside she found Elias pretty hot and pale and limp. She told me tonight that she was as panicked as she had ever been and thought he was going to die. She was about to call 999 when one of the women from the Bumblebee pharmacy who recognised Stefanie came out to ask how she was and, finding her in a state, invited her into the shop to cool down and feed Elias if she needed. Some time passed and Elias cooled down and friendly faces calmed Stefanie down.

Returning home Stef stripped Elias down and he promptly shat all over her.

I was at work oblivious and unable to help. I don't like that. Would happily have traded one of the weeks I had off work before the birth to have it now.

Unrememberable and Unforgettable

I read this today and it neatly encapsulates part of what I was limping towards in yesterday's post but lost along the way. In particular the effect of the early life.

"... this time of our lives is what neuroscientist Doug Watt has referred to as 'unrememberable and unforgettable'. We cannot consciously recall any of it, yet is not forgotten because it is built into our organism and informs our expectations and behaviour."
From Sue Gerhardt 'Why Love Matters'

At the moment Elias loves to stare at this painting by Tom Clifford which hangs in our bedroom.

Quick Elias facts:
Weight gain of 400g in the last 10 days.
Has breathing problems at night.
Has managed some micro-smiles.

I'm Goin Back

It would be so easy to moan about how I got food poisoning yesterday and have spent most of my bank holiday monday being useless and feeling sorry for myself. But actually the day has allowed me to spend some time in my head and muse over some of the things that influenced me when I was young and to wonder what things will inspire Elias. I'll come back to this...

So it's been a weekend of memory lane. On Saturday my folks came for a couple of hours and we experimented with the, to us, radical idea of putting a blanket on the living room floor and lying Elias on it as a new environment to entertain him. He didn't last long before crying. But my parents were pointing out bits of his behaviour that I used to exhibit.

I dropped them off at Baker Street and went to my usual hairdresser (I don't really do barbers) and noticed at the A&D Gallery http://www.a-and-d.co.uk an exhibition of paintings inspired by songs from the Beatles album Revolver. Talking to the woman who worked there I was all enthusiastic about how I felt about the album and althought Sgt Pepper's was a more perfect "album" it was Revolver that had always captured my imagination. Lying in bed feeling ill today I vividly remembered seeing some archive footage of the Fab Four on Swap Shop and the feeling of something life changing. Once I had seen them I could never go back to a state of pre-seeing them .

Saturday night I spent until 1am choosing some records for DJing at the Big Chill Bar. I ended up choosing lots of old French songs and was spirited away by memories of when I had gone to France on a school exchange visit. I have been entranced by the country ever since - the movies, chanson, the countryside, discussions of art and philosophy in broadsheet papers and so on. Tonight I am listening to Neil Tennant's exquisit compilation in The Pet Shop Boys Back to Mine release and he has an Etienne Daho http://www.etiennedaho.com song which is so evocative and sweet.

Last night my friend Jules stayed over after DJing with me for the first time in about seven years - I hadn't seen him for two years and we go back all the way to my time at King's. Elias gave a nocturnal demonstration of his lung capacity and the sonority of his vocal chords. Stefanie and I = no sleep. Jules = didn't wake up once.

Anyway why ramble on like this, in fact why blog at all tonight with so little concrete news. My point, when I get to it, was awakened again by the Neil Tennant disc which has Dusty Springfield singing the Carole King-written I'm Goin' Back. Another evocative song which found me tumbling into a reverie about all the touchpoints there had been this weekend with my past. (actually memories occupy a good 10% of my total daydream activity anyway).

....and what I was thinking about is all those moments in Elias' life to come where he will see, hear, smell, touch and taste things which shift his world view. Combinations of places, people, conversations, music and things I cannot begin to guess. From the world-changing to the incremental I have mine and they have been very present this weekend and I hope that he gets the stimulation I have over the years.

Didn't mean to ramble so much and the point dissolved slightly as I was verbalising it. So let's just wrap it up. Right now, Elias is sleeping soundly and last night's anguish is, temporarily, forgotten...

P


Pffuuuuhhh...un long weekend! hmmm...je me souviens des longs weekend ou...Paul et moi passions la journee a ne faire que des choses dont on avait envie!!! hahaaaaa...le bon vieux temps!

Ce weekend Elias nous a montre plusieurs humeurs! Samedi durant la visite des parents de Paul, Dimanche durant la visite de Sue (mon ancienne flatmate) et la visite de Jules (ami de Paul) il a passe la plupart de son temps a hurler! Par contre le reste du temps il a ete absolument adorable! inclue notre visite a John Lewis ou pendant 2hr il est rester dans mon Wilkinet tout calme tout mignon! hmmm...Visite a John Lewis pour une poussette! Je ne sais pas quelle poussette il faut prendre! Quinny ou Bugaboo (quelque chose comme ca!) - j'ai passe une eternite a etudier les poussettes et franchement....aujourd'hui je ne comprends toujours pas pourquoi elles sont si chers et....laquelle faut-il prendre??...mais il m'en faut une!

Parlant de "hurler" je lis dans tout mes livres que les bebes qui passent beaucoup de temps avec leur maman, attaches a leur maman pleurent moins que les autres!...et maintenant que j'y pense c'est vrai que malgre les crises d'Elias...je crois qu'il ne pleure pas enormement! 30min -1hr per 24hr...Max..(est-ce que je fantasme???) - alors peut-etre que de beacoup le porter non seulement me donne des bras d'enfer!...il pleure un petit peu moins que les autres bb.....

Elias a un rhume...ou...une petite allergie...d'apres Kylie (midwife) - Il a le nez un peu bouche et la nuit passee, tres bouche! quel bruit et quelle frayeur pour moi...je n'en ai pas dormi!! mais aujourd'hui ca va mieux! il parrait que c'est courant chez les bebes....(oh que j'espere pas trop courant!)

ourraahh....malgre que Paul n'etait pas tres en forme aujourd'hui j'ai quand meme reussi a ...me laver les dents, les cheveux et prendre une douche!!!....Je reve d'une pedicure et du coiffeur...mais alors ca...a quand???

Bonne nuit a tous et a nous!

S.

Thank Crunchie...

Well, the end of the working week is here and I wondered as I went home if my little boy would remember me. Until Monday of this week I had known everything he had been doing every minute of the day. And bang! this week I am back to work and out of the house for between ten and twelve hours a day. It's hard to tell if he was aware of my absence. Stefanie's mother went back to Switzerland today also.



It's a bank holiday weekend ahead so hoping to get some quality home time :)

P

...so, aujourd'hui j'ai racompagne ma maman a King's Cross avec Elias dans la voiture! son premier long voyage (Elias) en voiture!! Puis ma petite maman et retournee en Suisse! Elle m'a bien aidee et ca m'a fait plaisir de l'avoir avec moi pour plus de 3 jours!! Je pense que j'ai du la stresser un peu avec mes (nos) pensees sur l'education de Elias, genre repondre a ses pleures immediatement, dormir avec lui (juste pour le moment), etc....puis avec ses coliques j'ai ete tres stressee aussi donc ca a du etre difficile quelques fois (pour moi aussi, vu que je suis totalement debutante dans ce domaine la). Bref - Elias et moi avons passe le reste de la journee au lit, a part quand j'ai eu la visite d'un ami de longue date (Alan que je connais depuis 20ans) avec sa petite fille Grace - ils m'ont apporte des framboises puis un cadeau pour Elias, puis Alan etant photograph, a pris une photo de la main de Elias qui tient mon petit doigt.

La bonne nouvelle (du jour) et que les coliques de Elias ont passes on dirait!!! peut-etre du a ma diet ou notre visite chez l'osteopath (cranio sacral) d'hier! Quel bonheur! pourvu que ca dure mais je garde en memoire la suggestion de Clare (copine de Paul) et de Alan pour "infacol".

L'autre bonne nouvelle et que j'ai eu le temps de faire beaucoup de choses aujourd'hui comme lire Paris Match, ecrire une lettre, manger (!), acheter des langes(!), conduire la voiture, etc.etc.etc...la vie excitante de maman Stefanie!!!....

S

Tiger in a Tree

Praise be to cranio-sacral osteopaths! Colic Boy went to see one today and seemingly as a result spent the rest of the day and evening relaxed and quiet. It was quite a shock to come home from work and find peace reigning.

It was Stefanie's mother's last night over here before going back to Switzerland, so we had fish and chips. Before I took her back to her hotel I managed to get Tranquility Boy into the Holy Grail of postions ... the Tiger in a Tree. He loved it. Little Leo wants to be a tiger.

Marathon

This boy has colic http://www.babycentre.co.uk/refcap/77.html - at least we hope he does given all his crying, writhing and general inconsolability. Stefanie was really tired when I got home today and said she felt like she'd run a marathon. Total things she'd done for herself today: 1. clean her teeth (at about 5pm)
2. wash her face
3. take the Pritt Stick from the study to the bedroom (but not all the way to the living room where she wanted it)
Fortunately at some point in the evening he did quieten down and we got to eat in peace and, with Stefanie's mother's help, stuck some photos of him to cards to send to a handful of folk.

Anyway, you're asking, what's this got to do with 'like mother, like son'. Well, it's this photo of Stefanie when she was a week or so old. Apparently the nurses in the Swiss hospital called her "les Beatles" due to the hair, though she looks a bit more Brit-Pop to me. Anyway cute huh?

He's feeding. Stefanie and I need some kip. Fingers crossed.

Back to School

Well, as of yesterday I am back at work. I am predictably more tired.
New job got off to a good start. My office is so empty it actually has an echo. Must get some things for it.

Got home tonight and Elias had been crying all afternoon. I wish I could say I just walked in an calmed him down as today's photo suggests, but I didn't. In fact in some ways I feel I am really still learning to be relaxed with him and Stefanie, since she spends so much time close to him, is already.

Received a lovely text from my friend Clare (wife of Bookclubber Dave - see post for last Friday or Saturday) who said "Against my better nature I'm loving your blog ... really takes me back to Felix's early days and weeks." I was warm inside for the rest of the pm.

More when I am less tired...

Menage a Trois

Tant a dire!...mais...si peu de temps!!!...Je suis avec et entre les 2 hommes que j'aime le plus au monde!!meme la nuit!

Aujourd'hui c'etait le premier jour du nouveau job de Paul, donc ce matin j'etais seule avec Elias pour la premiere fois, puis ma maman est venue a mon secour!! ourrraaahhh....sans elle je pense que j'aurais mange mon p'tit dej a 18h!!! -- Pour en revenir au nouveau job de Paul...la nuit passee a ete la plus dure de toutes nos nuits avec Elias! Pour une raison que je ne connais pas, il s'est reveille au moins 5 fois dans la nuit et moi, plus je voulais faire peu de bruit, plus Elias s'ennervait, plus on reveillait Paul qui bien sure n'avait pas un regard d'amour pour nous!!! (je le comprends!) Je crois qu'il a quand meme mieux dormi que moi..car entre me reveiller, nourrir Elias, le langer puis, le re-nourrir un peu (pour le comforter)... ca veut dire que 1h plus tard (approx) ca recommence..vu que c'est generalement toutes les 2hrs...(hier soir ca devait etre toutes les heures!!)--

Puis, en ce moment Elias n'a l'air bien que dans mes bras (et ceux de son papa)! il n'aime pas son petit lit! (on essaye de le lui faire aimer! ca vient doucement!...), il ne reste pas longtemps dans son landeau non plus, mais dans mes bras il a l'air d'etre bien tout le temps! Il est tellement petit (et n'a que 2 semaines et quelques..)! c'est dure de lui refuser ca! Puis il parait que durant les 4 premieres semaines de vie un bebe ne se reconnait pas comme separe de sa mere....

S

All good things come to an end

Today is the last day of my holiday.





No, stop before you read on and think how that feels. I'll say it again...

Today is the last day of my holiday.

It is with a heavy heart that my 24/7 domestic time comes to an end and tomorrow, admittedly with some excitement, I start my new job at Universal Music. Exciting role. Dynamic department. We're inventing the future when it come to music...digitally! I will be very sorry to not know exactly what Elias is doing every single minute of the day. However, he needs a roof over his head.

On to other stuff. Today Elias got his first real trip to the outside world. It was a glorious sunny day so we went for a walk on Hampstead Heath. Photo on the blog today to prove it. He slept for the first half and the second half was so bumpy he woke up, and cried, and demanded public breast. We also managed to disagree a few times about whether he was too hot or too cold. Overall a great success and we even bumped into Stefanie's former flatmate, Maria, who made all the right noises.

Was on the phone to Mr Malpas in Luxembourg last night, generally talking Dad talk (that's what I do nowadays) and he thought I might like to share a pic of him mere minutes before his delightful daughter Zoe came into the world. He was right, and here's the pic. Who took the picture?

Finally, there was some dispute over dinner tonight about when Summertime becomes Autumn. It's one of those things you think you know, until you find out you don't. Just in case you need to know Wikipedia sorts it all out again, here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autumn

Anyway, it's almost eleven and SOME OF US HAVE TO WORK TOMORROW. So stop keeping me up and let me go to bed. Cya.

Book-reading increases likelihood of Y chromosome!

Last night was one of my diary favourites - book club. It was supposed to be a BarBQ of goat at Dave Adam's house but English Summertime stopped play and we went to the Alwyne pub at Highbury Corner. Dave had previously alerted us to the facts that:
a) book club has been running for two years!!!
b) in those two years three of the six book-clubbers have played their part in siring male progeny.
Felix is now 21 months.
Jude is now 10 months.
Elias - two weeks today.
Here's a pic of two bookclub Dads.
And a link to the fascinating world of sex chromosomes http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/XY_sex-determination_system . It is not without some surprise that I learn that "two species of 'mole voles' ... have lost the Y chromosome entirely".

When I got home we went to bed in the following order:
Left - Elias.
Middle - Stefanie.
Right - me.
At about 03:30 we woke up to find ourselves arranged:
Left - Stefanie.
Middle - Elias.
Right - me.
Neither Stefanie nor I had any recollection of moving around. Elias, if he knew anything, wasn't letting on. So the mystery remains...

Also of note - trying to get Elias to settle in his cot is like trying to get Pushkar to settle on your lap ... impossible.

"...the birth of your daughter."

I've been pretty good so far on not using this blog to expose what I consider to be the failings of the NHS or other public services. I haven't even begun to explain why Dr Singh (and I am sure there must be more than one Dr Singh, so apologies to all the others), and her silent sidekick with the loud pager, have haunted my dreams since the birth. And how Dr Singh and sidekick are cast, by the Casting Director of my subconscious, as the vultures from Disney's jungle book.

This blog only started after Elias was born, so I never got to tell you about the self-important receptionists at our local GP surgery who guard access to the GPs as if they were regulating access to the Queen, and who even have the temerity to start asking medical questions on the phone to filter out potential time-wasters but thereby proving they know nothing and would be better suited to wearing uniform and marching up and down North Road in a brisk goosestep.

Anyway, this is all digression. Today we received a letter from our local GP practice congratulating us on the birth of our daughter. Need I say any more?

13eme jour

Le papa fait la vaisselle...alors moi j'en profite pour ecrire un mot sur la journee d'Elias!...(et de son papa, sinon il sera jaloux!!)

Ok, la nuit passee a ete dure aussi...peu de sommeil, comme la precedente! malgre les visites du jour, j'ai decide qu'il est necessaire pour notre petit homme d'avoir le temps de faire des siestes et d'avoir la paix - les visites c'est cool mais certaines pensent qu'un bb c'est comme un jouet...Donc aujourd'hui nous avons fait des siestes et Elias et beaucop plus cool. (siestes ou pas siestes (c'est a dire crise!) je l'aime toujours, de plus en plus!

Son papa a eu une tres bonne journee aussi! il a une copie de son album (The liking of things ) in his hands! it looks good and sounds good!

Et moi...hmmm....a part ma douche matinale, quelques minutes pour un petit dej, un lunch et un diner...je n'ai pas beaucoup de temps a moi (en plus avec le chat..ca fait comme si j'ai 2 enfants!! ;)) -- et la je m'en vais car Elias se reveille! (il est 22:34!!!!!)

S.

For the metrics-minded Kylie came today and weighed him - 3700g. Up from a birth weight of 3280g. Those of you who want pounds and ounces... get with the program this is 2005 - you'll have to do your own conversion. He's supposed to have lost 10% of his weight since birth but has gone the other way no doubt due to incessant feeding.

P

Norma

The health visitor came today. She was nice enough and refreshingly non-didactic. She declined tea, saying "what goes in has to come out" and then proceeded to edify us with literature on vaccinations, cot death and contraception. It was hard to contain my joy as she went through how the NHS growth charts work. And as swiftly as she arrived, she departed, leaving us with a tree or two of papers.

Changing Names

We've decided to change Elias' name. Actually we haven't. But I have decided that since I bang on enough about myself in this blog it is henceforth to be called "Elias Malcolm Gathercole or Elias' Dad's Blog" (Ackers please double-check my use of the apostrophe http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=apostrophe ). Pretty catchy huh?!

Anyway he's about ten days old. Stefanie's mother is here, And her friend Galit. Sun is shining, weather is sweet. Nice to be at home.

He woke up more times in the night last night but we went to bed earlier. I am still reluctant to deduce a pattern. Gave me the shock of my life last night when I went to bed and found a little baby in it. He takes up so much of my waking thought, but it also surprises me from time to time that he's here at all!

Les Bonbons

Thank god for a day to ourselves. Don't know why visitors are so tiring but right now they are.
Felt like a right new Dad at Waitrose this morning shopping for baby products next to my exotic fruits and dangerous cheeses. Spent most of the afternoon in bed. Much needed sleep but also just time to chill. Finally found the master CD of our version of Planet Earth which I need for tomorrow well secured in my safe. Watered the plants. Did lots of washing. Phoned the parents. Blah.

Eating this evening was delayed by Elias requiring feeding which enabled me to watch a program on the coastline of north Scotland including the Orkneys. Reminds me I must sort out that trip to the Orkneys with The Godfather. Texted him to watch it.

The daily late night strop was preceded by a few minutes of calm lying down with Elias on my chest. You think they are week and helpless at this age but each time I faced him up towards me within a minute he'd spun himself round by 90 degrees to lift himself up and start sucking my arm. A clear call for Mummy. Anyway the inevitable pre-bed rage started to rise and tonight was diluted by me bouncing on the birth ball with him in my arms and a gentle four minutes of Jacques Brel singing Les Bonbons http://www.paroles.net/chansons/11700.htm

Am writing at almost midnight in the study and Stef and Elias are just heading to bed...

Grandmaman Zonca

Morning just disappeared. That's becoming a theme right? How's this going to pan out when I get back to work? To-do lists, which I used to make every week and edit every few days are now made every day and edited every few hours. Both our memories are shot and we need to write down everything we need to remember.

Sue came round in the early afternoon bearing choc deserts - swiftly dealt with. Ackers came round to bring me the hard-disk recorder that I had been suffering withdrawal from. He also brought a complex sling which he and Pinal found useful in early days. Good lad.

Meanwhile a Swiss registered mobile phone was beaming out texts and intermittently phoning Stef's phone. Stefanie's mother was caught up in the BA chaos meaning that she flew from Geneva but her luggage didn't. After filing a missing luggage claim she arrived a couple of hours late. I went down to Paddington to collect her. Came back here so she met Elias and stayed for dinner. Naturally she was pretty pissed off to be without her bag and not be able to dish out the presents. Knowing that I had three saucissons coming and a Gruyere after I had read a fascinating article in the Swiss Review about the Gruyere http://www.gruyere.com which won the best cheese in the world competition!

About 10pm I took her out to her friend's house in Loughton (in Essex, I think) because being so urban we don't have a spare room - well we do but once you've allowed for CDs, guitars, keyboards, etc we don't have any space.

Once home I squeezed in a camomile tea, diary writing, and three Blue Nile songs before heading to a midnight nappy change and straight to bed.

Meeting the Grandparents

Kylie came round this morning with a big bag of muffins. Having made tea for us all I greedily tucked into them while Elias was weighed. My parents then arrived, on the 91 bus(!), laden with gifts. They were delighted to meet Elias and took their turns to hold him. Stefanie confessed to feeling more than slight pangs of jealousy when they had him. As my Mum said, in her day a woman would have been in hospital for 10 days after a birth and would not be facing the world so soon. We opened gifts from my parents and from my brother and his wife.

The gift that came closest to doubling up as a gift for me was a CD of classical music for babies from my parents. Now my natural feeling about edited musical works is that it is a violation of the composer's vision and to be avoided in favour of whole works. And classifying music as being for babies, well, whatever next? Actually, having now listened to it I eat my words as I have discovered some great pieces on it. Shostakovich needs some further research. As I read this back I wonder if I have drifted into writing my own blog using Elias as a justification. Oh well.

Have some more Elias facts to make up for it. Today - ten nappy changes, thirteen feeds and untold sleeps.

Worry

We had the osteopath round to ours in the morning to treat all three of us. Was great. Kylie came at 4pm.

Elias spent the whole evening eating and shitting every hour. We got into a right old state and thought he was ill. Left a message on Kylie's phone and consulted books some of which confirmed our diagnosis but our favoured book said nothing to worry about. It calmed down and he and Stefanie went to sleep and I waited up for Kylie to call back. Listening in the living room to a very ambient Sakamoto and Alva Noto album I soon fell asleep only to be woken at half midnight by Stefanie come to see where I'd got to, reporting that Elias was fine and then a text arrived from Kylie saying not to worry. So the deal is you have to do loads of extra stuff and have less time for yourself - fine, I expected that, but the feeling I got when worried about him took me by surprise. In only a few day he's got under my skin. And I'm not even the mother with all her hormonal shackles. Boggles the mind.

Lasts and firsts

Woke from more or less and 8 hour sleep with quick nappy change half way through. Not bad! Got a sling for Elias and he slept for two hours in it, on me.

Today was Elke's last visit. She's off on holiday for a month and Kylie will cover us for the rest of their visits. Sad to see her go. She's been great.

We had a bit of an emotional overload at lunchtime with a brief communication breakdown. Having got things back on track we had our first outside world visitors - Ben, Pinal and Jude - who came armed with flowers and, more importantly, cakes. I can't believe Jude is only 10 months old - he no longer looks like a baby - he's a little boy! Ben craving a cigarette, he and I got a Dads moment on the front step of the house and in true male fashion spent the whole time talking about music.

Elias had his first trip out of the house into the garden. It was rush hour and Hillmarton was very busy. It felt quite brutal taking him down the steps before we got into the peace of the garden.

For the facts lovers, in response to the milk coming in Elias' poo became the mustard colour style leaving his meconium treats in the past. For the statistics lovers, today (between midnight and midnight) Elias fed on ten separate occasions.

Urination

We went round the cycle many times today. A good set of meconium poos. Much sleep. Much feeding. But the real news was the first piss - or at least the first one we'd noticed. Almost phoned my parents to tell them but then decided perhaps it wasn't such major news. For today's photo I had a choice of sleep, play or nappy changing rage. I promise Elias now that I won't keep doing this but I have decided to post poo-rage today.

Life as normal

Well, life goes on. Only it's a bit different. Where did my morning go? By the time our midwife arrived at 11am I hadn't quite finished breakfast. The boy is a bit yellow so we're to expose him to sunlight through the window. That's a good thing - it falls through the trees outside and is pretty pleasant. Note to self - get more time in sun.

Other things out of the norm .... tears. And congratulations cards - some with emotive comments, some with practical comments.

Other things out of the norm - boring cliches become true. New parents always come out with yawnworthy cliches about how the world looks different, but I CAN categorically state that when I listened to Sgt. Pepper's whilst making lunch it DID sound different!

Afternoon - more time in bed. I don't know what to make of this little boy who needs so much attention and gives so little back. We're automatically doing what he needs without question. I remember once asking my Dad how he knew when to have children and he said you just get a feeling, or something like that. Well I don't know about the feeling but nature seems to take over to make sure we look after this little one. Very strange.

Tantrum round 11pm risked our moods as sleep looked unlikely, then BULLSEYE.... sleep :)

Staying in bed

Not much happened this day as the photo bears out. We mostly stayed in bed getting used to each other.

Being Born

Paul here. Elias was born at 01:51 on 06/08/05 at UCH in central London. After an 8 hour labour, which I am not going to describe here. I am writing this on the 13th inspired by the riveting nature of my friend Joe's blog http://joecoughlin.blogspot.com I am sure Joe will agree that all modern babies, who are after all 'digital natives', should have a blog.

I wanted to put a picture of the placenta in here - after all it was Elias' larder - but Stefanie thought some people would be disgusted. So those who don't want to see it please read on. Those who do please click here http://www.xoo.co.uk/060805_tastyplacenta.jpg

Anyway, we spent a couple of peaceful post birth hours in the delivery room where Elias did not stop feeding. Then we moved upstairs to a quiet private room, which at 120 quid proved dubious value for money when compared to a hotel. But on privacy and calm it was ideal. At 5am Kylie (our midwife) and I had to leave because visitors are not allowed to stay overnight. Ridiculous! The sun was already coming up.

So I tore myself away from mother and still-feeding new boy and went home for two hours sleep. I was back in the hospital by 10am and we spent the rest of the day chilling in our room, waiting for various checks to be done and waiting for the oral Vitamin K as we had refused the injection when he was born. The day drifted by, Elias fed all day, and by 6pm we were home and our other midwife Elke came to check in on us.

After she'd gone we wanted to eat and realised that we had no idea what to do with him. We managed to get him to sleep and put him in his carry cot where we could see him in the living room and ate - starving, dazed and happy.

For his first night we didn't feel like putting him in his cot and so the lucky lad got to sleep in our bed. It was lovely to have him in there but we'll be keeping a watch on how long he gets this particular pleaseure for. And thus ended the first day. Or did it? Well he woke us up in the night, but only once (and a Fawlty Towers-esque scene of near chaos ensued). Eight hours of (almost) continuous sleep :)