Monthly Newsletter – Month One

May 26, 2006

Monthly Newsletter – Month One

I’m hoping to write a Tom update every month, to remind myself in the future of how he’s changed and what we’ve done and also to keep anyone interested updated.

This is Tom’s first month so everything has changed for us. I don’t think anyone can be prepared for having a baby, no-one can tell you what it’s like – and if they do you don’t believe them!

Tom had a fairly difficult time getting here and didn’t look very pretty to begin with. But we all fell in love with him straight away. Mum and Dad came to visit on the first day and were besotted straight away.

The first night was difficult as Tom didn’t really sleep, and I was sore. The midwifes thought he had a headache from the forceps delivery. That makes sense as the next night at the Jubilee Birth Centre he was much better. We stayed in hospital for a total of five nights. Quite a long time but we had some difficulty getting the feeding going and Tom had a touch of jaundice.

Chris came to see us every day and spent a lot of time looking after Tom while I either slept or showered. We also went on a few walks around the grounds when I thought I was going crazy being inside for so long.

The first day at home was very nerve wracking. I wasn’t sure what to do with him, and after being very good every night in hospital the first night was a nightmare. Tom woke up at 4.00 and wouldn’t go back to sleep. He still does that occasionally! We soon settled in to life at home and the last few weeks have flown by.

At the moment I’m trying to get into a routine with Tom. We’ve set bedtime to be after his feed at 8ish, always changing him first so he goes down awake – I’ve heard it’s bad to feed them to sleep. Then we have a feed at between 10 and 11, although he’s missed that one a few times. Then sometime between 2 and 3, and again between 4 and 6. Which he seems to think is when we should get up and play, we’re trying to talk him out of that one! He’s a fairly easy baby at the moment (touch wood) and only really cries when he wants feeding – that’s also accompanied by “piggy” noises so we know that’s what he wants! When he’s asleep he can sleep through anything, we’ve changed him without him waking up!

I’ve noticed a lot of differences in Tom over just these few weeks. He’s obviously a lot bigger, growing from 8lb 10 ½ oz to over 11lb, the midwifes are amazed by how much weight he’s putting on. He’s getting stronger, his head is very strong already – although he was lifting it from day 1, when we have tummy time he tries to crawl. He’s also spending more time awake, thankfully mainly during the day! He’s started to make more noises, mainly eh, iff and ah at the moment. He’s much more alert and will stare at you for ages, or himself in the mirror on his gym.

He’s also started smiling, I think at the moment it’s random to practise but when he looks right at you and smiles it’s the most wonderful thing in the world. I can’t wait until I know he’s doing it because he’s pleased to see us. I’m looking forward to the next month. I can’t wait to see his personality develop more.