We planned ahead and bought a magazine with a toy on front and quizzes/comics inside. Kept him amused for an hour or so. But otherwise you’ll need books, pens & paper for drawing, toys etc. This is where an iPhone or handheld computer game comes into its own. Or one of those poratble DVD players would have been ideal! They do have a playroom but its very toddler orientated – Daniel got a jigsaw out to find that half the pieces were missing! I did have ago at tidying up the room a bit as I felt sorry for the poor bored children who went in there to be confronted by a whole pile of discarded chairs and tables

2) Take something for you to do

I was lucky I had my iPhone so I could check my mails and update statuses (didn’t see any “No Mobile Phone” signs which I’m sure they used to have at the RUH?) But even after an hour or so of doing that I was start to feel a bit bored.

3) Bring some of their favourite food for when they come round

Useful top I had from another mum about this. I had brought some Ribena in a squirty bottle, some cold pasta and pesto with some cut up sausages, a packet of Quavers and some chocolate coins. After having to have a little encouragement to drink something when he’d had a half an hour kip after coming out of the recovery room, he wolfed down the whole lot! Probably said about 5 words to me the whole time. Poor thing must have been hungry as he hadn’t eaten anything for 12 hours

4) Don’t bother taking pyjamas or robes

He didn’t need them – just straight out of his normal clothes into a pathetically short surgical down. Then back into his civvies when he was about to go home. And you don’t really need extra layers as the RUH is so warm

5) Make sure clothes that they are wearing are quite loose fitting.

Would definitely recommend soft jersey/tracksuit material – also have loose fitting sleeves on tops as the nurses don’t take the cannula out of the back of the hand until right tat the end so it makes it tricky putting tight sleeves on

6) Take some cash for the canteen

Well you’ll need to get a coffee and a snack at some point

7) Make friends with the others in the waiting room at the start

You’ll be stuck together for the next 6 hours in quite close proximity and will often overhear their discussions. Daniel was wonderful and played with a little one year old by playing hide & seek with him. Which hi frazzled parents were eternally grateful for

Have a balanced reaction

I was definitely of the camp “Its all very routine nothing is going to go wrong” unlike some of the parents who’d come back from the pre med rooms with tear stained faces after watching their little ones having an anaethestic. But it was only while I was having a cup of tea while D was in the theatre that it struck me how life and death it all could be. I still tried to carry on as if it would all be ok – and it was, thankfully. And I think that was good for D to see me taking it all in my stride and probably contributed to his relatively good experience of it all.

But since I’ve got home and he’s gone to bed – can feel the tension and stress for the past 12 hours starting to leave my body. So it shows that I had been internalising a hell of a lot of parental worry about it all. Maybe I should have shed a tear at the time?

I resisted for so long – that and the fact I didn’t want to go to O2, so had to wait till Orange got the iPhone.

Even then I wasn’t going to get one – I certainly didn’t want to be like some people incessantly peering into their Blackberries when they should be helping me feed the kids at tea time (ahem!)

But the nice lady on the Orange upgrade line was so chatty and friendly that before I knew it I was parting with my hard earned cash (now and for the next 2 years!) and my shiny white iPhone turned up 3 days later (would have been 2 but as per usual there was some delivery man shenanigans -how the hell re you supposed to stay in ALL day to wait for a delivery man??!)

So I’ve had it for about 2 weeks now – and yes I love it. But for reasons that I had never considered before

1) I can keep on top of my email

I realised that when ever I was doing something else, usually involving the children, in the back of my mind was the nagging thought that my inbox was filling up – maybe with offers of work, or irate clients, or freindly messages from friends. Now with my iPhone, I can quickly check my mail – and most of the time realise that none of the above are true

2) I can read up on blogs I’m interested in when I have some downtime

So when I get 5 mins and have a cup of tea, I can take a bit of time to read some of my favourite blogs/sites, instead of watching mind numbing kids tv or George of The Jungle for the umpteenth time. Favourite sites at the moment:

http://www.happiness-project.com/

http://clientsfromhell.tumblr.com/

http://flylady.net/

3) I can check my Twitter and Facebook updates quickly so I don’t need to even open these time-burgling sites when I actually sit at my computer doing real work

4) My shared Google calendar is synched to my iPhone calendar so I instantly know what I’m supposed to be doing (and what DH has planned) without needing to get to my PC to find out

5) I also love the instant sending of pictures & videos to Facebook and Twitter – although its debateable about the intersting-ness of the stuff I have posted so far :>

Now all I need to do is to see if there is a quick way I can post to this WordPress blog from my iPhone and then I am sorted!

The three people with brown hair on the left are Mummy, Daddy and Daniel respectively and the three blondes are Hels, Hebe and Jessamy.

I think he’s captured our likenesses perfectly :>

daniels-writing

Originally uploaded by lollypopstar

Just thought I woudl post this entry to show what Daniel just wrote in a birthday card to his friemd Dan!
And I didn’t help him at all – he just got on and did it himself (ok I showed him how to write an “e” but that was it.
He’s started to come on in leaps and bounds still starting at cshool – I know they talked about letters and did writing practice at nursery – but it really does seem that some formal eductaion is good for our Dan and he’s been picking up on it well.
(Those of you with kids are probably thinking its about time at 4 year old that a child can write his name – but he is aboy and boys are notoriously slow – at most things, Right? :>)

Just reliving the momentous event when our lives changed irrevocably (for the better?) here:-

http://s108767233.websitehome.co.uk/birthstory/mybirthstory.htm

My two boys – and surprisingly neither are crying!

I’ve just started Alex on some baby rice today – he’s 17 weeks and I know the Dept of Health says I should just give him breast milk for 6 months – but I would like the Dept of Health to try waking up every 3 hours in the night to feed a hungry baby.
Alex seemed to love the rice too – besides its good for me to have something else to do with him
We’ll see how it sorts out his crying in the night though. (One thing I aint looking forward to though is the smelly poos!!)
Ho hum

1. Buggy / pram.

Big investment – but I warn you against getting the expensive all singing and dancing travel system. many of them are cumbersome and you end up only using a few of the features. bear in mind that by 6 months you can use one of the lightweight stroller buggies that fold flat easily – it is much easier to borrow or buy a simple 2nd hand pram for the first few months. True that the baby will spend much of his time asleep in the buggy so it needs to be comfortable. I love my Britax travel system (well I only use the rock a tot car seat and the wheeled frame not all the rest of the stuff that it came with when I bought it second hand! But it does have a huge basket underneath for all my bags)

2. Sleeping bag / Gro bag

These are great for babies up to a year or so. It keeps them warm without having to use lots of sheets and blankets (which always seem to swamp newborn babies) Plus if there are leakages its only one thing to wash (so have at least two that you can use!)

3. Cot mobile (black and white)

To be hung right above the changing table and or cot. This is really something to distract them while they are lying down wondering what is going on

4. Musical lullaby for cotside

Another distraction method – also very good for “training” them that its sleep time when they hear that tune – Or you could sing to them I suppose….

5. Some kind of routine

I know, I know – some people are so opposed to the idea of routines. But for me it kept my sanity in those dark days of lots of feeds and naps. It really builds a kind of structure to the day so you have a basic idea of why your baby is crying (and believe me they cry a hell of a lot – its their only way they can communicate) Having a  routine means you can have an inkling that they may be either tired or hungry (or wet or bored – but they can usually ignore those two for a while)

 I have to say I used a lot of elements from Gina Ford’s Contented Little Baby Book (but ignored a lot of her precise instructions) – and the Baby Whisperer uses a similar structure

6. A breast pump (if you are breast feeding)

Let me just say that breast feeding is wonderful. Its free, its easy (once you two have got the hang of it) and its so much more convenient than bottles. So it is worth persevering. BUT to start with it does hurt – well come on, your nipples have never had that much attention lavished on them (unless you are in an altogether different profession!) and for the first few weeks I did wonder why I was bothering. But now 6 months on, I am loving the fact that I don’t have to remember to take sterilised bottles, bibs, milk powder out with me and find somewhere to warm his milk, I can just discretely feed him when he needs it.

But back to the breast pump. I would say if you are starting out breast feeding, try using a breast pump to express a little bit every morning for the first few weeks/months. The advantages are that you build up a supply of expressed milk you can store in the freezer for later, but more than that you understand how your breasts work. Sounds weird – well again your breasts have never had to perform that function before so it can be a bit daunting. But if you can find a quiet place each day to express you can learn how much milk you have, what positions are the most comfortable/best for milk expression. OK I’ll leave it there. But I just wanted to say I found it really useful

7. Their own room

A contentious one this one. But I put both my kids into their own room to sleep from about 4 weeks old (I think – my memory of those dark days isn’t at its best!) Some would say its cruel for such a small baby – but I found it  meant that both the baby and the parents slept better (maybe cos we couldn’t hear each others night snuffles) and meant there wasn’t such a problem getting them used to their own rooms later. Plus it meant that we felt that we had some privacy in our rapidly kiddie filled day!

8. A sense of humour

Believe me, the dark days of night feeding / sore nipples / sore everything do eventually sort themselves out and even though you do some times who this alien creature is who is turning your life upside down, you do realise that you love them more than anything you have ever loved before

You don’t need…

1. Moses baskets (they grow out so quickly)

2. A baby bath – well beyond the first month or so (borrow one!!)

3. Lots of newborn clothes – believe me they grow so quickly they won’t wear half of them (and then you feel guilty)

4. Fiddly clothes with lace and ribbons – newborns are difficult to dress at the best of times

5. Complicated travel systems – borrow a 2nd hand pram for the first 4-6 months then get a lightweight umbrella-folding Maclaren type thing