A time to blog

After being informed by my other half that blogging is the new black I thought I’d give it a go and write about my lovely little boy and the various milestones we reach as he grows.

At present, my son Tobin, is nearly 17 weeks old and growing rapidly. So far I’ve kept a diary from the day I found out I was pregnant in January 2008 to Christmas 2008 and I’ve been trying to write in it since then but I just can’t seem to find the time to sit and write. I know it seems strange that I can write a blog but can’t write in a book but as bad as it sounds, its easier and quicker to write on here and thankfully Tobin goes down early most nights so I’ve got a bit of free time.

Tobin was born on the 30th September 2008 and nothing has been the same since, but in a very good way. He was a late baby going the full 14 days over, despite having an induction booked at 12 days over (the induction was postponed for a day and then I was in hospital for a full day before we managed to get contractions going to get him out)! I found it interesting hearing all of the “methods” for bringing on labour, none of the ones I tried worked but I left out the most common ones such as curry (because I don’t like it) and sex (because I was massive and in no way felt inclined, neither did my other half). I have a friend who is overdue at the moment and she’s busy eating pineapple and drinking raspberry leaf tea but to no avail.

This is my little boy about half an hour after he was born. I had a cuddle straight away but then had to be stitched up so he went over to Daddy for a long awaited cuddle. We didn’t find out the sex before the birth and I was so pleased we waited. I had previously joked that I was having a boy because the baby was misbehaving and refusing to come out and a few days before I finally had him, I dreamt that I’d given birth and it was a boy (the dream birth was much faster and no way near as tiring as the actual birth). I think we will do the same with any future pregnancies, much to the disappointment of the families especially my sister who was dying to buy gender specific clothes etc and hated having to wait. We had no preference as to the sex but I’m pleased to have had a boy purely because my side of the family is relatively boy free. There are only two boys in a generation of 8 children so I’m happy to have boosted the numbers.

After an over-night stay in hospital (due to me having Group B strep so Tobin had to be kept under observation) we were unleashed into the big bad world as parents and I can honestly say I was scared as hell. All of the books in the world can’t prepare you for the moment when realise that you are now responsible for this life which is totally dependant on you. Thinking about it now, it wasn’t too bad but I don’t think either me or Paul (my other half) relaxed for some time after bringing Tobin home, everything is so new and babies seem so fragile so everything takes ages to do because you’re so petrified of doing something wrong or hurting him. We made sure that we took a lot of pictures once we’d got him home, here’s one of tobin with Daddy at two days old so he’s been home for a day.

For Paul’s side of the family, Tobin was a very special arrival as he is the first grandchild and as such is spoilt rotten and adored. Not that he isn’t by my side of the family but you can definitely see the difference between first time beaming grandparents and my family who have been through it before. We maintain that Tobin will be able to Proud Grandad Banner smash up Grandad Steve’s house (Paul’s father) and still be as brilliant as ever, that is certainly one Grandparent he’s got wrapped around his little finger. Even at their first meeting we could tell Tobin would get his own way…see for yourselves! He also has a very doting Grannie who can’t get enough of him and Great-Grandparents who are eager to babysit and constantly remind us that being a Grandparent is a joy as you can hand the child back at the end of the day.

So after a delayed start I’m a Mum and I absolutely love it. Had I known how having children would make me feel and the change in outlook it would bring about in me, I think I would have tried for a baby earlier. For the longest time I wasn’t sure about having children, it just didn’t appeal to me but then something changed and all of a sudden it felt right. I guess there is something to the biological clock thing because there was a definite change in me and I knew I wanted to have kids and the sooner the better. Thankfully we were lucky and after only a few months of being off the pill I found out I was pregnant.

I think I’ll leave it here for now and post more later, I get carried away because there is so much to write about. Loads more to come!