two months and nothing to celebrate

Mums don't have a lot of good to say about "health visitors"... perhaps we're all so tired, and so emotional; and they so seldom have anything comforting or congratulatory to say, that the cumulative effect is bad karma. I'm not sure; but I can say that right now I'm feeling pretty hard done by. Today was Calvin's "six week check", altho' he is 2 months old. The negative feedback I got was:
a) he has poor head control (ie. no shoulder strength)
b) he is malnourished - only weighs 3.2kgs at 8 weeks
I'm gutted! I've felt horribly emotional about it all day. I followed the health visitor's advice and topped up his midday feed with formula. By 5:30pm he had vomited up most of his milk of the afternoon - all over himself, the car seat, zack's jacket. I think the hardest thing to stomach is the fact that I've been getting up 2 or 3 times a night to feed him, and he's "malnourished". It just all seems so pointless to me ! I'm hardly in good shape, I have very little patience, am exhausted and my reward - a starving baby ! Fanks alot.

an audience

Andy, my brother, arrived yesterday morning from Johannesburg, to spend 9 days with us. It is just fabulous having him here, and not just for me but for Zack and Keith and Calvin too - in order of enthusiasm! Andy has boundless "uncle-energy" for Zack and doesn't tire of the "do it again" demands. It's been a fun 2 days, and I'm looking very forward to a bit of "alone time" with Andy this week when m'lord is at nursery and out with Kelly at the library.

Calvin at 7 weeks yesterday - 18 October 2008

always a battle

I know there are quite a few parents who read this blog, and perhaps one of you can shed a little light on this issue : Why is it always a battle to get a toddler to do something ? They have no concept of time and punctuality. They will not get dressed. They will not get undressed. They will not put their shoes on. They will not go to bed. They will not get into the bath. They will not get out of the bath either. They choose the MOST horrendous moments for picking a fight - like when you are on the phone, and preferably long-distance. Or they throw a tantrum when your husband is on the phone to his boss.
And yet, they can be absolutely charming. Delightful. Innocence itself.
Who is this little Janus-faced monster-angel that inhabits our home ?

In the news : I see I'm not alone.. this poor mum in Munich, Germany, obviously got enough flack from her toddler to make a point. http://www.thelocal.de/14951/20081016/

sh*t city

On Sunday we took mum to a lovely lunch buffet at the Four Seasons Canary Wharf. We were enjoying our meal and taking it in turns to visit the buffet - child supervision in these environments is essential. I stood up to go and help myself to some lunch when I glanced down at Zack's bright blue shirt which had an enormous yellow semi-circle at the bottom. Oh boy ! that can only mean one thing... a HUGE poo ! Problem was that I didn't have any clean clothes for him, and when Keith looked in the baby bag, he couldn't find any wipes either. Sheesh! Zack certainly knows how to choose his moments. He has never missed an embarassing opportunity to poo. I dashed home for clean clothes, and Keith found some wipes on his second look in the baby bag.
We'd recently moved onto Pamper's Pull Up nappies which fit more snuggly than the Baby Dry brand - that could account for some of the mess. It was pretty awful, but thankfully no poo fell on the floor - I would have died if that'd happened. Keith and Zack ended up in the men's loo, where I dropped off the clean clothes. Suffice it to say, they returned clean and shiny and the rest of the afternoon passed without event. What a day!

the ordeal, part 2

Keith was ushered into an adjoining room once I was 'under', and within 10 minutes was aware that Calvin had been born. Obviously I have no memory of what happened, but he tells me that they had to get Calvin breathing and had him under the lights for a while, but he was soon passed to Keith. I'd lost about 3,5 litres of blood (freaks me out, just thinking about it!), so they had to transfuse about 4 units as well as giving me some platelets. Apparently I came out of theatre after 10pm, so it was more than 2 hours. I'm very grateful to the surgeon - she DID do a good job and I have a thin, red line below my current belly (overhang). There weren't really any stitches to see, they were the disolving type. I was pretty exhausted for most of Sunday and don't remember much.
On Monday morning, an old friend of mine, Pohgek, popped in to visit (she'd expected to find me in the antenatal ward, so was a bit surprised to find I'd had the baby) and I was horribly emotional when she walked in - bursting into tears and sobbing. But once I'd had my little moment, I felt much better and it was great to have company.
By Monday afternoon tho' I was feeling much, much better and on Monday night at 11pm they rolled me out of ICU/ HDU and to the post natal ward. I was pretty stoopid tho' and didn't take any pain-killers, so that when I woke up at around 2 or 3 am, I was in A-G-O-N-Y, and had a tiny baby to feed. Thankfully the midwife popped in, took a bottle of formula and fed Calvin while I sat in the bathroom sobbing from pain. Yeah ! the joys.
Tuesday I felt a bit better...
Wednesday I was ready to go home.

visual record : 4 to 5 weeks old

I've realised that there isn't nearly as much time to take photos of your second child as there were with the first. I'm trying to be good and force myself to do so, whenever the opportunity presents itself. Already I feel guilty as we have no videos of young Calvin in his early days - something I must remedy. These were all taken in the last week or so...

a family outing

On Sunday we headed out to the Natural History Museum with Zack, to see the Dinosaur exhibition. Yes, we've been before but that was during school holidays and it was insane. A rainy Sunday is a huge improvement, and he and Keith thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Afterwards we met up with Caryl, Claire, Pete & Liz (some of the Cape Town family) for tea on the Brompton Road. It was a fun afternoon and quite manageable.