Days 0-4

Martin writes: Bit of a blur, as I'm sure all parents will remember and understand. We're meant to nap while Edward is sleeping, so we can be primed when he needs feeding or changing. Supposedly he needs little else right now, but he does need looking at every twenty seconds in case he stops breathing (no, he hasn't), and anyway he's cute and we love him to bits and want to enjoy every second of these early days. Fortunately with two of us to share the duties, we can each have a quiet time to get some ZZZs while the other one is on Edwatch.

The midwives have visited every day so far. Normally they don't visit on day 3 but this time Coleen did visit for the heel prick test (blood drawn through the heel for testing), due to his early Friday birth making this earliest day the test can be done and still mailed to the lab in Portland for analysis. He is a tough little guy and barely noticed the cuts, even though Coleen needed to do an unprecedented three to get four drops of blood for testing. He seems to have Beth's miserly genes for giving blood for tests.

Beth is on a week's bedrest, so the downstairs is currently the Manzone, with only the three male cats, Edward and myself allowed to roam. I take Edward down to the manzone when Beth needs a shower or full Edless rest, and Ed and I dance and chat together, listen to music, and generally enjoy the heightened testosterone levels.

Edward has my eyes and Beth's penchant for sneezes in twos. He seems a very calm baby, possibly because we are using the 5 S's method for calming him.

1) Swaddling - he's tied tightly in a swaddle wrap to prevent him upsetting himself with flailing arms and legs. This mimics his constricted position in  the womb and is comforting.

2) Side-lying - avoids triggering the startle reflex newborn babies have when lying on their backs.

3) Shushing - loudly, it mimics the blood rushing and belly gurglings from the womb and is comforting. The womb noise level is louder than a vacuum cleaner, so there's no danger of hurting his hearing.

4) Swinging - mimics the jiggling in the womb and is comforting. Thanks to Beth's colleague Heidi for the Jiggleator, it's giving me a free pair of hands when Ed is sleeping downstairs, useful for typing blogs and stuff.

5) Sucking - babies like to suck, breast, or finger or pacifier. Breast is best because it's nutriative, finger works fine if he's done feeding recently and we know his marble-sized stomach is full. We're not using pacifiers on midwife's advice. They may come later if needed, though we're not great fans of them generally.

Score!

Trusty grasp reflex

Chilling with Dad.

This one reminds me of Edward's cousin Evan, who is now three.

Wassup?

Ed loves to check himself out in the changing room mirror.

Lying in the bath of Mary.

Beth's Aunt Mary kindly bought this bathtub for us, and it's had its first use. He's a little young for a full bath yet, but due to a powerful jet of uncaught pee I decided to give him a  warm spongebath and wipe down. He was less than impressed at first, but I think he warmed to it.

A strategically placed cloth defends Ed's modesty and keeps his umbilical stump dry. It is drying nicely and should drop off at around ten days.

Drying off in a duck bathtowel that Beth's Aunt Irene bought for him.

Wrapped. We have two different purpose-made swaddling cloths, this one which is almost like a straight jacket, and another which Edward's Uncle Chris and Aunt Maureen bought for him.

Untroubled.

Troubled. This pic is taken in low light and comprises several shots (the camera does it all), so it's a bit blurred, but I liked the expression.

Early Monday morning. We're downstairs in the Manzone giving Beth some rest time.

Swaddled in the Chris/Mo swaddle. This one is a bit harder to get really tight, so he often gets a hand up to his mouth before I'm done, but he likes it a lot. Both have convenient access for nappy changing without loosening the top half. This one is easier to do nappy changes in.

The Jiggleator. Sorry for the focus, I had it going. This was given to us by one of Beth's colleagues Heidi, so thank you Heidi! We were hesitating on getting one new, as some go side to side, some swing like a swing, and not all babies like both types. However Edward likes this one, and it freed my hands for other duties.

Ed being lulled by the Jiggleator.