Christmas countdown

As 2012 races towards its end, we look forward to the holidays and, of course, Wren-Lee's first Christmas.

Now, the song goes "All I want for Christmas is my two front teeth.." but Wren's already got those at the bottom so maybe the top two will appear as her gift. With all the festive cheer about, don't underestimate a child's ability to realise something's going on. 

Wren discovered Christmas decorations. Every time we take her into a shop, her little head whips to and fro looking for the decorations dangling from the ceiling or standing on a shelf. She gets terribly excited about them and we think we might have a small problem with our Christmas tree's emancipation from storage coinciding with her learning to crawl. Trevor's brilliant solution: leave fake gifts under the tree so she's drawn to them instead of the tree itself. 

It was this magnetic pull towards anything Christmas related that lead to the so-called Christmas outfit. My mom took her along to the store one day and decided to go through the baby clothing section. Wren grabbed a bib from her pram and my mom thought it was a sign that she must buy the matching romper. Together, they are Wren's official Christmas outfit. (See below) 

I had a good chuckle when I got sent the photo of this get up and thought it utterly ridiculous. After seeing it in person, I couldn't help but love it and now I'm embarrassed to say I'm looking for those baby reindeer antler headbands to go with it. 

No judgies; I'm a mom who likes to dress my kid up every now and then. 

And while I don't believe in getting Wren's a gift just yet because she still too young to understand the gesture, her father has already picked out her gift. Guess that means I'm going to have to wrap it and let her go a bit crazy on it come Christmas morning. 

Are my crazy friends and I having our Christmas party again this year? Yup, we are! Let me give you the stats: 24 people, a menu of more than 10 different dishes and 14 bottles of champagne. How many babies at this shindig? 0 :-) It's going to be quite a night! 

I still find it hard to believe that last Christmas I was very pregnant and had no idea how Wren would change my life for the better. I can't wait to see the excitement on her face when she rips the paper off her gift and have her sit with us at the table for Christmas lunch. What's even better is that my family from Pretoria is arriving in Cape Town and they'll meet her for the very first time. 

It may sound cheesy, but Wren-Lee is truly the best Christmas gift ever! 

Hell week

They say that when it rains, it pours...and that was certainly the case during what I shall now refer to as "Hell Week". Ten straight days of back-to-back disasters.

In the second week of my new job, my folks were in Durban and Wren-Lee was with my mom-in-law. On the Wednesday, she hurt her back and Trevor had to rush off to go and pick Wren up and take her back to work with him. That night were were supposed to attend the Linkin Park concert and Wren was meant to sleepover at my in-laws. After loads of phone calls and going back and forth on babysitters, I reluctantly decided to skip the concert. I sat on the couch that night sobbing because Linkin Park is my favourite band and my dream to see them perform live went up in smoke. I still haven't had the courage to look at the tickets again and it's been weeks since this incident.

Aside from the concert being a bust, we had a bigger problem: Who was going to look after Wren-Lee the next day? Trevor was flying to Durban at 6am and I absolutely had to be at work. Everyone we could think of was at work and we weren't prepared to leave her with someone she wasn't entirely familiar with. It was a complete miracle when our friends, Clint and Tanya Morris, called and said they'd rearranged their day to help us and take care of Wren. Nothing comes close to the relief we felt and the extreme gratitude to our friends who went above and beyond for us.

Wren was fine the next day and thoroughly enjoyed her time with Clint, Tanya and Chloe. That night, she accompanied me to a dinner with my new colleagues and charmed everyone. Everything was fine until the next morning. While I was busy getting ready, I put her on my bed with pillows to protect her. One second she was facing away from me and was right up against the pillow and I literally turned my back and then heard the thud. My heart stopped beating and I knew I would find her on the floor. Thankfully, she was perfectly fine, not a bump, bruise or scratch on her but that was the last time she was left on the bed unattended.

At this point I thought things could definitely not get worse...and then it did. I went to a shopping centre to pick up some goodies en route to a friend's house. Wren fell asleep in the store and I put her pram in the car's boot and then put her into the car. The car key was in my way and I through it into a cup holder. When I closed the car door, there was a click and the car locked itself with the key inside. Panic ensued. Thanks to some very helpful guys, it took 40 mins and a broken window but we managed to get the car unlocked. Wren slept through the entire ordeal. Trevor had to rush from the airport and found me in a bit of shock. The reality of what happened only hit me after the fact and I was quite emotional for the rest of the day.  My friends, sweethearts that they are, were on hand to medicate the situation with a healthy dose of vodka and cranberry. It worked well!

The crowning moment of the week came just a few days later. I pulled into my in-laws driveway to pick Wren-Lee up and my clutch broke. It was divine intervention that it happened there instead of on the freeway or, worse yet, when Wren was in the car with me. After quite a mission to get the car towed the next morning and trying to figure out how to get to work, I got the news that my entire clutch system needed to be replaced to the tune of a few thousand rand. By the end of that week, I was emotionally and financially depleted.

Looking back on it now, I can laugh at the comedy of disasters the week was. I'm thankful, however, that Wren was spared any harm or difficulty because she came a little too close there.

Late night runaround

Surprisingly often, we get asked by other parents and people in general if we sleep. Most assume that with a 9 month old who's got teeth coming out, has a will of her own and is likely going through separation anxiety, sleep is something we don't see much of. 

And then, of course, our response to this question is met with a mixture of shock, surprise, disappointment and just a sprinkling of "How'd you get so lucky?" 

Wren-Lee is still very much a creature of habit and politely lets us know around 7pm when she's tired and would like to be put into her cot. If it's early or later, we don't really mind and we take our cue from her. No point trying to force a kid to sleep if she's not ready or tired yet. 

But then that rare day comes along when she's totally disinterested in sleeping...like the other night for example. 

Two hours of playing, rolling, babbling, kicking, touching my face, playing with my hair and staring at her feet ensued before it took a chamomile tablet to get her to nod off. I was half asleep before she was and almost dosed off waiting for her to calm down. It was after 9pm before she was finally moved into her cot and I'm supposed to be in bed at 9:30pm. Fail. 

Now, not too many years ago, I would put on a revealing top, wear high heels and slap on the lipgloss before hitting the clubs. And we all know that 11pm is the best time to head out for a night on the town. 

Last night, I put on a billowy top, wore flip-flops and slapped on my spectacles before hitting a 24 hour pharmacy. I forgot to buy formula and didn't have enough for Wren's bottles. And we all know 11pm is the worst time to remember your kid needs milk for the next day. 

Oh...how times have changed. 

Guess my late nights are long gone. 

Who's the boss?

Yesterday was Boss's Day. Why bosses need a day is beyond me but, hey, it exists.

Our little boss got the day off from work. She went driving around with her Nan and had a good time showing off in the shops.

People are surprised that Wren-Lee goes to work with us most days of the week. Sure, we have the odd difficult day with her but we cope just fine usually. It's also given me valuable bonding time with her and she's grown quite comfortable in the work environment.

But she really is the little boss here.

Big Boss and Little Boss having a meeting

Let me check my calendar...oops, it's broken! 

Wren-Lee is the CEO - Child Entertainment Officer. While her GD (GrandDad) is the MD (Managing Director) and actually runs the business, she's in charge of providing happiness and smiles and maintaining the inventory of baby stuff in the office.

Our CEO has her own stamp comprised of her hand and her saliva.
Laptop working correctly? Stamp!
Desk making the right sound when tapped? Stamp!
Documents need checking? Stamp!
Phone ringing at the correct volume? Stamp!

She also regularly does roll tests on the board room table to make sure it is indeed level. Other tasks include welcoming visitors for meetings, laughing as often as possible so it doesn't get too quiet and rearranging everyone's desks on an hourly basis so you actually see all the work you might have pushed elsewhere.

The CEO is also the only staff member who does all her snacks and lunch like clockwork and she's allowed regular naps in her "cubicle"; a camper cot in her dad's office.

Honestly, I'm going to miss working with her. I'm starting a new job in less than two weeks and our time together is being drastically reduced. It's been a wonderful blessing to spend so much time with her till now and she's grown independent enough to be ok with not seeing much of me from now on.

And while my new office has crazy staff, two French bulldogs and a magnificent view, it takes quite a lot to replace my CEO.

Waiting and watching

I see I've been taking long gaps between blog posts. Life is a bit hectic right now and it's difficult to find space and time to write. For Wren-Lee though, life is just peachy. 

She's finally mastered rolling. Yippeee! But, like Derek Zoolander, she only turns to the left. Seriously. Model tendancies with this one. 

I like putting her on one end of our bed and watching (and filming) her roll all the way to the other side. Don't worry, I'm a mom who's all about safety so there are a lot of pillows to keep her safe. 

While rolling is fun and really cute, it's what's happening in her mouth that has everyone on tenterhooks. We can see her first tooth waiting just under that surface of her gum. Her eczema is flaring up, her tummy is wonky, she chews everything in sight and she's been sleeping quite a lot during the day. It's obvious her body is prepping for that tooth to erupt. 

We are still very fortunate that she's quite calm and hasn't been really sick. Everyone's hoping that her teething will be without much incident but only time will tell. At this stage, it looks like we may have a tooth within a week or two. 

I'm still trying to understand the whole "pancake" association with baby's first tooth. Although I have faith in Google's wisdom, I haven't found anything or anybody who can explain it to me or where it comes from. So, while we wait for this tooth, I'll see if I can dig up some history on the pancake thing and hopefully I'll have an answer soon. 

Roll, roll it girl, roll it girl.

Watching a small human learn how to become mobile is probably one of the most entertaining bits of parenting. This small creature not only has to discover it's own body, but then has to work out how to coordinate these newly acquired bits and pieces to achieve some sort of motion. It's quite a lot of work. 

Wren-Lee could roll from her tummy to her back at 3 months already. A necessary step for a child who seems to live by the motto "Work smarter, not harder". She refuses to hold her own bottle although she can, rolls off her tummy if she's feeling lazy and pretends to cry to get our attention if she's tossed her dummy somewhere that she can't reach. Yup, she's got this efficiency thing down. 

But when it came to rolling from her back to her tummy, it took a bit of effort from everyone. I spent hours teaching her to tuck her arm in so she could shift her weight. We rolled her back and forth as often as possible so she'd get used to the movement. Eventually, she seemed to understand what to do and began attempting it on her own. (And cue "Eye of the tiger") 

This resulted in a small baby contortionist act. Wren twisted her body into the most bizarre shapes as she tried to master this new skill. I've seen S shapes, Q shapes, a pretzel and a few yoga poses in the mix. She also got herself tangled in her playgym trying to roll over. 

Finally, she worked out her own little system and does manage to roll but it takes some effort. And after the hard work it took just to get this right, the kid has discovered a new challenge: Once she's on her tummy, how does she move forward? Oh well, guess we better prepare ourselves for learning to crawl soon. 

Who's upside down: you or me? 

Chubby cheeks

If you look back at photos of Wren-Lee, you'll notice that she's quite petite and not quite as fat and squishy as other babies. That's because we had no idea that she was a skinny kid. In fact, she was a full kilogram underweight for her height.

We took her to a dietician who specialises in paediatric nutrition. Yes, we also didn't know someone like that exists. Turns out she knows her stuff and gave us a simple solution to the problem: we add a supplement to Wren-Lee's formula which provides extra kilojoules. The canister of soft powder is probably every dieter and model's nightmare.

So, she's been on the supplement for about 6 weeks now and gained weight really well. We discovered that her digestive system didn't like rice cereal so her solids diet consists of yummy fruits and vegetables (which she LOVES!). We'll be introducing protein into the mix soon in the form of chicken and we get to try the cereal again but this time it'll be brown rice cereal which is an unrefined wholegrain and likely to not aggravate her reflux.

And now that the boring nutrition lesson is done, the proof is in the pudding (or so they say). In our case, it's our little pudding face. Here's a before and after pic so you can see that our little bird has chubby cheeks :-)

Before

After

Sickly Mommy = Sickly Monkey

It comes as no surprise that Wren-Lee is sick. Being around my germy germs isn't exactly good for a kid who no longer has the protection of Supermom's awesome antibodies. But what did come as a surprise was just how sick Wren-Lee is.

I was booked off work for two days with flu and told to be careful around kiddo. That meant little contact and having my hands drenched in sanitiser. We sent Wren-Lee off to my mom in law for the day so I could rest and recover. Unfortunately, she didn't have a good day and was miserable when she came home. She hadn't slept well, was struggling to drink her milk and burst into tears for anything and everything. Fortunately, we planned ahead and made a doctors appointment for the next morning just in case. And then came the puking. We all know how much I love the puking.

We did the best we could to try to help her but sleep just wasn't on the cards. I was up till sometime after 3am and spent that time singing "Incy Wincy Spider" and "Jesus loves me, this I know", rocking back and forth and I even turned the bathroom into a steam room to help with decongestion. By 5:30am she was unhappily awake. I looked and felt like the walking dead and Trev wasn't much better either.

We called the doctors office and had her appointment moved up by 2 hours because there was no way she could endure any more lack of sleep, coughing, sneezing and being unable to keep her food down. Doctor told us she has a really bad cold. Thankfully nothing to be concerned about. However, her symptoms were so bad because this was the first time her immune system had to fly solo. It was over-compensating slightly.

With meds in hand, I fed Wren, bathed her, got her comfy and she's been sleeping for over 2 hours now. I, on the other hand, aren't sleeping at all. I'm on cortisone and the medication keeps me awake. Not great for someone who's had like 2 hours of sleep. My brain literally doesn't know what to do with the mixed "Sleep" and "Awake" signals. So please don't be alarmed if my eyes start fading, my heads starts drooping, this keyboard starts to look awfully comfy and then vgsgrw4rfewr4efesw4erewvgftftr3wfew4rweftrwszdx...zzz...

Uh oh, Mommy's not feeling so good

Somebody really needs to write a book called "Stuff about being a new mom nobody bothers to tell you" 

For example, nobody tells you how stinky baby poo becomes as they get older. Nobody tells you when you should take your kid to the paediatrician or when a trip to the GP will suffice. Nobody tells you that sometimes you and your husband will fight over whether or not the baby's bottle is the right temperature. This  is important stuff. Why don't they tell you this?!

I think Chapter 3 of "Stuff about being a new mom nobody bothers to tell you" will be dedicated to what happens when mom gets sick. The internet and my baby books are filled to the brim with info on what to do when the baby is sick but there's nothing about mom taking ill. There's no paragraph on feeling guilty because you're sick. No subsection explains how to deal with relying on hubby to do the evening feeds, settling baby down to sleep for the night and then prepping the bottles for the next day. There isn't a little footer for hubby saying what he should and shouldn't pack in the baby's bag and he can't ask wifey because she's sleeping already. 

Come on man, why didn't anybody write about this before? 

I shall break the chapter down into "You're sick. Just rest and get better" and then for the dads there's "How to multitask like Mom" and a blank section called "Mom's emergency notes, use only in case of Mom illness" where I'd write down all the little details Trevor wouldn't know. 

I'm writing all this in a bid to make light of the situation. I genuinely feel awful and I'm headed off to the doctor as soon as I'm done typing. 

My heart is heavy because I'm torn between needing to care for myself and wanting to care for Wren-Lee. The time I spend with her in the evening is precious and I don't give it up easily. But it would be unfair of me to handle her when I'm not healthy and I risk getting her sick too. 

Trevor did some heavy persuading to get me to make an appointment to get checked out and he's assured me he can do Daddy Duty so I can take it easy. I suspect I'll be fielding many questions but rather that than eventually ending up in hospital with something that started off as just a sinus infection (at least that's what I think I have). 

I really do wish a book had told me that something as silly as a little cold could bring up so many conflicting emotions. This moment of vulnerability reminds me that even Supermom has kryptonite. Mine happens to be my sinus and an unwillingness to accept that sometimes in putting my needs first, I'm actually doing what's best for Wren. 

Chapter 4 of "Stuff about being a new mom nobody bothers to tell you" should be, "You're human. It's ok." 

Grow, grow, grow the kid...

Oh.My.Shattered.Nerves.My.Kid.Is.Growing.Up.Waaaaaaay.Too.Fast *proud crying face*!!!!!!!!!!

The little monkey that I feel was born just yesterday is now 5 months old. She grabs things, stands up, baths sitting upright, sometimes sits by herself with some support from the couch, holds her own teething toy and has worked out that her milk is in the bottle.

Soon she'll be holding her own cutlery and literally throwing her toys around and there will be teeth. It's too cute!

The last few days have seen some massive changes. She's not gaining enough weight despite getting the maximum feed so we started mixing formula into her milk. Well, we were supposed to gradually change the ratio of breast milk to formula over 2 weeks but she just took the formula as is after 3 days. Coupled with that, she's been showing all the signs of being ready to start solids so Trevor and I made her first taste of rice cereal her 5 month birthday celebration.

I was so nervous about giving her cereal. I was still Googling and reading my baby books about 20mins before her feed. Honestly, hosting a live TV show was less stressful than giving a small child mushy food. Anyhoo, she had her milk and thankfully didn't drink the full amount so I used the leftover bit to mix into the cereal.

Trevor stood ready with his phone (I must have everything in a digital format for posterity. Nerd!), we got her into her bouncing chair and I made sure the cereal was runny so she could just taste it. She was pretty confused at first but kept on accepting little spoonfuls although most of it ended up outside of her mouth. She tried getting her hand into the cup I had the cereal in and also tried to take the spoon from me because she doesn't know what on earth it is or what it does. All in all, it went quite well and she will officially be getting her little dose of porridge before bedtime.

"I'm happy about this food stuff"

"I wanna hold the spoon Mommy."

Now all this will contribute to her increased growth and prosperity. The downside is the effect all this has on me. Besides being super proud to see my girl grow, it also means I'm no longer breastfeeding. Let me tell you; having one's boobs decommissioned isn't pleasant. I'm pretty sure my bra size changes by about four cup sizes during the day and I wake up in the morning looking like I got silicone implants from the night before. Ja, it's quite something.

Also now that I'm no longer the milk machine, I can officially drink again. Woohooo!!! It's Woman's Day tomorrow, we're going away for a few days and there's a braai tomorrow night with friends. Guess who'll celebrating her kid's independence with a glass or two of vino :-)

Here's to you Wren-Lee!!!!!!!!!!

*Being 5 months old is tiring*

Baby BFFs

Every kid needs friends. Wren-Lee has a few already but the magic happens when they're together...like last weekend at the Morris house.

So our friend Clint had a birthday and our troop were invited to his house. That means 4 little people all in the same place at the same time. Not for the faint of heart. We call it a baby convention. 

When you have an 18 month old, 6 month old, 5 month old, 3 month old and a newborn in the same place, there's a lot of baby swapping, feeding, diaper changing and general madness going on. Car seats, baby bags, blankets, burp cloths and bibs are EVERYWHERE. And surprisingly the non-parent people there still socialise with us and our kindergarten. There was a LOL moment when we saw that Wren-Lee and Sienna were wearing the same dress and had matching dummies for the day. 

Anyway, Wren-Lee loves other kids. It's a fairly new fascination and we were keen to see how she'd react to having her buddies around. Because there's only a 4 week age gap, Sienna is the kid Wren-Lee is most likely to react to and she reacted pretty loudly. She tried every kind of yell she had and Sienna responded by staring blankly back at her and then looked at me as if to say,"I don't get this kid. Why is she yelling at me?" 

The second attempt went slightly better. We had the girls on a mat and got them to sit facing each other. Sienna grabbed Wren-Lee's feet because she liked the multicolour stripes on her tights while Wren grabbed the bow on Sienna's sunhat. Eventually they were on the tummies and Wren-Lee was overjoyed to see Sienna's blue eyes in front of her. Sienna, however, wasn't too keen on being on her tummy and that game didn't last very long. 

Just when we thought we lucked out with miss SJ, a special moment happened. While Natalie and I were standing side by side holding our girls, Sienna reached out and held Wren's hand. Thanks to my and Natalie's  squealing at this tiny gesture of friendship, Trev quickly snapped a pic of the girls although Sienna had let go by then. 

And then there's Gabriella. As the oldest of the lot, she's had to learn how to deal with all these small kids including her own brand new baby brother. Gabs is super affectionate and loves to hug and kiss all the babies. This particular afternoon, the affection was on a whole other level. 

I was sitting on the couch with Wren-Lee seated between my legs. Gabs came running along, gave Wren a hug and hopped onto the couch to sit next to me. She leaned over and I knew she was going to kiss my kiddie. 

What started out as a cute little kiss became Gabs sticking out her tongue and licking Wren's face from chin to cheek. It was hilarious and Wren-Lee just sat there totally mystified by what happened! 

You just don't get this kind of stuff happening under normal circumstances but, then again, there really is nothing normal about my friends and all our kids. 

This one's for Mea...

I'm extremely blessed to have wonderful friends and even more blessed that five of us have been pregnant together. Just before I was supposed to write my next post a few weeks ago, I learnt that one of my dearest friends, Tanya, was having trouble with her pregnancy. 

She went into premature labour and then developed pneumonia so she was in hospital for some time. At that point, I didn't feel right about writing about Wren-Lee when I was so worried about Tanya and baby Mea. 

Fortunately, Tanya recovered well and eventually was discharged. A mere 24 hours later, she was readmitted and Mea had to be prematurely delivered at only 26 weeks of gestation. Sadly, Mea deteriorated rapidly after birth and passed away a few hours later. 

Our circle of friends is heartbroken for Tanya and Louis. We were also excited for the little girl who would be the youngest of our brood. Many tears were shed at Mea's beautiful memorial service and we continue to keep Tanya and Louis in our prayers as they slowly process and recover from this tragedy. 

Mea, you were and are still loved by so many. You left this world completely pure and innocent and we hope you are happy and safe. 

We miss you...

Un-fun

Like most things in life, parenting has its ups and downs. We've had a pretty good up run with Wren-Lee so the down had to come along eventually...we just didn't think it would be quite so steep a slope.

Sending out an SOS

On Saturday night, Wren-Lee decided she just wasn't going to sleep after her last feed. I left her to babble and laugh in her cot which she did for almost 3 hours. Eventually, I figured I'd just top up her feed seeing as it had been so long since her last one. She had her fill and I held her upright for a burp. Instead of a pleasant belch, I was drenched with milky puke. It was down my chest, over my shoulder, all over my fluffy winter gown and even my PJ bottoms were soaked on one side. Totally freaked out, I had Trev grab her and get her cleaned up while I ran around looking for clean PJs and generally trying to stay away from the precipice of a small nervous breakdown. She, of course, was happily laughing as Mommy ran around trembling like a flower in the wind while Daddy smiled and got her into fresh clothes. 

When I need order in my life, I clean. In a desperate bid to calm down and process the volume of milk my small child had just vacated from her tummy, I got stuck into hanging up laundry. Dumb, I know, but it helps me get a grip and I was trying not to hide in a corner and sob. She vomited again not half and hour later. This time it's all over Trevor and thankfully missed her clothes. I took charge of clean up this time and we ended up staying up till almost midnight to watch over her as she went back to sleep. The next morning, she's all fine and we have no problems all day. We also chose to not give her the medication she usually has for her reflux as it had made her vomit a few days prior. 

Monday afternoon comes along and we get a call from Trev's mom who informs us that Wren had been throwing up again and it's mostly slime. We rush over to get her and manage to sneak in an appointment with the paediatrician. Kiddo didn't enjoy having her ears and nose checked out but the diagnosis is good: A sinus infection which we caught right before it went down into her airways. It was all the infected mucous heading down into her stomach that made her so sick. The doc also says it's ok for her to go off the meds for her reflux and we can see if she no longer needs it. 

So, the following day, what do you do with a sick baby? You take her to work! It made sense seeing as my mom was in the office and we could keep an eye on her. Wren-Lee helped with filing, learnt how to do a bank account recon, read my e-mails and played with GD's new iPhone cover :-) All in all, it was a good day and we figured our little person was feeling much better. 

Well, she had other ideas. I let her fall asleep on my chest or in my arms straight after her last feed for just a few days. That night, I put her to bed when she was tired but awake and she was not having it. With my patience tested to the absolute limit and lots of deep breathing, I sat next to her cot and waited as she fought against sleeping. Please note; I'd come home, fed her, cleaned up the house, made dinner, went straight to Pilates and endured a killer workout, came home and fed her again and was now dealing with this. I hadn't eaten and I hadn't taken a break in hours. And so I waited and watched. Eventually, she figured out what her comfort blanket was for and nodded off. 

As I forced myself to eat dinner at 22:30, still sitting next to her cot because she kept on waking briefly, I knew that this was the start of the not-so-nice part of parenting: The exhaustion from a busy day, a small child who's sick and can't tell you what's wrong, having to exercise an enormous amount of patience and by far my least favourite, being puked on. 

I knew when we got into this that it wasn't going to be all moonshine and roses. I don't mind all the other stuff and it was kind of nice to feel like a real parent. This story does have an upside though. After a solid night's sleep, I woke up before Wren-Lee (for a change). As I woke her up, she turned her little face to mine and greeted me with a big smile. I could see she was content and I knew all the drama before was worth it. There's not much that could dampen how much I love my kid and how much joy she brings. As long as we can keep the puke to a minimum, I'll go through all the sickness, the tiredness and the tantrums for years to come. 

Momma's gotta work

After 4 fabulous months, I have returned to civilisation and can now add "Working mom" to my CV.

For most people, this transition is really difficult but our family is adjusting with only minor hiccups. We're still getting the hang of leaving on time but that's going to take a while to perfect. Packing Wren-Lee up is a bit of a mission but we get better at it every day. Also, we've been spoilt with days where she's been at work with us. It's been great having her at the office and fortunately it's quiet enough for us to get on with our tasks and spend time with her.

Trevor's desk became a changing table 

Her transition hasn't been altogether smooth. She has a bit of separation anxiety and doesn't really like going to other people, even her grandparents. So, Day One was quite a drama with lots of screaming and crying and it took a bit of walking around with her daddy and a chamomile tablet to calm her down so we could leave. The next time we dropped her off was much easier and we slipped away while Granny changed her diaper. Hopefully, she'll continue getting better and I'm praying she'll grow out of the "stranger danger" fearfulness. Everyone wants to hold her and play with her and she goes off like an alarm with almost everyone the instant she realizes we aren't holding her anymore.

I have to admit that being at work does make me feel more normal. I'm not stuck in Mommy mode 24/7 and I can feel other sections of my brain coming back to life after many months of rest. Getting through the day isn't bad but I do start to miss her really badly at about lunchtime and she ends up getting massive hugs and kisses when we pick her up. Thankfully, Trevor can share my sentiments. The fact that we work together also means we've suddenly got more time together and it's been good for us.

Now the fun bit is seeing how long her grandparents will let us go through a day without asking for her to come pop in at the office.

Chips! My blogging time is up; boss man just got into the office after 2 weeks away.

Momma's gotta work....

Daddy, oh Daddy...

Camp Drayton was incredibly excited for Trevor's first Father's Day. Sadly, Trev's father passed away many years ago and I know he thinks of his dad particularly on Father's Day so, I wanted to make the day special for him.

First up was getting the right card. Knowing Trevor's love for Winnie the Pooh, I managed to find a Winnie card that looked like it had been written by a child. All Wren-Lee had to do was add her own little message and the card was sorted. (Yes folks, she can write *wink*) 

Next was spoiling him with a lovely lunch. He'd been wanting to go to Beluga for weeks and we managed to get a booking on one of the busiest days of the year. It was really great for us to be out for a meal. Trevor was extremely proud to show off his daughter to fellow patrons and staff and she happily babbled while we enjoyed our food. 

Of course, we had to go wish her GD. Buying a gift for my dad is usually a nightmare. The man literally has everything and the things he wants nobody can afford. Fortunately, I had a rare brilliant gifting idea for my dad and found him a great scarf. I didn't think he'd be all excited about a scarf but he was. Subsequently, he wore it every day this past week and even wears it with his PJs and gown while watching TV. My mom says he's all sentimental about it because the gift is from Wren. Shame, he can be so cute sometimes. 

Every year, my dad delivers what I call the Father's Day Gem. He usually says or does something hilarious and I share it on Facebook or Twitter. This year's one was definitely a classic: As we were leaving my folks' house, he went to say greet to Wren-Lee with this line, "Good-bye you little mothersucker." 

Yup, that's my dad. 

But the following day, we heard that Trev had to go to Jo'burg on business and he would miss Wren-Lee's 14 week shots later in the week. I'm really glad he wasn't there. 

She was tired, miserable and cried bitterly. I had to calm her down after she was weighed and measured and she wasn't happy about being undressed for all that. Obviously the injections were painful and she screamed but calmed down pretty quickly once I had her in my arms. The rest of the day was fine and I let her sleep a bit longer before her last feed so she could be awake when Trev arrived home that night. One would think that a baby her age wouldn't be too bothered if she didn't see her father for 24 hours. Well, Trevor woke her  and her face lit up with the biggest smile I've ever seen when she realised who was holding her. Needless to say, she was awake till much later than usual, playing and babbling to her father. 

As much as he'd deny it, Wren-Lee's got her daddy wrapped around her finger. When he's not promising her ponies, he's telling her how he's going to take her to visit Uncle Sandro and Aunty Nicci in London and then they'll going snowboarding in Switzerland before doing every possible ride at Disneyworld in Orlando. But, even if he never gives her a pony or takes her overseas, I already know that she'll never say he didn't give her all the love in the world and that's what matters most. 

3 month roll over

Oh wow, kiddo is 3 months old already! 

It's like she hit the 12 week mark and became the HD version of herself. The personality is starting to show, she focuses intensely on faces and sounds and its clear she's learning language, she reaches for toys and has discovered that snuggling into my chest or neck is an awesome way to fall asleep. 

My favourite development is her sense of humour. She doesn't laugh at just any old thing and Trevor and I seem to be really funny in her eyes. When she laughs, it comes from her belly first and then she shrieks with delight. The whole thing is funny and the more we laugh at her, the more she laughs at us. 

Her other new trick is the late night babble. Her last feed is somewhere between 20:30 and 21:30 and around this time she feels the need to converse. And she's loud about it too. We've put her to bed once before and she spat out her dummy and babbled so loudly that we just took her out and put her in our bed where she carried on for another half hour. It's as if she must exhaust her "talking quota" for the day and waits until we're tired and we want to go sleep before she unleashes the torrent of gurgles, coos, shrieks and vowel sounds she's devised as her vocabulary. They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. Trevor is really not looking forward to the day when the apple starts speaking rapid fire and with enormous verbal volume like the tree he's been listening to for the last decade. 

Her 3 month check-up was good. She only weighs 4kgs but she's reached all her developmental milestones and her paediatrician says she's pretty strong for such a small kid; dynamite in a small package :-) He told me the average baby gains 2.5-3.5kgs between the 3 and 6 month visits. Because she's so small, he's adjusted his weight goal for her and she only has to gain 1.5kgs. He also said the average baby weighs about 6kgs at 3 months. He hopes she weighs that much at 6 months. 

Unfortunately, her visit to the doctor was on a crazy stormy day and we braved heavy rain to be out and about. As we drove from his office, I got to watch something incredibly beautiful: Wren-Lee staring at the rain falling against the car window and slowly falling asleep. There was something about the way the light just softened around her face, how peaceful she was and the rain drops in the background...I will never forget that sight. 

And then came something totally unexpected. She's only just started enjoying being on her tummy and I popped her onto her playgym mat on my bed. She was up for a few minutes and then flopped over to one side. I thought it was the bed or that she couldn't hold herself up anymore. So I put her on her tummy again and she flopped over. I saw that she wasn't falling randomly. She was shifting her weight. I quickly transferred her to the floor and she did it one more time but to the opposite side and it dawned on me that she intentionally rolled over. I went beserk and she just laughed at me. Wren-Lee can officially roll. 

While this is pretty exciting, it also means we have to watch her really carefully from now on. Once babies master rolling from tummy to back, they quickly figure out how to do it from back to tummy and that means they can roll off anything which is dangerous. She'll be spending a lot more time playing under close supervision and watching the world from her rocker chair. 

Shame, it's such a pity all this excitement is going to be followed by her 14 week shots. 

That's not going to be fun. 

Daddy Daycare

It's almost embarrassing that the first time Trevor got to fly solo with Wren-Lee happened when she was 11 weeks old. You'd think that, being her father, this would've occurred much earlier but it just didn't. So, it was about time he had quality time with his daughter.

The other yummy mummies and I decided to have breakfast together. It just so happened that in planning our gathering, we all decided that our husbands should look after their girls. Duane also hadn't looked after Sienna for an extended period of time and Clint was very eager to get Chloe to himself for a few hours even though she's only 2 weeks old.

Carlyn, Natalie and I advised Tanya on her first time expressing milk and I got my bottle ready for Trevor. My beloved baby daddy wasn't very impressed that I was quizzing him on details and he got me out of the house as fast as he could.

Carlyn, Nats, Tanya M, Tanya B and I had a good laugh when we all arrived at the cafe because it was so odd for us to be together without babies. It was a necessary change for all of us though. We needed a break and had a lovely time chatting over coffee, breakfast and cake.

Obviously, all our phones were on the table and we joked about whether or not the guys would cope. We were quite proud that we didn't get any distress calls and Clint and Trevor had no problems with bottle feeding. The girls were quite fine except for one unusual thing: They didn't sleep well. Sienna and Wren-Lee didn't sleep as long as they usually do and Chloe didn't want to sleep at all. Fortunately, it wasn't a problem for anyone.

Clearly, we didn't give the boys the credit they deserve. We underestimated just how capable they are and how well they know their kids.

Trevor has called me out on my lack of trust in his ability to look after Wren-Lee and I've admitted to not trusting him enough. He's happy to spend quality time with her and it's good that he also gets to experience taking care of her without me playing "backseat parent". But now that I know he's quite fine on his own, I think I shall make myself scarce more often.

Daddy Daycare is on duty :-)

Little big person

For someone so small, Wren-Lee has quite a life. The last few weeks have been a good example of just how big this little dinky toy's world is becoming.

She's been to Decorex, the Waterfront, quite a few restaurants, Canal Walk, did a stroll around the block on a sunny day, tagged along to my Pilates class and has been keeping up her social engagements at friends' houses. My personal favourite outing was dinner at Reuben's at the One&Only. Oh yes people, this little miss has been to Cape Town's very own 6 star hotel and the resident eatery owned by SA's favourite celebrity chef.

While her mommy and daddy had lovely steak, lamb shank, red wine and yummy desserts, she got a bottle. Ever the socialite, she had her meal at the table and stayed awake for quite a while enjoying the sights and sounds of the restaurant. Unfortunately, she fell asleep just before Reuben came to join our table but he did get a good look at her.

Continuing with her celebrity run-ins, a few days later we bumped into my friend, Aidan Bennetts (model, TV presenter, design genius and entrepreneur), while we out for lunch with another celeb friend; sports journalist and football guru Julia Stuart. I'm quietly trying to arrange a future romance for Wren with either one of Aidan's nephews. If their uncle is anything to go by, they'll be good lads when they're older. Uncle Aidan, however, still has to be persuaded into this arrangement *laugh*

Anyhoo, Aidan did meet her at Decorex but she was sleeping so he was happy to catch her awake. Julia was so hoping she'd be awake but she slept straight through our lunch date.

We also went to meet little Chloe Morris but both girls were asleep although they have now officially been introduced. Hopefully next weekend, Wren and Sienna will get some time together and we'll see if their communication has progressed. The last time they were together, they actually managed a short conversation in babbling, cooing and brief shouts. It was hilarious and Natalie and I had such a good laugh at their little talk in their nonsensical language.

Finally, kiddo got her 10 week shots. It went pretty well and we got her new measurements. She's 57cm tall and weighs 4kgs. At last!! We hit 4kgs!!! I was so excited I figured she'd fit into her 1-3 month clothing now. Big mistake; it's all still way to big for her. We continue in newborn for a bit longer, some of which is still big enough for her to be in for another month maybe.

So, although my little person is still quite little, she's growing in every way. She's getting taller, a little heavier and has discovered her hands. She laughs at her daddy, moans at her mommy, relaxes in her bath and really enjoys communicating. I can see in her eyes that pretty soon my little baby is going to be my little big person and I can't wait.

Happy Snappy

A little while back we did a photo shoot with Wren-Lee. Despite a bit of a difficult start with kiddo adjusting to the flash and having a camera all up in her grill, she behaved beautifully. In fact, she got so relaxed that she fell asleep for 20 minutes allowing for some beautiful photographs. Enjoy some pics :-)

Learning to let go

At some point I had to accept that Wren-Lee can't be with me all the time. I was simply waiting for the right time and opportunity to be ok with having someone look after her while I was off somewhere else. That opportunity was thrust upon me in the form of Tony Stark *giggle*

I can't say no to Tony Stark.

Childish as it may be, I love me some Iron Man. I love me some Iron Man when he's hanging out with hottie Thor and the yummylicious Captain America. I also like Scarlett Johansson's bum that black leather outfit. Ok, enough ogling, I'll get to the point: There was no way I was going to miss watching The Avengers. At the cinema. With popcorn. And, oh yes, Trevor had to be there too.

So, a week beforehand, I pumped out two extra feeds and mentally prepared myself to leave Wren-Lee with my folks for few hours. It's not that I don't trust my folks. It's that I know they wouldn't let her come home too easily. Anyway, we dropped her off and were quickly told to get on and go watch the movie.

The movie was awesome but it was weird being without the little monkey. I managed to fight the urge to check up on her seeing as my phone's battery was nearly dead. By the time we got back to pick up our little angel, my mom was busy feeding her and my dad was very eager to show us the photographs he'd taken of her on his iPad as well as video of her laughing and talking to the mobile in her camper cot. Speaking of the iPad, Wren has apparently taken to it. My brother took pictures of her enjoying the lullaby apps with the iPad next to her. Yup, never a dull moment with my family.

With the first jab of separation now firmly administered, I've also arranged with my mom-in-law to look after Wren-Lee while I'm at Pilates twice a week.

Back to my parents, they're already pestering me to babysit again. Apparently our trip to the movies was nowhere near long enough. Maybe it's time to bargain with them: They send us for dinner at Reuben's and they can get the baby...sounds like a plan to me :-)

Shout, shout, let it all out...

The monkey has found her voice and it gets used...often.

First, she had a few fussy days. It was almost like she decided that she hadn't cried enough yet in her short time in the world and wanted to catch up. Fortunately, it wasn't anything bad. She just cried for the sake of crying and we did manage to calm her down and get her sleeping eventually.

Then it was her 6 week check-ups and shot. The paediatrician is happy with her growth and development and Wren-Lee's a healthy kiddo. She weighs 3.4kgs, is 53cms tall and her head is 38cm in circumference. She's got a big head! Seriously! The doctor says that while her head is a bit bigger than it should be in relation to her body, it's nothing to worry about. Just means she's a bit smarter :-)
We did have a good chuckle about her measurements. The doctor says she has officially reached the size of the average newborn ha ha ha!

Nobody was looking forward to her immunisation. We were extremely nervous and Trevor came along because we knew it was going to be fairly traumatic for everyone. As if we didn't need any more scaring off, there was baby getting 14 week shots while we waited and she screamed all through it. The 6 week and 14 week immunisations are equally bad according to other moms and even the doctors and nurses. So there we are with our dinky toy baby wondering how bad this is going to be for her.

I stood next to her and focused on her face, letting her hold my finger while the injections were done. I refused to watch the needles go into her legs because I don't even watch the needles go in when I get shots or have blood drawn. Trevor made the mistake of standing behind me and watched all three injections. Of course she cried bitterly especially when the Hepatitis vaccine was given because it burns. But Trev picked her up immediately after and she calmed right down. Our little girl is quite the tough cookie.

We were warned that she'd be a bit sleepy or cranky for the next two days. She totally surprised us by being rather happy. It was then that she decided to start "speaking". She's made little noises before but now she strings the sounds together and has begun communicating in baby babble. If we're quiet long enough, she includes little shouts and exclamations amidst the cooing noises. Wren's also got her own version of laughing. It's a big open mouth smile that she holds for a few seconds. We can't say for certain that she's responding to specific stimuli but she looks so cute when she smiles so who cares.

Oh baby, baby

It's been five glorious weeks since Wren-Lee came into our lives. Things have changed but it's definitely been for the better. We wouldn't trade anything for the indescribable joy she's brought into our lives.

I'm happy to report that she's a wonderful baby. She sleeps 3-4 hours at a stretch and goes up to 6 hours at night if she's had a good day and a good feed. She wakes up quietly and is rather economical with her crying, using it only if she absolutely has to. Believe me, she's got quite a voice! I've learnt to distinguish between her crying for hunger and the infamous "I'm tired now and moaning about it" cry. She feeds like a little monster but is healthy and growing well. Of course, every baby has an off day and Wren-Lee's prone to those too, mostly because she's overtired. We've had incidents of having to drive her around just to get her to doze off, days where she just doesn't feel like sleeping and recently there was an evening where she was so overtired she ended up sleeping for 6 hours straight followed by a feed and then another 5 hour sleep. Our favourite story so far is the night where she was fighting her fatigue at 2am. Trevor and I decided to pop her in the car so we got up to get dressed. In the five minutes we spent turning on lights and the TV and getting clothes on, she fell asleep lying on our bed. Never a dull moment with this one.

She's still quite small and some of her newborn clothing doesn't fit her properly yet. In fact, she has two pairs of premature baby pants which still don't quite fit and we've had people asking us how many days old she is when she's already more than a month old. Wren-Lee loves to bath but doesn't like being taken out of the water. There's usually a commotion until she gets her clothing on. Changing her nappy is a happy event and she's remarkably ok with cold wet wipes. While her daddy hasn't quite mastered the art of getting her to go to sleep, she does enjoy being with him and he can calm her down when I can't sometimes. He was also smart enough to pick up that she sometimes can't fall asleep in total silence after her middle-of-the-night feed and having the TV on helps that process.

Wren-Lee is great with noise, loves being in the car and is quite social. People dote on her because of her size and the fact that she looks like a baby vervet monkey...ok, I think she's a cute baby vervet monkey. On the rare occasion she's awake in social settings, she charms everyone. She even got her paediatrician to admit that she's extremely cute. Speaking of the paediatrician, we had to see him at 3 weeks when she developed acid reflux. We had 3 very difficult days of screaming and crying and I just knew it was reflux. I had hoped to keep her free of medication for quite some time but there's no point in holding on to that notion when your child is in pain. Thankfully, her medication worked almost immediately and her intake was drastically reduced after a week. She's not keen on the taste of her medication but I've tasted it and it's awful. Yuck!

As for us, we think we're getting the hang of this parenting thing. It's been an adjustment learning to pack an extra bag everywhere we go, getting into bed by 9pm and being mindful of her feeding schedule and bath time when we plan our day. Even cooking dinner has to be worked around feeding and bathing. It's literally a "take it one day at a time" situation for us. Trevor and I have good days where we work well together and bad days where we're a little snappy with each other. We talk about it and don't let it get in the way of us enjoying our daughter.

Despite the broken sleep, the physical tiredness from breastfeeding, constantly checking the clock to make sure she's in her routine, running around like crazy trying to finish dinner before Wren's bath, sitting up at all hours with a baby who's more interested at staring at me than closing her eyes and sleeping, there are moments when she makes all that drama worth while. It's when she stares at me, her eyes suddenly light up and then she gives me the biggest smile, I can't help but admit that she's the best thing that ever happened to us.

The Drama: Part 2

...And so Trevor was in the ER again.

The diagnosis was bronchitis. He'd stopped taking his chest infection meds to heal his stomach from the virus and the infection escalated to bronchitis. The doctor told him we weren't allowed home until Wednesday. Effectively, Trevor would be missing 5 days of the first week of Wren-Lee's life. We were devastated.

Everyone was pretty surprised that I hadn't collapsed into a sobbing heap yet. Truth be told, my mind was in business mode. I had to be strong to take care of my baby and keep Trevor positive because he was obviously heartbroken. I just kept reminding myself that it was better for him to get healthy so he could enjoy his time with her when we got home.

Amidst all this, I was also frantically planning Wren-Lee's baptism which came about quite suddenly. My dad's schedule conflicted with the date we'd originally planned and so we shifted her baptism forward to the coming Sunday. She'd be 10 days old and it would be beautifully serendipitous that Wren-Lee would be baptised with Sienna. I was elated that we would be sharing such a special moment with Natalie and Duane.

Finally, Wednesday dawned and we went home. Trevor was cautious with Wren-Lee but was clearly happy to have his girls home. I ended up taking care of him as he was still very much in recovery but we were enjoying late night feeds and getting to know our daughter.

The baptism was lovely and our mothers took care of just about everything. Wren-Lee was an angel and slept all through the service and all of the tea gathering afterward. It was so good to see friends and family and feel somewhat normal again. Unfortunately, Trevor's body took a knock and he spent most of the afternoon and evening in bed and it ended up being a good thing.

The Monday morning I woke up with mastitis. I had all the flu like symptoms and felt like I'd been hit by a train. At last roles were reversed and Trevor had to look after me. While I was doing my best to fight through feeling awful, I still had to breastfeed Wren which was the best treatment for the infection. Thankfully, it cleared up in 24 hours. That Wednesday, we had a lovely breakfast to celebrate our anniversary and had an afternoon of laughter with our friends.

Now, with all the stress I'd been through you'd expect that I would get baby blues. I didn't. Well, not in the conventional sense. I did crack a few times once I was home and cried a few times but for different reasons. I cried when I was angry then again when I was beyond tired one afternoon and another time when Trevor looked like he was getting sick again. That was pretty much it. Trevor will tell you that I can be a bit abrupt and short tempered sometimes but at least the crying was very minimal and occurred with valid reasons.

After all this drama, we did get to spend a few happy days together before Trevor's leave ended. It was great to just be home alone and indulge in being a little family. While I certainly wouldn't wish what happened to us on anyone, it certainly did make for a great story for Wren-Lee to hear someday.

The Drama: Part 1

The day after Wren-Lee's birth, I had to deal with getting up for the first time, having my drip removed, having blood drawn and a million other check-ups. Trevor was there from early morning to help me through the day and spend time with the kiddo.

He went home in the afternoon to have a nap and wasn't feeling well by early evening. During the evening visiting session, he disappeared for more than half an hour and went home before visiting time was up. He sent me a message later that night complaining of stomach gripes and I was pretty worried. At 1am, while I was up feeding Wren, I got a photo from Trev; he was hooked up to a drip in the ER. The diagnosis was a stomach virus and it was contagious. He told me to have a talk with my doctors during morning rounds and find out how we should proceed. Obviously, he wouldn't be visiting us again.

The next morning, I told Dr van Waart what happened and she told me to spend the weekend at my parents' house. Trevor needed to get better and it would be too risky to expose our new baby to an infection. I spent the rest of the day and night taking photographs and messaging Trev every few hours. His heart was breaking as he was stuck in bed, separated from his daughter.

Saturday dawned and I was pretty sad. We had been planning and looking forward to bringing our baby home from hospital and I was leaving alone, not going to my own home. We had to stop by the house so i could grab clothes and baby supplies. Trevor was allowed to see Wren but not touch her. He looked awful! It was pretty obvious he was incredibly ill and miserable. I had to be strong for his sake and mine and finished packing in a few short minutes.

My parents and brother made my first day home quite pleasant. Wren was an absolute superstar and fed and slept like an angel. I was still messaging Trev every mundane detail about every feed, facial expression and dirty nappy baby girl produced. Although he couldn't be with us, I wanted him to feel connected and not miss any more of the experience.

Sunday came along and I was counting the hours till my family would be reunited. I called Trev to see how he was doing and he complained of being short of breath. I insisted he go to the doctor again but he wanted to wait till the next morning. He assured me he'd be ok and I had a feeling something bad was going to happen.

Early evening, I got the message I was both dreading and expecting; "Honey, I'm going to the ER again."

My heart sank...

D-Day Part 2: "Hello monkey!"

5am: Trevor and I woke up and just lay in bed for a minute realising that in a few hours our baby would be born. I was finally feeling truly excited and was grinning from ear to ear as I got ready for the incredibly short drive to hospital. I didn't have the best night of sleep and it felt like there was pointed pressure on my cervix but I was alert and rested. Wren was wiggly and active from the time I woke up. We chatted about normal stuff as Trev ate breakfast but we were both quietly contemplating the C-section and meeting our little person.
6am: I got to have my one glass of apple juice and it was a quick 2 min drive to Durbanville Mediclinic. We got checked in and strolled into the maternity ward just as all the other moms were having breakfast. I was hungry.

7am: Lots of paperwork! I got one one of those sexy hospital gowns and settled into my bed for the long wait till 9am. The nurse strapped me into the fetal heart rate monitor and still Wren refused to settle. She had a loud case of hiccups while the heart rate monitor was one and I laughed at the sound of her "hic" between the heart beats. Eventually, Dr van Waart checked in looking super chipper at 7:30. The nurse handed her the print out from the heart rate monitor and she told me there was something she wanted me to see. She pointed to the page and said, "There's the baby's heart beat...and those are your contractions. You've started labour."
Yes. Labour. No jokes!
I learnt that pointed pressure I'd felt all night was me going into natural labour. Fortunately, it was still so early that the C-section would be done before it got serious and I didn't even feel the contractions. My doc said that ultimately Wren-Lee had chosen her birth date and would've gotten stuck had we not scheduled the C-section for that morning. God really did look out for us!

9am: After a looooong wait (and me being really hungry!), I was finally wheeled off to the surgical centre. My mom was already at the hospital and waved me off. Trevor was put into scrubs and became my own McSteamy :-) As I was wheeled into the theatre, the theatre nurse looked at me and said, "Erin is that you?" Well, massive surprise, it was Jana Swanepoel, my neighbour for a decade and classmate in high school. I found a friendly face even in the theatre!

Now, it was time for the drugs. The local anaesthetic burned like hell! Whoa! But the spinal block was spectacular! It felt like stars all over my legs and then I couldn't feel anything from my chest down which was rad. Our chosen paediatrician, Dr Willem Smit, came to introduce himself and chatted gadgets with Trev and I as he took pics and my doc started the procedure. Mere seconds after starting she gave the heads up that we'd hear baby's voice pretty soon.
Next thing, she and her assistant are pushing on my abdomen and then...

Heaven...that first cry...that was my baby crying..MY BABY...OUR BABY...Wren-Lee had been born...

And then my doctor held up this little person and I couldn't believe how small she was. I looked at Trevor and just loved him even more when I saw his eyes light up at the sight of his daughter. Beyond that, I cannot describe the intense happiness and love I felt realising she was finally out.

10am: Wren is placed on my chest and stares intensely at Trevor and I. I'm in awe of my child. Then, she and Trev leave and head back to the ward for her measurements and check up with Dr Smit. I'm left chatting to the team in the theatre. Well, I chatted all the way through the procedure LOL!

11am: I finally get taken back to the ward and, much to my surprise, my dad is there. My parents are taking photos of Wren and Trev's having a talk with Dr van Waart. I feel totally fine and was really happy when the nurse finally brings Wren along for her first feed. It's weird but normal at the same time. I still can't believe how small she is. My parents stay and chat for a bit and give Trev a chance to grab some food. They don't stay too long as visiting hours are over and, as they leave, I see a woman with red hair who looks very familiar strolling up the passage. It turned out that she was on old high school mate of mine. Small world!!! Trev comes back and we're left to bask in the happiness of our little bundle.

As for the rest of the day, we just sat back, relaxed and enjoyed our visitors. Wren-Lee got to stay in the room with us for most of the afternoon and evening and I was happy to see friends and family. My brother had the best reaction of all. He visibly melted when he met his niece and my friend Tanya patiently taught him how to hold her properly. It was adorable!

Eventually, it got quiet and I was left with Wren-Lee. As night time settled in and the lights were turned off in the ward, I looked at my daughter and smiled as we sat in the dark together.

D-Day Part 1: "No frikkin way!!!"

The story of Wren-Lee's arrival is pretty darn awesome so I've decided to relay it in parts so you can read it in smaller chunks. Also, I'm writing this 5 weeks down the line and on a 3-4 hour feeding schedule so it gives me time to write in bits and pieces.
Thinking like a mommy :-)

So, from the last post here's what happened:

After a week of lots of walking and doing everything humanly possible to get Wren-Lee to drop, the big appointment day arrived. But, typical of our Drayton drama, Trevor got sick. He ended up at the GP's office at 9am, was diagnosed with a chest infection and put off work for two days. Still, he accompanied me to our appointment with Dr van Waart at noon seeing as it was pretty important.

The doc did what can only be described as the quickest internal exam ever. I was literally on the table for 30 seconds when she said, "Nope, your cervix is ready but your pelvis is too small. We need an ultrasound."

She then showed Trevor how to feel Wren's head and explained that she's was too high up to be born naturally. We did the ultrasound and discovered that her head was 1.5cms too big for my pelvis. And that's when the bomb dropped: "Erin, we're doing a C-section and you're having this baby tomorrow."

WHAAAAAAAT?!?!?!?!? TOMORROW!!!!!! NO.FRIKKIN.WAY!!!

And that's when I started crying. I cried even more when she said that we'd be delivering at 9am...a mere 20 hours from that point. It was just a bit much to take in. My brain was reeling. Trevor was beaming.

Once I was calmer, doc explained the whole procedure and advised us on the admin we'd have to do in preparation for the next day. She assured me again that I had done everything I could but it was time to hand over the reigns and just be a happy mommy when Wren arrived. We ran from her office to the hospital to sort out admission and then I totally broke down in the car, sobbing all the way home. I was in total emotional overload and felt much better once I let it all bubble out.
The next few hours were frantic. I was cleaning, packing, calling the medical aid, calling my beauty therapist for help with hospital questions and generally just trying to orchestrate everything without falling to pieces. Trevor was ordered to rest as much as possible so he could handle the load of responsibility the next day seeing as I'd be out of action.

The rector of our congregation popped in to come pray with us and check that we were okay. I was still running around like a headless chicken when he arrived but felt much better after the prayer.

And then my friends and family did something amazing. They quietly arranged dinner and descended upon the house for an impromptu send off "party". It was a wonderful evening around the dinner table and they even packed the dishwasher and cleaned up afterward! I had to hold back the tears after everyone had left because the house was overflowing with love.

So, once everyone was gone and Trev was in bed, I still took time to double check my suitcase and flat iron my hair. Once in bed, I had a talk with Wren and wept as I told my little girl that this would be our last night sleeping together as one. I assured her that everything would be ok and that we were all excited to meet her.

And with that thought I drifted off to sleep, ready for the biggest day of my life.