Update

I'm sorry not to have updated in a while - but I have the best of reasons!

Beanie was born on 29th March 2008 at 3:10pm. I had an induced vaginal birth which started with an oxytocin drip at around 9am, my waters were ruptured around 12:30pm and after only 4 or 5 pushes Beanie came out screaming - the most beautiful sound which brought us all to tears.

He had Apgars of 10, 10 and 10 which I was not expecting at all. His birth weight was 2.55kgs and for the last three days he has been putting back on the initial weight lost. We came out of hospital yesterday and we're just waiting for another bilirubin test result to check for jaundice - if he's gone over the limit set for him we'll have to go back to hospital for a session under the lamp.

Breast feeding is going very well at the moment and the sleep deprivation has made me realise fully why they say that the mother should sleep when the baby is sleeping... but the fact that there is any sleep deprivation at all is a happy realisation for me.

To me Beanie looks almost exactly like V except that V was bigger as he was full term. He has the same face and the same head of black hair. Beanie seems to have my body (long limbs, fingers and toes) and my husband's face - confirmed by almost everyone who has seen him to date.

Emotionally I am doing okay at present, better than I thought I would be doing. Let's see how long that lasts. I have had a few crying spells where I was feeling Beanie's knees and elbows and remembering how those parts made large bumps in my belly, and remembering the same thing for V. Except for V I didn't get to touch those warm bumps and feel them move outside.

Happiness and sadness are not mutually exclusive, but different lines and happiness for one event doesn't cancel out the sadness for another but it really does feel good nevertheless!