Henry George Brown

He's here :) After SO much waiting and what felt like the longest pregnancy in the world, he finally arrived on Saturday 8th June at 14:53, weighing 9lbs 2oz, only one day after his due date. Though he is quite dry and flaky so I think my dates might have been a bit wrong. Plus the fact that he was BIG!

 If you're not into labour tales, feel free to skip this bit and just look at the gorgeous pictures ;)

I started with contractions at about 8:30 in the morning and they were already 5 minutes apart, so after a couple of hours we went to get checked over, though I wasn't getting too hopeful after having had 8 hours of contractions on bank holiday Monday resulting in a big fat nothing! At 11 o'clock I got examined (fun.) but was only 2cms along. There was a bit of a pow wow between the midwives as Ethan and Sam came fairly quickly so they were trying to decide whether to send me home or not, which they did with instructions to have a nice bath and ring back if it continued.

Things seemed to be easing off so I went home and hopped in the bath where things calmed down for a bit, then really picked back up again when I got back out! Rich was downstairs watching the women's tennis and suddenly realised there were similar noises coming from upstairs where I was attempting to get dressed in between lots of heavy breathing and the occasional groan/moo-like sound! We rang back and headed back in at around 1:30 and I asked to get in the pool, so I was examined again, declared 5cms and in we got. Let me tell you, that pool was absolute HEAVEN. It was so comfortable, all warm and floaty. I just hung over the side of it clutching at the gas and air which was hilarious as I lost control of my face and kept giggling my head off. 

Not long after I got in I had some meptid (like pethidine but not as strong) but within about 10 minutes I was ready to push and Henry was born under the water, and the midwives didn't even touch him, I picked him up and brought him out of the water. I even cut his cord in a last minute decision as Rich didn't want to.

The difference in the births was amazing, it just did not compare at all to being on my back strapped to an epidural. Also I won't go into detail, but there was less, er, physical trauma, this way. I can't recommend it enough. You know, as a birth option, not just for funsies. Although that great big tub would be amazing for a bath. As long as you get the super fast taps that they have, because otherwise it would take an age to fill. I digress. 

We wanted to get home right away, but Henry was breathing a little fast and so they wanted to keep us in. I really did not want to stay, when I stayed overnight with Sam I was edgy and stressed, and I didn't want a repeat. Unfortunately we had to, and it was pretty much the same, and it definitely didn't help when a student midwife came in and woke me at 3am (having only moved onto the ward at just after midnight) and wheeled him off to be measured. Only I'm not sure that's exactly what she said as I was still coming around from exhausted sleep and then they were gone. She came back with him within 5 or 10 minutes but it made me very antsy. for the rest of the night. 

Luckily we were given a quick discharge in the morning by a lovely paediatrician and we got out of there. Good job too, as one of the women in the bay was driving me mad, every time her baby woke up she was talking to him at the top of her lungs. He woke up about every hour or so and I was treated to lots of "Oh, come on darling, it's ok, shh" etc at a very loud level, that was fun at 2am.

Next came the meeting of the brothers :)

 They absolutely adore him. He gets hugged and kissed a LOT and when he cries they get very worried. Sam runs over saying "oh Henry, it's ok, please don't cry" which just melts my heart. Ethan asks if he's ok with a very concerned face. These boys slay me!

 Sam took a while to get to calling him Henry rather than baby, but now insists that he is Henry Hugglemonster - a tv cartoon character. We don't mind, we're happy to huggle him! A week on and he's slotting in pretty well, the boy aren't too unsettled by him and he's just delicious :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!

Ethan is Five!

 To be fair, his birthday was a while ago now, oops. Unfortunately I have been absolutely wrecked since and so have not been in the blogging mood. He had a lovely day, and as it fell on a Thursday Daddy was also working from home. Extra bonus - school finished for half term the day before, so we had a lovely calm day. We started the morning with presents, and he got a main present from us, two small presents and a small one from Sam. He was chuffed to bits as he got the Ben 10 game for the Xbox, some spiderman megablocks figures and 2 more characters for his batcave - the Joker and Harley Quinn.

 He's also insane ;) I didn't realise before how much his face matches his shirt! In the afternoon we went to see his cousins and play, then home again to go out for dinner. Ethan picked Silkwood Farm which is his favourite, due to the fact that they have a large play area which includes a couple of computer games. We all like it though as the food is good and the boys can escape to play once they've had enough sitting still.

 Last Saturday it was party time, and so being 38 weeks and roughly the size of a barge (name that Disney movie) we decided to go with a soft play centre party, and a rather simple cake design! It was held at The Playstation in Ossett, and they were fab. great food, good party bags and lots of fun. Ethan was very lucky to have several friends come and spoil him with presents.

I love his face here, the little mad man. He's growing up so fast and turning into a really lovely little boy (when he wants to be of course!) and very kind. He's much better at sharing and dictated a lovely letter to Daddy for me yesterday.

He's very excited for the baby to come and is convinced he's coming this week. Not that I'd object to that! 

We've had a lovely fairly relaxed half term, Ethan has been having great fun with his new toys, and we had a couple of nice days with a really lovely sunny day on Friday, where we went to the park (though not for long as there's no shade there and the boys got a bit overheated) and popped into the shop on the way home for ice lollies. It speaks volumes about these two that this was the most 'normal' looking photo of them, and I took four! They spent the rest of the afternoon playing in the garden and making puddles when I got the hose out for them. 

Yesterday was another lovely day, where Ethan insisted that they wait for me to get up before going shopping (something usually reserved for just boys while I slowly regain consciousness) as he didn't want me to miss the animals at the farm shop. Sam was in his element, and almost exploded with joy when a horse snuffled his head. We also saw a peacock with his tail out, and fed the horses carrots, at which point I think Sam could have died happy!

As for me, I am 39 weeks and 2 days. Due on Friday. I am tired of being enormous now, though I must say I'm not exactly looking forward to evicting him! Still though, it's almost done, and I absolutely cannot wait to snuggle him :)

Update: This blog has now moved to www.undomesticaited.wordpress.com - Hope to see you over there!