Backup your life!

Since little Jack has arrived, our digital camera literally has not stopped work. From day one, we have been trying to take lots of photos of him whilst he is young, as we know that he will grow up very fast and will have wished that we had more memories of him before he gets old enough to talk and spend money.

Because of the mass of photos and the worry that they’ll be lost or damaged, I have been going a little OTT with trying to make backups of them recently.

Several years ago, Claire and I went for a holiday of a lifetime to see Niagara Falls and did as much of Canada that we could cram in during our visit. The photos were fantastic – some taken in a helicopter over the Falls and everything. The only problem was, that after we had been home a little while, I hadn’t made a backup of them onto DVD or anywhere else for that matter, and the hard disk-drive on my PC instantly died after a spike in the electric hit my PC and everything on it was fried. At the time, I looked into having a professional company look at retrieving the data, but the cost was going to be phenomenal, so decided against it in the end, which is a shame. My uncle in Wales even tried to recover data from it for me, but it was pretty much a write off as far as I was concerned.

Since losing the photos, I have always tried to make sure that our work and photos are backed up in at least one location. (I am not claiming that my backup routine is infallible, but I think that I sleep a little happier at night knowing our memories are backed up). I explained what happened to a man from Microsoft once, and he said that a little healthy paranoia with regards to data backup is a must, otherwise accidents will happen like that. Too true, but I've already been caught out by it.

Almost all of our important files and folders are now stored on a server in the house - this means that Claire and I can swap computers if need be, and still have access to our own files and folders, as well as share access to items that are common to the both of us, such as the photos and videos.

Inside the server, there are 2x hard disk drives in a RAID-1 fashion, which means that one hard drive constantly ‘mirrors’ the other, so that if one of the two drives fail, then the hope is that the other is still ok enough to get access to the data on it.

Incidentally, the space available on the server was getting quite low recently and so I have just invested in 2x 1 Terabyte drives (aka 1000 Gigabytes) to bump up the space on the machine. That should keep us going for a little while...

But that doesn’t actually make the backups safe; what if the server melts the drives in a burst of heat or electric spikes, or whatever? So, in addition to this, the entire server is backed up each night to a 500GB external drive - if anything should happen to the server, I would hope that I will be able to restore the entire machine using this external drive. (Periodically, the photos and other data is also dropped onto DVD media just in case, but this is a slow process as the space on a disc is limited.)

I also have a SCSI DDS-3 12/24 GB tape drive that I was trying to use to backup the data from the server onto, but it’s amazing how quick you store more data, especially when the space isn’t a worry. The ‘12/24 GB’ bit above means that you can store 12GB uncompressed and 24 GB compressed on each tape, but even getting the absolute maximum of 24GB on a tape just isn’t enough, so I’ve had to remove this from the server box, which is a shame, but at least it saves me from changing tapes each day – something that I left behind when I changed jobs at the beginning of last year!

One more step, was to get the photos of Jack off-site and onto the web. This is partly for the purposes of another backup, but it also serves as a means of sharing the photos with our friends and family members, regardless of where they are in the world. So, I set up an account with Windows SkyDrive, which is a Microsoft Live website, whereby you get a whopping 25GB free storage space, which is as secure and private or public and open as you’d like.

Is that it? For the moment, but I would like to take this backup thing a little further and get a machine set up at my parent’s house whereby I can automatically upload files to, in exchange for them automatically uploading to a space on my server for their files, but this is going to take a little work, as I'd like to make the software to do that myself. But with a baby in the house, it may not be just yet..!

The moral of the story that I'm badly fluffing together here is that not backing up data in the past has really caught me out - Niagara Falls will still be there in many years to come; photos of children can't easily be replaced, but they can be restored in the event of another drive failure. If my previous failings will make you stop and think about your photos and files that you don't want to lose, then great, do something about it! Even if it's backing up your iTunes folder of all them mp3 files that you've spent a fortune on, back it up!

Mid week-day off

My current working arrangements mean that for my 'Work Life Balance' day, I get a day off every other Wednesday, which is great as it means that I have a bit more time off, especially now that Jack is here.

So for tomorrow, we’ll be in weekend mode, as opposed to school-day mode, and I thought it might be interesting to compare and contrast the two types of days that Claire and I appear to have generated since Jack has been born.

(The only thing common to both of these days is the night time feeding/changing nappies/screaming/crying/etc.)

School-day mode

First alarm goes off at 06:00 for Claire to wake up and get expressing milk for Jack later in the day.

Second alarm goes off at 06:30 for Jack and I to get up. If Jack is still asleep, he is carefully relocated to his sleeping quarters downstairs, namely the pram top resting on a rocking Moses-basket stand. If he is awake, then I can feed him, change his bum and try to get him settled down whilst Claire is making booby-juice.

I then rush off and have a shower and shave (if need be – i.e. only every other day!!) and get ready for work, hopefully before Claire is done so that I can swap roles and keep an eye on Jack whilst she has a quick shower. Ideally at this point, Jack is having a quick nap, making the mornings a little quieter, as well as quicker.

At about 07:15, I need to have left the house in order to start work at 08:00.

What happens from here on in is anyone’s guess as Claire and Jack are left to their own devices. I guess that there’s a bit of crying, pooing and a nappy change or twelve during the course of the day, as well as a little mum-baby-bonding-time.

I get home at around 17:30ish, traffic depending, and have time to annoy Jack if he’s awake. Today, incidentally, he’s not and so I have left him asleep in the lounge in the pram-top.

Aiming to have tea at around 18:00 seems to mean that we’re still cooking at 18:30-18:45 and eating at 19:00. Whoever feeds Jack at this point avoids doing the washing up. (Make your own mind up here...)

In the evenings, I try to spend a bit more time around Jack, unless he’s asleep, as:

1. I don’t get to see him during the day.
2. It gives Claire a bit of time to do her own stuff for a few hours.

Sometimes Jack comes and helps me on the computer, laying on my legs and normally playing the bum-trumpet a few times too. It's at this point that I seriously hope that his nappy holds and nothing leaks either side of his legs!

We have been trying to get us all ready and in to bed at around 22:00 – 23:00 each night, with the actual time depending on the time we’ve managed to feed him by really. If we feed him and then get him to sleep straight away, he seems to only wake once in the night mostly, which is good. In School-day mode, Claire gets up and sees to him, so in theory, I can stay asleep in bed. Well, seeing I am not a heavy sleeper and Claire has absolutely no concept of noise-control in the middle of the night, not a lot of sleep actually goes on!

Weekend mode

The last weekend or two, I have been waking up around 07:30 - 08:00, coincidentally the same time as Jack. Normally for me, 08:00 is an extreme lay-in, as I hate wasting the morning in bed sleeping when I can be up doing stuff. Jack and I sneak downstairs, leaving Claire in bed, fast asleep.

At this point, Jack has been waking up and within minutes wants food... well, a drink, namely milk. So, providing I can get it into him, he can have his booby-juice, as well as change of nappy too, depending on how recently anything happened in the night. He then seems to need another nap but this point, which is fine, as I can then get myself sorted for a drink and some toast or something. If he has managed to fall sound asleep after having his bottle, I tend to not bother waking him, as he tends to be in a bit of a grump and is more prone to screaming the house down in a mini-tantrum.

The day from here on seems to disappear in big chunks. The next thing I know its 11:00, Claire is awake and instantly pumping milk into bottles on an industrial scale and I’m still wandering around in my dressing gown. So, as soon as Jack gets a nap in, I can get washed and dressed.

Lunch appears to have been moved from 12:00 to around 14:00, as this is the time that we seem to eat after sorting Jack out. He sometimes sits in the high-chair with us in the kitchen whilst we eat, and sometimes one of us needs to eat one-handed whilst the other hand holds the baby. When I say ‘one of us’ I mean Claire, as she does it so well.

The afternoon drifts into the late evening, with anything that we’re trying to do being constantly interrupted by having to come running to waking and crying baby, or feeding, changing nappies or trying to rock him to sleep. That’s not meant to sound negative at all, it’s just strange how the meaning of the day has changed.

Evening comes along – the food setup is similar to the lunchtime efforts, namely a little later than normal, partly because of Jack, but probably due more to the fact that we have eaten later for lunch.

After food, we try to have a normal evening, watching television, checking emails, me writing these blogs, etc., and whilst we watch television, Jack is asleep in the pram-top in the lounge with us. As I said in an earlier post, it sort of has something to do with us wanting him to sleep through the noise, but also it is so that he’s with us in the same room, so if he cries, we can rock him back off to sleep (hopefully) – if not, we can pick him up and do stuff until he goes back off again.

Bed time is pretty much as before, us trying to get to bed before midnight. This sometimes works, but there’s not much of a rush during a Friday or Saturday night, as I haven’t got to go work then.

During the nights, this is my turn in getting up with Jack when he cries and wants feeding. This seems to take us about 30-40 minutes to do, to get about 100-110 millilitres of milk into him, give him a go at burping and then try to get him back to sleep quickly. This is all hopefully done before he throws up over everything..!

But hopefully, you can see that the days and nights are quite different from those from before Jack came along.

Whilst we were at the NCT Antenatal Classes in Ely, one of the 'games' there was to try to imagine a day in our lives before the baby and a day after the baby. Let's just say that the day that we had imagined the 'after' was going to be, is a little different from how we had planned it, but a lot more fun and happiness than we could have imagined with him.

Night times

Last night was just awful. Jack simply did not want to stop crying - in that, I don't suppose that he wanted the stress of screaming his head off, I mean I was unable to stop him.

*Normally*, I would hold him over my left shoulder and gently bang his back with my right hand which normally soothes him to calm down and sometimes makes him fall asleep. (It even took Claire a while too, so at least it wasn't that he realised who I was and decided to vote with his voice!) We don't know why he was like it, as we'd ticked all the normal boxes of what to do. He really has been good up until that point, as when he's cried it's been because he was hungry or he was sitting on a mountain of yellow baby-poo. Either way, we've been quick to sort it out and return Jack to his non-volatile state, i.e. asleep. But last night, no chance.

Once he was finally asleep Jack later stirred a couple of times in the night; I got up the first time but he fell asleep in my arms and then Claire got up with him the second time and fed him. He ended up sleeping until 7am, which was ok, and so I got up and fed him and left Claire to have a bit of a lay-in. Having said that, she was up not long after, as she's still having to express 'booby-juice' for Jack, which means regular pumping or the build-up of pressure in her boobs will cause a violent explosion. Honest.

I am still a bit not-right about this whole baby thing. I thought my sleeping patterns would have settled down a bit by now, as I still keep waking up to see if the baby is ok, which he is, and there is absolutely no reason for me to keep waking. Maybe I am just crackers. I suppose last night was Friday night and I knew that I didn't have to get up and go to work in the morning and so I was trying to do a bit more of the feeding of Jack so that Claire could sleep.

Generally speaking, I am getting used to feeling a bit more tired than normal, so it's ok. And I am also getting used to not being able to be selfish and do my own thing when I have wanted to, something which Claire has already found out about over the last few weeks and months. Until very recently, if I wanted to play around on the computer for a couple of hours, I could and would. Now, I still want to, and still can do, but it means that I am constantly coming away from the computer when Jack wakes up and screams down the baby monitor.

Twittering away

I have started to use Twitter, mainly to see what it's all about and how it can be useful, fun or interesting in normal life.

From what I have found out so far, Twitter is a free messaging facility online, which your 'followers' can be updated on what you're doing at that time. Sort of like a mini-blog, as each 'tweet' (a message) can be a maximum of 140 characters.

When you first create an account, you have no 'followers' and you follow no-one, so it's all a bit boring. So, the key to getting started is to find someone you find interesting and follow them - i.e. you find their account and click the follow button to add them to your Twitter account. This means that whenever that person 'tweets', you'll get that message either on your PC, mobile phone/iphone/etc. Just because you decide to follow another person on Twitter doesn't necessarily mean that they'll follow you back; they might not even know who you are!

According to Twitterholic.com, Barack Obama is the most followed Twitter user with over 304,000 followers. CNN Breaking News is second with over 237,000 followers and Stephen Fry is third with over 216,000 followers. Britney Spears comes in fifth, would you believe?

I have an HTC TyTN II mobile phone and have installed TinyTwitter on it, which is a Twitter client application. There are plenty of Twitter client applications to chose from, but I got on ok with this one, so will continue to use it until I find something better. On my desktop PC, I have downloaded and installed Blu, another Twitter client, but one that is visually stunning, as well as being an easy and intuitive application to use.

A few people at work had already been using Twitter and so we have all 'followed' each other, meaning I see their tweets and they see mine, etc. But knowing what to tweet about can be a bit strange at first, and why I have mentioned about this on my Baby Blog, is because my life at the moment is consumed with Jack and keeping him (and his mum) happy, and so the last few tweets appear to be based on that. That's not to say that I'm flogging everything out of this blog and using Twitter to keep harping on about it, but throughout the day, as different things happen, I have been trying to get into the swing of things with Twitter and you only do that by joining in and sending tweets out about something. So, I have been.

If you're already on Twitter and you want to add me, my username is (cunningly) brettrigby. If not, and you want to get yourself and account, just go to the Twitter site and sign up for free.

Zombie-Brett

Jack and Claire are doing well. Jack seems to just sleep and poo all day, whilst Claire is running around the house when he’s asleep trying to do the jobs that she can’t do when he’s awake. Like eat and wash.

Jack is part of the furniture now it seems. It’s as though what we’re doing now is what we’ve been doing with him for ages now, and even the thought of looking down the line to only a couple of months seems like a lifetime away.

Anyway, this blog was originally supposed to be about me and my experiences of becoming a dad for the first time, so... what’s happening and where are we at?

I might have mentioned a little while ago that I am a really light sleeper. Something else I might have failed to mention, is that I can occasionally get a bit ‘zombie-like’ when I get too tired... no, really. When I was at University, I’d come home to visit my folks as well as come to get my washing done of course, and whilst at home and in my own bed, I’d ‘wake up’ in the night and not know where I was; the most rational decision at the time was to wander around the room feeling the walls looking for light switches that weren’t there, whilst stumbling over all sorts of things I wasn’t awake enough to see or to even remember that I had put there in the first place! I would soon wake up, realise what I was doing, where I was and get back into bed and drift off again. I would only do this because I was a little over-tired, as well as experiencing the confusion of waking up in a different place to normal. (Well, that’s my excuse!!)

Anyway, this wandering has returned of late. The other night, I sort-of woke up to find myself rocking a pillow that was holding in my arms, thinking it was Jack. But as I thought, but possibly dreamt, that I had woken up, I realised that that the baby wasn’t in my arms any longer... just a pillow! And then, imagine my shock and horror, as I am frantically looking for our newborn baby, to find Claire fast asleep in bed and not at all interested in my worry or her baby! But not long after that, I look across and can see Jack asleep in the crib to other side of the bed, and realise that he’s ok. Claire had woken up by then, to find me in cold-sweats, still holding a pillow under my arm and with a panic look on my face, and simply told me to get back in bed and to go to sleep. Dream/nightmare over.

So, why am I feeling tired and looking a bit more rough than normal...? No idea, but I fully blame Jack!!

Two weeks old

It’s seems like the last two weeks have either flown by, or have blurred into each other; whichever way it’s gone, Jack is two weeks old tomorrow.

He’s already made a big impression on our lives – he’s got us running ragged around him, he’s got us up all hours of the night and even has us worrying about him when he’s fast asleep! What can you do? I suppose this is parenthood and now I’m on the other side of it, it’s a bit different to when I was a care-free kid.

Jack has had a few follow-up visits from the community midwives - I don't really know what they've done or said mostly, but I was here when one of them weighed young Jack - he came in at 8lbs 9oz, which means that he's only lost 4oz or so. Apparently, new babies can lose up to 10% of their birth weight in the first couple of weeks, but as he's only lost a little bit, that means that they're happy with the quantity of food he's having, and he's doing well.

The cards and presents that we’ve had for Jack over the last few weeks have been amazing. Just when I thought we had received a card from almost everyone we know, a few more arrive! Claire and I went to her parents for food the other night and there was literally a pile of presents there waiting for us to open! Everything we’ve had from everybody has been absolutely fantastic, and we really are humbled by it all. So we’d like to thank you all very much.

Yesterday afternoon, the whole department at work of about 50 or 60 people crowded around the area of desks where I sit to present me with a card and some presents..! I didn’t know what to say and was really glad not to be pushed for a speech but, all the same, my face went a brilliant red colour.

The fact is, we have had to use many of the clothes already, as Jack is really good a managing to get wee, poo or sick on his clothes, despite the hindrance of a nappy. Not only that, but he has managed to get me caught up in this - all over me, my jeans and several t-shirts. Thanks, son.

The end of my paternity leave

So, I have now had both weeks of my paternity leave from work already and so, come Monday, I shall be back at work whilst Claire gets to stay at home and look after Jack.

• Paternity Week One
• Monday - Claire goes into hospital for 'straight-forward' induction.
• Wednesday - Jack is born in the operating theatre after a long day in the Delivery Suite.
• Sunday - Claire and Jack come home from hospital.
• Paternity Week Two
• All days of this week appear to have blurred into each other. Some people came to our house to visit and I remember sleeping here and there.

Over the last week, Claire and I have found that looking after a newborn baby is a bit more involved than we had expected – when Jack is asleep during the day (which is a lot of the time at the moment) there’s the usual stuff around the house to do, such as food to cook, finding time to eat it, wash-up etc., but in addition, there’s the milk bottles to wash and sterilise too. Once they are sterile, Claire can then use them for the milk that she’s expressing for him; our fridge is awash with bottles filled with ‘booby-juice’, all of which are marked with its production date and time, as we should only store each bottle for a maximum of 48 hours. Claire has been looking after this side of things, whilst my job is to try and get the milk into Jack and keep it in there, without him throwing it all up!!

As Claire had a caesarean, she will be unable to drive for around 4 to 6 weeks whilst the wound heals. We’re told that if she can convince her doctor that she can perform an emergency stop in the car, she’ll be allowed to drive at 4 weeks, providing that her insurance company are happy too.

Midnight Feeds

It’s happened. For those of you who joked about me blogging about the middle of the night feeds, etc, well... this one is for you.

Last night, by my standards, was a bad night’s sleep for me, although Claire still reminds me that bearing in mind we have a week-old baby, last night wasn’t too bad at all!

I got up with Jack at silly-o’clock in the morning, to change his nappy and feed him. Fine – no problems there. It was the gallons of sick that erupted from my little son’s gut that got me. All over him, his bib, me, the chair, the floor and I wouldn’t be surprised if I found some on the opposing wall. Being the ever so caring husband too, I thought that Claire would like to join me in this lovely and memorable moment, but more importantly, she was my only option and so was call out for help, waking Claire to come to my rescue (bearing in mind, at this point I was hold Jack with my left, and supporting a sick-filled bib with the right). Claire wanders in, only just awake, armed with tissues ready to save me and the child. She wipes up, cleans up and then vanishes off back to bed in a flash. Saved. Feel rough as hell now though. Look quite rough too.

Other than that, I haven’t had a big throw-up session with Jack. He’s been ok so far, but I just thought it was funny to mention it.

I’m still in that state of worry that there’s a real-life baby in the house, let alone sharing the same room as us. Not so much during the day, more when I wake in the night, as I always look over to see if he’s ok and if he’s still moving and breathing etc. I can see him from my side of the bed, as we’ve got the nightlight from the nursery in our room on constantly. It’s supposed to be a light to drift off to, but you could quite happily perform major surgery under the light that it emits!

I’m hoping that this constant waking and checking routine will fade away in time. Not saying that I don’t want to know if he’s ok, but more that I’ll learn to trust that he can sleep well and that if he wasn’t sleeping well, we’d still know about it.

Also, we’ve created and ordered the birth announcement cards yesterday from a site called PhotoBox.co.uk, not forgetting to go through Quidco first, of course. Basically, the PhotoBox website has an online [Flash-based] version of Microsoft Publisher, allowing you to select and create the card or other item of your choice, and personalise them using your own photos, messages, etc. When you are done, simply pay for it and wait for the postie to deliver. They should be here soon, so posting these will give us something to do when we’re waiting for Jack to wake in the middle of the day.

Jack vs. Alfie

Claire’s parents have been looking after Alfie, our Westie dog, whilst Claire has been in hospital, and Claire’s brother brought him back last night, which was a bit of fun...

Alfie has always been Claire’s little shadow – he’d follow her off the end of a cliff. He only wants to be in my company when Claire isn’t around, and even then it’s because he wants things, like food or a walk.

Anyway, he came home last night and it was difficult as we needed Alfie and Jack to get on, but we didn’t want Alfie licking Jack’s face, or anything grim like that. But it is fair to say that Alfie is curious, but cautious about this new ‘baby’ thing in the house, especially one that is consuming all of our attention at the moment, leaving him with his nose put out of joint. And, to make it worse in time to come, some of the dog's toys are brightly coloured soft toys that have squeekers in them. Coincidentally, some of the baby toys we have for Jack match that description too! Watch this space...

But it was really strange when he first came back, as Alfie seemed to have grown – I don’t mean that he’s put on weight whilst at the in-laws’ house, but I mean that in one of those optical illusion ways, that by us looking at and focusing heavily upon a very small baby, and then seeing Alfie after a week made him look.. bigger? Or maybe it’s just me.

Also today, we also went for our first walk up the road as Team Rigby; Claire, Jack (in the pram) and I walked Alfie up into the village, only to the post office and back. This is the first time Claire’s been able to test-drive the pram properly, as she has wanted to do that for months since it arrived! Saddo.

The First Night

When I said that I was expecting it to get worse, well, I think that happened last night!

No problems or anything, but both Claire and I have been the ‘wandering zombie’ in the middle of the night... Head Chef Claire was busy preparing the gourmet meals for our son for the course of the night (i.e. milk production and storage) and I fed Jack twice; once at 01:15 and the other at 05:15. On both occasions, he was much easier to handle and deal with than I had imagined it would be, as I think I had a picture in my head of him screaming all the way downstairs and not stopping until I had fed him, changed his nappy and got him back in bed. But in fact, he stopped crying as soon as he was picked him up and didn’t cry any more after that, which was good, and didn't put up a fight about his nappy either, which was even better.

During the night, it was really strange having a baby in the room, as I was conscious all night that he was there, and kept looking over each time I stirred in the night, being a really light sleeper myself. He had a mini nose-whistle going on too – you know, the one where your partner is completely unaware as they sleep that each time they exhale through their nose, a single toned whistle is made. Normally, I’d [softly] nudge Claire or turn over myself, which causes her to stop doing it without needing to actually wake her. (I haven’t yet needed to use the last-resort tactic of attempting subconscious surgery on her nose to stop the whistling.) But with Jack, it didn’t seem to matter too much - and I certainly didn’t contemplate wedging my comparatively huge finger up his hooter to pick out baby-sized chunks of dried bogies to stop it!! (Maybe one day...)

Last night, we made the decision not to sneak around and whisper while Jack was asleep, as this would mean that he’d only sleep in the quiet and the slightest noise or disturbance would wake him later on.

Quite a few years ago, we went to visit our friends' and see their new baby girl, and when we got there, she was asleep... in the living room, to the side of the telly... which was on! But they said exactly the same thing about the noises and sleeping, etc., which might sound more than obvious to anyone who has had children, or very small brothers or sisters, but as the profile about me says on the blog site, I have had zero experience of children up until last week. So, not knowing you could do this, and then seeing a baby in a crib near the telly in a room with all of the lights on, with people talking at normal volume and doing normal stuff, seemed... weird – until I asked and they explained. And then it was fine.

This morning, Claire got up to go and get more food ready for the new boss of the house, and I stayed in bed until just before 09:00, but sleepyhead Jack stayed there until about 09:30! Lazy ol’ boot. But even then, he’s woken up and had a look around and then dropped back off again, without making a noise or anything. Marvellous.

Apparently, we’ve got the community midwife coming out to visit us today. I’m not sure when, but it will be one of the midwives that Claire might have seen before she went into hospital, as now we’re back on their turf, it’s their role to ensure care after the birth.

But I’m certainly glad that they are both home – Claire said she’s had a fantastic night’s sleep, as trying to sleep in a ward of five beds, with four other mums and four new babies, each crying and screaming individually is bad enough, but when they all let rip together, it must be a nightmare!

They're FREE

After a bit of convincing, the midwives at the hospital decided that Claire and Baby Jack are ok to go home, after 6 days of being there. It took a bit of convincing, but it mostly seemed to boil down to the fact that Claire had already bought a breastfeeding pump, which she will be able to use herself at home, in order to produce the milk that Jack will have.

He’s still not feeding off of her directly, as he goes on there ok and gives up after a few goes. He’s still making improvements and Claire is determined to keep trying, as we’re told that he may one day just do as he should. Until then, Claire is expressing the milk using the pump, which goes into bottles and we go from there without a problem, it seems.

Having the milk in convenient bottles means that I can feed him too, but more importantly, I can help feed him and get him settled down in the middle of the night, and leave Claire to sleep in. I can’t help but think that she’s got one over on me with this, and I’m slowing starting to figure it out...

But we’re home. We’ve been home just a few hours and managed to feed him and ourselves without a great deal of fuss. I say, or type, this rather tentatively, as I am expecting things to get a whole lot worse before we can declare some normality in all of this!

Before leaving tonight, we took 3 boxes of chocolates in for the midwives and care assistants in the Lilac ward and in the Delivery Suite, where Jack was actually born, to try to show our appreciation for them all in their efforts over the past week. I know it’s their job, but they could have done it without being pleasant and extremely helpful. So, anyway - enough about them and how good people they all are.

As I write this at 21:20 – Claire is trying to get a couple of hours sleep, as she didn’t get very much at all last night, and Jack has had his milk and is sleeping in the pram attachment on top of a crib-rocker, sited just outside my office door so that I can hear him if he stirs but not dazzle him with the halogen lights inside here.

Will they escape?

After several nights in, Claire may finally be released tomorrow, along with her partner in crime, Jack. They've done their 'stretch' and the midwives have spoken. They are allowing her to come home after being in since Monday evening (to be induced), all being well in the morning, of course, as they run through some leaving day checks, it seems. (We'll find out about them tomorrow.)

Claire has recovered much better from the caesarean than both of us had expected that she would have done by now, which is absolutely brilliant. Don't get me wrong, she won't be running any marathons for a few months, but she's up on her feet, she can pick Jack up when he cries and hold him without hurting herself.

Young Jack is still wearing his breastfeeding 'L' plates, but he's getting noticably better and better each day. They're hoping that he'll just work it out himself one day and just do what he's supposed to do without thinking about it. He's not starving in the meantime; he's getting enough food to keep him going, so that's good.

I have fed Jack twice today from a bottle, which is great as his eyes are fixed on my face as he's drinking from the baby-bottle, watching my reaction to him necking the drink that Claire took ages to produce!

I have also changed his dirty nappy twice too - not totally on my own, as I think my poo-nappy 'L' plates are still highly visible, but I'm getting a bit better each time. The smell really isn't anywhere near as bad as I expect each time I've done it, and the colour we find in there is different too! We're now in the unusual yellow/green colour poo, in case you were interested. We've had black, green and apparantly the grainy-mustard colour too, but today it's a sort of mix of a few of them, but apparantly, as he's having breast milk, his poo changes a different colour to formula fed babies.

So, yes, Claire and Jack might very well be coming home tomorrow, which will be when we get to learn how the three of us live as a family, rather than it being just the wife and I. Also, more worryingly, this is my last night at home by myself in peace and quiet, before I have months of sleepless nights. Oh well.

Last thing: Jack has been learning to stick his tongue out at me again today, as I mentioned yesterday - he's done it a few times, but each time it's when Claire has been looking the other direction, so it looks like I'm making it up! Although thinking about it, this probably isn't a skill that will help him get a job when he's older, but nonetheless, something that I'm already proud of him for.

Nappy brands

In one of the free sample packs Claire received whilst still pregnant, there was a free packet of Huggies nappies inside. As we were hoping to use the Bambino Mio nappies mentioned earlier, we didn’t worry about getting too many more, but we did decide take them to the hospital as Nicki, the NCT teacher, advised we do so for the first round of poo to come out of our new-born baby boy, as the first poo is usually black, potent and sticks to the nappy like ____ to a blanket, so to speak.

We started using the Huggies nappies and continued to do so, assuming that nappies were nappies and were all the same, more or less. Or so we thought until we had another free sample of nappies, but this time they were Pampers. Not knowing anything about nappies, we assumed they were the same, until we used them and found them to be a bit useless and seemed a little flimsy. So, we quickly ruled out the Pampers brand and went back to buying Huggies nappies. That was, until my sister called around after seeing my parents and brought back with her a pack of Pampers nappies that my mum had bought for storing at her house, in case we needed to use them. She realised that the nappies are made according to the size and weight of the baby and so the nappies were nearing there ‘expiry-date’, as Jack is getting bigger each week and is already outgrowing some of his clothes.

So, we decided to try the Pampers nappies once more, giving them the benefit of the doubt.

Although the two brands differ slightly in the type and quality of sticky-fixers used to keep the nappies together on the child, the Pampers did appear to have redeemed themselves, if not appearing to be the superior of the two. The fixers on the Pampers don’t appear to be as good as those on the Huggies nappies, but despite this, they seem to be really good.

As I said earlier, both nappies are sold according to the size and weight of the baby – we’re still on the newborn range, but each brand number the nappies, starting with ‘1’ for absolute smallest nappies and going up accordingly. I just thought I’d mention this, as the stacks of nappies in supermarkets can make a purchase for a new mum or new dad a bit daunting. And heaven forbid that a certain new dad should go into a supermarket alone and emerge with the wrong size, or wrong brand!!

Feeding time at the zoo?

As I might have mentioned, Jack has been a bit of nuisance in the feeding department - he's not too bothered about feeding from the breast, so they're saying that he's simply been a bit 'lazy'. But today, Sue (another brilliant midwife who has spent lots of time with Claire over the last couple of days in helping her to try having Jack laying on her in different positions to try and help him feed better), was asking questions about the epidural that Claire had, as well as any other forms of pain relief, as there is a good chance that he could have been still be up on something that Claire's had. Either way, he has needed a bit of a formula milk as an essential 'top-up' in order to get him going, so that he's strong and awake enough to try to feed properly himself.

The midwives have said that they'd want to see Jack feeding properly (breast or formula) but regularly too, before they are allowed to return home, which I am pleased about really, as:

1. It shows that they are interested and concerned enough for his health
2. It gives Claire more time to heal properly after the caesarean
3. I get our bed all to myself again for another night

All valid concerns, but today he has done much better than before, and he's learning that he's got to 'work' for his food, as there ain't no such thing as a free lunch in this world. It was really great to watch and see him already trying to re-use a skill he's just picked up a moment or two ago, regardless of how small but important the skill might be, but then seeing him get confused later on and try to suck on my arm when I was holding him was quite funny, but he was actually 'searching' for a boob. [insert your own joke here].

So, what I mean about all of this is that at two days old, it shows that a tiny, vulnerable baby is already alert enough to learn, as I think it's easy to assume that babies are just poo-cry-poo all the time and don't learn anything.

Slight tangent off here, but Claire has a book called The Social Baby, which is the only one that I've read more than a few page of (and that's because there's lots of photos on each page!), and in there are photos of a dad holding his newborn baby; whilst holding the baby, he sticks his tongue out at the baby, holds it there, and pulls it back in again, and does this a few times. During the time that his is tongue hanging out, the baby looks at him, looks at the tongue and then looks away as though he's thinking about it, and then tries to imitate his dad, and he does do it after just a few goes! Either that or they have missed out a few more pictures from the process, but when I first read it I thought that it doesn't seem very likely or believable, but when you look at each photo, for which there are lots on the pages, it becomes more and more plausible. So, I've been trying it with a two-day old Jack, and he's already trying to stick his tongue out, which is absolutely fascinating! I also overheard one of the other mums telling one of her older children to stick their tongue out at their new baby brother to see if he'd copy. But we had been trying it first, so there!

Day-old Jack

No, don't worry, I'm not going to write something for every day he is old - but coming back into hospital today and seeing Claire playing with Jack's little fingers was a great feeling, sort of how I imagined it should be, if that makes sense?

Anyway, in terms of a progress update, both Claire and Jack are doing well.

Jack is being a bit of a nuisance in not wanting to feed properly - it's not really as big a problems it may initially sound, "he's just a lazy boy...", or so I was told by Daniela, one of the midwives.

Last night, the paediatricians tested his blood/sugar levels a couple of hours after birth and he was measuring a 1.1 whatever's, where he should be measuring about 2.6 whatever's, or above. (Don't know what the 'whatever's' are - any ideas?) This meant that they wanted to get some food in him pronto and get his levels back up to where they should be. They cup-fed him about 20ml of new-born baby milk (that's milk FOR new-borns, not FROM them) and within a couple of hours his levels had raised in to the 2.x whatever range. They kept doing this cup-feeding, as well as trying to get him to breastfeed too, but he was being s a bit lazy and didn't want any of it. Obviously the laziness comes from his mum's side... ;o)

When I say 'cup-fed', to my surprise too, this did mean exactly as it sounded - stuff... in a cup, being fed to him in a very civilised manner! But they seem to hold so that the liquid is flush with the top-lip of the plastic cup and hold it to the baby's mouth, whereby they seem to know stick their tongue out and lap at it, like a cat. Strange, but true.

They test his blood by using one of them mean little clickers that they give you on the side of your ring finger when you go to give blood, which, when clicked, makes a small needle pierce your skin deep enough to draw a bead or two of blood, which is ample for testing. They then dribble it onto a clear plastic plate, insert it into an overgrown calculator and it tells them the answer, measured in 'whatevers', naturally.

His blood/sugar levels did drop down in the night, but as of this evening, it is 2.7 whatevers, so that's good.

They have said that they won't let Claire and Jack leave unless his feeding is more regular, but Claire has to stay in for a few more days anyway, to allow her time to recover from the caesarean on Wednesday.

Claire is doing good - when I eventually got there this morning (because of the snow) at about 11:00, one of the nurses was seeing about getting Claire up and on her feet and into the shower. I was trying to think of a more polite way of saying 'you smell', but leading someone to the shower is certainly the most direct. Either way, she was soon up, and walking over to the shower, whilst Jack and I became friends.

Claire said she felt a million times better for having a shower and really looked happier for it too, as I think she thought that she would have to have been bed-ridden for much longer than than after a caesarean. It also meant that she didn't have to have another bed-bath, as during yesterday's antics, the lady doing the washing asked for my help in putting a clean nighty on Claire, as Claire was not to move too much herself because of the stitches, wound and so on. Now, I'll blame the lady and I'm sure that she'll blame me - either way, one of us caught Claire's cannula, which was still inserted into the vein in her hand following the operation. It came straight out... and so did the blood. Again, I'll blame the lady. If anything, it meant that it was out and Claire didn't have to have it removed. So, I did her a favour the lady did her a favour.

Claire and I changed his nappy for the first time too! My job was to hold his legs up in the air whilst Claire did the messy bit, cleaning up the black and green liquid substance from the Winnie the Pooh baby nappy he was wearing. Didn't smell to good either.

He's not too much of a bad kid so far - he doesn't seem to cry a great deal, but when he does, coincidentally, it is when I happen to be holding him... strange. Another happy coincidence, is that when I just so happen to pass him to Claire, he stops shortly afterwards, making me think that if I were to have held him just a moment or two longer, he would have stopped anyway...

Geek moment - I noticed today that in one of the drawers, Jack has a little vest-thing that has the words 'Hello World' embroidered onto it, and I thought that was great! I'll have to see if I can get a picture...! Claire just didn't get it. Also, there was talk at work of someone seeing a baby-grow with 'Microsoft' embroidered onto the left breast, advertised online I guess. How fantastic/geeky/sad is that? Where can I get one? I just did a quick Google search for it, but stumbled across this instead, which I thought was good too.

Again today, the midwives, paediatricians, health care workers, everyone that we have seen, have been great. It's a bit busier in the ward with all of the other mums, and so we are not getting the 1:1 treatment that we were used to on Wednesday, but it was still very good. And, bearing in mind that there are 4 other new mums, all of whom have had a caesarean too, and subsequently, 4 new crying babies, I don't tend to really notice them... does that make sense?

The 'Package' has arrived...!

So, what happened yesterday? What didn't happen yesterday might be a better answer! Claire has had the use of almost every tool, fluid, needle and human resource that the hospital offers - not quite according to the Birth Plan that they ask you to create before going into labour!!

The only thing I can think of that didn't happen yesterday, is a natural birth; in that, I mean where the baby comes out from between the legs.

Here's what happened and roughly when.

06:55 Phone call to say that they've found Claire a bed on the Delivery Suite and they'll be breaking her waters within half an hour or so. Come in when you can, but no rush as nothing is going to happen immediately.

07:45/08:00 I arrive at the Delivery Suite where Claire is in her own room (with en-suite toilet/shower). She's hooked up to the baby monitor again, as they're checking that the baby is doing ok in there without any of the amniotic fluids that he's been used to. Contractions are every 5 minutes or so, and Claire was about 2-3cms dilated. Claire was a bit upset, as they found a bit of meconium (baby's first poo) that came out with the water. This means that baby isn't too happy in there.

08:50 Head-honcho consultant, Mr. Forbes, and his entourage comes around and speaks to Claire to check that all is ok. From about this point on, it's clear that the midwife, Alison, and the student mid-wife, Rosa, will be with us throughout the duration of the birth, which is reassuring, as they're brilliant people to have around.

10:00 Claire's been on the monitor constantly, except getting up to go to the loo. The contractions are still 5 minutes apart and they have, by now, getting her ready for the real possibility that she'll need to go on the drip. But before that, Claire's offered an epidural, as her contractions are strong now, let alone when the drip kicks in.

FYI: The drip is a synthetic hormone that is put directly into Claire's hand that will tell the body to start pushing. The amount of the hormone in her body determines the size of the contractions, ultimately leading to the baby's arrival. Supposedly!

10:30 The midwife calls in an expert to stick the drip needle in Claire's hand, as they're aware that Claire is pertrified of needles, but the drip will not only be used for the hormone, but also for saline, as Claire's a bit dehydrated, understandably.

11:00 Doctor Roberts the aneathatist (pre-warned is mad, but absolutely brilliant) arrives for the epidural and instantly lightens the air, cracking jokes and whistling the tune of 'You look wonderful tonight' whilst working his magic and sticking things into and onto Claire's back. (I couldn't see what he was doing, as I was facing Claire, trying in vein to reassure her)

11:30 (or so) Doctor Roberts is done, and he's still full of witty banter. Claire's relaxed a bit more now and the drug being injected into her lower back will start to work soon.

12:00 The epidural has been working great and Claire can no longer feel the contractions, which would be extremely painful by now without it, as the drip has been working for 10-15 minutes.

12:15 The midwife, Alison, decides to stop the drip, as the aforementioned baby monitor shows that the baby's heartbeat drops just after the contraction. This means that the baby isn't too keen on the hormone, and stopping it shows his heartbeat back up in minutes.

13:00 The doctors, other midwifes have been in and out at this point, checking the graph made by the baby monitor and writing events on it's timeline as they happen. The registrar doctor decides that the dip in the graph showing the baby's heartbeat may not necessarily be because of the hormone drip and wants to try again. Alison doesn't seem convinced, but she follows the instructions and we go again.

13:30 The heartbeat has dipped again coming out of each contraction, which are coming more and stronger than normal. By this point, Claire is casually glancing at the machine to her right, to find out that she's had a contraction. Very, very minor pains in her upper belly area, but she's very happy with the pain relief!

14:00 They've decided (on doctor's orders) to stop the hormone drip again, and allow the heartbeat to regain it's full beat. By this point, we've had many discussions with the midwives, doctors and aneathatists about Claire having a Caesarean section if this drip refuses to work. Claire has also been examined to find that she's still 3cms dilated, so the drip and the massive contractions that it's caused, have not made a difference and we're no further forward with a natural delivery.

14:30 Doctor Hema, the doctor that would be performing the Caesarean if we were to have one, has been brilliant in asking us about our wishes about carrying on, rather that going straight for surgery. We trust her to do what she believes is best, and everybody in the room is happy to give the drip one more go. It's looking like it's going to be a very long night at this point, and I'm really glad the car isn't in the extremely overpriced car park outside!

15:00 Doctor Hema, Alison the midwife are all agreed that the drip is simply not working, as again, the baby's heart beat goes down after each contraction, reaching a low of about 50 beats a minute, rather than the 140-150 he's been used to. The drip is aborted, and we're told that surgery is the only way now.

15:20 The heartbeat is back to normal, things are ok again, so I am whisked off to change into some stunning blue scrubs and weird slippers that stick together if they catch each other - great for when you're trying to walk! Claire's bed is pushed three rooms down, into an operating theatre, armed with more surgeons, paediatricians and our normal crew. I am given a chair, placed at the head of the bed that Claire's going to be moved on to, and told to sit there and touch nothing that is wrapped in blue or green, or anything that has wires or bleeps. Doctor Roberts boosts Claire's drugs and then starts conversations with us by telling us what we'll hear, roughly when, what it means, and that everything will be fine.

15:45 The surgery starts - a rail has been put up to stop Claire seeing anything happening, but I could lean backwards slightly and get an eye-ful of what Claire's being protected from seeing. Doctor Roberts does a brilliant job of trying to distract both Claire and I, as at this point, Claire's body is shivering, partly from nerves, but mainly from the epidural drugs. He had asked earlier what I did for work and so the conversation at present was about bankers and how badly the banks are treating people...! It didn't matter what we were talking about, the thing was that he was distracting us, as not being able to see what they're doing, but hearing noises and feeling them pull and push on Claires body, means that you start imagining things in your head, all totally incorrect of course. Doctor Roberts is again telling us at each stage what is or has happened.

16:02 I lean backwards just time time to see Doctor Hema lift baby Jack out of Claire's open body, all covered in blood, poo and everything else in there. Because of the poo, the baby looks a bit green, and Doctor Hema makes out he's an alien! Cheers, thanks for that. She had him held up as she said aloud that the cord was wrapped around his neck, "once... twice...! My god, THREE times around his neck!! No, FOUR TIMES wrapped around his neck!!"...

At this point, everyone was a bit amazed and totally relieved that he WASN'T born naturally, as he would have cut off his own supply coming out!! She then cut his cord (it didn't even occur to me about it, but I'm guessing as Claire's guts are spilled out everywhere, that it's not really appropriate that I do it) and then passed him straight to the paediatrians stood behind me. They were checking his airways more than normal, as they were aware that he had poo'd whilst still inside. They cleaned him up a little, checked that he was ok and laid him onto of Claire's upper chest, with me holding him in place.

16:15 I don't know about Claire but it seemed like we had forgotten that they're still working on the inside of her, as we're looking at this new-born baby laying on her, so before we know it, they're done.

16:20 Baby Jack is then put in his little fish-tank thing on a trolley, and he and I are led out of the operating theatre into a different room from before, but one where Claire and the baby can relax until they're ready to move back across the corridor to the normal baby ward.

It seems absolutely mad (in a good way) - the day before yesterday, Claire 'just had a big belly'. And then today, we've got this amazing little baby...! All the pains, needles, tests and check-ups have been just to make this little baby appear.

As I said late last night, everyone at Hinchingbrook Hospital have been absolutely fantastic. We couldn't have hoped for a better crew of people to take care of us, so a big thank you to all of them from the three of us.

Today, I am allowed back down there at 10am, but as Claire's back on the Lilac Ward, which is a normal baby ward, I have to abide by the strict rules of the visitors hours, but that's ok, as it gives the Claire and the other new mums quiet time, except for loads of babies screaming at the same time!

FINALLY - He's been born!

Jack William Rigby has [finally] made his grand entrance to the world, at 16:02 today (Wednesday 4th February), weighing in at 8lbs 13oz, delivered eventually by C-Section.

I'll explain more in the morning and try to get a picture up here of him, but I didn't get back home until 23:30 and I'm waiting for a pizza to burn cook, as I'm starving!

I take back all that I said about women in labour and all that - Claire has definitely not had an easy time of it today, but she's had the patience of a Saint, along with the bravery and strength that has made me even more proud.

The staff, particularly the midwife and student-midwife that were with us non-stop all day, were just fantastic. Ironically, the midwife and student-midwife were 'assigned' our baby to deliver, as the student-midwife needed a 'straight forward case' for her first delivery...! Well, she certainly got more than she bargained for, I can tell you! (More in the morning)

That must mean that it is Mr. Kanwal that takes the jackpot prize of the £25 for the sweepstake at work! Well done matey! And to think, he was quite gutted when he picked the last available day on the list!!

"20 Minutes..."

Another day done, and still no wife and no baby.

Claire is still at the hospital in the same ward that she's been in since Monday evening, but there has been signs of progress, namely, that is ready to be moved to the delivery ward, where they'll be able to break her waters.

Yesterday I mentioned that Claire was going to have a second amount of the 'special gel' - well, she did, around 06:00 and by the time I got there at 10:00, the gel was starting to do its stuff.

By 11:00, Claire has having contractions and things were starting to look good when we were asked to take note of the time between each one, and the length of time that the contraction lasted. This was a great job for a soon-to-be-dad in the room, namely me. I wrote down the time that the contraction started and then simply waited for the expression on Claire's face to revert to normal again before writing down that time too. Then, by the time I had worked out the length of time that the contraction lasted for (Time B - Time A), she was almost ready to go again! The hours flew by - literally.

Claire was being monitored too, by a trace-graph machine sat constantly by the bed, with two squiggle-graphs being drawn on the same sheet of paper being fed out of the machine. One was to record the heart beat of the baby, and the other to record the intensity of the contractions. This monitoring went on ALL day, on and off.

The only thing that was a bit of a nuisance, was the fact the midwives, (whoever happened to call in at the time) looked at the output graph, would write something on it and then mutter words to the effect of "I'll be back to check that in a few minutes" - a few meaning "multiples of 20" minutes. Then someone else would come, write something else on it, and say they'd be back in a few minutes. Lather, rinse, repeat.

This went on all day, dragging the day out a bit, except for when we were playing time-keepers. And having contractions, of course. But the time-keeping part was good for both of us (I think!!) as I felt like I actually had a role in all of this, as up until then, I could only watch as Claire fought the pain emanating from her belly.

We're now in the position that Claire's ready to have her waters broken, or for them to break naturally, and the next step is baby-related, rather than pregnant woman-related. But it seems that today is a popular day to give birth, meaning that the Colorado River cannot be recreated with Claire's help, as there's nowhere to put her on that ward.

Before leaving, we collared one of the night-shift midwives and asked about the next step, which is getting her on that other ward. Providing there's a space on that labour ward, then Claire will be awoken at around 06:30/07:00 and informed that she'll be moved. Then, they'll crack on and break the dam that'll flood a very small village, very possibly even before I get there.

If they do move her, then I'll be notified and I'll be straight over there. If not, and she stays where she is, I'll be allowed into the current ward at 10:00 tomorrow morning, and not a minute before.

But before I go, I'd like to say that Claire's doing a sterling job so far. She's taking each 'hit' of the contraction each time that they've come and she has done really well. Girl done good.

I'm sure tomorrow she'll be great too.

Sweepstake news: Again, it seems that this sweepstake list is getting shorter and shorter. Could this be the end of Mr. Scott's fantastic entry? Will Mr. "cunning" Kanwal take the lot...!?! Tune in next time for another exciting episode of "Urgh, it's a baby - get it out of me!"

Inducing the baby? Sort of...

Well, I've not long been home from the hospital, minus one Claire and one baby.

Claire's fine and, as far as we know, the baby is fine too. He's just not coming out to play as yet.

We got to the hospital for the 18:00 appointment that I mentioned earlier, and they soon strapped a baby-heart monitor to Claire's belly, along with another device to monitor for any contractions, if they occurred, and left us for about 45 minutes for the machine to draw a graph of the results.

The midwife came back and then gave Claire a really small amount of the gel (inside) and then re-set the machine to record another 45-60 minutes of results.

Once all of this was over, (around 20:00), the midwife said for Claire to get some sleep, as the induction starts first thing in the morning, meaning Claire will be woken at about 06:30 for it. Bearing in mind that for the last 5-6 weeks, Claire has been waking up at around 09:30 in the morning, 06:30 might come as a shock to the system...!

Tomorrow morning, they will then use a bit more of the gel, which should start the ball rolling properly. The small quantity of gel that they have used, coupled with the monitoring that has been done this evening, was to check that Claire and/or the baby do not have any adverse reactions to it.

So, I'm off to sleep myself, as it's starting to get late now and I didn't sleep too much last night - nothing to do with my wife getting up to go to the loo a million times. Nothing at all. Absolutely nothing to do with her. Ok, you got me. It was.

Apologies to Mr. Finn for the sweepstake entry, as it looks like your day may have come and gone! From memory, I believe that it's Mr. Scott's day tomorrow...? After that, it's Mr. Kanwal's day?

Starting to roll...

Ok – The time now is 16:00. Claire has called the hospital and we’re good to go for an 18:00 arrival at the hospital. Actually having a time to work to, now means that things are starting to feel like a ‘plan’ for us, rather than sitting around waiting for a baby.

I’ve just loaded more bags into the car than Heathrow loses in a month. We’re armed to the teeth with everything that we need (we hope), ranging from spare clothes for both of us through to a full week’s worth of clothes for the baby, music player, a million nappies, and much much more.

Remember that list that said what we needed to take? Well, that’s SO wrong, evidently.

Even the dog is started to notice that there’s a change in the air; so much so, he’s thrown up on the lounge carpet. Nice.

It’ll be an induced labour then...!

Providing Claire doesn’t start to give birth in the next few hours or so, the birth will more than likely be induced on Monday, (Mr. Finn’s day in the sweepstake). This means that the process will be initiated rather than waiting for the body to start it itself.

There are two ways of inducing labour:

• Prostaglandins
  These are substances produced naturally in the body, and can therefore be thought of ‘natural stimulants’. Prostin is an artificial prostaglandin given as a Gel and applied to the back of the cervix. Basically, this softens the cervix and encourages the body to start labour.
• Artificial Rupture of Membrane (ARM)
  This means pretty much as it sounds – having the waters broken, which encourages the uterus to contract and labour to begin. This is done by means of an internal examination, during which the midwife gently breaks the bag of waters around the baby’s head. Some ladies go into labour shortly after having their waters broken, but if the contractions do not start after 2 hours or so, the midwife will recommend another artificial hormone called Syntocinon, which is given by a drip into a vein in the arm. The quantity is then gradually increased until labour starts. If Claire is given the drip, she will not be allowed to walk around, as the midwives will be constantly monitoring the baby’s heart until birth.
  Syntocinon is a synthetic form of Oxytocin, which is a natural substance in the body, and causes the uterus to contract.

How long will this all take? Good question. Your guess, it seems, is as good as any. Depending on how long it looks like it’s going to take at the time, depends on whether I am allowed to stay. If Claire is admitted over night while having Prostin, I, as the father, will be asked to go home; if anything happens in the night, then the midwife will call and I’ll then be allowed to join Claire, hopefully before the birth begins. During the day, however, I’m ok to stay with Claire though.

Do visiting hours affect any of this? Well, yes. It seems that Hinchingbrooke hospital is quite strict on the visiting hours, for the dad as well as other visitors. They made a point about it during the hospital tour a few months ago, and again too on all paperwork on the subject too. I quote:

Partners only 10.00am – 1.00pm and 8.00pm – 9.00pm
Partners + Other Visitors 3.00pm – 5.00pm and 7.00pm – 8.00pm

I suppose this means that the new mums in the ward have a bit of quiet time too. And, there’s a limit on the amount of people in with the new mum and baby at the same time. But Claire’s just announced that she’s not going to stay in hospital long enough for visitors, so it’s ok.