Down time

Well, the big day is all over for another year. I enjoyed mine - did you?

I worked until 7.30ish am and then was picked up and taken straight to my sister's place for breakfast. I had got changed at work into a sensational little black dress with pink sequins, nothing gaudy - just a modest sprinkling suitable for breakfast wear (;p) and I found my second wind after a long night shift.


I had had 5 women and 3 babies - all of whom were a bit antsy. Two were scrawny hungry babies (2.1kg, and 2.9kg), one was already on medically indicated formula top-ups, and the other was on pure breastfeeds, so the littlest one slept well in her room with Mum and the middle sized one sucked for hours before coming out for cuddles and a bath to relax her. She was so sweet in the bath, yelling at first and quite cranky, then suddenly after a minute or so in a deep and warm bath she flopped into a sleep, her head resting sideways in my hand, lower ear in the water, her body cradled on my wrist and forearm, legs stretched out. A different baby with no fight in her. I hardly ever get to bath babies alone, but I do like it. I humm and croon to them that they are safe and its ok to relax and sleep, and then I swaddle them up safe and snug in warm clothes and wraps and rock and pat them off to sleep. This little one, Amelia, ended up sleeping for another 2 hours, Handel's Messiah in the background, waking at dawn to greet her Mum with a hungry breakfast call.

Santa came to the ward too! Just after midnight - with pressies for the midwives and a choccy or two. There were Xmas presents for all the mothers too, gift bags from the Body Shop -( I don't know if they were a sponsored thing or if the hospital purchased them) but it was a lovely treat - specially for many of our Mums who would never have the luxury of Body Shop stuff.

For most mothers our attempted gift was a bit of sleep, even an hour or two. My third baby was a big 4kg fella, with a tongue tie - which means he can't attach properly at the breast. He didn't even seem interested. He would just bite, and couldn't get his tongue under the nipple or finger to suck properly. This will spell disaster for the state of Mum's nipples. His Mum had laboured all the previous night (I had been on LBS the night before so remember his birth occurring near dawn) and he hadn't fed well all day. I assisted his Mum to express by hand - not a huge volume but we did it regularly and put it down his neck with a finger feed, so he was fed and Mum could go straight back to sleep. It will be a difficult few days for them, waiting for her supply to kick in. He sounded a bit mucousy too, so probably needed a chuck before he properly will attack a feed. In the meantime we kept the room quiet, and him fed as well as we could for now. I imagine there will be a BF plan for her quick smart, but the priority that night was to sleep.

Breakfast was yummy, unfortunately my camera was at the bottom of my bag and the screen has been damaged (aaargh) which will need to be fixed. I did take a few pics, but will need to be very tricky to get them off the camera, although the card should be OK....hmm. I hit the wall about 9.15am, so we opened some pressies - including some incorrectly labeled ones - oops- and scarpered home.

Back to our place and open presents again with our family - Santa was goooooooood!!! (photos to follow). The kids (nearly 20 and 23) each got a camera (thumbs up for power shopping) plus assorted other welcome delights. I got a beautiful surprise necklace of semi-precious stones and pearls - just gorgeous! And a book, gorgeous craft supplies, Body Shop White Musk yummies, chocolates, a quilt calendar and a Lighthouse diary (Yay, thanks Lesley!!) plus assorted other delights. Very lucky.

Then off to bed for me until 4pm, while hubby and kids joined his side of the family for lunch, then wake up to prepare for my side coming to ours for dinner. We had a BBQ (Reef and Beef) - very easy with desserts prepared by Steff - a divine sticky date pudding with butterscotch sauce, plus a Tiramisu. Charades, lots of merriment and a growing (up) tribe of teenagers running amok and clicking away on their collective cameras as they posed all over the house. They had a ball. Everyone left around 10pm, whereupon we fell into bed.

A quieter day yesterday, just attending a BBQ at a friend's house with many other choristers from our choir days. Singing was enjoyed in the backyard, along with much catching up on news, then home again and watched a movie on telly.

Cricket and a slow start, with jam-making all morning to use our lovely Santa Rosa plums and a few stray cherries. I now have MANY jars of jam. Along with a savoury apricot sauce from the last of the apricot crop.

Its summer....down time.....bring it on!