July 31, 2006
It's a boy!!
"Baby boy duly arrived in the world about half an hour ago*. He and mum appear well."
(*text received at 15:54, so that's an arrival time or 15:30 or so - Simon)
(update: Born at 15:25, weighing 7lb 9oz)
Posted by SimonT at 04:01 PM | Comments (3)
the miracles of modern technology
i am typing this on arubbery keyboard that comes as part of vickys bedside tv service.
vicky, meanwhile, has just started having anothr contraction, so i should be doing other things.
mkre news soon
Posted by Tom Dolan at 01:56 PM | Comments (1)
Here We Go (Again)
"At 2:30am today (Monday) Vicky started having contractions. She kindly let me sleep until 5:30am. Since then they've been on and off, but now they are most definitely 'on'. Here we go...."
(posted by Simon, here helping out again)
Posted by SimonT at 01:00 PM | Comments (0)
July 24, 2006
O Lucky Man
Well, this morning was hard but so so so worthwhile.
Frustration with the NHS had reached breaking point and I decided Vicky needed some serious support for today's fight with their beauracracy. Over the weekend I spent an unhealthy amount of time raging to anyone who would listen that the hospital needed to make up its bloody mind.
If Vicky's blood pressure was a problem, then do something about it.
If it wasn't, then leave us alone.
Instead we were caught in this slighly inept half-world where people would talk about how Vicky's blood pressure wasn't a problem or a sign of pre-eclampsia, but then still want to book us in for an induction. Oh, and get her in for observation every day (wasting a morning in a boiling hot hospital) to be on the safe side. While forgetting she was on a monitor.
We turned up cruising for a fight. Well, I did. I was determined to be as light and breezy as possibly to Vicky - after all I didn't want her blood pressure to go up!
But after an hour and a half of hanging around, we were finally told that Vicky was absolutely perfect, and didn't need to be seen again until after her due date. No inductions. No interventions. Unless there are any new symptoms, or it fancies hanging around past two weeks, this baby is coming out when it feels like it.
Apologies to anyone who was expecting big dramas.
We are normal. And we like our freedom, as they say.
Posted by Tom Dolan at 10:21 PM | Comments (0)
July 23, 2006
Old Habits Die Hard [6 days to go].
So tomorrow we're back into the hospital for a morning of monitoring and prodding. And more importantly battling against the mental sleight-of-hand the NHS is so good at.
Vicky's blood pressure (the second important bit) has stabilised at between 85 and 90. Which is hardly surprising given a) the heat, b) getting daisy dropped off in time to get to the hospital before the queue for being monitored means she's there all day, c) the stress of being measured and possibly kept in. Again.
At one level they are sufficiently unworried about her they're talking about her only having to come in every other day between now and showtime...if at all.
But through a miracle of mental gymnastics, they've decided she's also still at risk so want to book her in for induction (what a lovely innocent-sounding word) and say she will need to go to the doctor-led delivery ward rather than the midwife-led unit with the water pools and freedom to move around.
So tomorrow we want them to find out if she's actually ill or not. And act consistently according to that.
Grrr.
Posted by Tom Dolan at 06:07 PM | Comments (0)
July 17, 2006
So here I am once more...
(the lesson being, of course, never to use Marillion lyrics in blog titles, even in jest. There's no knowing where it will lead...)
We've got less than two weeks now before our due date. By this stage last time round, Vix was locked up in hospital and I was wrapping my life around seeing her, running both the Emmerdale and MTV Mash sites, and keeping this blog updated.
And so it was with a certain amount of bitter resignation that we today received the news that Vicky's blood pressure was up and so she needed to go back to hospital for monitoring and checking. Last time round this involved hanging around in waiting rooms all day waiting to have bits prodded and checked, only to finally get hooked up to a monitoring machine and be forgotten two hours. After which someone would decide 'for the best' that Vicky should come back tomorrow...or worse stay in overnight.
But we're wiser than that now.
We can spot the traps, the points where once you get in you can't get out.
Today Vicky talked her way back out of being induced. And is back home. Hurrah.
Posted by Tom Dolan at 06:46 PM | Comments (0)
July 12, 2006
Waiting, waiting for the prompt
So that's it. We're all done. The cot is out of the loft and up, my studio is dismantled and no longer in our big second bedroom at the back (sniff) and Daisy is. The guest bedroom's been moved into what was Daisy's tiny bedroom. After rebuilding god knows how many bookshelves and wardrobes, and carrying what felt like a ton of stuff between cellar and loft, I ache with every muscle and bone in my body.
But this morning John Lewis came with a new mattress for the cot, and Vicky washed all the newborn-sized babygros and hung them out onto the line.
The baby can turn up now.
(Although it would be rather lovely if we both got to catch up on some sleep first. 19 days to go.)
Posted by Tom Dolan at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)
