Essential Baby blogger Joh Baker-Dowdell
I am thrilled to be able to share our second baby's birth with our blog readers. Ethan was born last Tuesday (February 3) at 12.27pm, weighing 3.73kg (8lb, 5oz) and measuring 52cm.
We were lucky to have a fantastic team of a student and mentor midwife who were extremely supportive and made our quick two-and-a-half-hour labour as easy as labour can be. After a series of births where there had been a lot of medical intervention, the midwife told me it was nice to be able to see one go to plan, even if it happened too quickly for her to get the paperwork done before Ethan arrived!
We came home on Thursday after two nights in hospital and settled into our new family-of-four situation with relative ease. That said though, there are things I'd either forgotten about from being a first-time-mum, or unexpected new events. Ethan is much more placid than my older son, Noah, was as a newborn. But I am also a more relaxed mother because I know what I'm in for this time. I feel more confident because I know I've already succeeded once in bringing up a tiny baby into a confident toddler, but I also have a very supportive partner who has taken three weeks off to get used to our new situation (last time he was only allowed three days and we both struggled with that).
I've again had trouble breastfeeding and on Friday night I made the mistake of eating garlic prawns (something I'd been missing for nine months) and paid the price with a very unsettled baby between 12am and 5am on Saturday morning. The heat has also taken its toll, with Ethan feeding more than I expected, but he sucks much better than his brother did so I don't feel like I am spending all my time feeding and settling. I have had time to talk to friends and family, do more washing than I've done for a few years, watch television and enjoy time with both my sons and husband. Noah was lactose intolerant, slept badly and had reflux so I was preparing for something similar this time.
There are lots of other things I'd forgotten, or have been learning, too like:
- How you CAN manage to get through the day on two hours sleep
- How emotional giving birth can be, for all involved
- How beautiful a peacefully sleeping baby is
- How scary a peacefully sleeping baby who makes no noise is
- How much I love watching the tiny stretches and facial expressions, along with the baby sighs and contented burbles
- How small and fragile newborns are.
But the biggest surprise for me has been how our little family has coped with such a momentous change. My 33-month-old son Noah, who is a clingy mummy's boy, likes to check on his brother as he sleeps and gently pats his head. He tells Ethan, "it's OK baby" when he cries and hasn't reacted badly to the change in his household at all. I know it's early days and things are bound to change, but I am so proud of how my little man is coping with being one of two now. My husband has been a great physical and emotional support and I am far calmer than I expected I would be. Overall we're all pretty content.
I'd love to hear about your birth experiences, how you coped with a newborn and how it affected your family.
Discuss Joh's blog and motherhood the second time around.
