Thursday, August 16, 2007

A day old

Lucy (1 day old)

Lucy is now a day old. Already she looks a little different. Yesterday people often asked me "who does she look like?". My ususal answer was "none of us"! I honestly couldn't say she reminded me of either of us on first inspection.

But today she looks a little different. One midwife said to me "oh she looks like you now you've put that woolly hat on her". Another saw a picture of Oliver and said "don't they look alike, they have the same shaped face".

She spent a happy few minutes in my arms when I popped in at lunchtime. I even took off my shirt for some skin-to-skin bonding. It wasn't a difficult decision as the room was like a sauna, which is intentional as her body temperature was a touch low last night. She lay happily in my arms, looking up at me and emitting the occasional cooing noise.

She seems to like being picked up. Several times she has cried and then stopped as soon as her Mummy picks her up and gives her a cuddle, which she does a lot. Hayley is made up with our new arrival and often gives her loving cuddles.

Hayley has started breastfeeding her, though Lucy isn't taking to it with gusto yet. It's early days though. After a chat with the breastfeeding specialist midwife today we have opted for a strategy of trying to breastfeed first but allowing the option of using expressed breast milk from a srynge or bottle as a first fallback and using formula as our second fallback.

Meanwhile Oliver spent a second night at his friend Jack's house last night and this morning visited Isabella. Inevitably he has been a bit disrupted and couldn't be blamed for feeling a little passed around over the last few days, thoug he has been ever so good about it. But I think he is reaching his limit now. As I took his stuff to the car today from Isabella's, I could hear him shouting "Daddy!". Poor fella probably thought I was off again without him. But he's back home with me now (napping as I type). And tomorrow, fingers crossed, the whole family will be home again. Then the fun will really begin!