When you become a parent there are many hopes for your children - hopes/prayers that they will be healthy, well rounded, kind to people, etc. etc. Currently my prayers for Selah aren't regarding these types of things...my prayers are more like "Oh God, please make her sleep for longer, please let her not poo in this nappy (she has a habit of using 3nappies in one change - she gets a fresh one on and then goes again), please make her stop crying". Maybe that's more 'prayers of a tired Mum!'.

Anyway, she's crying for some food again (I tried tricking her that I was with her by leaving my pyjamas beside her but obviously that didn't work).

See you later with some 3week old baby photos...

Why is it that babies that are overtired don't automatically put themselves to sleep? They get more wound up (and I must say, so do their parents)...and get harder and harder to calm down. That is definitely a design flaw that I can't see anything Pollyanna positive about - apart from teaching Mum patience? I'm sure I'd be more patient if she was asleep at 2.30am ;)

These are a few of my favourite things (at the moment):

Sleeping wedge (baby can sleep next to me without rolling into me or off the bed)
Remote controls
Shaped burp cloth
Snack container for early hours of the morning
Vitamin E oil and moisturiser
Shower gel
Reaching my toes
Daddy changing nappies
Gowns to dress baby in at night-time
Huggies disposable nappies (they are the only ones that fit Selah)
Cell phone (text friends for advice)
Tea Tree Oil

Well my blog has been on hold for awhile now because of giving birth one week ago! A quick run down of my last 10ish days:

Tuesday 5th – up at 4.15am with vomiting and diarrhoea and sweats hourly through to 5pm…baby getting distressed with fast heart rate and vomiting causing contractions.
Wednesday 6th – think I’m in labour as contractions have started last evening, worried that I don’t have the energy to go through a birth as I only have one Huntly and Palmer’s cracker in my tummy. Haven’t got myself fully prepared for this – have only been off work for a week. My bag is not packed! Go to Auckland Hospital and get put on a drip and monitored…it’s a false labour so get to go home. Contractions continue all day/night. Most sleep is just over an hour and a half.
Thursday 7th – contractions all day/night. Most sleep is just over an hour and a half.
Friday 8th – midnight contractions get ‘established’ (i.e. previous few days don’t really count medically!). Give birth at Birthcare 4.30am to a beautiful girl (can’t really see her though cos my glasses are off and I’m concentrating on other aspects of the birth). Try and sleep during day a bit. There’s a baby in my room! It’s surreal to have a baby, but nice. It’s tricky to process given this all started Tuesday and my last full sleep was 5 nights ago!
Saturday 9th – babies drink a lot. They sleep a lot. Mostly they sleep during the day and look cute. They often have growth spurts during the night so drink constantly and the demand of nourishment is overwhelming. I’m jetlagged I think cos we are on opposite day/night schedules to each other!
Sunday 10th – ditto to above. Tonight I don’t sleep more because she’s so beautiful and I have to kiss her head than because she is feeding constantly! I feel so much love for her – surely I’m not biased that she is the most beautiful girl in the world.
Monday 11th – go home day. Looking forward to being home, but I don’t get to have a phone with a red button to call a midwife on it so it’s a wee bit scary to know how I will do things! Managed to go shopping at Farmers on way home without too much hassle. I have a new way of shopping – no browsing, straight to the counter to ask for what I want!
Tuesday 12th –A bit of the blues as the girl on ER died, and there was no milk in the fridge (at Birthcare all my meals were brought to me), and I still wasn’t getting more than an hour or so of sleep at a time. So many little things to do, and I can’t get to the simplest of things. Vania visits and does some of the things on my to-do list that I have no energy for. Yay Vania.
Wednesday 13th – blur. Watched a great DVD called ‘The happiest baby on the block’ and learned to swaddle Selah well enough that she calms very well. Ordered the DVD for other friends to watch cos it’s so good!
Thursday 14th – Went shopping for some bits and bobs and that was the only thing ‘accomplished’ for the day! (and of course I went to Foodtown that had hardly any stock cos of the strike!) Didn’t even get a shower (gave preference to nap, eating with others, and of course the final of Rockstar: Supernova).
Friday 15th – She is a week old today! She slept for 2 sleep cycles in her bassinet last night and I feel way more refreshed. I even painted my toenails this morning and had no trouble reaching them! Ahhh, life is good.

Special thanks to Frank-great massager during contractions, loves his daughter immensely, calms Selah beautifully, has changed 90%+ of her nappies, has been running around doing jobs from my to-do list also, great encourager.

To Vania – a great massager during contractions, stayed in contact lots to check on me and Selah, came over and helped with little jobs that just made my head space that bit clearer. Came at the drop of a hat on 2 early mornings and other visits even while her family was sick.

To Rachel – came up from Hamilton when I was sick and having contractions, even though we didn’t know if the false labour was going to stop completely or go on for a week. She cooked 3 meals, was a great encourager, and I’ll always remember that cool flannel wiping my face during the birth.

To Melissa & Jacob – have done all the cooking, dishes etc. this week and are keen to help with nappies/bathing etc. once we get used to things. Our girl has 4 doting adults to live with her so it’s a great start to her feeling loved and special. We are very blessed.
To Rhondda (midwife) – legend of a woman who believes you can do it and is very encouraging.

To Birthcare – amazing food, amazing help from midwives…. any chance I could book another stay?

To God – He cooked a good one J and gave me the strength to go through the birth process with what seemed like no energy.