Toby Alexander Gibbs: 21 February

Well, Toby Alexander Gibbs arrived just over three weeks early. He weighed 2980g and was 49.5cm long. And it occurred to me a couple of days ago that I should (again) be careful what I wish for. I wanted to have a short labour and easy delivery, I wanted Toby to have his very own birthday and not arrive on one of the many family birthdays through February and March, and I wanted a good hospital experience. Because my membranes ruptured and then labour didn't happen, I had all this -- I was admitted to hospital and got my own room because the baby was still inside. I was induced on a drip on Monday 21 February, had a labour lasting just 3h 45m, and my delivery was the easiest yet with only a tiny tear requiring just one stitch. Toby was literally shot out and they were surprised when he didn't land in the sink across the room. So everything I wanted happened which has given me the strength to manage some of the other crises that happened at the same time.

POSI had to be postponed and I've rescheduled a meeting for a couple of weeks from now. I hope everyone will be able to come!

Symptoms

Here are a list of symptoms from the NHS Direct Online Health Encyclopaedia
http://www.nhsdirect.nhs.uk/en.asp?TopicID=609&AreaID=3832&LinkID=2907

• constant tiredness or exhaustion,
• sleeping problems,
• lack of appetite,
• disinterest in new baby,
• lack of motivation,
• panic attacks,
• feelings of isolation,
• sense of feeling overwhelmed,
• loss of sex drive,
• guilt, and
• physical signs of tension, such as headaches, stomach pains or blurred vision.

Some of these symptoms are unavoidable with a new baby. If you persistently experience more than one of these symptoms, which may also include feelings of anger, please contact your early childhood nurse, doctor, or a counsellor as soon as possible.

How this blog works

I've added the diary I kept on my local computer prior to starting this blog (22 Sept). This is arranged in weeks, at the beginning not including weekends, then including weekends and after some time tapering off to entries only one or two days a week.

The numbers for the "Day rating" at the end of each day were supposed to be a way for me to try and track my mood and see if there was a cyclic pattern. I haven't checked that part yet, but the rating went from 1 which was a total meltdown day, to 5 which was my ideal day without yelling at the kids too much and having a nice Mum day with them.