I was very impressed with the quality of the nappy. Although I thought it was a bit stiff and cardboardy between the legs, Faith didn’t seem to mind at all. We only had one leak and I think it was because mommy was half asleep when I put the nappy on and I didn’t fit it properly. My only real complaint is that the tabs are not stretchy and I have come to expect nappies to have stretchy tabs.
All in all we love our Pick n Pay nappies and will definitely be buying more soon!
So far so good. Faith latched straight away and basically hasn’t stopped.
With Aaron, my milk only came in on day 4 or day 5, I started pumping as soon as it did so that Paul could do some night time feeds. Im not sure if the pumping or bottle feeding effected my milk supply but by the beginning of the 2nd month we were supplementing with formula. Part of that was also to do with not being comfortable breast feeding in public.
This time round Im determined to breast feed as long as possible, I havent started pumping yet, but I will in the next few days or so. I want to freeze a good supply so that when I go back to work Faith will still get breast milk. Also, being older and wiser (haha), I just dont give rocks what people think if I breast feed in public. In fact I almost want someone to make an issue out of it so that I can take a stand, whip out a boob and say that I am proud to be a public breast feeding mommy!
The other main factor to keep breast feeding is cost. Formula is freaking expensive and as long as I can provide milk why not!
Vomit
Oh yeah… vomit… Thank heavens Faith is not as bad as Aaron was. Aaron projectiled. Faith just spits up. Usually while I am lying with her on top of me, so it goes all over me… yuck!
Still, newborn vomit is soooooo much better than 3 year old vomit!
Sleep deprivation
I have not missed sleep deprivation at all. I am a zombie. My worst time during the night is between 12am and 3am… Faith likes to cluster feed during that time, so I just lay on the couch in her room with her attached to one or other of my boobs, catching cat naps while she feeds. Unfortunately buy the time she goes to sleep again I am wide awake… Also I am really not a morning person, so when she wakes up and the sun is shining and she wants to be alert and held and played with all I want to do is sleep.
Paul has been great, he usually gets up with her when the sun rises, changes her, rocks her and talks to her until she gets cross because he isn’t feeding her, then he brings her to me in bed and she feeds while I sleep.
Like I said earlier, Im going to start pumping soon and as soon as we hit the 6 week mark, Paul is going to introduce his daughter to the wonders of bottle fed breast milk and 12am feeding/bonding time with dad 😉
All in all Im doing ok, just a few small hurdles to overcome, a few things to get used to and before you know it we will be in a routine and we will both be happy and a bit more awake 🙂
A few people have asked why we waited to name her so here is the story.
Boys are named at their bris (circumcision) on the 8th day. Its not forbidden to announce the name before the bris but in a metaphysical sense the child only ‘receives’ his name during the ceremony at his bris.
The naming of a Jewish girl is a very spiritual moment. The naming ceremony is linked to the public reading of the Torah. This is usually on a Monday, Thursday or Saturday morning. The blessing begins with a prayer for the mother’s health. It continues with the giving of the baby’s name and a prayer that this new Jewish daughter should grow to be a wise and understanding Jewish woman of goodness and greatness.
Since Faith was born on Sunday, Paul should have been in shul on the Monday to name her but the service started very early and he wasnt able to make it as he was looking after Aaron. Today is a public holiday and as such Shul started a bit later and one of the teachers from Aarons school offered to look after him while Paul was at Shul. So Paul named her today.
Traditionally Ashkenazi Jews name children after a deceased relative, not only to honour the deceased but also to inspire the child to live up to that persons name. Serphadi Jews name after living relatives as well as deceased relatives.
We are Ashkenazi and as such chose to name Faith after my grandmother who passed away almost a year ago. Her ‘english’ name was Fanyse and her Hebrew name was Feiga. Faiths second name is Sigal, it is a hebrew name meaning violet (sigalit is a type of violet in Israel) or meaning treasure. We chose Sigal to honour my late grandfather Sydney and Pauls late aunt Sandra.
Her hebrew name is Feiga Sigal bat Nachama (Feiga Sigal ‘daughter of’ Nechama – my hebrew name).
So, in a nutshell, Faith received her name today at shul in honour of two great grandparents and a great aunt.
So Friday 10th was my last day at work. It was also our housekeeper/nanny’s last day of work. It also happened to be my OB’s last day at work.
Anyone seeing a pattern here?
We went to my MIL for shabbos dinner and on Saturday we did some shopping, visited my granny and went home for lunch. We had booked tickets to see the new Harry Potter and my mom agreed to look after Aaron in the afternoon.
When we got back to my mom to fetch Aaron he didn’t want to come home. I jokingly asked him of he wanted to sleep at Nana knowing that the last dozen times we had asked he said no. Well he surprised us and said yes. My mom agreed and Paul and I went home alone.
We made dinner, caught up on a few episodes of CSI New York, closed up the house, settled the dogs and went to bed. Well, Paul went to sleep and I stayed up a bit playing on my laptop. Just before midnight I put the laptop away and turned off the lights. Not 5 minutes later my water broke!
Now I had been having contractions very erratically for a few days and theSQL was definitely head down and in position but I really didn’t expect her to come so soon. Especially because that’s pretty much what happened with Aaron at just over 36 weeks. I mean really, what are the chances of it happening twice?
Pretty darn good it seems…
So I woke Paul up and the darling man got everything together and in the car while I waited in the bathroom. I had called the hospital and they were expecting us. Paul drove us in record time through the rain and we arrived at the hospital shortly after 12:30am Sunday morning.
The lovely sister in charge, who happened to be a midwife too, hooked us up to a monitor and confirmed a strong foetal heartbeat and regular contractions. She did an internal and could feel her head pushing against my cervix.
The OB on call was spoken to and within an hour and a half of arriving at the hospital we were waiting outside theatre ready for theSQL to make her appearance.
The spinal was quick and not so painless but worked like a bomb. Paul was called in and at 2:23am on 12 Dec 2010 our beautiful baby girl was delivered into the world weighing 2.91kg and measuring 48cm long.
She has a full head of dark hair and latched on to the boob straight away. She is already on her own schedule and wakes up every 2 hours or so for a feed.
Aaron is in love with his baby sister and tells us at every opportunity that he NEEDS to hold his baby. I think he will be quite protective of her.
Right now I’m about to try catch up on some sleep since I’ve technically not really slept since Friday night…
I was totally blown away by the package that arrived for us. The best part is that these are not sample sizes but the actual sizes you will find in store.
The eye catching yellow, white and grey packaging is great, and Aaron was all over the bottles and tubs naming the cute animal drawings on each product. I was excited to see that all the creams, lotions and powders have chamomile extract in them, this soothing extract is wonderful to help put niggly babies at ease (and its smells great too).
I must admit we haven’t tried any of the products yet. The reason being that we had just opened a new pack of nappies for Aaron and we are waiting to finish those before opening the Pick n Pay ones. As for the other products, poor Aaron is missing out, Im being selfish and hanging onto those for theSQL. She should be here in the next 3 weeks and I am so grateful I dont need to buy any toiletries for her now.
I did open almost all the bottles and tubs and they smell divine, the chamomile extract is delish and Im sure its going to be very soothing for the baby.
Watch this space for our review of the Junior nappies in the next few days…
#theSQL is doing really well. She now weighs 2.76kg (about 300g bigger than average) and is apparently quite tall. I blame Paul for all that 😉
She is still moving all the time. We had one quiet day but she really made up for it the next day 🙂
Dr D was expecting her head to be engaged but its not, she looked at me and said deadpan, “Its because your pelvis is narrow and her head is big, just dont see it happening…”, OMG, seriously, I cant be that small although she can be that big!
She is pretty sure that even if I do go into labour naturally that her head will get stuck and she would rather do the c-section to be safe. I tend to agree with her. I asked if I would be allowed to watch her do the c-sec and she said sure. Im quite excited about that. We agreed that Paul will just have to turn his back and pray that he doesnt pass out.
The other thing I asked her was about the pain meds afterwards. Last time they gave me some pretty hectic stuff in my drip and I was out of it (and not in a good way) for most of the first day. She said that this time we can start with the minimum dose of the lightest painkiller and then if I need more we can up the dose and/or the type of painkiller. So happy she agreed because I really hated feeling so out of it last time.
I also spoke to Dr D about the swelling in my calves, ankles and feet (I even showed her the picture I put on Twitter). She said that coupled with my low BP made her want to book me off work on modified bed rest. Unfortunately I still have quite a bit to do at the office including showing the other ladies what they need to do for me while Im away. So we compromised. She booked me off today and Monday on modified bed rest so that I can get 4 straight days of relaxation.
So Im not allowed to drive or go do grocery shopping or anything like that. I am allowed to walk around at home as long as I take it easy and dont do anything hectic like clean out the baby’s room of all the crap that is in there at the moment (I really feel the need to do that though, I hate sitting idle and Im all about the nesting at the moment!)
I did get a tub of Puff Ease Bath Tea from BodyThrills yesterday and let me tell you it works. And it smells divine. Almost makes me want to have swollen ankles so I can feel the relief as they go down in my bath tonight 😉
Once again, I cant get the Vimeo video to embed so here is the link 🙂
The other thing we discussed was that since my OB is going to be away from the 10 Dec until the 24 Dec, I will need to see her locum in about 10 days time. She made me an appointment to see her for the 13 Dec. I completely trust Dr D so I know she would only leave us in good hands and Im glad I get to meet the locum before (please Gd) this baby comes.
Hopefully we will see the locum and the next time we go to Sunninghill will be to deliver theSQL with Dr D when she is back.
I am not the most observant person when it comes to important dates and stuff. I always forget birthdays and anniversaries and if its not in my diary forget about it. Today is no different *blush*…
My Hubband just posted this post and I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Right now…
The BEST thing going for me is my husband and children.
Paul,
You are my best friend, my confidant, my lover, my conscience, my heart, my motivation.
I am so glad our mothers meddled enough to get us to go on that first date.
I love you Hubband!
With all my heart, all my soul and every fibre of my being.
Are you having a baby shower? What can we get you?
The answer is that as Jews we don’t have baby showers. With a boy, gifts are brought to the Bris and with a girl, gifts are brought when people come and visit baby and mommy at home.
That being said people have asked what they can get us so I have made a list of the things we will need/want when theSQL arrives. What would really be appreciated is new born nappies 🙂
Things for theSQL
Room
Fitted crib sheets
Waterproof crib sheet
Swaddling blankets
Clothes
Summer 0-3 months
Autumn/Winter 3-6 months
Winter/Spring 6-9 months
Summer 9-12 months
Bath
Baby lotion
Baby shampoo
Baby body wash
Wash cloths
Hooded towels
Cotton wool
Changing
Waterproof changing pad and cover
New born nappies – LOTS! I would be happy if this was all people gave us 🙂
Feeding
Bottlebrush with teat attachment
Nuk new born dummies
Nuk Original new born bottle teats
No name brand bottles, that can fit the above teats
