Drawing Breath

The Phoenix Aikido Club has a very nice new mat, replacing the trusty, ageing, increasingly patched mat that has been down for at least the last 15 years as far as I can remember.

The new mat is the same blue, but has a lot more tooth to it, so breakfalls feel quite different. It’s much easier to grip with the feet, but I suspect it will also be much easier to get mat burns now. It will need tightening again soon as it stretches with use, but it’s great improvement on it’s predecessor.

I’ve started a Mobile Me gallery of pictures of Edward. You can even subscribe using RSS to get updates. Because why wouldn’t you want to see every new picture as it is posted?

It was bath time for Edward today. Anyone passing by must surely have thought that we were killing him with sticks.

The last few days have been by turns rewarding and exhausting, in about equal measure at the moment, though of course it is much easier to focus on the difficulties and overlook the pleasures, especially at four o’clock in the morning.

Edward is doing extremely well, and is now three ounces over his birth weight (one hundred grammes in new money), having gained about one ounce per day in the last three days. The midwife informs us that this is about the best we could hope for, so it shows that despite some early issues with feeding, he’s clearly getting enough nutrition. The amount of pooh he is producing backs up this theory too.

So far, the only issue has been the fact that he hasn’t allowed Elaine to sleep at night, demanding constant feeding and attention. This has left us both exhausted; Elaine from feeding and tending Edward, and me from tension and sitting for long periods trying to get him to sleep after he’s been fed, to give Elaine a chance to get some rest.

Yesterday was Edward’s first trip out in his pushchair. Elaine and I walked to our nearby Sainsburys to stock up on nappies, cotton wool and other essentials. Then on the way back, we called in to the Phoenix to show Edward off. Elaine was tired on the way home, but Edward slept through the entire trip, even when being bounced up and down curbs and over potholes.

The fresh air and new experiences seemed to help Edward sleep a bit better overnight, as we both managed to get a bit more rest. Elaine still had to feed him several times in the early hours, and to get him to calm down I sat with him on my lap for an hour or so until the dawn chorus started, but it was nowhere near as bad as the previous night, when neither of us managed more than an hour or so asleep.

We have realised that there are two Edwards; beautiful, lovely Daytime Edward, who sleeps peacefully, feeds nicely, and is generally a delight, and evil, miserable Night-time Edward, who wants food constantly, and never sleeps for a moment. Our hope is that, just like in films, good will triumph over evil, and Night-time Edward will be banished altogether soon.

Elaine and Edward are home at last. Although they were both fit and healthy when he was delivered, Elaine has been having some problems getting Edward to feed properly, so the midwives decided to keep them in for a few days to make sure that he was getting enough to eat.

He’s still giving Elaine some problems on the feeding front, but mum and baby are getting the hang of it, so they were discharged at about 4pm today. Elaine was going a bit stir crazy, and a busy maternity ward isn’t the most relaxing place for a new baby or mum.

Edward is a little bit jaundiced, which is apparently quite normal, but otherwise seems to be doing well. He was decidedly unhappy at being in a new environment, even though he slept soundly in the car on the way home, but has settled down after a few hours. The cat has had a look at him, and is still unsure what to make of the whole situation, so has decided that his best course of action is to stay well away for the time being.

Yesterday was saw our first exposure to explosive diarrhoea, when Edward managed to cover most of his lower body in the stuff. Apparently it was caused by Elaine having orange juice for breakfast (who knew?), which did make me wonder why they offer it to nursing mums in the first place if they know what the likely outcome is.

One thing we’ve learned that isn’t in any of the books, and no-one has thought to tell us: cut your fingernails, otherwise it’s very easy to scratch a wriggling infant when you are dressing or washing them. Maybe it was just so obvious that no-one thought it needed mentioning?

Edward James Smith was born healthy and grumpy at 5.25am, weighing 7lb 4oz. Elaine started the early stages of labour at about 5pm the day before. At around midnight her contractions started, so Elaine phoned the labour ward to ask their advice. She was told to take a couple of paracetamol and have a hot bath to ease the contractions; full labour probably wouldn’t start until the following morning.

At 3am, the contractions were already extremely painful; Elaine woke me to inform me that it was time to get to the hospital. By 3.30am, a very nice midwife called Katie informed Elaine that she her labour was well underway; just under two hours later Edward was delivered. Elaine was a trooper, and managed the pain of delivery with only gas-and-air and a moderate amount of shouting.

About two hours after delivery, when mum and baby had been checked out and rested, Elaine walked up to the maternity ward, and I was kicked out as surplus to requirements.

I’ve added all the currently scheduled events for 2008 at the Phoenix Aikido Club to my iCal calendar. You can view the calendar in your browser, or if you are an iCal user, you can subscribe here.

I would like to draw your attention to the events of this particular month.

Apple’s attention to detail is one of the things that separates OS X from Windows. Tiny touches that take time and thought to implement, are almost never seen, but make the whole Apple experience a little more user friendly.

One such example that I encountered recently was while applying system updates on my Macbook. I ran the Software Update application, and after the list of updates was retrieved, I was presented with a dialogue box stating that I was running on battery power, and that Apple recommend being connected to a power source before installing system updates.

This seemed like a reasonable request, so I popped the MagSafe connector into the socket. As soon as the power was connected, the warning dialogue box closed automatically, without my having to click “Okay” or “Cancel”. It would have been so easy for Apple not to have implemented this little feature, and no-one would have thought anything of it. But they went the extra mile, and it made me realise once again why I prefer Mac OS X to Windows. Windows tries to be user friendly by constantly interrupting with questions or advise. Mac OS just gets out of the way and lets you get on with it.

The walk into work this morning was rather depressing; cold and wet, with heavy cloud being marshalled across the sky by a blustery, persistent wind. But as I past a noisy building site and a busy road junction, I heard a beautiful sound. On the opposite side of the road, atop a tall lime tree, a song thrush was singing. Bouncing and swaying on his windblown perch, his rich, bell-like notes rang out clear and high over the din and roar of machinery, traffic and wind.

It was a small thing, but that small triumph of nature over industry lifted my mood and made me feel a lot better on a miserable day.

In a shameless bit of nepotism, I’ve added a link to Child’s Play Family Photographic Services, a new(ish) business venture for my good friend Damian Harty. Damian and I have known each other for over 20 years, and I’ve always been in awe of his knowledge and intellect. Until recently, Damian worked as an extremely successful design engineer, specialising in finite element analysis and other complicated mathematical jiggery-pokery. But in brave move, he recently decided to abandon the automotive industry and pursue his passion for photography full time. He has a great eye, a commitment to quality and a lifelong dedication to the important details that make for a great service.

I wish him all the best in his new venture.