A Whole New World

Well, Prince Daddy has taken both Little Princes out to Ninjas so I'm grabbing my chance to blog while I can. 

The Littlest Prince has turned life at the castle upside down, given it a good shake and put it back together inside out.  We knew we were lucky to have a "good" baby with Little Prince - slept well, ate well, grew.  Littlest Prince is doing none of the above.  Although he is drinking milk like it's going out of fashion, he isn't gaining weight as he should be and so our Health Visitor has recommended changing him onto Lactose Free milk as she suspects he may be intolerant.

 

She's weighing him again on Friday so we'll see if he's done giving us scares.  At birth he decided that breathing and keeping his heart beating wasn't quite for him and so pooped in his waters and gave up.  So as I was being sewn up after an emergency caesarean, he was rushed to Intensive Care at the Special Care Baby Unit.  I didn't meet him until he was over 24 hours old.

 

Prince Daddy took Little Prince in to meet the Littlest Prince in the evening.  He is now totally smitten with his baby brother and is thrilled to have met him before even me.

 

Little Prince spent last night reading The Gruffalo to Littlest Prince.  It was Little Prince's favourite story as a baby and he insisted on finding his book to read to Littlest Prince.  Strange how these things come back to you-both Little Prince and I could recite it from memory, having read it on many, many bus journeys, every night at bedtime and as an afternoon filler before a nap.

 

The Littlest Prince worships his big brother and gives him all his best smiles and is even-at 10 weeks-trying to laugh.

 

Narcolepsy and Newborns aren't the easiest combination to handle.  Prince Daddy and I are ships that pass in the night as we alternate looking after Littlest Prince and sleeping.  My planned naps are more important than ever with a new baby to be responsible for; and as a night worker, Prince Daddy needs at least 7 hours unbroken sleep in order to be of use to his boss.  And so we are playing Pass the Baby as children play Pass the Parcel but as you unwrap the nappy layer, the prizes aren't nearly as nice.

Elephant Length Pregnancy? Or Just Having an Elephant?

So we've had a hectic few weeks at the Mummy Household.  And all on behalf of the Littlest Prince.

Our local hospital should just give us a bed and let us sleep in - we've been in at least twice a week for various things over the last few weeks.

 

Due to Princess Mummy being overweight at the start of the pregnancy and not gaining any weight during (both of which has annoyed my doctor- just can't win!) extra baby growth scans were scheduled at 28 and 34 weeks.

 

At the 28 week scan, Littlest Prince was supposed to weigh around 2lbs- a little under would be ok.  After a lot of muttering about "generous sizes" and checking the measurements twice, the sonographer told us that our Littlest Prince would weigh in at around 4lbs or a little over!!!

 

At the look of horror on my face (I've got to birth him!) she told us kindly that a low birth weight was more concerning and that he would probably cope very well with an early delivery with very little intervention if any.  She also, on finding out that my midwife and obstetrician appointments clashed, told me to keep the obstetrician and miss the midwife so that inspired me with confidence.

 

The obstetrician gave a low whistle looking at the scan (nice) and told me she wanted to repeat the Glucose Tolerance Test because a baby this big suggested Gestational Diabetes.

 

Anyway, much to-ing and fro-ing and tests and results confirm that, yes, I DO have gestational diabetes and on Friday was issued with my own personal blood sugar monitor and testing log.  Which was a very exciting gadget til she showed me how to jab my own finger with the pokey pin shooter (technical term) then I lost interest and decided I didn't want to play.

 

So I test blood sugar 4 times a day - before breakfast for a fasting reading, then an hour after each meal which has to be planned carefully to suit sugars and carbohydrate levels.

 

As of Monday, I think I'll be summoned back in because even my fasting levels are very high and so my post meal levels are astronomical, despite following the diet plan to the letter.

 

Oh, and according to the midwife I'm already measuring at 39 weeks which explains why I'm now confined to a wheelchair to get around instead of long walks (hard to accept at first but the freedom is dizzying) and why my liver is struggling which makes me itch ALL the time!

 

At least with the GD they are looking at bringing my due date forward to mid-to late January instead of February so now at least, the end is in sight!

Sports Day and Other News

Little Prince's School held their annual sports day last week.  As he is still in the infant section, they don't do formal sports but have 35 stations around the school field where the kids rotate round and do little events.  Such as the rugby "try", the bunny hop, shooting basketball hoops etc.  It was a joyful shambles. Half of the younger kids kept wandering off and having to be rounded up by the leaders.  The older kids had set up the events and the "jumps" etc were spaced too far apart for the miniatures to jump in one leap.  The queue system fell apart quite early on as all the kids wanted to have a go and sundry calls of "Jo-fish" and "Welly-ottt" were heard. A lot. 

 

The whole day was an incredible success.  The day was well supervised and the teachers and children gave their all.  Parents and kids had a great time and winners were declared by house colour.  The only formal race that was run with winners was the 60 metre race which was run in heats.  Even though Little Prince was spectacularly bad at all of the events bar the bunny hop, he had a great time and everybody was upset when 3 o'clock came round and hometime was declared.  Little Prince's sports day was so different from the sports days of Princess Mummy's youth.  Maybe it was the fact that it was an afternoon instead of the whole day.  Maybe it was that the event was planned for May instead of mid-July, or maybe it was because the teachers were so enthusiastic and engaged that the kids couldn't help but be sucked in. 

 

In other news, Princess Mummy has started Weight Watchers.  Last April I climbed on the scales and the numbers went up, and up, and up.  So, when Prince Daddy broke his leg, and I had to take care of him, I was thrilled to see the weight drop off.  But then it stopped.  Then it crept back on again.  And so, finally, I took matters into my own hands and dragged my sorry bum to WeightWatchers. 

 

Honest to Goodness, I've never eaten so much food in my entire life.  Instead of the whole "eat less, move more" mantra, I've found myself eating better.  Tonnes of food, but better quality.  And 3 meals a day!  I haven't eaten 3 meals a day since I was 18 and moved out of Queen Mummy's house. 

 

Being in WW has caused me to reconsider how I treat food.  Prince Daddy has always said that my relationship with food is downright unhealthy.  And now I'm starting to see what he means.  Apparently one meal a day is not healthy.  Ok, one meal and a giant bar of chocolate. 

 

Yesterday, for example, I ate 2 poached eggs on toast, a baked potato, pasta in cheese and tomato sauce, mini biscuits, a banana, and some grapes.  And still, at first week's weigh in, I lost 3 1/2lbs.  How does that even work? 

 

I'll keep you informed whether it works again this week.  Keep everything crossed for Wednesday's Weigh In.