Monthly Archives: October 2015
Full of love
Adam is blessed to have a big brother and sister who love him very much. Grace is much more chill with Adam, she loves him and cuddles him, but moves on when she is done.
Eli is a bit more in Adam’s face. He wants to hug him, and kiss him and hold him, all while talking loudly to Adam. What is for certain is that there is lots of love for the little man and that seems like a good way to start life off.
Growth and cuddles
On Monday Adam’s weight was down to 3.62kg (from a birth weight of 4.02kg), and today he is weighing 4.11kg – I think the milk is doing its job.
I feel like I need to spend lots of time just cuddling Adam and staring at him. He is in all likelihood our last child and this time when they are little is so short, it feels like I need to make the most of it and spend some time just being with him and cuddling him.
Maybe the bath should be a little bit warmer next time…
1 week old today
1 week old and all is well. Adam is healthy, drinking, and spending good time staring. Grace and Eli are enjoying him, but Eli seems to be taking some strain and is waking up at night and needing input to get back to sleep. Hopefully Eli will settle down again soon.
3 in the bed
Cuddles are the order of the day, of everyday. Grace and Eli love to give Adam a hug, stroke, or to hold his hand. May the sibling love grow, and may they all share a wonderful relationship together.
Tummy tubbing
Natasha came by to check in on Donné and Adam, and also to give little Adam a bath in the tummy tub.
All is well with both of them. Adam is weighing 3.62kg today and is slightly yellow (as both Eli and Grace were around about this time). Donné’s milk is busy coming in, and Adam has had some better sleeps. He even had a little outing to collect Grace and Eli from school today: car + moby wrap = sleepy baby.
First outing
Strapped in and ready to go for his first outing (which all went well with him sleeping through the grocery shopping)
A 4kg baby sounds big, but he is still just a little nooney
Three cuddle munchkins
Poor Eli keeps forgetting Adam’s name, so when someone asks him what his little brother’s name is, he gets this very sad look on his face. He does seem to be getting it now though. Grace on the other hand likes to refer to Adam as it – “Does it need to drink?” “Is it crying,” etc. We’re working with her, but progress is slow.
Grace and Eli getting in some Adam cuddles
Meet the siblings
On Friday morning Grace woke up and came through to the room to be greeted with a new baby brother sleeping between us. “Did the baby come last night? Oh, he’s so cute, he’s such a cutie.”
Eli looks at him and says, “Baby so tute,” (because he can’t say a “c” yet).
There were (and still are) lots of hugs and kisses for little Adam from his big brother and sister.
Catching Adam Drennan
Adam Drennan was born at 22h21 on 22 October 2015. 4.02kg and 52cm long, with a head circumference of 36cm.
The birth went wonderfully well and both Adam and Donné are healthy and well.
It all started while I was out at a parent-teacher meeting and the messages started to get more frequent….and then the phone call.
I got home and it seemed clear that Donné was in labour, with her contractions coming every 2 minutes, but not being too intense. We had decided on a home birth with a midwife, Natasha Stadler, so there was no need to get to hospital. We took a few laps around the pool chatting, with one half of the lap being a contraction, and the other half being in between.
Things seemed to be progressing, and from the past we expecting it all to go quite quickly, so we got hold of Natasha to let her know things were on the go and so that she could get ready. Donné had a bath and things started to move a bit more. In each birth there has been a point where Donné suddenly gets to a point of, “we have to get moving now,” and that’s when I know it’s time to get to the hospital, or in this case get the midwife to come.
Natasha and her assistant Sandrine (an apprentice mid-wife from Germany) arrived at about 21h30 and quickly got set up for the delivery.
At this point the labour was getting quite intense, with strong contractions and lots of deep breathing to get through things. From here on it moved pretty quickly. The one thing which was very funny was when Donné said to Natasha, “Last time they broke my waters and it was such a relief,” to which Natasha answered, “Do you want me to break your waters? You can break them.” On the next push Donné’s waters burst with dramatic effect and a midwife in the line of fire.
We had discussed this before and I had asked if I could catch the baby if everything was going well, and everything was going well. Donné pushed and did so well, and I got to catch Adam and be the first person to hold our little man, which was and is a wonderful privilege for me.
He is perfect, beautifully formed and wonderfully healthy.
A quick clean off with mom after birth – this is the first photo of him
Getting the good stuff
Post bath cuddles
The peaceful aftermath
Being born – it’s tiring work for mommy and baby
