Christmas with Milly

I have always thought that I was quite pragmatic.  Often, I would say that it helps me to keep things in perspective, but occasionally I think I let myself take the joy out of some experiences by over-thinking them.  Christmas is a good example of this.  I have always thought that it was weird when parents get carried away with the idea of Christmas for a baby.  Babies have no idea what is going on, and the pile of presents that they receive is a meaningless array of brightly coloured parcels.  It is from this thinking that I always thought that when Christmas came around, we would just continue to buy Milly just whatever she needed, a few toys, books, clothes, etc.  Things that we would have bought for her regardless of the time of year.  We even discussed whether we should wrap up her presents.  At the end of the day, we will be the ones undoing them.  In that case, does it make it selfish that the idea of having extra presents to open makes the idea appealing???

As we have planned this Christmas with Milly, I realise that I have got it all wrong.  Come Christmas Day, it is true that Milly will have no idea what is happening and will treat it as any other day, only requiring the critical trifecta of food, sleep, and a fresh nappy.  She might notice that there are a few more people looking at her, but for all intents and purposes, it will be just another day.  But, what I have realised is that a day will come when she thinks that Christmas is the most exciting day of the year, and after that, a time when she will want to know how she spent her first Christmas.  How miserable would we sound if all we could say is that we didn’t bother because she was too young.  I haven’t got the heart to do that, the thought of it makes me quite sad really.  So, everything will be wrapped, and we will make sure that there is a photo taken of Milly surrounded by all of her presents that can be tucked away into her memory box.  We have also purchased a little Christmassy jumper that she can wear on the day, which I am sure she will look incredibly cute in, well she does in everything else!!!

With this being our third year of having to buy presents for young children, thanks to our nephews, we were not surprised by the variety of things that we could have bought for Milly.  It would have been very easy to get carried away and spend A LOT of money (this is something that is not just restricted to Christmas, and that I am very guilty of!!), but we have tried to be practical and restrict ourselves to buying things that we think are fun, and that will help her development over the next year.  It was also important that we didn’t buy too much.  As Milly is approaching 3 months, most of the toys that we have bought for her are yet to played with.  To be honest she has only really started to look at them when she has her play time, but it won’t be long before she is grabbing exactly what she wants.  This is something that started to become clear over the last few weeks while Elaine has been playing with her.  Milly has started to identify a few favourite toys and reach out towards them, following the same toys as they are moved around.  But, it must be said, one of her favourite games at the moment seems to be spitting out her dummy and watching Daddy come and fetch it.  Every time that this happens, she has the cheekiest little grin on her face that makes it all worthwhile.  That  said, over the whole Christmas period I noticed that she has been smiling more and more, and I have learned how to make her smile myself (she likes her cheek tickled!!!), and her smile is so big and accompanied by some of the most excited noises, that it can only be a matter of time before she is laughing.  But then, in general, it is noticeable that she seems to be a lot more engaged with us in everything she does and she has started to make some new noises, and having conversations with herself.  All exciting developments. 

Over the Christmas break Milly also had her first round of follow-up jabs (reacting a little better this time) and we took her to get weighed, reaching the giddy weight of 8lbs 15oz.  This was of course before Christmas, so I expect that she has now sailed past 9lbs, after a couple of weeks of Christmas pudding and mince pies!!!  As for me, the best present I got this Christmas was being able to enjoy plenty of playtime with Milly and figuring out a game that we both enjoy.  Oh…and a waffle iron!!!!!  

The Jabs!!

The starting of a new job has meant that this latest edition to the blog has been delayed longer than I had intended.  For this I apologise, I’m not sure to whom, but I apologise nonetheless.

 

As the title this week suggests, Milly has been for her first course of injections.  Elaine and I were a little apprehensive about taking her into the Doctor’s waiting room full of nasty germs, but we found a quiet corner that we were able to conceal ourselves in (I promise that we are not as paranoid as I make us sound!!), until we were called into see the Doctor.  I thought that we would be straight in, check Milly over, give her the Jabs, and then go home.  I was wrong.  The checking of Milly was a bit more intensive than I imagined, and was actually reassuringly thorough.  He checked her spine, hips, reaction to light, sucking reflex, listened to her heart, and felt her tummy.  Everything was going perfectly, each test met with positive comments, until the Doctor asked if we had noticed a little lump, just above Milly’s bellybutton.  It is something that has been there since she was born.  Every Doctor and Nurse that has examined her has had every chance to see it, but none of them ever mentioned it, nor has it ever really bothered Milly.  For this reason, we had just assumed that it was fine, nothing to be concerned about, just a normal part of a new born baby.  Apparently not.  Well…we don’t need to be concerned exactly, but if it still there by the time she is 6 months then she might need a small operation.  I’m still not sure which part of this we are not supposed to worry about!!!  I think the problem comes from it now having a name – a periumbilical hernia.  Until this point I had just considered it a small bobble on Milly’s belly, but now I feel compelled to check it every time I change a nappy!!

Despite all of this, Milly, as usual, seemed to be quite happy throughout the checkup.  Merrily looking around the room, taking everything in her stride.  This continued as we were directed down the corridor, to the nurses room, for the injections.  During her stay in the NICU, Milly had endured all sorts of probing procedures.  Being ‘heel pricked’ a number of times, vitamin k injection, 2 drips in her arm, and a tube up her nose, not to mention the variety of monitors attached to her at any one time.  All of this, she dealt with the minimum of fuss, even pulling out her own tubes when she had tired of them (which I have already mentioned).  This gave me the naïve impression that just a couple of injections wouldn’t be a big deal for her.  I was wrong.  Very wrong!!  It wasn’t the fact that she cried that bothered me most, it was the look of utter betrayal on her face.  One minute she was perfectly happy, enjoying a cuddle from mummy.  The next, we allowed some stranger to stick sharp needles into her legs.  She was not happy!!  Nor will she be in a couple of weeks when we go for the follow up jabs.  I have one complaint about the whole experience, however.  As we left, we were given a sheet explaining the potential side effects and what we could do to alleviate any symptoms.  The only symptom that Milly suffered was a slight fever later that afternoon.  The information that we had been provided said that we could give her Calpol, which Elaine fetched.  Luckily, Elaine read the directions before giving it to Milly, as it is not suitable for babies born before 35 weeks, or under 4kg.  Both criteria, Milly fails to meet.  Upon calling the Doctor for some clarification, Elaine was met with a haughty receptionist who failed to understand what Elaine was explaining and told her that is common for new mums to be overprotective!!  In my experience, I have found that it is common for Doctor’s receptionist to be self-important busy-bodies!!!!!!!!!!!  As it turns out, the Doctor doesn’t really know the answer either, and we are waiting to find out what we can do when she actually becomes ill.  I’m guessing, by then she’ll be big enough to cope.

I’m ending this blog with a story from the delivery room when Milly was born.  I have told some people as it has occurred to me, but I don’t always remember, so I wanted to add to the blog to protect the memory!!  The day Milly was born, was my first experience of being in an operating theatre.  I was dressed in scrubs, and made aware that I had to be careful not to touch anything in order to maintain the sterile environment.  Due to Elaine’s condition, and Milly’s early arrival, there were a lot of people in the operating theatre to take care of them both (it seemed a lot to me, but I admittedly have no frame of reference!!).  Each person seemed to have a specific job including a nurse who took the time to tell me where I could stand and eventually sit, an what not to touch (which was everything!!).  This nurse also had a more important job, she had to stand in a specific place to make sure that the radio reception was clear.  This became apparent every time that she moved, as all the staff in the room would moan because the signal would disappear (I would suggest that there were more important to be concerned about at that point, but this seemed to be close to the top of their list!!).  In the unfolding events over the next few minutes, I didn’t notice that the radio was on.  Due to a large curtain, I could not see anything but could hear an awful lot of activity leading up to the safe delivery of our little girl.  When Milly had been wrapped up, I was asked if I wanted to hold her, which of course I did.  As the nurse placed her in my arms, I became aware that it was Radio Nottingham playing in the background and the 3 o’clock news had just finished, and then a song started playing.  The soundtrack to my first cuddle with my daughter was 'My Girl' by The Temptations.  Perfect really!!!