Wednesday, December 14, 2005
D I Y
The cot arrived yesterday, bought by one set of grandparents-to-be (both our families have been very generous). Unfortunately the manufacturers hadn't seen fit to include a full set of assembly instructions. How hard could it be? However, there was a surprising number of assorted bits of wood and fittings. Luckily I managed to get it assembled without too many false starts and dark muttering directed at the lovely people at John Lewis. It looks great, and should last our little one until he's old enough to move up to the 'big bed' we've already got.
Last night Anne and I went to her ante-natal 'partners session'. It was quite good fun, with only about six or seven couples there. All the blokes were herded into one room to brainstorm what we thought our role was during the labour/delivery, as well as on returning home with the baby. The girls did the same in another room. The results were quite funny (i.e. Women: Men to do the cleaning at home. Men: Do the cleaning at home - to our standards) but pretty close really.
We were also shown a few videos, one about what to expect during labour/birth (in case we'd been on another planet or hadn't even thought to pick up a book on the subject) and another giving us a tour of our local maternity unit. Anne won't be using that, unless there's an emergency, as we're booked into a hospital in London that specialises in diabetic mothers.
What was interesting was how the experiences of those few fathers who's been through it before varied from the books/videos. The main lesson that came out from it all was to try not to panic and to remain flexible. Birth plans etc. cannot be written in stone, and anything could happen.
We're off to the hospital in London again this afternoon, for another check on the baby since Anne was diagnosed with oligohydramnios. Originally Anne was OK going on her own, but last night and this morning asked me to go with her. We're not sure what to expect. Everything may have returned to normal, or not. We'll see.
Last night Anne and I went to her ante-natal 'partners session'. It was quite good fun, with only about six or seven couples there. All the blokes were herded into one room to brainstorm what we thought our role was during the labour/delivery, as well as on returning home with the baby. The girls did the same in another room. The results were quite funny (i.e. Women: Men to do the cleaning at home. Men: Do the cleaning at home - to our standards) but pretty close really.
We were also shown a few videos, one about what to expect during labour/birth (in case we'd been on another planet or hadn't even thought to pick up a book on the subject) and another giving us a tour of our local maternity unit. Anne won't be using that, unless there's an emergency, as we're booked into a hospital in London that specialises in diabetic mothers.
What was interesting was how the experiences of those few fathers who's been through it before varied from the books/videos. The main lesson that came out from it all was to try not to panic and to remain flexible. Birth plans etc. cannot be written in stone, and anything could happen.
We're off to the hospital in London again this afternoon, for another check on the baby since Anne was diagnosed with oligohydramnios. Originally Anne was OK going on her own, but last night and this morning asked me to go with her. We're not sure what to expect. Everything may have returned to normal, or not. We'll see.
// posted by Clive Scoggins @ 9:46 am 
