All home safely

We were discharged from hospital last night around 6pm - after finally managing to pass the baby test! Who would have thought that you needed to score at least 80 out of 100 on the multi choice section and write a 500 word paragraph on how to change a nappy whilst making dinner at 8pm at night during a power-cut!

We made it through our first night together - Sophie has been excellent, feeding regularly, and sleeping through from about midnight until 8am.

The midwife comes to visit us sometime this morning, and after that I have to race around to make sure that Sophie's birth is registered properly, that the application for a baby passport (so she can go to NZ at Easter) is done and so that we can start claiming child benefits.

Here's Sophie's entry into the "cutest baby of all time" competition, on her arrival home last night

Stephen

Few more pics to keep you all happy...

Everything well here. Tara and baby seem to have got used to each other and are falling into a nice 6 hourly feeding routine. Sophie seems to spend most of the rest of the time asleep - but I'm not there during the night so I'm told that I am missing her talking and practising her 100m hurdles technique. Tara assures me that she is quite exceptional T both, and that she is well on her way to being the first women olympic champion prime minister (insert the country of your choice here) has known!

I have also been in contact with the local roading company and they have agreed to purchase as much high quality tar as I can scrape from Sophie. The midwife told me it was called "meconium" but I'm not sure how to pronounce that - and I'm sure that with its stickness and durability it will do extremely well in filling the pot holes on major motorways near us.

We hope to be released from the maternity ward jail (sorry - allowed to go home early for good behaviour) tomorrow. This is as long as both Tara and Sophie make it through their respective check-ups and tests. I hope that they remember to use the right test on each of them. Sophie tends to puke if her stomach is palpitated too much - and I'm fairly sure that Tara won't be as flexible as the "clicky hip test" requires!!!

Enough blathering - here's what you've all been waiting for (the midwife even took the camera off me so that I also, reluctantly, have to feature!)

Tara - looking good (this is from today - I promise!):

Very sleepy Sophie:

Tara and Sophie (not sure who the odd looking one eyed bloke is!):

Stephen

Announcing the Arrival of.......

Sophie Ellen Kay. Born at 5.36pm on the 27th of November. Weighing in at a hefty 8pounds (3.63 kilos to those of you that have managed, like me, to upgrade to metric!)

The whole experience was truly mind blowing, so I'll just stick up a few early photos and tell the tale properly after a decent sleep!


Tara and Sophie in the recovery room:

Getting to know each other a little better:




And finally falling off to sleep:



Stephen

ps - by my quick calculation Dennis wins the due date prize for guessing the right day!

Not many left in the running now.......

So, we are now 5 days overdue! Tara's tummy must be far too nice a place for the baby at the moment - we haven't really had any indications that anything momentus might be happening soon!

We have another midwife appointment on tuesday next week, and Tara has beeen booked in to be induced next Sunday evening (the 3rd Dec) if nothing has happened by then!

I'm getting a bit impatient!!!!

Stephen

No Sign Yet...

Just to satisfy any curiosity, nothing has happened yet and there is still no sign at all of baby wanting to make an appearance. Hopefully he or she will decide to come soon!

1 day past due date

Well, sorry to all who betted on yesterday or this morning. Nothing yet. I tried my very best last night by ordering a medium-hot curry and when I didn't feel it was hot enough even topped up the spice with lots of Stephen's madras sauce which made my nose run and eyes water! The heartburn wasn't too bad last night but I am paying for that this morning. I think my primary diet today will consist of gavascon!!!

Stephen has already left for work this morning, looking dashing in his suit. Too bad for him that the baby didn't come yesterday as well as Mondays and Tuesdays are his hardest days at school! I think it is getting quite difficult for him to concentrate on work these days as well as he is so focussed on the baby and wanting to meet him or her. He usually loves school and even starts wishing holidays over near the end of them so you can imagine how surprised we both are that he doesn't really want to go in right now and would rather stay home with me... I would feel honoured but I know very well that I am not the draw!

I will keep you all posted in the next couple days and will put up any other pics that get taken in the mean time.

Still in there!

So I am still pregnant and baby has not yet demanded to get out. That means that both Peter and Sean have guessed wrong so far and that my mum and Poppa are getting very close to wrong guesses as well... Let's just hope that Julia's David is not right as he guessed that Baby won't make an appearance until the 20th December! I don't think that Stephen or I could take that!!!

I think that Stephen and I will be going out for a hot curry tonight in order to try to hurry things along... so I will definitely be spending the night awake - either with labour or with terrible indigestion brought on by the curry!

Our Poor Cats!

We are obviously getting a little crazy just hanging round waiting for things to happen - so we've given our cats a bath!

They did need it - as both of them have taken to trying to drink out of the toilet, even when I'm trying to use it!

The results are below - they are both giving us very evil looks!

Stephen

Fancy a little Wager?

I've decided to start a little "book" on our arrival date!

Leave a comment with the exact time, down to the minute, and date that you think that Tara will give birth.

Closest to the official recorded time by the hospital will win a small, yet possibly significant prize!!!

Stephen

2 Days 'till D-day...

Stephen and I have been doing the last few things to get ready for baby.

This morning we put the car seat into the car which wasn't quite as straight-forward as we thought it would be! It took us about 1/2 an hour to get it in to our satisfaction and even then we aren't so sure that we have done it right. Who knew it would be so complicated? Hopefully we will get better with practice!

Stephen has also taken some more pictures of me with my big bump. No sign of baby yet so who knows how much longer he or she will take to come out. We are getting very excited though and every morning Stephen asks me where 'his' baby is. It would be nice if baby came soon though as we are both so curious to meet him or her.

The Final Countdown - T-Minus 1 Week...

So we move into our final week of being a young, cool, metrosexual couple - bring on the exhausted, bags under eyes, financially strained parenting years! The bathroom floor has now been grouted and the door re-hung - thank goodness I have managed to convince Tara that the rest of the house doesn't need painting right now!

We have also timed our run to the hospital, and informed the police of our expected due date so that we don't get pulled over in the mad dash (the police offered us an escort for a small fee and donation to their christmas party fund, but we have decided that we will be able to manage the 20mins to the hospital using the hazard lights and the horn alone).

We went to Frimley Park hospital today to do a quick tour, check out the birthing pool, and make sure that I won't die of a heart attack when faced with the parking charges!

School are prepared for me to disappear for two weeks worth of paternity leave, though as I have to set all the work for my classes to do before I leave I effectivly have to do two weeks extra work over the next couple of days to make sure that everything is ready!

4 of the 8 couples that took mummy and daddy lessons with us (we graduated top of the class and were awarded gold stars for our preparation and wonderful senses of humour!) have now had their babies. We see one of the couples quite regularly. Its very interesting to hear their "maternity ward" stories from both male and female perspective - I have a feeling that the male version, whilst slightly exaggerated, is probably closer to the truth than the hormonally charge feminine one!

Watch this space - not long to go now!

Stephen

Calling all potential Babysitters......

As per the Kay rules for new babies- no christmas shopping will be done in the Kay Family household this year. We (well - really me!) have decided instead to run a free babysitting training service for anyone interested in learning the noble art.

We will offer unlimited access to our child between the hours of 5-10pm - whilst we are out having fun! Coffee, tea and hot chocolate will be provided though applicants to our scheme will be expected to provide their own food.

At the end of your training session we will provide you with a verbal evaluation of your progress - and improvements that we think you could make.

This free offer will be for the christmas period only. We expect to start charging for our training service in the new year!

Hopefully this scheme will save my bank accounts from the pillaging that they are undergoing now that Tara has started her maternity leave! Silly me for thinking that maternity leave was for resting and relaxing (and possibly some house tidying!), it is apparently for shopping, and lunches with the ladies!!!

Stephen

ps - latest midwife appointment shows that all is well with mother and baby. Bump now measures 37inches, and head is engaged (I think that means that everything is downhill from here!). 2 and a half weeks to go and counting! Going to the labour ward tour today, and got to finish tiling the bathroom!