Sunday 29 June 2014

Sam Sunday #53: Giles


If you follow me on twitter, you may have already seen that last Sunday I gave birth to our son.  He was born at 1.40pm, weighed 8 lb 6 and we've called him Giles.  To be honest, the time since then has been a blur of nappy changing and cuddling, and we've both spent hours just staring at him and trying to work out how to do this parenting thing.  It's amazing and wonderful how much your life can change in an instant.

I've also been spending a lot of time recovering.  I had a textbook labour right until the very end when he twisted and got stuck.  This meant that I needed forceps.  Luckily Giles was just fine and not distressed at all, but I ended up needing surgery and three blood transfusions.  Considering all of that, I am doing really well, but it's still early days yet.  Tom is on paternity leave and he's been great at helping me as much as possible, giving me plenty of opportunities to cuddle with Giles while resting and getting my strength back.

Hope everyone has been doing well over the past week, I'm looking forward to slowly getting back to blogging over the next few weeks and months.  Let me know in the comments what I've missed over the past week :)

39 comments:

  1. Awww.. what an adorable cute little bundle you have there. Giles is such a beautiful name! Congrats again! I was thinking about you last week when I didn't see any posts here and figured you had probably gone into labor. So glad that you were able to share a post with us! Take your time recovering, get plenty of rest and love! Glad that Tom is able to help out a lot at home!

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    1. Thank you! We had real trouble deciding on a name - as we are both teachers, lots of names had associations already. I'm feeling better every day :)

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  2. YAYYYY! Congratulations and welcome to baby Giles! I'm so sorry to hear you had a rough time there at the end. I hope you're back up to par very soon. So happy for you two!

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    1. Thanks Andi :)
      I'm feeling better every day, so I'm sure I'll be fully recovered before I know it.

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  3. Awww, he is gorgeous... congratulations!!!

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  4. Congratulations!

    Gemma

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  5. Awwww I've been waiting for this post the whole week. First things first: Congrats!!!!

    And secondly, but not less important, how brave you are! I mean, if I were you they would have had to knock me down with sedatives because I would have been a huge mess. I hope you fully recover as soon as possible and enjoy llittle and gorgeous Giles.

    You know where we are if you need talking or any other thing. Just email us :) (can't get The Yellow Wallpaper out of my head, sorry)

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    1. Thank you!
      About being brave: it's a surreal experience, you kind of go to another place. I was more scared in the first few hours when the pain wasn't that bad than I was at the end. I'm recovering really well considering what happened :)
      I'm doing good at the moment, Tom is still on paternity leave for the rest of the week. Then he only has to go back to work for two weeks before the summer hols, so the timing is good!

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  6. Oh dear, so glad you are on the way to recovery and Baby is looking so sweet!
    Cuddle as much as you can: they grow so fast!
    Blessings,

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    1. Thanks, they do change quickly. He already seems more grown up than just a week ago...

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  7. Oh, Giles is lovely! Congratulations :). I am sorry you had a difficult labor, but hope you will be 100% soon.

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    1. Thank you, and I'm feeling a lot better now :)

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  8. Congratulations. It's a long while since my youngest was born but I remember that chaos of the first few weeks only too well! If (or when) you feel like you're stuck in a constant round of feeding and changing with no time to sleep, just remember it's only for a short time - it might not feel that way at 3 o'clock in the morning,but it is.

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    1. Thank you!
      And we are in that constant round of feeding & changing at the moment, so your advice was definitely welcome :)

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  9. He is so precious and I love his name! Hope the rest of your recovery is quick and painless!

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  10. He is so sweet! Congratulations, and I hope you recover soon!

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  11. Beautiful baby! Congratulations :)

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  12. Congratulations!! So beautiful :) Hope your recovery is full of pampering and good books.

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  13. Such a cutie -- congratulations! So sorry to hear you needed surgery -- that must have been very scary. Wishing you a speedy recovery & lots of cuddles with your little guy!

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  14. Congratulations! Such a cute baby. So sorry to hear you had to have surgery. Wishing you a restful and lovely time recuperating. All the best!

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  15. He looks perfect! Congratulations! I wish you all the best with your new little one.

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  16. Congratulations! What a beautiful little boy; such a precious addition to your family. I wish you a speedy recovery.

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  17. Oh my goodness! I'm sorry to hear that you had a tough time. I hope you are feeling all better soon.

    He's beautiful, Sam. Congratulations! :)

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  18. Congratulations! I'm glad to hear you're doing okay. All the best!

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  19. Congratulations! He looks beautiful. I hope you feel better soon.x

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  20. Congratulations, he is gorgeous! Good to hear you're doing well and I hope your strength comes back soon.

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  21. Welcome to the world, Giles! So very happy for your growing family:-) I'm sorry the labor ended up difficult, but it sounds like you have a wonderful support system. Enjoy!

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  22. Mazal tov Sam!! Good to hear Giles arrived safely, not so good to hear it was difficult at the end. Glad Tom is home with you and all three of you can be together in these very important early days.

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  23. The hospital staff were amazing - what happened was pretty scary, but everything was explained to me and I felt totally safe and in good hands, which definitely helped me feel OK with everything afterwards. I had a midwife assigned just to me and the doctor who delivered Giles & handled my aftercare was so calming. The whole experience could have been much more traumatic than it was, so I'm really grateful to all the staff,

    And it is a bit surreal being at home, but we're slowly getting used to it now :)

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  24. He couldn't be sweeter! Congrats to your whole family on the wonderful new addition. And so sorry to hear that you had a difficult time -- here's hoping the doctors are able to fix you up completely as soon as possible.

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  25. Congratulations - he is adorable in that pose.

    Hope you taking things slowly and you don't let the experience put you off having another one!

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  26. Congrats! He's gorgeous! Glad you're doing better. :)

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  27. Congratulations Sam, he looks wonderful and I hope he brings you much joy. I'm glad you are ok and hope you feel stronger soon too. x

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  28. Beautiful baby! I'm amazed at your dedication to your blog to post so soon after such a difficult time, but so happy that things turned out fine!

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