Introducing . . .

If you've been wondering if my conspicuous absence from this blog means that I've gone and had the baby, then wonder no more (and yes, I do realise some of you have been stalking this blog awaiting the news!!!)! Let me introduce you to...

Little Miss Jasmine!

Over a week and a half ago, on Tuesday 5 July, little Jasmine entered the world at 1.36am after mum laboured for about 10 hours (completely natural birth, no interventions although copious amounts of both nitrous gas and much appreciated encouragement from hubby was required at times).

Weighing in at 3.9kg (8.6lbs) and 51cm in length, she wasn't a small baby! Upon taking her first breath of fresh air, she immediately let us all know that her lungs were in perfect working order and that being naked and cold and out in the big wide world was most uncomfortable.

Dad was immediately smitten by this new little being. Mum was a bit too exhausted at the time to really take it all in and just wanted to close her eyes and sleep!

Once she had been weighed and measured and cleaned up a little, she was returned to the care of mum and dad. All three were then lead out of the Birthing Suite to one of the suites in the Maternity ward for some much needed rest.

Three days later, it didn't look as if we were going to be able to leave the hospital just yet. Jasmine developed jaundice from not getting enough fluids (mum's milk was slow in coming and in short supply). This is where things started getting distressing, moreso for mum and dad than baby herself. Due to the high levels of bilirubin (toxin associated with jaundice) in her body, there was no choice but to undergo Phototherapy (UV light) treatment. However, the weather last week was very cold, and severe wind storms had even taken out the power to the hospital on two nights (airconditioning cannot be run on generator power, so for those two nights, we almost froze!). Hence the midwives weren't taking any chances and Jasmine was put into a Humidicrib (incubator) just so that she didn't freeze to death as she had to lie under the lights completely free of clothing, even her nappy. Watching her sleep in a big, noisy machine under blue lights was not pleasant at all. (Several other events lead to even more distress and anxiety, but I'll spare you all the details - thankfully nothing was really that serious.)

Thankfully God had His firm hand on the whole ordeal, and a little short of 24 hours later, the bilirubin levels had dropped to a manageable level and the Phototherapy was no longer needed. We had to stay in hospital one more night for monitoring and to make sure that the bilirubin levels stayed down, but at least we were over the major hurdle.

Finally on the morning of Sunday, 10 July, Jasmine was given the all clear and we were able to take her home. We still have the breastfeeding hurdle to overcome, but hopefully that will sort itself out over time.

In the meantime, we have the fun job of trying to work out some sort of routine, getting rest where we can (although I'm finding this is an almost impossible task!), but best of all, enjoying our new little bundle of joy. (psst - she already has daddy firmly wrapped around BOTH her little fingers. LOL)

I'll leave you with a few last photos and hope that this whole post has made sense. Very little sleep is completely addling my brain and ability to string meaningful sentences together! :D

Hopefully normal programming will return to this blog, although don't hold me to that! LOL


*hugs*