Not much energy to do more than report:


A boy! Born at 17:15 today, 30th October, weighing 8lbs 5.5 oz.


We might have a name decided by tomorrow!

Ed

ps Did I get this to the web without anybody posting a spoiler?

I trust that having read this far you're prepared for some of the gory details to follow...

24 hours into induction Claire and baby are both doing well. There are signs of labour around the corner but not sufficient that I should be staying after 'visiting hours'.

Will I be woken in the night and summoned?

Will Claire get any sleep?

A bit of excitement this evening. My long standing loyalty to Cadbury's has paid off and I won a free entry to Cadbury's world on the Happiness Express. Ye-hey.

Otherwise we're just on the wind up to the hospital appointment tommorrow at which I'm likely to be induced. Could be a lengthy process though so I've re-packed my hospital bag. It's been packed for going on a month now, so I needed to remind myself what's in it.

Distractions this week have included:

Playing with the apple peeler / corer / slicer that Helen and Graham got us. It’s a great engineers toy – it’s got loads of adjustable mechanical bits. So you can get it to make curly-wurly bits of carrot, or long threads of potato. Not necessarily useful but definitely more interesting than just slicing fruit and veg.

Ringing loads of people to bug them too.

Being nosey about our new neighbours moving into the newly rennovated next door flats.

Last night we made some marmalade from one of those easy to make tins. Top tip: don’t put the lids in the oven as well as the jars – the rubber bits burn!

Since it finally decided to stop raining today, we went for a lovely walk (or a bit of a waddle in my case) up on Baildon Moor. It was lovely in the afternoon sun.

Well, I've been up t' hospital this afternoon for an appointment to see a nice greek man. I've been poked around a bit, we've established I'm not ready for action yet, and I have a "failed" written on my "report card". I also have an appointment for Friday when they'll start induction. Ed can see his half term ebbing away. Anyway, all is well with kiddo and me. It's always nice hearing his / her heartbeat.

Maybe Lizzie will have to explain her pineapple juice suggestion. Or maybe it's just a wind up - like the instruction to bring a pineapple to my hen party. On that occasion, the only thing it achieved was making me late while I queued in Tesco (well to be fair it was lazily lying-in that made me late, Tesco just made it worse). This time around, at least I got to enjoy the pineapples.

I strongly disagree with Amy about personality not being developed in the first few weeks. Obviously I have no experience to back this up, which qualifies me, in SAGGA circles, to express my comments. From what I've heard discussed though, habits that show up or are picked up in the early days are evident for a long time.

So instead of a fantastic half-term getting to know my new baby, so far I have been catching up on paperwork and generally sitting around. It takes quite a substantial amount of creativity to help keep Claire from being bored. Activities must be largely sedentary (not ironing, washing up or hoovering, then - my jobs - nesting so far has been a management role) require a short attention span (even DVDs are best split into 3 sessions) and emotionally banal. We recommend Teacher's TV, which, luckily, is on throughout the night. Luckily Hugh and Jo came around and lightened our day. C said that the time flew while they were here.

Thanks for all the ideas about how to hurry baby along. Now how about things to do while we're waiting...

Hello,

Today's the day annointed for my first ever blog. Hopefully I'll get better as we go!

Saw the midwife this morning. She said encouraging things about my well formed bump, and there don't seem to be any problems. Since there's still no action evident I have an appointment at the hospital for Monday afternoon when they start mild interference. If this doesn't work then I'll be on the drugs towards the end of the week. The midwife's parting shot was that one thing was certain, the baby would be coming out one way or another - I wouldn't be pregnant for ever!

Thanks for the curry comment. I've tried - I figured it was the perfect excuse for some really good currys. But all it's given me so far is indigestion and a lack of sleep as jnr thrashes about. Walks have been good for getting me out the house. And we've tried a few of the other suggestions too but I'm too shy to talk about those publicly. No pineapple juice yet or scrubbing floors, I think I'll make those todays projects.

Well, we're two days overdue, and it's no good sitting around doing nothing. There's no sign of domestic hyper-activity - nesting - but lots of chocolate being eaten. Thanks Amy

At least we can enter the blogging world...