Well, as many of you know now, Jaan is not very well. He's in hospital under observation - no need to panic just yet!

I'll try and update the blog so Jaan's loved ones can keep abreast of his progress (I think I can do it by text or at least at the hospital on the console by my bed). We love him so much, and he is such a good, brave, wonderful baby - he is coping so well with all the tests and being in hospital.

The real tests and monitoring start today/Monday. Basically he has a few issues with his kidneys - it is too soon to tell if it is a serious issue needing lots of treatment, or if it is just something to keep an eye on just in case.

Of course we hope he is just fine, and hope to take him home again in a week or so, till ten, we are stuck in the PICU at Addenbrookes. Luckily that is just 5 munutes from my parents' house! SO we have a nice place to shower, eat, sleep - not that we leave the hospital much!

Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers - he needs everyone's good vibes!!

Please don't phone us though as we don't like to leave him to check voicemail, and we are not at home at all. Plus, phone calls mean we have to leave hospital to charge our phones! Please do text us, email us and Facebook us - we are so happy to have him, are so proud of him, and so in love with him, but it is also so hard to watch him in hospital, so hard to feed him, rest, take care of myself as well ...

The Good News is:

• He is feeding beautifully - an excellent feeder. He is being breastfed exclusively.
• He is very happy and content.
• He wees and poos just fine - that is a very good sign.
• He is in no pain.
• He plays, looks around, watches us, 'reads' his shapes book - photos soon!

Much Love

Nadiya (and Iain)

Jaan's first Shampoo!

Annabel the midwife couldn't stand it anymore and pointed out that Jaan needed his hair washed! LOL - we had no idea what to do, so she helped (well, she did it!).

Poor thing - never suspected what was about to happen! 

Then it hit him! 

All clean at the end though! [And days later he loved his first bath - in with Mummy in the big tub - on the 6th October, at about 7:30 pm, although he was still not keen on shampoo! His hair was grubby though so we had to ... and poor Daddy was not very sure how to wrap Baby Jaan up - wriggly baby!]

Hi there Friends & Family!

Hello Everyone

Welcome to Baby Jaan's blog.

He is well, and we'll just post photos for a while - we're a bit short on time! 

xx 

Proud Mummy

Meet Jaan - Born at 11:14 on Tuesday the 30th September, 2008, at the Rosie Hospital. He weighed 8 lbs 6 oz, and is a calm, happy baby, feeds well, looks grumpy most of the time, sleeps a lot for now! 

We love him and are all doing well - enjoying having him around! We just eat, sleep, and cuddle - all 3 of us! Iain is the chief nappy changer and baby-calmer, Nadiya feeds and soothes the baby, we take it in turns to sleep and when the baby sleeps, one of us sleeps too!

October 2nd - he's just a couple of days old

So NOW it is time!

So since I last wrote, have seen Annabel on Friday, and today seen Sally - the two community midwives. Have had a sweep each time, am still not really particularly effaced, and the baby oscillates between about 3 fifths and 2 fifths in and out! So no obvious signs .... not that there is any such thing as an obvious sign ... 

Baby can come any time, as before. Sally said sometimes there is no sign and those are the babies that just come. She also said tonight is not a good idea as no midwives are free - the on-call homebirth midwife is sick! Tomorrow would be good, or Tuesday! 

LOL. 

Well, we'll see. 

They do keep finding protein in my urine - could be nothing, could be bad news ..... oh wish I knew why there is protein in my wee. Sally is chasing my lab results from last week ... 

Not sure if inducing Tuesday or after Tuesday would be best ... I guess will find out on Tuesday. 

On a more personal note, we have been having a great time, Iain and myself - nesting a little, wandering about Royston enjoying the Arts Festival (very good!), watching Paula & Stu's play (very good!! They really are very talented), receiving calls and messages from friends and family, watching movies and TV, hanging out, sleeping and stuff. It's nice. It's everything we could want .... the baby moves about just as before, all day - I do get a bit paranoid at times, but he seems fine. Waiting is not a problem ... except for his risk as my baby, the baby of someone with impaired glucose tolerance .... that is the only problem, I can't know how safe he is or for how long ... 

39 Weeks and then some ..... Meditating and whirling chakras like a good 'un!

So here's what I'm up to at this late stage of pregnancy:

We do the Rainbow Relaxation we've been practicing for so long (it's a Hypnobirthing thing) and use the other visualisations Sarah has taught us. Mostly I'm just trying to chill out, get in there and spend time with the baby inside, and have been spending time with Iain - watching TV, chatting, cooking, eating at home or out, going to appointments together, lazing about, reading to the baby, or Iain helps me with managing the pain etc - massages, hot wheaty-bags, food, water as in the pool or a bath.

So I focus on the colours, the mantras, the Rainbow, and hope I can stay in the good place I've been retreating to for so long. Made myself the happy diagram above! Am quite pleased with it! That's me today, 39 weeks and 4 days pregnant! 

The pain is rather special to say the least!! I sympathise with women who have suffered for months and months of pregnancy - I have had severe pelvic pain since Sunday last, and while I appreciate it is good that it is happening gradually and manageably leading up to the birth ... Oh My Word does it hurt!! Not always - but if I have lain down, and then eventually of course need to turn or get up - OMG the pain. It's oww oww oww Howl Howl Howl, and then once I am up it is fine again. But very intense when the pain is happening. 

I also need shoves and heaves from Iain to actually get up sometimes now - it's like being crippled or paralysed. I feel like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill ... not nice. It's ludicrous that it fells me so. Am glad I have Iain's help as he helps me avoid some of the pain, and has been diligently massaging away at my legs and hips and feet. 

I have had acupuncture yesterday and today - pretty hardcore therapy, it hurt a fair bit, which is unusual for acupuncture - but expected for the kind of treatment we needed to try to help this baby come ... my Chi has well and truly been prodded and I have a needle in a plaster (special thing) still in my leg for the next few days, and an extra in my bag in case I go in to labour, for the other leg! Vivien is great, and if Baby is not here by the weekend will come along on Monday to the flat to try some more! 

Tomorrow Annabel my midwife will come along in the morning to check me out and to do a stretch & sweep for me ... eww urrghh the excitement! Then I can chill out and wait for Baby. We will see Paula & Stu's play, enjoy the Royston Arts Festival, and see if baby turns up ... no need to make any Induction related decisions till Tuesday anyway .... 

Apart from the pelvic pain, I have no complaints. Am hungry for more food at mealtimes, but not hungry as frequently as a few days ago ... am unsure what is going on ... am watching myself for better data! 

8 Days to go ... OH REALLY???

Woke up early this morning, wondering whether to have a soak in the bath ... I knew my in-laws would be stopping by on the way to the airport - to drop off my Mother's birthday pressie and to pick up their post. They would not be staying as Iain's Mum has a cold ... and I must not get infected right now. But still, I wanted to at least look at them and have them see my bumpiness! They have missed so much of the pregnancy .... 

I never made it up and out of bed with enough time to have to decide on a bath, but I was feeling good - happy and mobile. 

A few hours went by, I sorted the CDs and DVDs with Iain - FINALLY so the boxes can go down to the garage, and I have been putting music in the Mac's iTunes, deleted pregnacy podcasts etc. Am all set for Motherhood LOL! By the time the morning was well underway I realised I am VERY uncomfortable - the baby appears to be way low down now or something - I actually can't face walking too far on my own. Iain went and got the car's mapping done - car still needs bigger injectors and then the LPG conversion SHOULD work well ... finally, right now it's jerky and unreliable and we are still using petrol a lot. Anyway, he came back and said we need the injectors doing, it's provisionally set for Thursday ... LOL I laughed a lot, it was so funny to hear him say that - I had to tell him, if the baby is here by then, we'll probably need the car around, and if the baby is not here by then he will probably come then, and the car cannot go to have the injectors done!! LOL. 

Anyway, we walked down to get fruit together as it is market day, and that was a journey and a half! It took ages for me to walk, but it was also good to walk, I need to keep walking. It helps. 

So we are gonna go to KFC later! 

Maybe the baby will come soon. 

The signs or lack or signs are boring really, as they are largely unreliable and unreadable data - no direct correlation with any actual time for the birth or indication of progress. All I have to go on is a general feeling -- and my general feeling is the baby is on his way, maybe not this weekend, but soon. I feel uninterested in actual contractions and pains and timing and stuff because of the unreliability and ubtrackability .... no way of actually interpreting any of it. Shame that, I enjoyed tracking my sugars, checking my temps when TTC etc - it was great looking for patterns. No suck luck now. 

Am not anxious, am fine with the wait, am enjoying my day - it is sunny outside, Iain is home, he is putting boxes in the garage for me, our flat is pretty much baby-ready.