Off-Topic: Teddy Update at Six Weeks Old

Today my gorgeous little Teddy has been with us for six weeks.  Can you believe it’s been six weeks already? And he’s doing amazing things such as holding his head up fully, making efforts to communicate (although we’re a long way off proper words just yet; he did say “aaahhh” which I’m confident was his attempt at “antidisestablishmentarianism”, so that’s ace…) and he’s also mimicking movements such as hand waves and poking out tongues.  I had no idea it would be this amazing having a tiny little baby to look after, as to be honest I thought this would be the time that I’d have to put up with whilst I waited for him to grow into a proper person who wasn’t so delicate and incapable, but I am loving every second of him as a baby and I want it to last and last.

His treatment for his Talipes (Clubfoot) is also going really well and he’s actually getting through the treatment schedule – the Ponseti Method – a lot more quickly than we expected which is also great, as the first few months of the treatment involve both his legs being in casts up to his thighs which I was quite afraid of as I had to have a lot of leg casts as a child and I hated them! Thankfully Teddy is taking it all in his stride and you wouldn’t know anything was wrong at all.  A couple of nights ago I ended up in A&E with him as he did some projectile vomiting which is apparently all very normal (!!) for a baby of his age – he’d overeaten – but during his examination a heart murmur was picked up.  This is obviously quite scary sounding, however I’m reassured that it’s extremely common in babies and it often closes up on its own, plus he’s not showing any of the signs of an unhealthy baby as he’s very alert, a great colour, eating huge amounts and putting on plenty of weight – he now weights 1o.4lbs – so I’m optimistic that it won’t turn into anything too serious, but I’ll keep you updated.

I’m extremely lucky with Teddy’s temperament as he’s so easy-going and only really cries when he’s hungry or over-tired, both of which are easy to sort out.  At the hospital he was extremely over-tired and the only way I could get him to settle down was to sing to him, and Bastille’s Pompeii was the song of choice.  I will be writing some posts on my pregnancy and the first few weeks of being a mother, but I’ll label them as ‘off topic’ so if you’re not interested then you’ll want to avoid them!  Being a mother really does change you and there’s no way to anticipate the impact it will have.  My life is both less and more important now; less because it’s no longer my top priority as obviously Teddy’s life is much more important and more because I need to do everything I can to keep myself in top condition so I’m here for Teddy whenever he needs me.  It’s a strange feeling of contentment that comes with having a baby; you very quickly witness your hard work paying off when your child achieves something or smiles at you, and it really is amazing – I recommend to everyone!

Three things he loves:

• Being sung to; I have to mix it up though as he gets bored of one song quite quickly.
• Putting things in his mouth! Anything from the expected (feed bottles and nipples) to the less conventional such as tissues, bib attachments, hair and anything else he can get his hands on.
• Shaking his fists when he’s annoyed; he’s all about the fists and used to bring them up to his face in the womb.  Now he tends to just wave them around a lot and if he’s getting wound up then they get pretty aggressive!

Three things he hates:

• Nappy changing; it sounds like I’m killing him unless I manage to distract him first.  I find giving him a little bit of a feed, then stopping for a nappy change before carrying on is the best way to keep him fairly mellow.
• Being put to bed before he’s ready as if he had his way he’d stay up all day with us, and whilst he’s definitely staying up longer than he did before, he very easily gets overtired so I have to be careful.
• Having his feet played with, although that makes sense since the majority of the time his feet have been played with it’s been quite uncomfortable for him as it’s involved Doctors, so I understand and try to leave them alone for the time being.

I’ll update you again when there are things to update with.  I’ll also be sharing my thoughts on breastfeeding soon as it was quite an eye opening experience for me.  Soon he’ll be due his first check-up and first jabs.  It’s lots and lots of firsts! If you fancy seeing more Teddy pics, please head over to my Instagram here.