My funny Valentine

Well, as everyone who reads this blog will already know, at 3.30pm (AEST) on 14th February 2009 my beautiful daughter Phoebe finally made her way into the world, with a little yelp of surprise. It was a long labour but that little cry convinced me that she'd been completely oblivious to the whole event, her heart rate remaining a healthy and constant 130 beats per minute, no matter what her poor mother was going through.

Toby and I are absolutely smitten with our gorgeous little girl. I just can't stop looking at her and she is so wonderfully cuddly. She is feeding and sleeping really well which is a relief for me. She has at least one period during the day when she is awake for what seems to be a long time, during which time she snacks, sometimes getting grizzly and not feeding as well as I'd like and wants lots of cuddles. But generally she is a very well behaved baby with cute little cries that rarely get frantic.

So far she has enjoyed one out of three baths. She screamed during the other two so we'll see what this evening's bath time brings.

We spent 5 wonderful days in hospital in a huge double room, being waited on hand and foot, not having to think about food, sleeping when tired, with the most amazing midwives on hand to answer any of our questions. So far the transition to home hasn't been too bad and we even went for a short walk yesterday afternoon. The weather is hot so it's a bit difficult for Phoebe to get used to it. At hospital she was all wrapped up in the cutest baby-grows but at home she will wear a vest or t-shirt even in the air-conditioning. I hope it cools down soon. We were going to head to the shops today but I don't really think that's going to happen now. The day is slipping by fast and I'm quite tired.

I probably have a two week recovery period to look forward to, followed by a month of taking it easy. Thankfully Toby is off work for the two weeks that I really need to be looked after. I have sore and weakened abdominal muscles and stitches in my perineum so need to take it quite easy for the time being. Thank god I'm fit and healthy though. It is making things a bit easier for me I think. It's a bit frustrating having to ask Toby to do everything for me and it's probably even more so for him.

Toby is a hands-on dad and seems to be really enjoying it. He helps me change her and settle her at night and does his fair share during the day, making me lunch and doing the shopping and the laundry.

I am currently uploading some photos to a new web album - as you can imagine there are many - and will be back after a snooze to give all the gory details of the labour and birth.

That's all for now.