Bibs, Burps, Breastmilk and Diapers

 Wow…. what a couple of weeks it has been

It’s so surreal how our lives have been upended… in a good way, of course.

So, nothing ever beats being prepared for such a life-changing event. We had read all the books, browsed all the articles, downloaded all the apps, and listened to other people’s experiences, but nothing hits quite like the real thing.

Again, I’m just happy and grateful for the abundance of preparatory material and the wealth of information about the whole process. We’ve also been blessed to have Chioma’s mum come over for Omugwo duties, and she’s been an invaluable help as well.

Zoe is a healthy child with a set of blockbuster lungs which she’s not shy to use at any point in the day and oboy.. My babe no send anybody!!

We were warned about the periods from weeks 3 to 6 when her crying would be really intense and oboy.. were they intense or what!! Thank goodness for the tag team efforts from everyone involved, else it would have been a really trying time for us. In any case, the storm’s passed, and she’s settled quite nicely into the beautiful, peaceful princess that she is.

Another blessing has been the luxury of working for a company that has a very generous paternity leave policy. Perk was so good as to give me a twelve-week, fully paid leave from work, and it has been an unquantifiable blessing. There’s so much to do, sort out and get used to that I dont think the complication of work would have helped in any way. Also, just for the record, looking after a newborn for any period of time is most certainly NOT a one-person job in any way.

 It’s been an intense lesson of putting theory into practice and to be honest, I’ve loved every single minute of the madness and stress.

Learning all her cues and mannerisms, identifying her different cries, and figuring out what to do, knowing the different feeding bottle types, learning about expressing and storing breastmilk, learning different sleeping methods, how to soothe Madam and get her to sleep, and yes, getting used to and understanding poo types and diaper changes. It’s all part of loving the process.

Meanwhile, shout-out to a couple of items I never thought much of but have turned out to be invaluable: nursing pillows (absolutely necessary), pacifiers, a certain gas-relieving medicine known as Infacol, a diaper rash wonder-working ointment called Sudocreme, and food warmers. All real MVPs of this period. lol. Also shoutout to the wonderful apps from Flo to BabyCenter and Huckleberry... true lifesavers

Here’s to many more years of growing, learning, working and loving this new phase of life.

Two nights in Serenity

 Hi guys, I’ve been reflecting a lot ever since Zoe’s birth, and by the way, here’s a heads up to expect a lot of Zoe-related posts going forward. (As it should be).

Thinking about the entire birth process, I can’t help but be grateful for the environment we’ve found ourselves in. I mean, there’s always been complaints and chatter about how the NHS has been failing a lot of people, and especially expectant mothers. Not to diminish the claims or doubt them, I’m just very grateful to say that there was nothing of the sort with our experience.

The Midland Metropolitan Hospital, where we elected to give birth, is a gigantic complex properly staffed and run professionally. So we had earlier taken a mini tour of their maternity facilities and to be honest, we were blown away with what we saw. There’s nothing like having peace of mind knowing that that aspect of the birth process has been covered quite nicely.

We were shown their low-risk birth wards…. appropriately named “Serenity” wards. They were a series of spacious, well-equipped and very comfortable rooms which in truth, looked more like a spa room than a labour ward. This was where we were checked into as soon as Chioma’s labour had progressed to the active stage.

Dimmed, tranquil, mood-focused lighting designed to induce a sense of calmness, acoustic music playing ethereal notes from speakers everywhere, a very spacious pool-like bathtub, available as a water birth option, monitoring equipment beeping softly everywhere and being monitored by two wonderful midwives stationed permanently in the room. All in all, a very well-equipped, modern version of where you’d want to bring life forth.

Of course, the first night went by in a blur of labour pains, gas and air consumption, cuddles and constant reassuring support on my part, and even though it all eventually culminated in us being moved to another labour room, once the progress was not moving swiftly enough, it all ended in praise.

The only sour part of the process was when they were insisting on us leaving for home on the same day, once Zoe and Chioma had been checked and treated. Apparently, the hospital policy dictates a same-day discharge for new mums. This didn’t sit well with me, and I had to insist (a bit forcefully at some point) that we would want to stay overnight and make sure everything was okay before being discharged. They eventually relented, and we had a second night in Serenity, our first together as a 3-member family. It turned out to be a good thing as Chioma later developed some chest pain in the night, which they had to get a Cardiologist to look into.

Thankfully, both of my girls were given the all clear, and we were able to go home the next day to start the rest of this new phase of life.

I’m just honestly grateful for the experience and thankful for being in a position to avail ourselves of this level of care and expertise.