Doing Well

I can see that the blog will suffer while Joseph is little. Still. If something has to suffer, that's the way it should be.

I can let you know that:

• I'm really sorry for not updating people earlier when Joseph was born. I'd estimated that he'd be born about 8am, but because in a planned caesarean they work slowly and methodically, everything was so cruisy that he was born at 9am, then I was in recovery, Joseph puffed some oxygen, we went back to the ward and then just chilled out together. We didn't log on to reassure our friends, it even took us a long time to let Australian friends and family know via phonecall or text message. In the meantime, people are waiting, wondering ... Sorry!

• We're doing okay. Joseph is looking so great and drinking and sleeping to his heart's content. I'm getting more sleep too. That previous post about "sleep depravation" didn't mean I'm currently getting no sleep, it was something that just occurred to me: the typo, the second meaning. I can't promise I'll be feeling well-rested in a week or two though.

• Although everyone says, "Ask for lots of pain relief," they really don't give you much (just PRN panadol/paracetamol). So at the best of times, things are sore and achy, then when you forget to take your medication you get really bad. Not all that great.

• Breastfeeding is about as bad as it usually is, with a few extra complications thrown in. Like, for example, when I was expressing and realised I was producing PINK MILK! Not strawberry, though. To explain how one produces pink milk, I'll need another dot point...

• There's a new fad in either Queensland Health or my hospital, but it's raising the eyebrows of other doctors and nurses. What they're doing is giving every lady who has a caesarean some sub-cutaneous heparin 12-hourly to combat potential DVT. Which means a jab of a blood-thinning drug so you don't get blood clots from lying down too much after surgery. WELL. I don't think I needed it. I was up and about 24 hours after surgery and wearing my lovely pressure stockings, but on top of that, the heparin made me BLEED. I scratched my elbow - BLOOD. They'd jab me with the evening dose of heparin - BLOOD pouring out the needle site of the morning's dose. I'd express some milk - PINK. Everyone say it with me: "Eeewww!"

• And then there was the ultimate BLOOD story to end all BLOOD stories. I'm not sure if you're ready for it (despite the fact that the blood did not come from below the waist.)

• ElbaPlague hit me again quite badly on about Day 3. I have had bad colds before. This is not the worst I've had, but I am sick - very very sick with constant nose-blowing and violent coughing. Imagine what that's like after a c-section, when your pain relief isn't all that crash-hot. Hmm. Please direct any spare prayers towards this ElbaPlague being finally stamped out. We'll pray as if prayer's the only thing that works and I'll take antibiotics as if antibiotics are the only thing that works, and together we will see this thing dead, once and for all. Because today marks 60 days of being sick for me, and I am over it.

• Joseph is lovely. Extremely, totally, wonderfully, awesomely cute and lovely.

Look at my sons. Both asleep.