One!

Bas is nearly one month old.
One month ago I was in hospital, bloated, big-bellied and worried.
It's best not to think about that too much (so why do I eh?).

What have we learned in this month?
- That sleep is a precious thing, and that babies tend to steal that away from you. Or this baby does.

- That breastfeeding is not as effortless as they try and make you believe. It's not. It's time-consuming (depending on the baby I suppose), it's partially responsible for those interrupted nights and you have to calculate "when will he be hungry again and how can I avoid flashing my boobs at people I know". Or maybe I just worry too much about the flashing. More than once I've been tempted to throw in the towel and just get some formula at the chemist's, but something's stopping me. Probably that nagging voice in the back of my head (we call it "my mother") going "you're going to have to go the chemist's, you're not strong enough for this yet! And he obviously doesn't have enough!".
Right. That's why he's slowly resembling Jabba The Baby.

- That there should be a pill that causes non-biological mothers to be able to breastfeed. That way we could split the feeding. Ideal.

- That hormones are a funny thing and can cause you to want to banish the baby to the North Pole (another thing people don't tell you beforehand), but at the same time very nearly kill people who hurt your baby even the slightest (I'm looking at you, doctors).

- That reflux and cramps are horrible for poor little wee things.

- That I have not missed work for one second, hardly even thought about it, but I vaguely remember work not being as tiring as this.

- That C-section scars resemble a smiley face on your belly. And that stomach muscles don't just bounce back. Unfortunately.

- That my calendar is busier now than when I was at work.

- That babies don't understand and don't like hot temperatures. This causes much screaming and much wanting to be fed. But they are cute when they're lying there in just their nappies.

- That going outside is still something of a struggle (again with the not-wanting to flash my boobs thing), but that that's something I'll have to get over.

- That forcing a baby to enjoy the Pet Shop Boys might not be possible, but I'll die trying.

- That everyone has advice. Usually conflicting advice.

- That it's hard to remember a time where you could go "Oooh, Toy Story Three, let's go see that". When you really want to go see it.

- That QI and the World Cup are ideal breastfeeding distractions.

- That strangers will start talking to you when you're carrying/pushing around a baby. Some of them will even touch the baby (don't do that, seriously!) and every single stranger has something inappropriate or inane to say.

- But at least people have stopped touching my belly.

- That days just melt into one another and you have no clue what weekday or what day it is.

- Oh. And to avoid the "only able to talk about babies"-thing: erm.... crap... yeah... Ahem.

Tired much?

After an exhausting first week at home, I'm hoping there's some improvement on the horizon. Our little man seems to get that there's a difference between night and day. At least I think he does. I could be delusional basing this on two decent nights. He still demands food every three hours at night, but he's been drinking a lot quicker (no 45 minutes, but closer to 15 minutes), falls asleep peacefully and doesn't scream the place down when we put him to bed.
Let's hope I didn't jinx it by blogging this...

He's brilliant, but my god did I underestimate how tiring it is to be woken from your sleep every few hours.
Poor little man has cramps as well, so I'm drinking two mugs of (disgusting!) fennel tea a day and I've convinced myself it makes all the difference.

In another shocking turn of events I've found myself watching the world cup football. Me! A lesbian at last! I hope this doesn't influence Bas too much, but he seems pretty fixated on my boobs when I'm feeding him. The minute he turns his head to stare at the telly I'm looking for handball on tv!
No football, Bas. Too much laundry for your mums.

BAS

You might be wondering what happened to me: sudden loss of interest in Eurovision? Depression because Belgium didn't win? Hiding from the world because of our sixth place?

Nope.
On Thursday 27th of May I went for a checkup to our gynaecologist, was suddenly sent to hospital, put on a monitor and told I wouldn't be leaving until they delivered Penguin by C-section. I was 36 weeks pregnant and they wanted to keep Penguin in as long as possible, but they had to weigh the risks of an early birth to those of the pre-eclampsia I apparently had.

Bas was born on June 1st. He weighed a healthy 3kg280 (Imagine what he would've done without the pre-eclampsia and at full term), measured in at 49cms and is generally the most gorgeous baby ever. He spent four days in the neonatal unit where he recovered from the whole ordeal. Meanwhile I had to do the same, because -to be very honest- I really wasn't doing so well. I'm gradually doing better though, and he improved in leaps and bounds.
He was staying in my hospital room since Saturday (finally I could hold him whenever I wanted to) and we just got home.

I still have the pre-eclampsia, actually.
I can expect it to go away between four and six weeks from now. Until then I keep enjoying the water retention everywhere (though gradually getting better) and I get to take medication to try and keep my blood pressure under control.
Still pretty emotional, but glad and thankful everything ended well.

So now you know.
Bas really really did his best to make us miss Eurovision. I can sense trouble ahead.