"Out you popped from your mummie's tumkin and everyone shouted, 'It's a boy, It's a boy!' And then someone said, 'But it hasn't got a winkle!' And then I said, 'A boy without a winkle! God be praised - it's a miracle! A boy without a winkle!' And then Sir Thomas More pointed out that a boy without a winkle is a girl, and everyone was really disappointed." - Nursie from Blackadder II (Bells)
Only it IS a boy, and we're REALLY excited, and not disappointed at all. Rhys was born on Tuesday April 1st, 2008 at 2:18PM in the afternoon. He looked like such a small chap, but strangely quiet.
In addition to a son, our family also gained an older brother that day. Rhys's older brother, Cole, came into the world a couple of years earlier and was more reluctant to check in, having taken almost a day to arrive, and then crying and screaming his way through the first several months. A combination of mild colic and significant acid reflux saw to it that no-one received any shut-eye for those first three months. Being our first child, Cole was a complete shock to the system. We had no idea what to expect and were prepared for everything we could think of but not prepared for this. Back then late night feedings were quite the ordeal consisting of a bottle feeding, followed by 45-minutes in the rocking chair where we were forced to rock him to within a minute of death before we could attempt to lay him down in the crib. Moving him to crib wasn't easy either, and the smallest deviation or bump on the way meant instant arousal, and the repeat of the rocking portion of the routine. Like I said, no-one really got any sleep during that time. I'm surprised that I can remember as much as I do.
So, as you can imagine we're a little anxious about what's to come in the first couple of months of Rhys's life. That combined with other new issues such as "How will Cole perceive him?" and "Will Rhys wake up Cole in the night?"
Well, I'm very happy to say that so far so good. Over the last four days we've realized that maybe things won't be as hard as our first time around. This initial observation is a huge relief. Rhys is sleeping really well, he's eating every couple of hours without any problems, and only seems to cry when he needs feeding, which is easily fixed. He's still not opening his eyes much but when he does he squints and looks around at everything with great interest. Other things that we've found to be true so far are:
- He doesn't like being bathed, or more specifically he doesn't like going without clothes, which makes diaper changes and bath's a loud affair. As soon as he's dressed once more the crying instantly stops and all is well with the world.
- He can sleep through some significant noise and possibly even likes a little background noise. He's currently sleeping in our bedroom and when Cole comes bursting in at 6:30AM and wants to watch The Wiggles Rhys is happy to remain fast asleep as we talk with Cole and watch a little TV (very happy about this one!)
- He seems to sleep more during the morning than the afternoon.
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