Health Visitors....

I just hate them!! They mean well and they try to help, but overall seem incapable of getting through a thirty minute conversation without saying something either incredibly stupid or incredibly patronizing, usually both at the same time!

Ironically despite my low opinion of their competence I always get very paranoid before they arrive that they may think I'm a terrible mother who isn't coping and that they will try and take my baby away. It's totally unfounded and unlikely to happen but I just can't help worrying so had to spend the morning tidying up and worrying, and secretly being annoyed at Luke for totally unjustified reasons....well apart from that he didn't put the cushion cover back on like I asked him to!!! ( I know the depths of his crimes are quite shocking!!)

The health visitor was actually very sweet, though they almost always are annoyingly, she was very careful to ask lots of questions about how I was coping and checking that I had access to activities and support so that Edward had things to do and so that I wasn't isolated. She gave me some details of a children's center we could go to and suggested that if I felt I needed it I could have someone come round to help out and offer more advice and support on a regular basis. While I'm well I don't feel I need much help as we get along fine, but it's nice to know it's there as from past experience I know how fast it gets hard the second I am unwell. She also suggested a father and baby group she knew of and is going to send me the details, I REALLY can't see Luke going to anything like that as he finds people rather boring however it's good that it's on offer.

We had a bit of chat about the weaning, she wasn't very impressed that I was giving him finger foods as she thought he may choke, obviously you have to be careful but I honestly don't think enough actually goes in for this to be much of a hazard. Overall she seemed to think I should be feeding him more and cutting back his milk, I'm a bit dubious about this as I don't want him to loose weight, and I'd rather take things slowly as we are only about a week in and he's not eating enough variety to cut back, and isn't taking any diary or protein yet, just veggies and fruit. I'm going to continue to stick to the guidelines in the book I got from the library as it seems by far the most sensible thing I've read on the subject.

She then asked to see his red book (this is a thing given to him by the health services to keep records of all his visits to doctors and all his jabs etc.) I laid him on the sofa at the back towards the groove and walked the whole meter across the room to where his book was, only to be told off and that he could roll to his death!! Again obviously you can't leave him laying around especially now he's rolling, but seriously there's no need to get silly and paranoid I'm not going to put my baby in danger for goodness sake...she seemed to think otherwise however and gave me a very informative leaflet about all the terrible dangers in the home such as ovens, glass and plugs...all capable of permanently maiming or killing my child...so all in all a typical health visitor visit.

I spent the rest of the day faffing about, though did finally manage to get the breast pump I hired sent back. I then started feeling really sick and tired, and so went to bed for a nap. It wasn't a particularly good nap as someone was doing some building works or something, upstairs were thumping about and then some woman started having an argument at the top of her voice in the courtyard. Then Luke came in and asked if we were going to the supermarket, I said he could if he wanted and if he did could he get garlic and onions...not long after that I gave up on my nap, and came out to find Luke changing Edward and cursing the reusable nappies bitterly hehe!

I then fed Edward and then cooked our dinner which was really hard to do as I was still feeling really queasy, however it turned out to be well worth it as it was very tasty. Luke thought it was the best pasta bake I've done so far, which though nice of him to say, kind of annoyed me because this was the first time I've used a jar and not just made it up myself. I think next time I try to cook one from scratch I may try using mascarpone as that was in the jar and gave it a nice creamy texture.

Edward and I had a lovely time playing this evening, he was practicing his sitting up and rolling THE CUBE around. I've also been teaching him all week to blow raspberry's and he's coming very close, last night he kept poking out his tongue, I must get a photo of him doing it because his little tongue is so small it's so sweet :o)

I've started making another sling out of the left over fabric, I have all the pieces chopped up and am going to sow it while I'm in hospital. I figured I can hand sow it, give it a try and if it doesn't feel strong enough go over it with a machine next time we visit Greatham.

I really enjoyed giving Edward his last feed of the day, though it did make me quite sad knowing there are so few left to go before I go in and can't do it any more for a while.

Luke and I then went to bed and cuddled and talked for ages, it's always so hard being separated, neither of us really wanted to go to sleep as we both knew it was our last night together for a while. Much as I hate it though, I think it does make us both appreciate each other more and we keep that magic of the simple joy of going to sleep and waking up in each others arms.