Merry Christmas 2009

How do you describe a year of massive change! All for the better of course! Well, Christmas last year we tried to rest and relax as much as we could, though still having a couple of rooms to decorate and boxes to unpack in preparation for our bundle arrving in March.



January

Mid January I started to get pain in my pelvis – common in 10% of pregnant women – symphasis pubis dysfunction, which basically means your pelvic muscles begin to loosen in preparation for the birth and I started to experience severe pain standing and climbing stairs. I counted that I did about 500 stairs a day at work on average and there were no lifts as an alternative, so I ‘worked’ from home from mid-January onwards – feeling incredibly guilty and lonely as I worked the remaining weeks with very little to do from home. We had the flat to pack up on the third floor in Helensburgh too, so I had to leave Murray to sort all that.

My last day of work was a big non-event and I sort of ‘slipped out of the back door’. February saw me decorating the dining room from the birthing ball, Murray finishing the top bits that I couldn’t reach from the sedentary position.

Valentines
On valentines day, Murray decided he’d take me into Edinburgh and booked a special showing of a lovely old romantic movie at the local art cinema, which had a sold out audience and then on to the restaurant where he’d proposed to me, how lovely hey. My car was being serviced, so we took his car, and on the way there I said ‘I don’t feel too well Murray’ thinking it was the late pregnancy being 8 months gone. He said he also felt nautious, and upon further investigation we discovered that his exhaust pipe had developed a hole and had started to leak carbon monoxide fumes into the car! Well we laughed about it later, but froze on the way there and back with the windows open hoping not to kill ourselves and our unborn child! His car finally gave up the ghost at the end of April and we had to buy a newer one in May so that was not something we expected and he had to sacrifice his motorbikes to pay for it!

The Arrival
Early March saw more scans, more appointments, and monitoring, and it was decided, much to my delight, to go for an elective ceasarian due to the predicted size of the baby being over 10 lbs at full term. So we went to bed on Sunday 15th March with great anticipation of the leap and change of gear our life was about to make! I slept very well and peacefully that night and woke to the alarm for the first time in quite some time, and never since! We arrived at hospital at 7.30 am, not sure where on the list we were and if we may end up being ‘bumped’ to the next day due to more urgent emergency cases… and at 9.41 am on 16th March 2009 Louise Isla Noble was eased into the world at a ‘whopping’ weight of 7 lbs 12 oz with forceps as she was a slippery baby unwilling to come out! She was perfect in every way, and just so lovely. She was slightly cold so put in a hot cot, and a midwife looked after both of us for the rest of the day.



My ceasarian was virtually pain free, and I’d thoroughly recommend one to anyone. I was on cloud nine and didn’t suffer much discomfort, maybe that was part euphoria, part adrenalin and part morphine but who knows ! I didn’t care about anything other than my beautiful little girl had arrived to change our world and make me whole and make us a family. Louise settled in to life on the outside really easily, and we were allowed home two days later on the Wednesday lunch time, as a very nervous first time mother who just hoped we’d survive! And we have.

A slight set back for me with a trip to the local hospital in an ambulance when Louise was 6 days old, a stitch came open and I lost a lot of searers fluid building up behind the wound, which was a little bit of a shock and I hoped I didn’t need to be re-admitted, and I didn’t. Thankfully Murray was with me when it happened and initially I thought I was about to die, … not dramatic at all!

And I was more concerned about all the blood on the new beige carpet in the living room than anything and I grabbed a chair and a towel and sat near the front door in the hallway onto the darker carpet waiting for the ambulance crew to arrive. Arriving at the local cottage hospital, 8 nurses were gathered not in concern for me but to see a 6 day old baby!

Just waiting for my operation ...


Daddy's girl - she looks just like Murray x

Louise is turning out to be the ‘perfect’ baby so far – she has her dad’s temperament of being totally placid and laid back and adapts to virtually any new situation well. She enjoys shopping, sleeping, eating, babbling and doesn’t mind bathing or getting dunked in the pool. She has just recently started to crawl, she’s got three teeth at time of writing, and is showing signs of walking with just us to balance her at the minute. She likes to laugh, and has learnt a new trick of ‘coughing’ with her gran and she’s started to laugh like Nan on Catherine Tate!

We’re attending ‘Waterbabies’ swimming lessons now, and she’s learning to be confident in and under water, and seems to like it. Everyone comments on how lovely she is and she often is taken off me for others to have a cuddle, and she’s no problem with that at all and loves the attention. I’ve worked hard at forming a good attachment with her and she seems really secure in herself.

I’m doing well, missing my family and friends being close by and suffereing from cabin fever in the early days but have began to integrate and develop new friendships around me in the local clubs and organisations. Lots of friends and family came to stay and visit over the early months and it’s all a bit of a blur really but it was lovely to have them with us and I really loved being able to introduce Louise to her new family. Thank you so much for visiting those of you who did come, and you are so welcome to come again any time.

I’m going back to work on 1st Feb for part time hours and am looking forward to it if there is still a job there, but dreading leaving Louise with a local childminder, who comes highly recommended. I’m going to be settling her in in January (and me) and working out of Edinburgh and hopefully be able to find a role there. The contract with Faslane was ended not long after I left, and as with anywhere these days, there are tight measures being implemented at work to weather the storm of recession until things pick up.

Other big news this year is Murray and his back. He’s had niggling back pain over the past 18 months, with moving house, and decorating aggravating it even further. By mid – October, he was limping with pain and couldn’t hold Louise and came home from work, lay on the floor, and literally couldn’t get off the floor. I called an Oesteopath to come to the house in the early evening to try and help, but in the end I had to throw a duvet over him and leave him to sleep there. He’s been off work since, and hopefully will go back to work for a couple of days before Christmas and then take his leave. He’s gradually got better and we’ve paid for a chiropractor as well as attending physio and MRI scans. He’s a large slipped disc and so we’re awaiting an appointment with a neuro surgeon to see what options and what risks there are for him. It’s been lovely in some ways to have him at home, with Louise, and see them bond so well and she’s definatley a daddy’s girl as she laughs and squeals with delight having fun with him.

Holidays
We took holidays in June this year to Devon, visiting friends in Liverpool, and his sister in Salisbury on the way down, and then on the way home we visited my friend Debbie and Andy in Portsmouth. We had a lovely week in a caravan in between and Louise was so well behaved despite the heat. On our way home, I was driving through Birmingham on the M6 when I started to hear a rumbling from the wheels, and as Murray checked the mirror saw our rear wheel about to fall off, so eventually we moved over to the hard shoulder just as two nuts sheared off. We ‘limped’ home on three nuts, Murray reluctant to call out the emergency services to help us on our way. Louise slept through it all.

In August we holidayed in Orrell near Wigan as our friends were away on holiday and they very kindly allowed us to stay in their house. It was a busy week and we weren’t able to visit everyone we had planned to visit, adapting to life with a baby and realising that our time out was limited to ensure she was getting a good bed-time routine.

We had a holiday booked in Aberfeldy, in Perthshire in late October to celebrate our third anniversary but Murray was bed-ridden so we couldn’t really make it there, and eventually on Wednesday I packed him and Louise into the car and drove us up there, Murray lying flat in the reclined car seat. We made the best of it, with take aways and enjoying the facilities at the club and a change of scenery for me – poor Murray just lay in bed looking at a different ceiling, but it was a different way of celebrating our anniversary!

Family News
Peter and Lynne are doing well, despite Peter being made redundant during the early part of the year. He managed to talk himself into a job with a guy who took him on initially for 4 weeks about 6 months ago now, and it looks like it may become a permanent role. Paul turned 21 this October, and is doing well at BAE, having just returned from India for the second time this year. Tasha has almost completed her training as a hairdresser and is often off to fashion shows in London and seems to be loving it. Megan is as much upside down as she is correct way up and loves her gymnastics that she attends making the transition to secondary school this year at Southlands in Chorley.

Chris and his family have had a tough year and this Christmas time sees him and Julie separating after 24 years of marriage. It’s sad but they both want different things from life now their children are almost all fully grown. Julie is moving to a new home in Chorley with Jonnie and the dog Alfie. Lorna is living and working in Salford Hospital with a temporary job as a Biochemist – the job she loves and wanted to do – and is hoping to get something more permanent. Her fiancé Patrick is working away at sea at present and is in the merchant navy, and they hope to marry next year if they can save enough up. Chris is managing to survive the recession with his business and Antony continues to work with him and is showing signs of becoming as good a workman as his dad, and Antony continues to buy old bangers and do them up for fun. Jonnie left school in the summer, and is at Preston college doing some media course, and enjoys his hobby of learning to play bass guitar.

Mandy is doing well, although she had to give up her work in April this year as it wasn’t working for her. Thomas was working there too and showing promising signs of becoming an excellent chef, but with the recession, his working hours were cut to almost nothing, so he has turned his hand to fulfilling his life time ambition of joining the army and has, since September, been on a pre-entry training course for joining the army. Thomas turns 18 this month, passed his driving test in July and wrote off his car two weeks later (thankfully no-one was hurt), and has had to do a re-training course to be able to drive again which he will do in early December. Aaron is 14 and turning into a fine young man, and is enjoying being a teenager from the ‘grunts’ we can decipher! He’s been up to visit us a couple of times, and loves the country life up here albeit a bit bored as we’re a bit more restricted at what we can do with a small baby in tow.

Murray’s family are all well and good, generally. His mum and dad continue to love their curling hobby and spend 6 months of the year competing and travelling around Scotland in the various teams they are in. They are loving their new house and both celebrated their 70th year in the last 12 months. Murray’s sister Julie has passed successfully her Radiography degree and is now working as a radiographer in Basingstoke hospital and she’s done this inspite of successfully fighting breast cancer for the second time during her final year. Her husband Ian was made redundant last December but found a job in January in Reading thankfully. Both his brothers are doing well, but with work insecurities too, Derek having to take reduced hours for a spell and working in Moscow for a couple of months, Tommy working for Standard Life and all that the financial industry challenges that have been in the headlines this year.

Well that’s us. Hope this letter finds you and yours well and that you are as happy as we are. Here’s to 2010 and all that entails!

Me and Aunty Mandy and Louise, out on the town!

Cutting the beautiful christening cake, ...

Louise in her 70+ year old christening gown ...

The motley crew, Derek, Mandy, Diane, Me, Louise, Murray and Thomas.

Louise with her mummy and daddy.

Louise is getting big ...

Louise is 6 months and one week today.

Health visitor came, Louise is 17lbs and 4 ounces and 66 cms long and is right on course being in perfect proportion following the 50th percentile more or less since birth.

We had a stinking cold for 10 days, and Louise's weaning went right off - she was doing so well and then just wouldn't look at me. She started to sleep through but then stopped as the weaning stopped and she was back on to milk, but thankfully she's clear of the cold now and she's loving her food - wooped down her spaghetti bolognese today no bother, and would have ate the plate if she could I think!

The christening on Sunday went brilliantly and the minister was lovely and he loved Louise and requested that she be the sub in future baptisms as she was so well behaved! We had a lovely if not manic few days preparing food, and Thomas my nephew came up to help - he made some excellent soup and cheese cakes, he's briliant and Louise loves him and he's so good with her. It was so nice to have family near by and I hadn't realised how much I'd been missing them.

I think I'm suffering a touch of baby blues and went to see the doc last week for some support so that's good. I'm planning a trip down south to visit Debbie and Joyce, two good friends, whilst Murray is at work in the next couple of weeks. Looking forward to our holiday planned for end of October to Arbroath where we can relax and unwind and enjoy Louise.

Her development is exploding at the moment and she raised her hand to me yesterday wanting to be picked up. She's rolling, eating, talking gobble dee gook and pushing herself up off the floor so it won't be long before she's crawling.

I'm looking at putting Louise in with her childminder soon for a morning to give me some ME time, as I haven't had any real time for me since her birth with no close friends or family around able to look after her, and I don't think that's helping... and I'm so tired but she's started to sleep through now so I'm needing to train myself to sleep rather than wake in the middle of the night waiting for her to wake. When I do get Murray to look after her, where do I go or who with - I want to go with Murray, so it's a difficult time but it won't always be like this.

On the whole life is pretty darn good though, and I'm loving being a mum to such a lovely baby girl. Been out to toddlers today, and rhyme time, and off to Glasgow to meet some other mums I met at our ante natal class. We've got a neighbour with a baby due in 3 days time and we're excited about that, will Louise be getting a girl or boy friend next door! They'll be catching the school bus and everything together ... in the same year at school and so on, (March to Feb is the school age so Louise will be the oldest in the class and this new baby half way through).

I've found a childminder that's highly recommended and the govt report her couldn't praise her enough, but word of mouth is much more reliable and that's excellent too. Looking forward to that...

Love Jan x

Everything in the Noble household is fantastic.

Louise is 6 months old tomorrow.

Spent some time getting the garden in order yesterday, weeding the borders = now there's 4 plants left! Ooops. Cutting back the edges on the overgrown lawn means we now have a path we can see in front of the cottage, but we're still having a problem with the moles on our front lawn! may sit there in a rocking chair with a hammer in hand and wait - a bit like that arcade game.

It's really therapeutic to do and lovely on a day like yesterday - warm and sunny.

We've got the back and sides of the cottage to do - but Rome wasn't built in a day. Murray didn't quite enjoy it as much as I did. We've got little gardening equipment - so as he saw me weed using a spade rather than a fork - off he went to borrow one. An hour later he returned with said fork - his Dad got him talking - and the fork helped the last 30 cm of borders I had to do. Off he went too to blow up the tyre on the wheel barrow, then he went to borrow some more equipment and so on - he kept saying 'you could do with one of ... ' and I said 'NO' I'm ok with this just stay and keep me company!

Louise didn't have her usual afternoon nap yesterday as we were hoping for so we took her for a ride to the ice cream shop in Biggar - and bingo she fell asleep leaving us to finish tidying up the garden! It feels awful that we go and buy sweets without giving her any, but it won't be long before she'll be wanting it too. Weaning is going well, Murray experienced one of her 'new' type nappies yesterday and exclaimed 'Awwwhhhhh - it looks human!" meaning adult, as I had exclaimed the exact same thing the first time I experienced one! She's rolling all over now, and I keep finding her face down like a dying fly - arms and legs going! She's a real nosey little girl and despite her being tired if something is going on, she's on to it and her head comes up and watches like a hawk! She's funny and laughs lots now too, Murray said he tried to get her to settle yesterday and put his head on her belly to try and show her he was tired too - she just laughed and smiled! She laughs and smiles at you when you change her nappy and she decides to pee on you - and it's lovely watching her character develop.

She's started to try and sit up lots now and crosses her feet like you and I would if we were at the gym trying to do sit ups.

Well thats me.

Long Time ...

A windy view, on top of Portland Bill, looking down at Chesil Beach and the new Olympic Marina for 2012 games.

Here's my little pickle, in her vest, well almost, thank goodness the hole stretches!

Can you believe, she's four months, and is coming on, being weighed today, will post results later!

Who does she take after? Mouth open in full swing 'telling stories' ... Mum or Dad? Hmmm

Well it's been a busy time, and before I know it I haven't posted since May!

We went on holiday to Lyme Regis, calling in on Liverpool and Salisbury on the way, and then spending 4 nights in a caravan at Lyme Regis, then back via Portsmouth. We had a lovely time, albeit Louise was a little unsettled each night in a new place, bless, and she 'squealed' with joy when we got home and I put her on her changing table! We had a lovely time. We caught up with some Liverpool friends, Murray's sister and brother in law, spent some lovely time together as a family of three, and then caught up with Debbie and Andy and young Matthew.

The holiday made a massive difference. It gave me some much needed support and help aka Murray and it was lovely sharing looking after Louise with him; he bonded with her much more, her just coming out of her 'colick' evenings where it's hard to bond with a child that cries almost as soon as you walk through the door from a busy day at work and that was all Murray was seeing of her up until that point.

I really miss my Mum. I wish she were alive to see Louise, but also to come and stay with us and see how she is with her. My mum loved babies and was so affectionate and warm, and loving and caring, and it's just what I'm missing right now. But along with feeling sad and missing something I'll never get back, I guess I can only nurture and develop my relationship with Louise so that she doesn't miss out. It's quite difficult at the moment because Louise cries every time Murray's mum tries to interact with her, Susie being much better with babies when they get to sort of toddler age, and it's been difficult for me really not having a layer of support around and pretty much it being down to me during the day but I'm developing some friendships with other mums in the area but it takes time. I'm so far away from everywhere here, wouldn't swap it for the world but miss the familiarity and friends of Liverpool after spending 20 years there. Just can't expect to build that up overnight here, so it takes time. I think it's also lack of sleep that doesn't help!

Well the holiday, coming home, Murray declares he's never been through spaghetti junction, so that's the way I take him, me driving, him snoozing. The car begins to shake, louder and louder, and he say's pull over, but I say it's just the road surface. He looks in the passenger side mirror and sees the rear wheel 'flapping' about as though it's about to come off. I try to get over, but it's very difficult as there's wall to wall lorries on the inside lane. Evenutally I pull over just as two wheel nuts land on the floor, sheared off! So lucky, it would have been carnage if the wheel had come off whilst doing 80 in the fast lane, it doesn't bare thinking about. Murray tightened the remaining wheel nuts and we limped home. I wanted to call the AA but he said we'd be hours waiting for them and would try and get home. Who had not tightened the wheel on properly last time I asked ... Murray? Yep he changed the brake shoes before the holiday!

Louise had her final injections at the beginning of July and she was so burny hot for about 4 days, poor wee thing. She's amazing and so happy and placid. She hardly ever cries, and loves her warmth, still wants her hot water bottle when she goes to bed at night, and sleeps through now with just a feed at about 4 am. She's in bed by 8 and usually wakes about 8 the next morning, and doesn't want feeding sometimes when she gets up. She's taken to wooping down nearly a pint of milk before bed - her feed at 4 pm she's have half a pint then another half at about 7.30 after her bath. She's a good girl.

She's beginning to start to want to roll and I caught her with her leg up pushing from back to front and I think she would have done it if the gym hadn't have been in her way.

Mrs Cross - my primary school teacher, popped in on her way home from Edinburgh at the beginning of July, so that was lovely to see her, it's been ages and she's been great at keeping me on track!

We've got not much on this month, August we've got a christening and then we're going to stay in Orrell for a week or so to visit my family and catch up with friends in Liverpool. Murray's got a week off for that.

So that's me.

Take care,

Jan x

Quick Update

Louise smiling on her 2n'd month birthday!

It's tiring being 2 months old!

Little love, don't you just love her!

Hi

I've not posted for a while, apologies.

We've had colic for about 3 weeks now, and it's tiring and starts about 6 pm just as Murray gets home. Plus our first round of jags - immunisations - which threw poor Louise too.

We've sort of found a winning formula. I've been attending baby massage so that helps, we've tried the colic bottles, colic drops (colief), infacol too, winding her on our knees, bathing her, flying her in the air, and all different things but finally found colocynth crystals which are a homeopathic medicine that you put on her tongue and it's like magic powder. Poor wee lamb, she's sleeping much better because of it now and she's doing so much better.

Lots of things have been happening:

Dawn came up and we had a lovely day with her, albeit the weather was awful. It dropped to 4 degrees so yes, I stayed in the car whilst she got some of her scenic photographs.

Thomas came up for a week and he helped me look after Louise, he was trying to be a cool 17 year old cousin, but in reality, he couldn't take his eyes off her and started by holding her and ended up feeding her and she coo-ed at him and he loved it. She was the first person he coo-ed at really and he was brilliant with her.

Murray's car finally gave up the ghost so we went to Newcastle to pick up an Nissan Almera but Iwas stranded a few weeks whilst he took my car to work. I started to have cabin fever, but things are good now.

I've joined baby massage - and met lots of new mums too - Murray's mum's dead dogs vet - Jenny and Abi, and someone I knew from Wishaw Ante natal who is also a vet - I had lunch with those two the first week, so I'm building up a network so that's great.

I've taken Louise swimming to Peebles swimming pool, a bit cold really but she had a wetsuit on and although wary of it at first began to enjoy it in the end.

I've been to the NCT reunion and met all 4 of the 5 other babies, so that was nice.

I've been to Makro and stocked up on baby wipes!

I'm off to Helensburgh to meet my old work colleagues and introduce Louise to them.

Louise's granny has broken her wrist falling on a carpet at the co-op, so she's not been able to mind her whilst I nip to the dentist or whatever ... and we've taken her out shopping some of the time.

We've just found out our neighbours, Paula and David, who live in the farmhouse on the farm, are expecting a baby in September so that's good news. A wee friend on the farm for Louise to play with and they'll be in the same year at school as the cut off date in Scotland is the end of Feb, so Louise will be one of the oldest in her class. She came to say hello.

Louise is settling better now and we're getting her into a routine of bottle bath book bottle bed sort of thing, and she's going down about 8 or 9 pm, and we're trying to get it earlier all the time. She's sleeping through until 4 am then and then off to sleep until about 7 ish.

I need to do the thank you cards, so far I've done about 50, and another 50 to go, it's so hard as when I get Louise down, and put the washing on, I get to the cards and bang - she's woke because she's not settled. And I've done 2.

She was weighed on Monday last and was 10 lbs 14.5 oz so nearly 11 lbs, and she's just under the 50th percentile for her weight, 75th for her head and 25th for her length. She's doing great although still quite small.

Louise is 10 weeks old tomorrow - doesn't time fly. We're sleeping well, generally and she's smiling all the time now and coo-ing - it just melts your heart!

Murrays had some good news at work - Otto Bock who he currently works for and are a bit bad as employers have lost the contract to supply Glasgow with a prosthetics service as it's now going in-house, which mean come 1st October he becomes an NHS member of staff, with much better benefits, pension, working conditions and so on! Still the same boss, still the same job, still the same office and patients, just with more holidays! So he's happy. He loves his new car and the traffic is so much easier come the spring and things are looking up.

Louise and jennifer

On our day out. Louise's new friend. X