The Baby Who Stares at Dots

There's a baby in my living room. He's completely absorbed staring at the polka dot fleece lining his pram... and I am completely absorbed staring at him staring at the polka dot fleece lining his pram.
So I guess I can confirm the fact that we humans are wired to be completely amazed by our little creatures, whatever it is they might be doing.

So yes. Baby Jack is here. He was born at 11:28p.m., Saturday January 14 after 2.5 hours of fast and furious labour. And I do mean fast AND furious. Apparently at one point, my requests for the "MF drugs" got so profane, so emphatic and so creative that Alex had to get out of my line of sight. He was amused, but cleverly concluded that laughing where I could see him would only end in tears (his, not mine).

Labour was indeed the worst pain I could ever imagine - the terror as bad as the pain, as the contractions feel like the devil grabbing hold of your uterus and pulling your body and nerves behind it for the worst, careeningly out of control ride of your life. My waters broke in the waiting room and by the time they got me into the birthing pool (where, from my many viewings of One Born Every Minute, I stood the best chance of a serene, natural birth) I was screaming for the drugs. In the end there wasn't actually time to administer them and I remember once the urge to push struck and I realized that tube in my hand or no tube in my hand, I was on my own, something clicked. At 10:35p.m., I got on my knees, grabbed hold of the rails and -- always a sucker for a deadline -- decided I was going to relax, use all my strength and get this kid out before the close of the 14th (carrying on in the tradition of my mom, brother and several 14th babies in Alex's family). Believe it or not, the pushing bit wasn't so bad... and all the cliches (which I had assumed were lies) are true - you really don't even think about the pain the moment you see your baby. I mean, you don't actually FORGET it -- that part is a total lie -- but you don't hold on to it.

We spent the night and next day in hospital, and since then, it's been Alex, Jack and I taking it easy at home. A few visitors, lots of sleep (relatively speaking) and lots of wonder at this awesome little dude. I was going to get this blog stuff going again the other night when I was up at 4a.m., having a mini cham after a particularly grisly attempt at feeding, but today, when he seems to be really opening his eyes to the world seems a better day to start. So. Here we go!