England 47 Wales 13

After a busy day shopping, Daisy watched England hammer the Welsh at rugby for the first time. It is tiring work beating the Welsh, but if she is going to support the All Blacks and England she will need to get used to it, as it is going to happen a lot, hehehe!

We are having a fairly chilled evening so far, not much crying, not much pooing. However, if the last few nights are anything to go by, that is in store for us in the early hours.

We might even take Daisy to the pub for Tom's birthday drinks tomorrow. Although we'll probably only stay for 15 mins.

Andy

One week old

One week on and Daisy is doing great. She is feeding and sleeping much better and crying a whole lot less. We had a midwife visit this morning and she is back up to her birth weight so all is looking well. She had to go sans nappy to be weighed and she took the opportunity to poo all over Andy's lap. She was in a towel so it could have been worse but Andy still got mucky. Gross!

Today was her official due date. We've only had her one week but it feels like so much has happened. She now has more hair than Andy and we've had to cut her nails already. And she now has a proper tummy button. So do I again, result. And I'm back in my pre-pregnancy jeans. Double result.

Bx

Shopping!

We had a bit of a rough night and I was feeling housebound and neurotic, so we decided that a shopping trip to Harrods was in order. Hurrah! Daisy slept the entire two hours making it very stress free and nice for us. I don't understand why she cannot sleep in her nice moses basket in her nice calm quiet room, yet can snooze for a car trip through central London and a visit to Harrods where there was music playing in every department. Babies are very confusing!

Bx

Phew!

It's been a busy few days! It's quite bizarre how one tiny person can be a 24 hour job for two people but we are fast finding out that they can. Things got a bit rough on Monday night with Daisy deciding that she didn't want to feed on the right side and she didn't want to sleep in her Moses basket. In fact, all she wanted to do was scream. Waaaa! I think Andy walked a groove in the floor taking her round the house in the early hours. I called the midwives in the morning and they were with us within a couple of hours which was fantastic.

Daisy is a bit jaundiced and compounded with the feeding problems she was continually hungry. She still won't feed the normal way on the right but she will go on in 'the rugby ball' position. What a good little kiwi! We are making her eat more which will hopefully get rid of the jaundice and it also means the screaming has stopped (for now, anyway) and we managed to get some sleep last night. When we were in the hospital a few staff used the word 'fiesty' when checking Daisy out and yesterday the midwife upgraded that to 'obstinate'. It would seem that she has more of me in her than her appearance suggests....

Today has been a much better day. She is still being a bit tricksy about feeding but I feel like we have a few options in dealing with it which is a big relief. It's certainly hard work and I didn't quite realise the extent to which she would take up our every minute but she is so adorable that we don't mind at all. Although I might change my tune if we have another bad night tonight!

Andy has just been down to the town hall and registered her birth so she is now officially Daisy Clementine Ellis. How exciting!

Bx

Monday - and I'll have some cake please.

Day four and things are still going really well. Andy and I aren't doing too badly on the sleep front and Daisy is doing brilliantly. She went for eight hours straight last night although was so furiously hungry by the time she woke up that we might not be letting her go that long again! So far she really is quite peaceful - a little surprising for someone who made her entrance to the world to the dulcet tones of Metallica and Rage Against the Machine.

We took her out in her pram for the first time yesterday. Only to the shops to get the Sunday papers but like every small step at the moment it felt like quite an acheivement. She screamed at first but was fast asleep by the time we got to the end of our road - hurrah!

Time for me to peruse the kitchen and think about how to get those 500 extra calories a day I need at the moment.

Bx

Back home

We arrived home yesterday afternoon with Daisy safe and sound. I've never seen Andy drive so slowly as he did the journey back from the hospital! I can't say labour was much fun but things much improved 12 hours in when I was finally allowed an epidural. Bliss. It gave both Andy and I some time to get some rest (and, I admit, for me to stop sobbing hysterically and pull myself together) and the actual birth itself wasn't too bad. A bit like sprinting as hard as I could on the treadmill for an hour and a half. With a cheering squad of Andy, two midwives and a doctor. Unfortunately Daisy has her daddy's big forehead so she got a bit stuck but we got there in the end. She is gorgeous with lots of dark hair and big blue eyes. She looks a lot like Andy and nothing like me!

Because I had an epidural we had to stay overnight on the ward which wasn't great particulary as Andy had to leave but Daisy was still pretty drugged up so slept most of the night which was good.

Things are pretty peaceful here now. Andy is sleeping after taking the early morning shift which let me get some much needed sleep. He has been a star, much more of a natural at this baby stuff than me I think. Daisy has been asleep for the past hour and half so I'm expecting her to wake up anytime. The calm before the storm!

Thank you to everyone for all your phone calls, texts, emails, cards and messages. I'm sorry if it takes a few days for me to get back to you but I will do as soon as I can.

Bx

Hello Daisy!

Daisy Clementine Ellis - Born in London on Friday 27 January 2006 at 2.58am.