So considerate!

Thumper is now 12 days old and we are all settling into life in a four-person family quite well.

I have to commend her on how very considerate she is (despite the aches and pains she inflicted upon me during pregnancy!). Right from the day she was born, she seems to do her utmost to fit in around everyone else's needs and plans. For instance (damn... been reading BallFiend too many Mr Men books again - I hate the way they always use the phrase 'for instance' over and over again!):

I went into labour at about 5.00 am on a Monday morning (7 September). A nice slow and gentle start with very mild contractions, about 10 mins apart. This meant:

• I could just stay in bed and doze until BallFiend woke up at 7.00 am (although I roused DeepSpice at about 5.30 am to tell him I thought I might be in labour), and I didn't need to phone any of my extended family and friends until a much more reasonable hour of 8.00 am.
• A few days earlier, DeepSpice had suggested that if I could manage to give birth on a Monday then he wouldn't have to go into work for the entire week. Another tick for Thumper.
• We were able to arrange for BallFiend to be collected by GrandPaul at lunchtime. I had thought we might have to disappear in the middle of the night without saying goodbye. So a lunchtime departure was perfect - we could explain what was happening and BallFiend could have his afternoon nap at Gran and GrandPaul's house.
• DesignerSis (who works just down the road from my house) could come over during her lunch break and help look after BallFiend while DeepSpice packed the car ready to go to hospital. She also helped time my contractions.

My labour picked up pace around 1.00 pm, contractions around 7 - 5 minutes apart, so...

• we were ready to leave for the hospital at 3.00 pm, thus avoiding peak hour traffic, and
• VolubleK was able to make school pick-up arrangements for her kids and also get to the hospital before peak hour traffic hit.

We arrived at the hospital at 3.40 pm, which meant:

• DeepSpice and VolubleK were easily able to get a space in the car park because the morning shift staff had just finished for the day, and
• it wasn't too late for the hospital staff to place an order for dinner for me.
  

Thumper was born at 4.49 pm. Perfect timing for:

• VolubleK to get home to her family in time for dinner, and
  
• us to have a few visitors later that evening, around 8.00 pm - specifically CutLuce, DesignerMonkey, DesignerSis and Wigward, who had been able to go home after work and have dinner before visiting us.
  

She is also considerate with her feeding and sleeping patterns:

• For her first night 'on the outside', Thumper slept for about 4 or 5 hours, so DeepSpice and I got a decent rest.
• She has continued to do big sleeps almost every night - anywhere from 5 to 9 hours! (But usually about 7 hours, from midnight until 7.00 am).
• Her sleeps tend to coincide with BallFiend's afternoon naps, so we get to have a lie-down as well.
• Her sleeps also tend to coincide with meal times, so we usually get to sit down and eat with BallFiend, or enjoy a meal on our own after we have put BallFiend to bed.
• She is almost always asleep when we are getting BallFiend ready for bed, so he still gets both our full attention during the evening 'wind-down' period.

Other examples of how considerate she is:

• I was about to change her nappy and she did a poo, before I had taken her nappy off. (BallFiend used to wait till the nappy was off and then it would go everywhere!)
• She rarely cries - mostly just if she has tummy pain from wind, which is fair enough!
• She is easy to settle, usually falling asleep on her own in her bassinette.

What a wonder! What a star!
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