Now we are 11...days

He's growing! The health visitor called in today and weighed him...we're now at 7lbs 2oz. No wonder with all the eating he does; 10 times a day we reckon, and he's very good at letting us know it's time! Our other clue is that the hat he wore home from hospital last week left a red line round his head (oops) after I forced it on for our visit to CHAVDA.

We were very brave and took his pram along the road to buy some essentials. We were accosted by plenty old women, but not one of them put money is his pram so in the end we had to pay for our own shopping. If only we'd remembered that the car was still at home...I won't be trying to carry that many bags of shopping home in a hurry.

I registered Kit's birth this morning...a very straightforward event and I even paid the £8.50 for a full certificate. Behind me was a scary looking couple (facial tattoos and all) registering the birth of their son too.
"Now, what's his name?"
"TJ"
"Hmm, is that short for something? Only we can't register abbreviations."
"Naw, that's his name, TJ"
"Um...ok, how is it spelt? T space J? Or T-E-E-J-A-Y?"
"Naw, it's just TJ..."

Anyway I don't think they reached an agreement because they were finished a lot faster than I was.

We've received hunderads of presents. People are very generous; the QPS staff lavished me (well, him) with a cardboard box full and three supporting bags of gifts, while the postie has been kept busy with flowers, cards, balloon and beer deliveries (woo-hoo!) We're beginning our thank you cards, but a huge thanks to everyone for the time being!

Three come home

Having proved herself to be an outstanding mother of the first degree, Lorna was released from hospital today and we have introduced Christopher to his new home. He is feeding really well, sleeping loads and looking great.

It's a boy!

Christopher Peter Carson
18:04 13/04/06
6lbs 10oz

A visit to the hospital...

...But nothing exciting!

Lorna has been feeling dizzy for the last couple of days, even just lying down and turning her head. Being ever cautious she phoned the community midwives and got an appointment at the new Royal. The "lovely" doctor Peter (Lorna's words, not mine....) decided she most likely had labyrinthitis left over from the cold she had last week.

Thrown into the bargain they took some blood and strapped her to the ECG machine for 10 minutes, allowing us to hear baby's heart pounding away and even its movements as it wriggled around.

The midwife also had a feel to see which way baby was pointing...but couldn't tell. Neither could the other midwife so we were sent for a quick scan. This was a bit concerning as if baby was in the breech position it might have meant a cesarean delivery, soon, no arguments. Fortunately baby was not only head down, but is also "quite far down"...that's why the midwives couldn't feel things!

The real story of the visit was the woman who came into triage just after us and was making all sorts of noises....squawks, squeals, howls, you name it. Even the midwife was saying "For goodness sake, why don't they just take her up to the labour ward?!" Apparently the rules are to send mothers to triage for assessment first, and those nurses were going to stick to the rules. At least now we know which car park to use, and which door to go in when it's our turn (12 days, 19 hours)

Second bike run of the year

Today Kevin, Claire and I braved the weather and took to the hills...from Edinburgh to Aberfeldy via Crieff, then alongside Loch Tay to Killin before heading home through Callander.

The weather was fine in Edinburgh but soon fingers and noses were freezing as we gained altitude. By the time we reached Aberfeldy for lunch we were ordering extra soup to stick our hands into. It even managed a little snow for us, enough to stick to our visors, but it didn't last and the views of Ben Lawers were stunning.

We managed to scare some horses too, nearly enough to unseat their riders. Despite stopping the bikes, and our engines, one of them went mental and spooked the others. The lady in charge yelled and bawled at the horse (Claire managed not to yell and bawl at the lady) so I guess that told it.

The picture shows the bikes covered in salt and Hamish the Highland Cow in Doune.

No news is.......no news

No baby yet (15 days until due) and we've been making the most of it this week...

Monday saw us out on the town for a curry with Dad and new friend Donna, and the introductions continued when Gill allowed us to meet Gary. Lorna didn't go for anything other than the mildest of dishes fearing that sometimes the old wives get it right. I don't think "Passanda Carson" would be a bad name, though.

On Tuesday and Wednesday it was Mum and Don's turn to inspect the nursery. Well, Don spent most of his time inspecting (and mending) our wobbly floorboards, hooray! Gary and Gill joined us for tea and he settled in by asking for, and eating, a second helping of steak pie. He obviously realised what was expected of him...but perhaps not ready for Dundee yet.

Friday was our anniversary - 5 years; wooden, apparently. I gave Lorna some shelves in the nursery which was nice of me. We had tea at the Buffalo Grill then on to champagne tasting at Kev and Claire's. We sat out of it, fearing the need to drive in some sort of emergency, but had great fun all the same. They had a £20 limit per person, bought whatever fizz they fancied then once I'd wrapped the bottles in foil, mixed them up and served them, they had to mark them and guess what, where from and how much. Quite a revelation - the cheap one was a general favourite and Claire talks about rats when she's drunk. Kev proved to be the most accurate guesser. Not bad considering he didn't really like any of them.

Last but not least I made a tenner on the Grand National - Nil Desperandum!

Non-smoking pubs are all very well...

...but our Friday night out has revealed something I hadn't thought of.

Smells. B.O., toilets, other bodily emissions are all now very evident without the fog of fags to disguise them. Perhaps pubs will install nice timed air fresheners for us?