Thursday to Friday night (27th to 28th June), Conrad wasn’t restless at all, but went back to sleep straight away after each feed, including the ones in the evening and early part of the night, which was a great relief – it is possible for him to do it and the night turned out better for the three of us.
Friday I was pretty impressed with myself, as I decided to take both kiddies along to one of the mums from the post-natal group I used to go to with Conrad’s sister Jessica. A group of mums with toddlers were meeting up at hers for afternoon tea. She lives in a lovely flat near the hospital, so I opted for the train to Earlswood, and to put Jessica in the run-around buggy and strap Conrad on me in the baby carrier, hoping that it would be the best solution for getting off and on trains and platforms. Jessica was being patient in the buggy and Conrad slept through most of the journey, so I managed to make it to the gathering in reasonable time.
Conrad was much admired (“oh, he’s gorgeous!”) and got a bit of a cuddle, plus curious looks from some of the toddlers. I got accused of being both brave and well organised for going out and about with both kids this soon after Conrad’s birth. I wasn’t feeling very brave or organised at all, only sweaty (it was a hot day and I’d put jackets on all three of us) and spaced out – one of the mums suggested maybe that was why I seemed so cool and calm about everything: I was on a high from sleep deprivation… It was lovely to see everyone and to get to introduce Conrad to more of my friends. We only stayed just over the hour, as I wanted to make sure we got on the same train as Ian on the way back, so we could make a joint effort in bringing the kids the last bit home.
This morning Ian got up early to look after Jessica while Conrad and I stayed in bed a while longer. As usual, I didn’t get much additional sleep, but it was nice to not have to co-ordinate two kids but to rest for a bit. After feeding Conrad just after 7am (sometimes in the mornings he has a 4-hour sleep before ‘breakfast’, otherwise he’s still sticking with 3-hour intervals both day and night), I put him in the middle of our bed to just lie next to him and watch him sleep. He can be quite noisy sometimes, and it’s funny how little babies in reality make a lot of noises that you wouldn’t normally associate with babies, including sounding like a creaking door… It’s lovely to watch him stretch and curl up, exercising his little arms, legs and facial muscles. He is quite noisy when he breathes too, as if his nose and/or airways are blocked, which makes me worry sometimes, and I have to keep checking that he is breathing. He seems so fragile still – how can such a tiny little person not be…?
He has his eyes open more now, looking about himself, and they seem to follow my face when I move around a little (I did that a couple of times keeping quiet just to check that it wasn’t the sound of my voice he was following). We popped around to Conrad’s farmor and farfar briefly this afternoon, and Conrad spent most of our time there with his eyes wide open. They still look very dark blue – like two tiny little universes – but with a slight yellow to the whites of his eyes still lingering from the jaundice, it’s hard to tell whether they’re actually turning into e.g. a warmer shade, like brown.
Gabriella