Posts Tagged ‘Babies’
Fatherhood²: Five Scary Parenting Myths…
…and 20 moments that will make you forget them!
Unlike five years ago, we’re now at the stage in our grown-up lives where more and more of our friends from school/university are starting to settle down and have families. As a result, my Facebook feed is quite often filled with expectant or new parents fretting about the experience they’re about to… well, experience.
A couple of months ago, two very good friends of mine from school shared the good news that they were expecting their first child. After the initial round of congratulatory and positive messages, my banter with the man half of the couple settled back in to it’s normal routine – light-hearted mocking and fun teasing, like we always have. Thanks to my friends cocky (light-hearted) arrogance, there have been quite a few opportunities to tease him about the joys of parenthood – an opportunity I usually relish, figuring that most people will know I’m only joking.
However, after a conversation with my friend in which I realised my teasing might be a little out-of-kilter with my usual tone here on the blog, I decided I should right the balance by putting together a list which will hopefully give parents-to-be some positive to focus on.
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Fatherhood²: A Book for Every Life Lesson – Part 2
As I sit here on the eve of both Robert and Freddie going in to whole-day care/education, I thought it would be a good time to post the follow-up to my post “A Children’s Book for Ever Life Lesson“. After I published the last post, lots of you were kind enough to suggest books which fit the bill – though I’ve still got a few gaps, so I’d welcome more suggestions!
I’ve not read every one of them, so I’m going to just post the book details as supplied on Amazon – you can make up your own mind! I’ve also credited the people who made the suggestion…
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Fatherhood²: V-BACk to That Old Chestnut Again…
Back in June 2011, just one week before Freddie was born, I wrote a post about the curious subject of “VBAC” – aka “Vaginal Birth After Caesarian. If you didn’t read it back then, you might like to quickly now before I go on, as things have taken an interesting turn this week:
Fatherhood²: “VBAC for good” and other strange things
So, for the uninitiated, the NHS generally recommend that mums who have previously had a Caesarian birth and are pregnant again should TRY to give birth naturally. Despite a lot of stories about the risks of ruptures, tears and muscle damage, the natural method is pushed VERY strongly by most doctors.
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Fatherhood²: Guest Post – Feeding Time at the Zoo
Henry has been asking me to write a blog for ages. I’ve always declined the offer as I’ve really got nothing interesting to say on parenting – plus I’d never written a blog. So it was a teensy bit scary. But I’ve finally thought of something to write about which, if it reassures or helps just one person, then it’s worth the time and effort.
As a new mum I was desperate to breastfeed – after all its what they’re designed for; it’s what the books you read recommend; it’s what the nurses in hospital pushed for; it’s what the midwives visiting the house encouraged and it’s what well meaning family members understood. Child No. 1 had other ideas…
When he was born he wasn’t breathing properly which is apparently quite common with caesarean births. So we had to wait a couple of minutes before he was able to be cuddled. Read the rest of this entry »
Fatherhood²: How Tricky is it Taking a 5-week-old Baby on Holiday?
Having just returned from a week’s holiday with our family, I thought I’d share a few my thoughts on travelling with a very small baby. I’m by no-means the expert, but having been told that we were mad for even thinking of taking such a young child (just 5 weeks old on the day we left) away, I was quite pleased that things turned out fine. So if only to provide some reassurance to other parents who are wondering whether or not to holiday with their baby yet, here’s my view:
Having travelled on many flights which included babies, I’m pretty sure I’m still not comfortable with taking a baby on an aircraft, unless you strictly have to. Not only is their screaming a little bit annoying for the other passengers, but I can’t imagine the pressures that air travel puts on your body can be very good for a tiny baby.
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Fatherhood²: Hi-ho, Hi-ho, it’s Back to Work I Go…
Just a little over 3 weeks after little Frederic was born, today marks the last day of my paternity leave – a realisation which has made me rather sad this weekend. As I’ve said in past posts during these few weeks, I really appreciate the paternity leave we in the UK get – and especially how accommodating my own employers have been. But it’s going to be a bit of a shock to the system getting up for work tomorrow…
It won’t be a the early morning that’s tough – though a poor night’s sleep tonight make me a bit more bleary-eyed I imagine. It won’t be the working either – aside from the fact that my iPhone has allowed me to stay in touch with the office and my emails during my time off, I enjoy my job immensely so it won’t be hard to jump back into. The hard part will be being away from Freddie (and Robert) for most of the day.
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Fatherhood²: Five Days in, is it Double Trouble?
Before little Frederic was born on Friday, I’d speculated on a few occasions that having a second child couldn’t possibly be as hard as the first one – something which I’m still just about clinging on to now, five days in to little Freddie’s life.
Some things have definitely been easier, some things just as hard. And of course, having an older brother or sister brings with it a whole new bunch of challenges which I’d not spent much time thinking about. Here’s a few of my observations on fathering a second child, from where I am sat (or more accurately, slumped) on the evening of Freddie’s 5th day…
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Fatherhood²: T-minus 2 Weeks and Counting
At 38 weeks, this week marks the time in our first pregnancy when Robert was born – so anticipation is running fairly high in our house at the moment.
As with most pregnancies, Sara is looking a little bigger this time around (supposedly the muscles having relaxed more during the last pregnancy causes more “expansion” the second time) and we’re pretty-much ready to roll – bags packed for Sara, baby AND Robert, plus several different flow-chart plans plotting who we’ll call
I can’t even begin to imagine what it must be like for Sara, but for me the mixture of anticipation and trepidation is very bizarre to behold.
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Fatherhood²: The Madnezz of baybee naming in 2011
So I was planning to write a blog post about the waxing and waning of popular baby names, but I’ve been a little derailed…
Sara and I are still 3 months away from the arrival of Baby 2.0, but we’re obviously now spending a bit of time thinking about baby names.
I personally quite impressed that we already have a “Top 5″ list, but I should point out that Robert only officially got his name (it was one of our top choices, but hadn’t been finalised) when Sara was going in to the caesarian surgery room, and Robbie Williams’ “Angels” was playing on the stereo. So the fact that we have a list this time may also mean nothing.
Fatherhood²: Baby gadgets aren’t always baby good-gets
As a total gadget-loving dad, I relished parenthood as a good opportunity to stock up on new gadgets, tools, widgets and generally things with plugs on them. One of the few books I bought on the subject of parenthood was The Bloke’s Guide To Baby Gadgets – a fun read, though possibly not one I’d recommend in perspective; you can find most of the info on baby sites these days, with the benefit of comparison engines clinching it for me! But anyway, the gadgets were an exciting prospect to me.
Almost three years on, and facing the prospect of revisiting some of those purchases for a second time, I wanted to reflect on a couple of items which I now consider to be a complete waste of time. Some lovely folk on Twitter and a couple of boards I frequent also helped with some suggestions, so a big ‘thank you’ to them as well.
Obviously these opinions are all just that – opinions. You may well and possibly will disagree, but if I can save even ONE wasted purchase, it’ll have been worth it… I’m also planning to do a companion post with my “must have” purchases at a later date, but for now, here’s the no-nos… Here goes!
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