2 Weeks Old

It's really hard to believe its only been 2 weeks since Anna was born - it feels like she's been a part of our lives forever, I now can't imagine life without her. But these past 2 weeks have gone so slowly, yet so quickly - the story of our lives to come.

In these two weeks, we've gotten to know one another, and Adam and I are slowly adjusting to our new sleeping schedules. We're so pleased that Anna has been very adaptable - she's swapping between boob and bottle with ease so it's taken the pressure off me a lot and given Adam the opportunity to share in the feeding times which I have found to be great bonding time.

In the first week, breastfeeding was stressful. By the second week, I look forward to it. I have Anna to thank for the ease of breastfeeding - she's a nipple seeking missile.

In the first week, Anna had jaundice, which I didn't realise how yellow she was until I saw the photos. But Adam and I conquered that with hourly feeds and lots of sunshine - our first real 'parent' job.

Last week Adam, Nanna Lou and I took Anna out to the shopping centre, her first true 'outing'. We had a nice trip, Anna slept the whole time - and we had to drag Nanna Lou away from Baby Bunting. Since then, Anna has been out and about - going for walks with Pa and late night grocery shopping with Mum and Dad. She certainly draws a lot of attention.

So much has happened in the past two weeks - small things to everyone else but huge to me and Adam. She's got a super strong neck and can hold her head up well. She's going to be an athlete, she's got seriously strong muscles. She's already kicking us out of bed - she demands the 'big bed' otherwise no sleep for Mum and Dad. She's got into a good routine and feeds every four hours like clock work. She 'slept through the night' the other night (7 hours straight) but made up for it the following night. We've learnt not to drink espresso shots before breastfeeding. Anna now focuses on us and looks around, absoring her surroundings like a sponge. Adam has become the champion nappy changer. Anna's dark, thick hair is growing like a jungle! I could really just talk about all the little things she's doing for hours. It's amazing how quickly newborns develop - they're quite impressive.

Now she's well and truly two weeks old and far from the wrinkly little baby I pushed out two weeks ago - her face is becoming so defined now, and she's plumping up with some mean chubby cheeks. Every day that goes by I see her growing so much, and more and more I see Adam in her; there's been quite a debate about who Anna will look like. My votes in for a mini Adam. She's just so beautiful.

With love,

Mum and Dad.x

Welcome Baby Anna!

To officially launch this blog, I'd like to welcome our beautiful baby girl Anna Louise to our world. Anna was born on the 16th November, 2009 at 3:33am, weighing 3.22kg and 51cm long. She was born at Casey Hospital in Berwick - Adam and I are very much in love with our gorgeous daughter.

It was a very long and exhausting labour with things not really going according to plan - Anna decided she was better off laying upside down, amongst other things. After about a day of 'niggly' contractions here and there, I began having strong contractions on the Saturday night, and when they got to about 4 minutes apart, Adam and I headed off to the hospital, only to be sent home 3 hours later as my contractions were not regular and consistent (evidently this remained unchanged throughout the entire labour though) and i was only 1cm dialated. For some reason, Adam and I thought it would be a good idea to get some breakfast at McDonalds on the way back from the hospital only to realise there was a rather long queue, so I went through four or five contractions at the McDonalds drive through - not such a good idea.

I had assumed that I would end up giving birth to our baby on that Sunday, which happened to be Uncle Tom's birthday too, but Anna was kind enough not to steel Tom's birthday thunder. After being back home for about 2 hours, with the contractions immensely more intense and closer together, we headed back to the hospital to have our baby. Hours passed, and after overcoming some obstacles, Anna was born at 3:33am on the Monday morning (with the help of a vacuum).

Adam and I are such proud parents - we are so happy to have a new addition to our family. Over the past week since Anna has been born, its certainly changed our lives, and the midnight, 3am and 6am feeds are demanding but we are loving every second of the challenge.

We look forward to watching our baby girl grow up and to see the kind of person she is - she is already showing so much personality and has grown already so much in this first week - we are so excited about our future with our daughter.

Welcome to our world Anna Louise Hateley.

With love,

Mum and Dad.x

Playing the Waiting Game

I thought I'd post this blog up as I began writing this the day I went into labour and never finished or posted it.


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The lead up to the arrival of our first baby is proving to be more like a game! A very anxious, and exciting game - when will this baby come?


Over the past 8 or so months (since our pregnancy was announced) our friend's and family have put in their bets for the gender, date, time, weight and length. As yesterday was our 'due date', Adam and I have already lost the date bet (we guessed the 14th of November), but there are others still in the running! Adam and I think its a girl, but the majority think its a boy.


So now, at 40 weeks pregnant, it's an anxious wait for everyone. Physically, I'm doing rather well - baby has been kind enough to stay a reasonable size so I'm carrying what only looks like 7 months pregnant, and I'm still fairly agile - but despite this I'm eager to have this baby out!

(40 Weeks Pregnant)

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...And that day, I went into labour and Anna was born :)

Looking back now on the pregnancy, every now and then I wish I was still pregnant; you cant hold her any closer than when you're pregnant. I was lucky that pregnancy was kind to me, even though I wasn't a huge fan of being pregnant. I managed to escape major stretch marks and post body wise, it's pretty much gone back to the way it was. I'm very thankful.

Oh and Nanna Lou won the bet - she guessed the date, time, gender, weight and height nearly spot on!

Thank you Anna - I hope you enjoyed your stay at Hotel Uterus - It was a pleasure having you.

With love,

Mum and Dad.x