My Eldest........

Walking at 9 months 6 days.

An easy walk with dad.

Well 22 years ago I first became a mum and doesn't time fly. My eldest boy was a bouncing hefty 9lbs probably due to the bed rest which had been enforced on me during pregnancy! Not a lot went right I was in hospital at 18, 20, and 22 weeks trying to hold onto him, at this time because our house was not lived in we were burgled too!!! I then found I had to be induced ON my due date, due to being induced labour was quite painful so I had an epidural which was super however had the effect of dropping my blood pressure. So they topped me up with fluids. Even so every time they tried to lie me down I would start fainting so in the end I sat. Finally he was born, however loss of blood meant I had taken on an extreme yellow hue having a level of of 8.2. Whoops. I stayed in hospital a week receiving treatment to several areas of damage!

Looking back we did so many things a little wrong when he was a baby, which when we had the others we amended. Parenthood, what a learning curve! Being so unwell when I tried to feed him myself my body had no reserves therefore he was getting little food. He was on me 24/7. I did persevere as at night my body did recuperate and provided him milk which I was grateful for as I didn't have to wake up and go and sort a bottle especially when I was so anaemic. It was during ths time  we found he never wanted to be put down so I wore a sling and took him around like that. Unfortunately family although kind were not close to hand so could not help. At seven weeks he seemed to not want the bottle, in a panic I went to the doctor who said he was bonny and a good weight and that finally my body was able to breast feed him. 

Still as a parent, we got things wrong. He refused a dummy so to sleep he would have a milk beaker! We would then sleep with him to get him down! - the number of times my OH and me crawled out the room on hands and knees so as not to wake him! He ate sparingly when it came to weaning and eating. It didn't help that a friend whose baby was born at the same time, ate heartily. A jar would never be finished. I puréed food like a good mum and it was rejected. He did have fromage frais, cheese and later on, when I went to work, lived on Melton Mowbray mini pies and fig rolls as these were the only things he would eat, how bad is that! Fats, salts and sugars! The upside is that he did seem well coordinated so at nine months and six days he walked, one day after I finished feeding him myself! He was soooooo tiny to walk. The down side was he couldn't be bothered to speak, what a worry! At 18 months, at his test, he did manage mum,dad and tractor! Luckily! His friend was the opposite he would speak sentences but could only just walk at 18 months. 

Why did we worry?

Graduation

Our eldest never liked food until much later, and this is the boy who now loves cooking, an inventive lover of food and cooking. Who can sleep like every teenager does? And has a 2:1 in Chemistry and is finish a post grad. Strangely for a well coordinated kid he hates sport!!! My eldest.

Me and my eldest

Todra Gorge, Morocco