The last midwife visit

This wasn't a planned visit, but as she was on the island anyway the midwife decided to pop in and check on the baby. She also got us registered with the local doctor's surgery!

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Medical Check: A visit in passing
​Admin: Registered with local GP's office

​Monday 15th October

James has popped to the local shop to get some supplies where he ran into our midwife - the midwife who helped Ron enter this world only 15 days ago! She was here visiting our neighbour who had returned home with her little baby and, as she was in the area she decided to pop in and weigh our little Ronnie, seeing if he was eating enough and growing as he should.
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Medical Check: A visit in passing

I was back home with the baby and wasn't aware that the midwife was coming, so I had literally just dressed Ronnie up when she came in and asked him to be undressed again so that she could effectively weigh him. As she was taking his hat off, she said "Oh, you're definitely auburn!" and we informed her that it was exactly the debate we had yesterday!
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She put Ron on the baby scales that they all kept bringing with them and he was 4kg 50g! He had put 200g since the 10th October and was now 100g heavier than what he was at birth! I was so pleased with that - my baby was growing!!! We didn't really need the scales to tell us that as he was beginning to feel heavier whenever we picked him up!
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Admin: Registered with local GP's office

Whilst the baby was exposed, I took an opportunity to ask the midwife about the rash that he had noticed on Ron's legs a couple of days ago. I noticed that it the redness and area of rash had significantly reduced (it was actually all gone!)  but was happy when the midwife also confirmed that it was all OK. On that note, she asked if we filled in the GP registration papers and I said that I had done it whilst I was filling in his birth certification. She took the GP papers with her and said she would drop it into the local surgery office on her way back to the boat. This was marvellous as it had saved us a trip (still without a car!) to the surgery, located half-way down the island.

I was "putting the baby back together" when the midwife commented that Ron should get used to the popping sound that his cloth nappies made. I also explained to her that we only wrap his bottom and legs in his swaddle blankets as he likes having his arms free and she said that this is usually the advice they give parents anyway - leaving babies arms free allows them to breathe in deeply (i.e. yawn!) and leaves their arms out for exploration which would not be possible if they were tightly swaddled! I was happy with that, we seemed to be intuitively in tune (I love how that sounds!) with what our baby needed and what was best for him.
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The midwife left, saying that someone will be back to pick up the medical equipment that was left here for the planned home birth but that we will have no more visits from the midwives. We could still call the unit for help and advice and they would keep my record open until mid-November (6 weeks after Ron's birth) but officially this week is when the health visitor takes over. She explained that the health visitor is a medical nurse who has done extra training in all things related to babies and children, and will be out point of call for any medical questions and checkups until Ron was 5 years old. We were pleased that we had someone to turn to for advice and we weren't just left alone to figure it all out.

The midwife left and the health visitor called a couple of hours later. Se was coming to see us tomorrow afternoon!

The midwife said that it is impossible to overfeed the baby, so I was feeding Ron all day long and he was happily eating his little days away. I feel like I've already said all this, but he was really ravenous and starving the moment we separated and would quickly start crying actual baby tears for more food, demanding that I return to him with my superpowers (well. . . my breasts, really!).

The midwife had advised that I should be better at recognising the early hunger signs - the stirring, the rooting (or a "nuzzle nuzzle" as we call it), the looking around - but the problem wasn't ignoring the signs, the problem was that he usually gives me 20 seconds of spare time in between his hour-long feeds to grab a shower, change my clothes, fold more nappies, etc. . . I was trying my best to maintain a routine and remain useful to the household, but I was mostly spending my days in bed, covered by a million pillows, feeding the baby!
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I can't really complain too loudly or too much though. . . Sure, I was bed-bound (or more accurately, baby-bound) for the day, but the baby was also sleeping through most of the night, allowing me some time to rest. I can't help but see it as a bit of a blessing in disguise. . . If he wasn't eating so much in the day, chances are he'd be up for a feed a lot more in the night. Also, despite me feeling like I wasn't much of a help around the house, there wasn't much around the house left to do as James was such a trooper at looking after the dogs, the house, the finances, the farm and our YouTube channel. It was his contribution and I love him dearly for it (well, I love him dearly regardless - but he is such a sweetheart!). And thirdly, I was having cwtches with my baby and I was, despite my little frustrations at times, feeling loved and needed!

We gave Ron a bath - something we try to do a couple of times a week, despite now cloth-washing him daily and then we sat down to have our dinner and watch "Neighbours". . . I am pretty sure that the theme song to this Australian soap opera is a kin to our "pack call" for the dogs and Ronnie as he would have heard it at least weekly during my pregnancy. It is a show we've been watching since 2011 or so. . . Sad? Maybe, but also a tradition of sorts - and traditions cannot be broken!

Anyway, as we were sat watching the show and eating our dinner, Ronnie stirred in his new Moses basket and wanted closeness, cwtches and, most importantly, more food. At first I was annoyed as, once again, I was unable to eat my dinner but then I remembered that this is what being a mum meant. . . And it also meant that, in a funny sort of way, we would all be having a family dinner together, at the same time! I grabbed a spoon in one hand and a baby in the other. This was ambidextrous multitasking  at it's finest and I was laughing when I realised that this is what our dinner times would look like from now on!
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