Gloopee Makes a Splash!

Hi Everyone

Happy New Year. It's 11pm on (what day is it???) Tuesday and this is the first moment I've had to get to the computer in 48 hours. I had an incredible new year's eve, the culmination of which was my daughter making her way into the world at 12:12am on the 1st of January - the second baby born this year in N.S.W! There were lots of fireworks for her. The local newspaper came and interviewed us today for a front page story, so our baby is already making headlines which is a bit scary. During the birth, Sarah was an absolute wonder - strong, resilient, determined - and at the end, exhausted. Our (as yet unnamed - we're still working on that) daughter seems to possess the same qualities. She's a girl who knows what she wants and when she wants it, and is not afraid to tell us! Usually that means a feed - like her dad, without food she's a bit grumpy.

She's absolutely gorgeous (of course, not biased at all) and strong as an ox. She weighed in at 3.9kg and was 52cm long at birth. I was in the pool with Sa when she gave birth and when the baby was pulled up out of the water, she didn't scream, just sat there turning her eyes this way and that, checking out this whole new existence that suddenly (well, not so suddenly) opened to her. The midwives left at 3:00am, I phoned the parents and then the three of us - this new family - snuggled up in our own bed in our own home together for a well-earned sleep.

It's a wondrous period of learning for us both and being someone who usually takes a long time to get to sleep, I've discovered that I can now fall asleep virtually the moment I lay down and sleep solidly for an hour. Sarah is kept very busy feeding this little girl who seems to want to eat more often than I do, which is saying a lot.

I feel very humbled by the whole birth experience and the beginnings of parenting, and very lucky to be a father.

Kind regards
Gary