Weight

The boy’s on record

Baggie

I have been spoiling you of late with the frequency of updates and indeed this one is at least a day late.  There is a good reason for the delay though, I have been suffering from a cold.  Not a man cold (and certainly not man ‘flu – I would be incapacitated if it was the latter) just a heavy cold but enough of an illness that the thought of sitting down to write something just didn’t enter my bunged up head.  Nevertheless I have dragged myself before the keyboard today to get you up to speed with the latest developments at Chez Bagnall.

So what has happened since last Thursday?  The most important event is surely the fact that Ezra John Bagnall is now an official member of the UK population.  With Éowyn at school and Amélie at Nanny and Granddad’s, Lucinda, Ezra and I headed to the local registry office in Weybridge to register his birth and obtain a birth certificate.  With a birth certificate we can now open a bank account for him and obtain a passport, so quite an important day.

The snow that hit large swathes of Northern UK on Saturday completely missed our corner of the land and we woke only to a slight dusting that quickly melted.  Thus Lucinda’s trip to the midwife clinic on Saturday morning wasn’t the epic journey that we were fearing when we went to bed.  This was the final check up by the midwifery team before being discharged into the realm of the local health visitors.  The midwife was very pleased with his progress.  There was nothing that concerned them regarding his physical health and indeed they were delighted with the fact that weighing in at 4.01kg (8lbs 13oz) he had returned to his birth weight.

Although the snow has missed us it doesn’t mean that it isn’t bitterly cold.  Indeed it freezing out there and so we haven’t felt like venturing out of the house preferring others to visit us.  The lack of snow disappointed both girls (and if I am honest – me!) and indeed when I told Amélie that Nanny Fran had snow, she asked if we could go to Nanny Fran’s to build a snowman.  I explained that wasn’t possible but we facetimed Nanny Fran instead and asked her to show us her snow.  That seemed to sate the girls.  While facetiming Nanny Fran, Éowyn entertained us talking to her imaginary brother Rich.  Rich is quite often the reason she is naughty (according to Éowyn) and this Saturday morning was no different.  Nanny Fran said that she didn’t like Rich and then Éowyn just turned on Rich and said that she had had enough of him.  She then called the Police (imaginary Police obviously) and asked them to put him in jail.  A little harsh.  But she wasn’t finished.  She disappeared off to the brother shop and bought another imaginary brother also called Rich.  It is more complicated than soap opera at times (with better imagination) and takes a bit to remember all the twists and turns.  Not sure what happens when original imaginary Rich gets out of imaginary jail to find his place taken by another imaginary Rich.

Apart from imaginary brothers the girls have been relatively well behaved considering the upheaval of having a new member of the family.  They both are very affectionate towards their brother (real brother) and fight over holding him.  Amélie especially holds him at least a couple of times a day.  The length of this cuddle can vary from a couple of minutes to ten minutes or more, depending on Ezra  behaviour.  If he cries she will try and comfort him for a couple of seconds before asking you to take him off her.  The funniest is when he has the hiccups.  For some reason Amélie finds this hilarious and literally laughs uncontrollably.  It is very amusing!

So maybe not the most exciting of updates but nevertheless important stages in Ezra’s life and not the most exciting of photos below I will try harder for next time.  However a small geeky thing that most of you will not of noticed but this website has reached a new milestone as it has now received 100,000 hits.  Some of you will long memories with think haven’t we been here before?  Yes we have.  But that was 100,000 hits split over two servers, my original WordPress hosted site (still available as www.afrobaggie.wordpress.com) and the new (not so new now) privately hosted site that is www.baggieandlucy.com these 100,000 hits are purely on the latter server and are in addition to the 65,000 hits on www.afrobaggie.wordpress.com.  As I have mentioned before it maybe only a small milestone that means absolutely nothing in the real world but it feels like a justification for the amount of work that I regularly put into this site.  So thank you all for your interest in the ups and downs of our family.

Peace and love

Baggie

On record
With Daddy at the Registry Office
Me and Mommy at the Registry Office
On my Nanny’s lap
With my Granddad
A kiss from my sister
Half in shadow
In the shadows
Sleeping babe
Rambo?
Here is the news
Cheeky girl

A good night’s sleep

Baggie

It has been a couple of days so I feel that I owe you a quick update and some more photos (OK it’s just the photos that you are here for isn’t it?).  The last time you heard from me was Saturday night so what has happened over the last couple of days?

It is not very often that one of the most exciting things that happens to this family is sleep but that is exactly what happened on Saturday night.  Ezra is less than a week old so we are fully prepared for sleep depravation however Ezra threw us a curved ball by sleeping for just over 5 hours on his fourth night in the big wide world.  Yes, unlike his sisters Ezra simply eats and sleeps (and poops) at the moment.  He seems very contented and only cries when it is food time.  Now maybe this is due to the fact that we are more confident parents and he senses this; maybe it is because he is a boy or maybe it is just him.

So was this just a one-off? Perhaps a little too early to tell yet and although he didn’t last quite as long last night again he woke when he was hungry, fed, then went back to sleep.  We can not ask for any more from him.

So Sunday morning we awoke feeling more human and somewhat surprised and ready to receive visitors.  If Saturday was the turn of the Bagnall side then Sunday it was the ‘Badger’ side’s turn to meet the newest member of the family.  Lucinda’s brother Steve and his family popped round early afternoon.  This meant that Ezra had met (and had a cuddle from) all of his first cousins.  This included Finley his only male cousin and the original owner of some of his clothes.

Then Lucinda’s mum’s sisters, Aunties Sally and Diana came round with Adam and Lucy and John.  Again Ezra was very well behaved although his sisters were a little over-excited.  It must be very difficult for them because they are no longer the centre of attention when people come round.  We are trying to involve them in everything but obviously Ezra is the draw and they know that.

Both Éowyn and Amélie have been brilliant with him though.  They both fight over wanting to hold him and sit with a cushion on their lap and have quickly learnt to support his head.  Amélie especially will sit for an extended period holding her little brother, stroking his head and kissing him.  She is very cute, if at times a little heavy handed but that is to be expected and we obviously supervise them when they have him.

We have spent a very quiet Monday at home getting used to being a family.  The rain, hail and thunderstorms were a deterrent for even making it up the road to Nanny and Granddad’s.  Our family enclave was only invaded once by the 5 day check up by the local midwives.  They examined Ezra and took blood via the blood spot (heel prick) test.  This upset Éowyn thinking that these strange people who had come into our house were hurting her little brother.  Fortunately although it looked painful he was feeding and must have had his mind on better things because he didn’t even flinch.

They checked Lucinda and made sure that all was well with her and then finally weighed Ezra.  He weighed in at a surprising 3.92kgs (8lbs 10oz); he had only lost 92 grams.  This is excellent, it means that he is feeding well and we will be more content to let him sleep rather than fretting that he has slept for 5 hours!  A new born baby can lose up to 10% of their birth weight before the medical profession get too worried.  At this rate Ezra will probably surpass his birth weight on my birthday and definitely by his next weigh-in on Saturday.

So as I sit here with Ezra sleeping on my chest I will leave you to enjoy the latest crop of photos.

Love and Peace

Baggie

Cousin Megan
Another boy in the family!
Megan and Ezra
Uncle Steve and Auntie Zoe
Sleeping
Hello Uncle Steve
With my sister Amélie
In my mommy’s arms
Close up

What’s in a name?

Baggie

At 05.25 (GMT) on Wednesday 13th March 2013 in the hospital of St. Peters, Chertsey, Surrey our third child, and first son was born weighing 8lb 13oz (4.01kg).  Unlike his sisters he doesn’t seem to have inherited the Badger ears but does have the Bagnall nose as so will have to learn the Bagnall nose rub.

Now usually this is where we would officially announce his name and explain any meanings (if any) behind the choice of name.  Unfortunately Lucinda and I cannot agree on a name.  Now you may think that we have had nine months (and at least 5 knowing that he was a boy!) to make this decision but the names we had on the shortlist don’t seem to suit him.  That may sound a like strange and maybe it is the sleep deprivation that we are both experiencing but we will take a few days to reflect but rest assured you will be the first to find out.

His arrival in this world was relatively straightforward.  Yesterday afternoon Lucinda started feeling some discomfort that she likened to period pains.  We were not convinced until later that evening that this was it.  Yes, he was a couple of days late but that means nothing.  However Lucinda’s parents were put on standby for baby sitting duties  I explained to Éowyn and Amélie that it was possible that Bilbo bump (the nickname that he has had in the womb – and one we are fighting against it becoming his real name) wanted to come and meet them.  If he did then Mommy and Daddy would go to hospital and when they woke up Nanny and Granddad would be here.

It was about 23:30 when we decided it was time, Nanny and Granddad came round and we drove to St Peters.  Maternity triage was full and we had to wait for over an hour before Lucinda was examined.  The midwife recognised Lucinda and so when the examination confirmed that it was action stations she took us up to the labour ward and managed to secure us a pool room for the water birth that Lucinda had craved.

So it was 0130 and we were in labour.  Although triage was full the labour ward seemed relatively empty.  Thus the student midwife (Georgina) that was accompanying the midwife was able to spend a lot of time with us.  She was very bubbly and gained our confidence which was crucial during the birth.

With a water birth it is very much hands off for the midwives and so it was with Bilbo Bump’s birth.  Lucinda was guided through the birth by Georgina, who was excellent, but it was down to Lucinda who once again went through the whole of her labour with her TENS machine and then when she was in the water: gas and air, it is not a good idea to use a TENS machine in water!  The birth was relatively quick, even without the assistance of gas and air and we were soon holding our son.  Once again Lucinda was immense and I was very proud to be her husband.

The beauty of having an early morning baby is that we were able to be discharged by early afternoon and so for the first time, Lucinda (and the baby) did not have to spend a night in the hospital and we were able to be a family straight away.  So we left St Peters in the bright sunshine of a cold March afternoon (indeed our arrival at home was greeted with a short sharp snow shower!) and headed for Nanny and Granddad’s to introduce the new addition to his sisters, his Nanny and Granddad and Nanny Fran, who had driven down from West Bromwich as soon as she heard that she had a grandson.

So Baby Bagnall was born on the 13th day of March, in the year 2013 and weighed 8lbs 13oz.  With all these thirteens flying about I don’t think that he will suffer from triskaidekaphobia.  Indeed he has been born on a rather auspicious day, not only was the comet Panstarrs visible in the Northern hemisphere but it was also the day that the Roman Catholic Cardinals chose a new Pope to lead the Roman Catholic Church.  Jorge Bergoglio the Archbishop of Buenos Aires was voted Pontiff and has chosen the name Francis I.  He is the first Pope from Latin America and with the resignation of Pope Benedict XVI it means that for the first time in nearly 600 years there are two living Popes.  A momentous time.

So Éowyn and Amélie will have to share this website with their brother and I will attempt to keep you all up to date with the growing pains of our growing family.  Lucinda and I would like to thank you all for your kind messages and look forward to introducing our son (and announcing his name) to you all in the coming weeks and months.

Peace and Love

Baggie

And here are the photos I am sure you have all been waiting for:

I can hear the sea
Yes, it is comfy
Nice and relaxed