Today marks the end of Amélie’s first week out of the womb. (I was going to say on Planet Earth but she has been here for a whole 9 months; it is only the last week that she has been a separate entity.) This is also the day that she officially became part of the population of the United Kingdom for today we registered her birth at the local registry office. Today was also the first day that our family of four all travelled in the same car together. So it has been a momentous day in triplicate. But before any of that let me get you slightly up to speed with the midwife’s visit.
As I mentioned yesterday the midwife was due to come round to discharge us from midwifery care into the arms of the health visitors. The midwife weighed Amélie (she was 3.740kg (8lb 4oz), therefore she has only lost 44 grams or just over an ounce) and was pleased that she has not lost that much weight. Some weight loss is usual and babies can lose half a pound in the first few days after birth and should be back to their birth weight by their 2nd week. Therefore Amélie is right on track and will probably be back to birth weight tomorrow! That’s my girl! The midwife also performed the Guthrie Test (Heel Prick Test). This is to test for a variety of genetic conditions and one of those things that if all is well you will never hear about it. They only contact you if it is bad news, or they need to run more tests. Let’s hope we don’t hear back. The midwife also gave Lucinda a check up and so both my girls passed with flying colours.
Last night Amélie had probably her best night (or should that be, we had our best night). She took a little bit of settling after her middle of the night feed (0330) which Lucinda admirably dealt with, while I snoozed (O.K. snored). Then at 0700 both girls woke. I took Éowyn downstairs and Lucinda fed Amélie. Then Lucinda and Amélie snoozed until after 1000 this morning. So we both feel a little more human today. Amélie has been snoozing all day today (catching up on all that sleep she hasn’t had over the last few days) but this doesn’t fill us with any expectation of what the night holds. Only time will tell.
As I mentioned in the opening paragraph, today we registered the birth of Amélie Iris. By law this needs to be done within the first 6 weeks of a birth and it is one of those things that you may as well just make the appointment and get it out of the way. Also once you have a birth certificate you can claim Child Benefit (if you are reading this is in the latter part of the 2010’s you may wonder what this strange phrase means. Child benefit (actually Family Allowance) was introduced by a coalition government in the post war year of 1945 (although the first claimant books were not issued until 1946). It was a universal payment given to mothers to help ease the burden on families during the dark economic times of housing shortages and food rationing. Initially it was only given on the birth of your second child (and subsequent children) to encourage multiple births to repopulate the country. In 1977 it was extended to include the first child. In 2013 that is due to change. Here endeth the history lesson), open a bank account and obtain a UK passport. This will happen in due course.
So with my car’s odometer reading exactly 40,000 miles our first family of four car trip began. However, it was only to Lucinda’s parents (at the end of the road) where we dropped Éowyn off so that we could concentrate on filling out the paperwork, especially if Amélie began to cry. Éowyn loves it around Nanny and Granddad’s and in the end Amélie was no bother at all, so it was a very pleasant afternoon. After registering Amélie we headed straight back to Lucinda parents where we stayed for tea. Thanks Jenny! And now with Éowyn in bed and Amélie sated we await what the night may bring.
We had an interesting coincidence today. The registrar that registered Amélie’s birth was the same registrar that married Lucinda and I. Lucinda remembered her immediately, she has an excellent memory for faces. I admit that it wasn’t until she said that I remembered. Not really synchronicity but a nice coincidence nevertheless.
Until the next time,
Peace and love
Baggie
