Istria Ever After....

So this time I have another reason for not blogging other than just being busy with orders! I gave birth to our first baby, Istria Joy, on 31st October 2011. The past two weeks have been a whirl of visitors, feeding, and learning about being a Mummy! Not that I have a particularly difficult job- Istria really is the sweetest girl, hardly ever cries and has taken to feeding brilliantly. The hardest thing I have to learn at the moment is to put her down to sleep and stop keeping her in my arms just to stare at her! She is cradled on my lap right now while I type with one hand (so spelling mistakes can be hopefully forgiven). I have never ever been a 'baby person' so the amount of love I have for this little cub really has surprised me.

And as for the birth, I am one of those slightly insane people who actually enjoyed giving birth. The pain was intense (only way to describe it) but I never ever felt it was unbearable. I was very very blessed with a 3.5 hour actual labour (after two days of contractions)! and she was born in the water, which was the most magical, amazing thing. For all mums to be who don't have any foreseen problems, I totally recommend a birth pool (literally, the warmest, most comforting bath you could ever have), hypnobirthing, and gas & air. These really helped me and gave me the natural birth I wanted for our baby... Istria came out into the world so calm and relaxed and was feeding happily within minutes of being born. Both Rob and I couldn't take our eyes away from her... even though she was born at 3.40 AM and we were both in bed by about 5 with Istria in a crib next to us, we both only slept for an hour and then got up... we were just so excited to spend time with her.

It is all so different from how I imagined when I first found out I was pregnant... back in January I remember actually crying when Rob came home from work one night, absolutely terrified of giving birth. For anyone who is feeling the same... You can do it!! It is nowhere near as bad as people who like to tell you their scare stories will have you believe, and you were born to do this. I know I am saying this as someone who only had a 3.5 hour labour (but actually that can be worse, as the pain doesn't build up slowly it hits you all at once and is relentless, no break inbetween)! but even if complications arise, tools like hypnobirthing can really help you to stay calm and manage the situation.

So having our baby so far has been a beautiful experience and each day I am so happy to wake up with her. Now I just have to find out how to be a mum, wife, and businesswoman all at the same time.




photographs by me! hubbie & baby

***Oh, and I wanted to write a special thank you to our wonderful circle of friends from our church who have taken it in turns to cook dinner for us each and every single day. We are so thankful for your love and friendship!***