Introducing Baby Dillon

I am now a Mummy. Dillon James Alastair Howell was born on 11th February 2011 at 2.05am. He weighed 8lb 2oz. He was born by cesarean section after I went through a natural labour without progressing enough. He is the most beautiful little boy and I can't now imagine life without him. We arrived home when he was 2 days old and we are now settling into family life. He is a good sleeper and wakes around 2am and 5am for feeds during the night. It means I get a few hours sleep at once and I try to sleep for an hour or so in the afternoons. With having the cesarean I have a long recovery period and have to be so careful in what I do. I have been so lucky that my Mum was with us for the birth and stayed until last Wednesday. She was brilliant in helping with Dillon and keeping the household going. Gareth is extremely good with Dillon and loves being a Daddy to his son. He does all the errands and makes sure I am happy.My Mum and Dad arrive on Wednesday to stay for a week. It will be lovely for Dad to meet his Grandson. Gareth's Mum and Dad are a great help too. His Mum spends days at the house doing housework and cooking. It means I can sleep or rest.

We have been discharged from midwife care and have now moved to a health visitor. Dillon has been weighed a few times and on Friday at two weeks old he weighed 8lb 10oz! I was so worried I wasn't providing enough milk but I must be!

This was Dillon a few minutes old as he was passed to me.

Our first family photo

Dillon settled in his cot by my bed in the hospital

At home aged 10 days old.

It is amazing how he changes day to day. He has already lost that newborn look. He is now staring into our eyes and watching the lights. We haven't worked out yet who he looks like. One day I think he is like me and others I see him as so like Gareth. I even see my sister Jane in him and Gareth's dad too. He is a mix of us all. Whoever he is like, he is absolutely gorgeous and adorable and our special little boy.

Scrapbooking while I wait on baby

Well, baby is now 4 days overdue. I am so desperate to know when he or she will make an appearance. The waiting is horrible. Everyday I think it might be today and then go to bed disappointed that nothing happened. My due date according to the scan was 31st January. The midwife had initially said 6th/7th February so I think she was more correct. At the 12 week scan baby could have been a bit bigger than average for that stage which influenced the due date. I saw the midwife yesterday and all was well with me and baby. She thought my face and hands looked a pit puffy but she said not to worry as there was no sign of pre eclampsia. I am to ensure I spend time with my feet up aswell as keep active. I am having problems sleeping at night. I go so long and then wake up with pains in my left leg and in my left bottom. This is when baby sits on a nerve. Last night I was so fed up lying there in pain I got up and watched tv for half an hour or so. Everything is ready for the big day. The bags are packed and waiting at the door. I have prepared some dinners and froze them for when we get home from hospital.

This was me on the due date.

On due date I kep busy. I walked 2 miles as it was such a lovely bright day. I did cleaning, washing, cooking and scrapping. I felt lucky to be able to do so much by this stage.

I have done some scrapbooking in the last few weeks. I am pleased to get a few layouts done before baby comes home. From then on I guess any scrapping I have time for will be of baby photos.

I have done two on our honeymoon.
This is of Hollywood, where I hugged all the characters on the street. I used Echo Park paper which Miranda so kindly gave me a huge pack of. The bright colours of the paper went so well with the photos.

This layout is of our last meal on honeymoon when we stayed at Newport Beach. It was so sad knowing that the honeymoon and the best holiday of our lives so far was over.

Then I did two layouts on pregnancy.

This one shows the pictures at the 20 week scan. That day I baked cupcakes and iced them in blue and pink to celebrate the surprise we will get sometime soon.

I included the baby's measurements on this. I thought it would be interesting to look back on when he or she is older.

Finally, a layout showing baby's clothes drying on the washing line back in October. We bought all these clothes at second hand sales. They look as good as new and are washed, ironed and hung in baby's wardrobe ready for the big arrival.

I hope to have news of baby's arrival to share with you soon.