Sniff, Sniff

I leave tomorrow to return to the “original’ Jack or as we have decided to call him “Papa Jack”.  It has been a wonderful few weeks with Caroline, John and baby Jack and I am sad to leave.

I am going to ramble here but I will try to be somewhat organized.

The few early days in London were great because I was able to learn to navigate to my local hotspots; Blanche in the morning for croissants or scones…lunchtime to Menoo for sandwiches and in the afternoon to Marks and Spencers or Whole Foods for supplies for dinner.  Shopping for dinner taught me that while people worry that their eyes are bigger than their stomach, I learned that my hands could not hold what my stomach craved. The walk home to the “flat” was not long, but the bags cut into my soft uncallused hands!  As an aside, the croissants were light as air…

* Baked Brie celebrating JTJ VI (notice the VI above)…Caroline has been craving this for 9 months

John Thomas Jobe VI arrived on December 12^th after a long day of labor and suffering (at least for me and John… and of course Caroline).  The decision to have the c-section came at about 8pm and the baby was born within 10 minutes.  John was able to be in the delivery room and Caroline was alert and comfortable. During the c-section, Caroline’s obstetrician did not reveal the sex of the baby and instead held the baby aloft so that the joyful parents could discover for themselves that “It’s a Boy” !

Caroline spent the next 4 days in the hospital.  John had a bed in the room also…I went home to the flat.  At night the midwives took the baby for a while so that they could sleep. The days in the hospital were great for a first time mother (and father) It gave them a chance to learn about breastfeeding, how to change a “nappy” after a “wee’ , how to hold the baby to get the “wind” out and how to do a “top and tail” (bathing).

Friday the mother and baby were discharged and we all piled into a cab for the drive home. Luckily we had a very understanding cab driver as we had to figure out for the first time, how to install the 5-point safety harness system into the backseat of a London cab.

We are home now and have to report:

Baby Jack has caused some worries:

He slept too much

He slept too little

He nursed too long

He didn’t nurse enough

He slept thru feedings

He never slept

He lost weight and then gained it back in time for his weigh-in by the visiting midwife on Christmas Eve…a lot of pressure there but a Joyful Christmas for all!

Baby Jack has had some firsts:

First baby to require 3 adults to change his “nappy”

First baby to have hiccups in utero and out.

First baby to have more than 10 bowel movements in a day.

First baby to develop teenage acne at 2 weeks

First baby to smile and recognize my face (that was a test to see if you were continuing to read)

First bath in Tummy Tub (I was suspicious of this, but I am a convert)… it was pleasant.(see photo) and not one bit of crying though it did take 3 adults..and about a 30 minute safety set-up.

Baby Jack will be far away from us for a while but so he wouldn’t forget us, Charlotte created an ABC picture book of our family to share with him.  I am going to include several photos of the pages of the book.

It is wonderful.

Thank you Charlotte.

I also wanted to thank Matt and Susan for flying Papa Jack to London to meet his grandson. Papa Jack deserves a lot of praise and thanks for being in charge of Christmas in Newport News … and he could not have done it without the help of Susan and Matt…Matt even set up the trains for the first time in about 15 years.

Thank you Stephen, Margot, Gregg and Charlotte for helping to create a memorable celebration. I can’t wait to see the tree tomorrow.

Happy New Year to All,

Love,

Susan (Sussy)