The abilities of SUPER DAD!

                        The abilities of SUPER DAD!

Hi All.

We’re still waiting.

Gem claims that I’ve gone a bit mental which probably explains why I’m writing this post.

 

In my experience there seems to be some abilities that all Dads seem to have nearly with out fail. Things like knowing about cars, how to read a map, put up shelves, know the ins and outs of money and so on.

 

I’ve come up with this theory.

 

Every night in every hospital where a new baby has just come along. While mum and baby sleep there’s like an antenatal class but only for Dads which teach the “Wisdom Of The Ancients”.

 

I Figure the lesson plan goes:

1. How to do basic car maintenance, including how to charge the battery, how to pump up and change a tyre and how to spot if a mechanic is about to rip you off.

2. How to put up shelves and do other jobs around the house.

3. How to not look lost when you’ve not got a clue where you are.

4. how to get from downstairs to upstairs with out making a sound to check on children in bed.

5. The ability to enjoy watching golf, (that has to be a super power because nothing on this earth could ever get me to do it unforced.).

6. How to do that special Dads dance.

7. To be able to embarrass offspring with out even trying.

 

I think that’s as far as Super Dad would get as at that point his I-Phone would ring with the Super Dad ring tone calling him to another hospital.

 

I can’t wait to meet Super Dad, I reckon he’d not fly but would turn up in a suped up people carrier and rather than where a costume like Superman he’d have a bright shirt, faded genes with huge turn ups and socks and sandals. In a really bad turn of events he should also be wearing grey y-fronts over his genes.

 

Do you think I missed anything from the lesson plan or my description of what I think Super Dad would look like? Any ideas in the comments.

 

Time for Bed.

Take care all,

And Up, Up, Up, Back (we forgot the dummies,) up and away,

Nick.

 

A couple of eventful days

Hi All.

Well Gem and I have had a couple of pretty crazy days.

On Friday Gem had an appointment with the midwife. Everything was fine apart from Gems Blood pressure was up a bit. The midwife said that she’d give it a day and would come round on Saturday morning to check it again.

 

It was still a bit high so yesterday we went off to the Royal Gwent Hospital. This is our nearest major hospital. We’re hoping not to go to the Royal Gwent to have the baby. We think it’s too much like a hospital, to formal and not personal enough.

 

They did some blood tests and checked Gems blood pressure; Strangely enough her blood pressure was back to normal.

 

As Gem is now 4 days over due they also offered Gem a sweep. This is used to encourage labour up to 48 hours after the sweep is done in about half of women. Gem said it was a bit uncomfortable but the midwife said she was able to give a good sweep around.

 

We’re now back home and just waiting. (Again.)

 

The plan for the next week or so is if the baby hasn’t come by Thursday our midwife will do another sweep. If the baby still hasn’t come by Saturday then Gem will be induced. We’re really hoping not to get that far as If Gem has to be induced we won’t be able to use the birthing centre in Caerphilly. Fingers crossed that something happens soon.

 

I’ll be keeping the Blog up-to-date should anything happen.

Take Care.

Nick.

 

We're at the due date.

Hi All.

 

Well today marks the due date. (And still nothing!)

 

Gems now going to the midwifes every week now. On Friday when she went the midwife setup an appointment for this Friday but did say she didn’t think Gem would make it that far. Well so far it looks like Gem will be making the appointment.

 

The head is now fully engaged (and according to the midwife, the heads engaged and some.)

 

It’s got to be said the last 2 weeks have gone so slow!

 

That’s it for now. I’ve got to go back to work.

Take care.

Nick.

 

It's picture time

Hi all

 

It’s time for some pictures on the Adamson Baby Blog.

 

We’ve been doing the final bits of sorting out in the nursery today and I got Gem to take some pictures.

I’ve described it in a previous blog entry.

Hopefully on this post are 1 before and 4 after pictures.

The only things left to do is put the curtains up, put up a couple of colourful pictures and paint the toy box.

 

So what do you think?

 

Take Care.

Nick.

 

Friday's Midwife Checkup

Hi All,
Friday Gem went off to the midwifes again, she now has to go every week.
Mum and baby are both fine. There is one slightly concerning thing which is
that the baby is head down but on her side where she should be on her
stomach. This should not cause too many problems but might make labour a
little more painful if she doesn't move. The midwife said that Gem should
get on all fours to get the baby to move.
On a side note today marks ten days to the official due date. Gem is also
try to find any ways of encouraging labour so if you have any suggestions
please leave comments.

Take Care
Nick

Balancing Home and Work life

Hi All.

First of all sorry but this is going to be a semi serious post.

 

I’ve noticed a bit of a trend it work. When ever something big is going on in my personal life the hours at work go mental.

 

Just before Gem and I got married I got assigned to a project which had to be done and out of the door in two months. The 3 or 4 weeks up to the wedding I was doing 45 to 50 hour weeks, one night I was in till 10 in the evening and back in again at 8 the next morning.

 

Now the babies about to come along I’ve now been assigned some work which has some really tight deadlines but I feel like I’m neglecting Gem a bit.

 

The project has to get done, (the extent of what actually needs doing keeps changing and widening which isn’t helping). If I was single I’d probably be putting in 10 or 12 hour days but I don’t feel I can do that now. It’s not fair on Gem as she’s board enough as it is being stuck at home on her own.

 

Once the baby comes along how do I cope with this situation? I read that when the babies about 2 they should get about 13 to 14 hours of sleep a night meaning that she’d probably go to bed about 7 in the evening. If I’m having to work long hours then I’ll never see the little one and I don’t want to be that sort of dad.

 

One of the managers at work has a really depressing idiom He says, “Week days are for work, weekends are for family.”. This seems really sad to me.

 

On the other hand I do what to progress in my career and it does seem like the higher you get in the company the more hours you do.

 

It goes with out saying that my Family and Gem come first but how do I strike the balance? I get on really well with my line manager so it’s probably something I’ll bring up in my next appraisal.

 

Anyone any ideas?

Any advice gratefully received. Feel free to leave comments or drop me a mail.

 

That’s it for now.

Take care.

Nick.

 

A Look back at the last 9 months

Evening all.

 

As we’re coming up to the birth Gem and I had a conversation today about how long it seems since we found out we were pregnant. Although the time has gone incredibly quickly for me thinking back it does seem like we’ve known for ages.

 

I don’t think I’ve blogged about how we found out and what we did write at the beginning of the pregnancy.

 

As I think I’ve said we were going to wait a bit before starting a family so when Gem told me that the test she did was positive I didn’t believe her. She’d said it a couple of times in the past just to wined me up and I thought she was having me on again.

After about 5 or 10 minutes I actually think I started to get the message and to be honest with you was pretty daunted by the whole idea.

 

We went to Gems DR’s a few days after that and had everything confirmed.

The day after that I phoned my Mum and Dad and they were a little shocked to say the leased.

 

That weekend we told Gems mum and Dad. Ray was great, they took the news and Ray went off to do something on the computer and just randomly started singing that terrible granddad song from the 70s.

 

That was week 6. At that point only the 6 of us new, (Me and gem and both sets of parents).

Week 9 we went for a scan witch was incredible. Up until that point the idea of having a baby was still quite unreal for us. Apart from feeling a bit sick Gem had no real signs of being “with child”. At the scan it all became very real. We were able to see the picture on the monitor and hear the heart beet. That was the real moment of truth for me.

 

At Week 12 we then told brothers and sisters and wider family and I started this blog.

 

I’m really writing this all down for my own memory. I have a feeling that after the birth that I’ll forget a lot of the thoughts we’re having now as the birth is going to be such a major event.

 

OK so here’s the Nick and Gem guide to the best and worst bits of pregnancy.

 

Top 3 Worst parts of pregnancy:

3. Morning sickness. Not to bad but not fun.

2.  “Being heavily pregnant in the hottest part of the year.

1. The effects of Iron tablets. (I won’t say any more!)

 

The best parts about being pregnant:

3. The fact it’s made us get on with getting the house sorted. With out the baby coming we’d know way near as we are to being finished with the house.

2. Feeling the kicks. (This nearly went on gems bad list but for me I could sit there for ages just feeling the little one move and kick.

1. That first scan and Heart beet. Truly a phenomenal moment. (For me certainly, Gem it may be the second scan as you can see more in that one).

 

Now we’re just looking forward to the birth and the rollercoaster ride of emotions that will be part of that.

 

Off to bed for me.

Take care.

Nick.

 

 

 

Due Date Predictions! The result

Evening Again All.

 

A couple of months back on the old blog I Asked for your predictions for a due date.

Well as we’re now in to the “Can drop at any time” part of the pregnancy I thought I’d give a bit of an update.

 

So the Results!

Date	Percent	Number Of Votes
Before the 15th of September	4.8%	1
The 15th of September	4.8%	1
The 18th of September	4.8%	1
The 20th of September	9.5%	2
The 21st of September	14.3%	3
The 22nd of September	4.8%	1
The 23rd of September	23.8%	5
The 26th of September. The official due date!	4.8%	1
The 28th of September	4.8%	1
The 29th of September	4.8%	1
The 30th of September	9.5%	2
The 2nd of October	4.8%	1
After the 7th of October	4.8%	1
Total Votes: 21

 

So it looks like the 23^rd is the favourite.

 

Now if your willing to put your name next to your guess leave us a comment so that when little one comes along you can say “I Told You So!” and win a prize of a cuddle with either myself, Gem or the little one.

Some how I think that it’s not going to be me and Gem that get the cuddles.

 

If you didn’t vote in the old blog thing you’re very welcome to leave a comment with your guess anyway in this one.

 

I’m on a Linux course tomorrow and Friday so really should get some sleep.

Take Care.

Nick.

 

"Stretch like a cat" the midwife said

Hi Again all.

 

Just a quick one to pass on some advice we’ve just gotten from the birthing centre.

 

Gem phoned them this evening as for the last couple of days she’s been getting really bad back ache.

 

It looks like this is because the babies head is entering the pelvis which is opening up to give the baby room. As the pelvis opens up it’s putting pressure on Gems spine and making the mussels knot up and ache.

 

The advice we were given is that try taking parasetomol, this is about the only pain killer which is available with out prescription which doesn’t effect the baby. Gem did try this but it seems completely ineffective.

 

The other advice that the midwife gave Gem was to move around on her hands and knees and stretch like a cat. This apparently can stretch the mussels and provide relief.

 

I was going to try to get a picture of Gem doing this to go with this entry but I was threatened with “severe Consequences" if I even tried.

 

That’s it for now. If I don’t fall asleep I do want to try to get another entry written tonight.

Take care.

Nick.

 

We're in the final stretch

Hi All.

 

Today is another milestone in the pregnancy. Today we enter week 37 and is the beginning of the end. Week 37 to 41 is classed as the normal point at which the baby can be born. Put simply, Gem can now drop at any time in the next 4 weeks.

 

She started maternity leave on Monday and is already bored out of her scull. Anything I suggest she doesn’t want to do so if anyone has any ideas please please leave a comment.

 

She’s been playing on our facebook account, if you want to add me I’m under Nick Adamson in Wales.

 

That’s it for now.

Take Care.

Nick.

 

Respect.

Hi All.

Firstly, this isn't a post about the baby, Not in any direct way.

Gem and I have had an evening in front of the TV tonight and We watched
Honey, We're Killing the Kids. If you've not seen this basically they take a
family which needs often dietary and behavioural help and give them a set of
guidelines on how to improve.

Normally I get really frustrated at the parents on this sort of program,
Probably a little unfairly as for another 4 weeks or so I've not been in
their shoes.

Tonight they had a chap on who was a single dad, His wife died two years ago
and he was bringing up 7 kids on his own.

I've got a lot of respect for this guy as in 3 weeks he turned his house and
family around and had so much love for his kids. Its a bit hard to explain
but I've never seen anyone do as well on the program as he did.

Graham Burnley, Respect to you, we hope we can do just as well as you when
our little one comes along.

That's it,
Take care all.
Nick.

Babies cry how loud???

Hi All.

Sorry for not updating the blog in the last week or so but everything's
a bit quiet.

We're now in to week 35 and everything seems to be going fine.

I managed to scare my self a little this week, I've been doing research
on the Web and found an article which mentioned in passing that babies
can cry up to 97 DB. Trust me this is LOUD! To compare a pneumatic drill
is normally about 93 DB. WOW! I'm sure our neighbours are going to love
us!

I've also been reading up on children's bedtimes. I didn't realise that
the recommended amount of sleep for a 2 year old is 13 hours a night.
Does this mean that because I work from about half 8 in the morning to
about 5 (On a good day) that I'll hardly ever be home when the little
ones awake?

In other news Gem is getting totally frustrated with the bump. Next week
is her last week at work which hopefully means she won't be as tired all
the time.

A little tip that know one tells you when your going to become a dad is
that some of your jobs during the latter part of the pregnancy includes:
1. Shaving her legs,
2. putting her socks on for her.
3. drying her feet after a bath or shower.

I think normally that painting toe nails would also be in there but for
some reason Gem gets her mum to do that for her. I've got no idea why!

Right, back to work for me.
Take Care.
Nick.

Packing the hospital bag

Hi all.

Last night we packed most of the hospital bag. We should have done it a
couple of weeks ago but haven't gotten round it until now.

The amount of stuff we're taking we don't need a bag, we need an articulated
truck. We've got baby clothes, nappies, and clothes for Gem, Clothes for me and
food like chocolate and crisps to keep Gem going through the labour.

The only thing left to pack is a couple of tops for Gem and a couple of
T-Shirts for me.

The Birthing Centre where we're going let me stay while Gems in.

I've got to tell you that this is feeling a little unreal. I mentally know
that some time in the next 2 months I'll be a dad but it's hard to really
comprehend that. We're all ready but I don't think this will really be real
to me until once I hold my daughter in my arms.

I have no idea how I'll feel when that happens.

Take care.

Nick.

Today's midwife visit.

Hi All.

Just a quick one to tell you about today's midwife visit.
We're now at week 33. As I blogged about at the weekend Gems bump was a
bit on the big side. There is a chart we have which specifies upper and
lower limits on how big the bump is. The midwife last time told us that
Gem was just above the upper limit and that if she came again and was
still a bit big then we'd have to go for a scan to check everything's
OK.

Luckily Gem was just under the upper limit for week 33 this time and the
midwife was able to get a good strong heartbeat from the little one.

The baby is head down but not engaged. This means that she is the write
way up but has not moved down in to the position for birth just yet. The
midwife says that should happen in the next couple of weeks or so.

Gem and the midwife also put together a short birthing plan. Gem had to
make a couple of decision.
1.
Q: who did she want at the birth.
A: just me. She doesn't want to make a big deal about it so she can keep
as calm as possible. Family are welcome once little one is out and there
more than welcome to come to the hospital once she's been born.

2.
Q: how is Gem planning on feeding?
A: Brest feeding for at leased the first 6 months if she can.

3.
Q: does Gem want an injection to speed up the afterbirth?
A: Yes. They can give you an injection so that the afterbirth comes out
around 5 minutes after the baby does. If you don't have it can be
anything from 20 Minutes to an hour.

4.
Q: Does Gem want to give the little one vitamin K with a one shot
injection or a course of 3 pills over the first month.
A: Injection.

We' were also expecting Gem to have a blood test today to find out if
the Iron tablets had worked. The midwife decided to do the test some
time between week 36 / 38.

The conclusion, both Mum and Baby are fine.
The next midwife checkup is in 3 weeks time, week 36.

Take care.
Nick.

The things we do for our children

Evening all.

Again it's a bit of a late blog but this one won't get too depressing.

I'm blogging quite late tonight as it's taken me all evening to build the
toy box we've just gotten. Officially our best buy from EBay so far at only
£0.99 but truly a pig to build.

Over the last two years or so since Gem and I bought the house we've been
getting pretty good at putting flat packs together. Even to the point where
I can even get wardrobe doors to hang strait, no mean feet I know. We've
even got a system. Gem sits and reads the instructions to me and once I've
finished getting excited about using power tools again I actually put the
bits together. (An electric screw driver and cordless drill do count as
power tools.)

As an aside note, I've not yet managed to drill any part of my anatomy but
some how I did end up in casualty after getting to close to a hand mixer a
few months ago. No, I don't get it either.

Anyway, back to the story.

The toy box arrived this morning before we went off to work and I got a
little concerned to tell you the truth. I was expecting the toy box to me
made up of wooden panels you can just screw together so I was expecting the
box to be at leased 70 CM by 45 CM, (the biggest side.

Well what turned up was a box about 70 CM high by about 15 CM square.

Well I opened it tonight to find about 40 strips of wood of different
lengths. Yes you guest it, you had to make the panels out of these strips.
Imagine a log cabin but in miniature.

The instructions weren't that clear and not all the screws were there and we've
still ended up with 4 screws that don't seem to go any ware! But after 3 and
a half hours we now have a toy box at the end of the cot. We just need to
paint it.

The moral of the story, if there's a toy box on EBay that costs £0.99 what
ever you do don't buy it!

It's all good fun, Honest.

Today I also got more proof that I should never have left university. I've
been working for 2 and half years now and this year decided that with a
little one on the way I should probably join the works pension scheme. Well
I've had my first statement through and there was a lovely little line that
said:

"Expected retirement date: December 2046."

That's just scary!

Write well off to get some sleep.

Take care all.

Nick.

Maternity and Paternity Leave

Hi All.

Eventually we've managed to get Gem's maternity leave sorted out. She is employed as a casual by Caerphilly County Counsel. She's on a casual contract because the day centre where she works need the staff but are to cheep to pay for permanent members of staff. Gems been on a casual contract for 9 months and one of the people she works with had been on one for 2 and a half years. Seems a bit funny when in the paperwork we got did state that the maximum time that a person could be on a single casual contract was 13 weeks.

Anyway that's not the point, The point is that after telling work about the baby 5 months ago they have eventually told us what she's entitled to.

The Counsel will pay Gem 90% of her weekly wage for 6 weeks and then statutory maternity pay for 33 weeks after that. We've also come to the decision that Gem will start her maternity leave from the 31st of this month.

She doesn't plan on returning to full time work once the little one is born. I'd like to say we could live on just the money I bring in but that's not possible and based on Gems current wages if Gem worked full time and we put the little one in to a nursery we would get about £10 a week extra because child care is so expensive. We're not really sure that's what is best for the little one or Gem.

At the moment it looks like once the maternity pay has finished Gem will get a job she can do in the evening or one where she can work from home. We're looking in to delivery jobs. The way it works is for parcel companies to deliver a hole bunch of parcels for our local area to Gem and then Gem would distribute them. She'd be able to do this with the Baby.

As for me I get 2 weeks of paternity leave, 1 at full pay and 1 at statutory paternity pay. My plan is to use up to a week of my annual leave so I go back on the second Monday after the birth.

It's getting closer, only 7 weeks to go now.

Write back to work for me.
Take care.
Nick.

We want to get on with it!

A little while ago I blogged about the perception of time.

For the last 7 months or so we've been so busy trying to get everything in
place for the baby that now we're nearly ready we just want to get on with
the birth and meeting our little one.

There's only a couple of jobs left to do, Gem has to pack her hospital bag,
There's the toy box to build and the blackout blind and curtains to put up.
That's it.

I have a feeling that in one way the next 8 weeks are going to go incredibly
slowly, but in another way they'll be here before we know it.

Gem did manage to freak me out a bit tonight.

We have spent the last couple of days down with my folks. It's a 2 and a
half hour drive from our house to their's.

Every so often Gem said on the way home that she had back pain and at one
point we pulled over for her to stretch her legs and see if she could
relieve the pain a bit.

What was freaking me out a bit was the fact that it was starting to get
about half an hour intervals between complaints and back pain is one of the
signs to look out for the onset of labour.

We think it was just normal back pain though as once we stopped driving and
I gave Gem a rub it has stopped.

I have to tell you at one point I thought I'd be seeing our little one a bit
sooner than we thought!

Cheers.
Nick.

Music to have babies by

Its one of those times again on the Adamson Baby Blog.

Its time to open the comments and get your views and ideas.

At the birthing Centre in the room with the Birthing pool there's a CD
player so Gem can have some relaxing music in the background to help keep
her calm.

We don't have a lot of CD's with relaxing music on, between the two of us we
have an incredible eclectic music collection. Anything from the feeling (12
stops and home has to be my best album of last year) to muse, From Disney
CDs to Big band.

So I'm going to be making a CD up of relaxing music. Probably mostly
instrumental but maybe some vocals.

So I'm after your ideas of what I can put on the CD and what I should really
avoid.
Here are some ideas to start you off.

Possible tracks:
Acoustic guitar version of Time After Time I've got.
From the film Mr. Holland's Opus - Rowena's Song
Barber's Adagio for Strings (if you've never heard this Pease of music, stop
what you're doing, get a copy, put it on some fantastic speakers and listen
to a truly inspiring Piece of music.)

Not so great choices:
I want to break free, queen
I want to get out of this place.
The drugs don't work, The Verve.
Anything by nirvana.

(All of which I have somewhere in my MP3 or CD collection.)

So come on then, in the comments some suggestions of what I should and
shouldn't put on this CD.

Cheers.
Nick.

The nursery

Hi again everyone.

I posted a couple of weeks ago about the progress in the nursery.

Well we're really starting to get there now. Once it's finished we'll post
some pictures but until then allow me to give you a guided tour.

The room is about 12 foot by 9. The window is on the 12 foot wall and the
door is opposite it.

At the moment when you come in to the room there's about 2 foot of wall
directly to your left and then an alcove which is the perfect size for a
single bed. Under the bed we've got a travel cot and play pen all folded up
along with my flat pack drum kit.

To the side of the bed, (directly opposite you when you walk in the door) is
a table with a nappy bin, a night light type of thing and a bottle cooler
and warmer. Gem is planning to Brest feed but if I'm on the night shift then
Gem would express in to a bottle and I could then use the warmer and feed
the little one with out having to wake up Gem.

Then you've got the radiator and window.

In the far right corner of the room there's a big chair, futon, type of
thing facing in to the room.

Along the right hand wall next to the chair is the cot. We've got it so it
sticks out in to the room.

Next to the cot is a canvas covered wardrobe which was a real pain to build.
Not hard but took a long time.

Now on the wall with the door, directly to your right, is the changing table
come baby bath thing we've got.

It's probably easier to see in the pictures but this blog is an fully
accessible blog don't you know.

The plan is that at the end of the cot will be a toy box with the baby
monitor on. We managed to get one of the camera ones cheep on EBay.

Actually the baby monitors are pretty great because they work on the same
frequency as the thing we've got so we can have sky TV upstairs. The upshot
is that we can watch the TV on the baby monitor or watch the baby on the
proper TV if we want.

Yes, yes, I know I'm a geek!

Once gems got all the decorations up then we'll post some pictures. Although
if you want to see some of the stuff we've gone for take a look at the I
Love My Bear range at toys r us.

Take care.

Nick.

Did you know we're having a horse?

Hi all.

Firstly sorry for not posting a blog entry for ages, Life's been a bit
hectic.

So to bring you all up to speed with what's happening here's the first post
of a few for tonight.

Last Friday, (the 27th) we had the week 31 midwife checkup.

George, our normal midwife, was on holiday and we saw someone else. She was
lovely and both Mum and little one are doing well. Gems bump is a bit on the
big side so if it carries on they might send her for a scan just as a safety
precaution. Gem is also a little anaemic and is on iron tablets which she
hates with a passion.

The midwife asked if we knew if we were having a boy or girl. When we said
that the scanner said it was probably a girl the midwife let us in to a bit
of a secret.

Apparently if the baby's heartbeat sounds like a train it's a boy, if it
sounds like a horse then it's a girl. To quote the midwife,

"You've got a horse in there!"

We've got another appointment at the midwifes this week, (on Friday). They
want to do another blood test to see if the iron tablets are working and I
guess they'll measure the bump.

Gem and I actually think that our due date maybe wrong.

Back right at the beginning of the pregnancy we went for what we thought was
the 12 week scan but they said that we had only just reached week 9. We
think they might have gone a bit mad so if Gems still big and they do a scan
we think the due date may just change.

That's it for this post.

See you all soon.

Nick.

Will our little one be blind?

Hi all.

 

One of the things that have been on our minds for the last six months since we found out about our little one is the possibility that she will be blind.

 

From the out set we’ve always said that it wouldn’t make any difference to us and it wouldn’t. This still doesn’t stop me especially being concerned.

 

With that in mind I’ve been doing quite a bit of reading on the condition that I have. It’s called Leber's congenital amaurosis. Click here to find out more.

 

Put simply, Therese a bunch of cells at the back of the eye which receive what the eye sees. In my eyes these cells weren’t formed properly. So there are not enough of them which do work to give me the full picture from the eye.

 

This is a genetic disorder. Trying to remember back to my biology lessons at school this is what I have found out and remembered.

 

For our little one to have Leber's congenital amaurosis, LCA, both Gem and I would have to be carriers of the gene it’s been linked to. As I have LCA I’m a carrier which is pretty unusual. I can’t remember where I read it but I read somewhere that only about 1 in 50000 carries this gene defect so the likelihood that Gem has the defect is very small. Remember you can be a carrier of the gene with out any signs. This is because the gene is a recessive gene.

 

This is where I start remembering back to my biology classes at school. A baby has 2 sets of genes, one from the Mum, one from the Dad. If there is a dominant gene and a recessive gene then the baby will have the dominant one.

 

The Gene responsible for LCA is a recessive gene.

Because I have LCA I am also a carrier of the Gene.

 

In the incredibly small chance that Gem Has the gene there is a 1 in 4 chance that our little one will have LCA.

 

This makes the possibility incredibly small but I still worry.

 

Blind people in today’s society have so many more opportunities than ever before. But I still wouldn’t want our little one to have LCA. Like every parent I want her to be perfect.

 

The end result to all this is that we’ll have to have the little one tested I think.

 

A couple of months ago I blogged about weather I’d have a cure or not. In that post I made the statement that there isn’t a cure so it’s all a theoretical discussion. That statement isn’t quite true. Take a look at this article from the fantastic BBC Ouch website. It now looks like a cure isn’t so far away.

 

Any way, I’d better get back to work as I’m posting this on my lunch break.

Take care.

Nick.

 

Third and final antenatal class.

Hi all.

You wouldn't believe how long I've been trying to send this post on the
old blog but on this new one it went through first time.

Last week we went to the last antenatal class which was all about baby
care. We found out about Brest feeding and the job and interaction we'll
have with the midwives once the little one has been born.

There not a lot to it. Basically the midwives come to see you the day
after you come home from the hospital. After that the amount of times
they come around is sorted out between you and them.

Overall the antenatal classes have been incredibly useful. I would
recommend them to any first time parents as I now think that Gem and I
have a more realistic impression of what is likely to happen before,
during and after the birth.

Cheers.
Nick.

Why has the blog moved home?

Hi All.

unfortunately I've been having some terrible problems with the old blog. For
some reason I've not been able to post to it for a number of weeks. I have
been trying it's just not gone through.

Also the old one was getting very slow.
The best option was to move the Blog so please forget the old one, This is
the new home of the Adamson Baby Blog.

I have managed to post all the old entries to the new home but unfortunately
I've not been able to move any comments. I'm sorry about this but that just
gives you all an excuse to make new comments!

Cheers and take care.
Nick.

Harry Potter.

Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 11:10 PM

This posts got nothing to do with the baby, being blind or anything like
that.

Its just a post to say that I've just finished reading the last Harry potter
book and it's phenomenal.

The middle is a bit slow but the ending is great. It explains so much about
everything. and you won't believe the twist at the end. No one in there
write mind would see that coming.

The only thing is that unless you've read all of the books, especially the
last 2 you won't get all the nuances in this one.

I don't think you can call it a kids book any more, It's pretty dark and
quite deep.

That's it for now.
Nick.

Harry Potter.

Sent: Sunday, July 22, 2007 11:10 PM

This posts got nothing to do with the baby, being blind or anything like
that.

Its just a post to say that I've just finished reading the last Harry potter
book and it's phenomenal.

The middle is a bit slow but the ending is great. It explains so much about
everything. and you won't believe the twist at the end. No one in there
write mind would see that coming.

The only thing is that unless you've read all of the books, especially the
last 2 you won't get all the nuances in this one.

I don't think you can call it a kids book any more, It's pretty dark and
quite deep.

That's it for now.
Nick.

Yesterday's antenatal class. The joys of giving birth.

Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2007 11:10 PM

Evening all.

Yesterday Gem and I went off to the second of three antenatal classes. It
was all about actually giving birth. We looked at the actual medical process
which I'm not even going to attempt to describe as I'm not a medical person.
At the birthing centre we're hopefully going to them only do "normal"
births. This is births that are non assisted. The lady did talk about help
that if your having probable a hospital can help with. She told us about a
device where basically they use a pump to make the sure the position of the
baby is right and forceps, although they don't tend to be used nearly as
much now.

We also found out about the afterbirth, which was nice. If your having a
water birth once the baby comes out they do try to get out of the water
before the afterbirth as they like to measure the blood loss.

There was also a video of a water birth where the lady giving birth didn't
use any pain medication and didn't mown or scream or anything. All she used
was self-hypnosis. I told my mum about this and she said that real life was
nothing like that!

The video was good but it was almost as if the lady on it was trying to sell
us something. As an aside strangely enough the lady on the video also
teaches self-hypnosis. See the link?

I think it's definite that Gem now wants a water birth as it just looks so
much more relaxing.

They did talk about how the baby doesn't drown. I didn't realise that until
the babies head comes out of water that they don't breath at all. And that
until then the babies lungs aren't inflated. I thought this was really
interesting.

That was it really.

Next week is on baby care, Brest feeding, midwife support and so on which
will be good.

Take care.
Nick.

First Antenatal class and week 28 midwife checkup

Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 12:21 AM

> Hi All.
>
>
>
> Firstly an apology. My intention was to write a blog post last Wednesday
> evening after the first antenatal class and then another one again after
> Fridays midwife checkup but life ran away with me and I've only just had a
> couple of seconds to sit down and write the posts that I wanted to. So
> sorry this post is going to cover both events.
>
>
>
> First antenatal class.
>
> The first antenatal class was last Wednesday, (the 4th). The Class is held
> at the birthing centre we're hoping to be using in September. As the
> lovely NHS have been trying to save money people attending the class come
> from 3 different areas, some from Cardiff, Some from our area up in
> Blackwood and some from Newport altogether there was about 25 couples
> there.
>
>
>
> In the first week we found out about the signs to look out for when going
> in to labour, when we need to phone the hospital, the types of births
> provided at that particular birthing centre. As we're under a midwife lead
> team we were also told which pain relief's they can provide and the sort
> of situations that could occur that would refer us to consultant lead
> care. 50 people in the class did seem a bit to much and I think if there
> were less people then the class would have been a bit more interactive but
> as it was we did seem to spend a lot of time listening.
>
>
>
> I'll try to summarise the information.
>
> Signs to look out for when going in to labour
>
> Waters can burst either write at the beginning of labour before
> contractions start or pretty much just as the final part of labour. They
> don't tend to go somewhere in the middle.
>
> Contractions can happen before you're in labour but you're not in proper
> labour until they are regular, normally starting about half an hour
> between contractions.
>
> It looks like these are the main signs to look out for. There was quite a
> bit of information about what's going on inside the body but I'm not a
> medical person so I'm not going to try to repeat them here.
>
>
>
> When we need to phone the hospital
>
> We need to phone the hospital once getting regular contractions however
> far apart, but the advice we're probably going to here is that until the
> contractions are 7 or 8 minutes apart we should try to stay at home moving
> around and making sure we're ready to go.
>
> Once the contractions are 5 to 7 minutes apart we should then phone again
> and head in to the birthing centre.
>
>
>
> The types of births provided at that particular birthing centre
>
> The CBC, where we're hoping to have the baby, are very flexible, They have
> got the most fantastic birthing pool which Gem liked the look of, There
> were a couple of different types of beds she could use or there were
> massive walk in showers which can also be used as water around you is a
> very good relaxed and being relaxed can reduce the amount of pain felt.
>
>
>
> The sort of pain relief's they can provide
>
> As we're under midwife lead care the types of pain relief provided is
> limited. As the midwifes are not anaesthetists they can't do spinal or
> epidural but can do pretty much everything else. There was the next step
> down using a drug called pefidin which Jan, Gems mum, said was fantastic
> but you couldn't use this and go in the birthing pool and it can have an
> effect on the baby and CBC will provide it but won't recommend it because
> of the side effects on the baby. And there is gas and air which can be
> used in the birthing pool and is what CBC recommends. I've also been told
> by Danni, our minister, that I should have a go on the gas and air as its
> great stuff. Anyone seen that Only Fools and Horses episode where Del
> keeps taking it?
>
>
>
> At the moment Gems sort of thinking towards the birthing pool and gas and
> air.
>
>
>
> The sort of situations that could occur that would refer us to consultant
> lead care.
>
> As there are know consultants at the birthing centre CBC seem to be really
> careful and made it clear during the class that you could only be under
> midwife lead care if your pregnancy was normal. If the babies breach,
> overdue and gets induced, less than 37 weeks in to the pregnancy, to big,
> to small or there looked like there were going to be complications then
> you would be referred to a consultant lead care team at one of the bigger
> hospitals.
>
>
>
> Generally the class was really good but it was just a bit hard as there
> were so many people there.
>
>
>
> This week is going to be on the birth it's self, what to expect and what
> actually happens. The week after is about baby care, feeding and that sort
> of thing. I'll try to blog Wednesday night about the class when I can
> remember more of it.
>
>
>
> Friday we went to see the midwife for the week 28 checkup. Both Baby and
> Mum had a clean bill of health and they took a load of blood samples which
> we get the results of on Tuesday. This is just routine.
>
>
>
> That's it for now.
>
> I know I've said this a couple of times but I will keep trying to keep the
> Blog up-to-date.
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Am I Gordon Brown in disguise?

Sent: Saturday, June 30, 2007 9:45 PM

> It's a very good question you know. There are quite a few similarities
> between us.
>
> He's got a wife called Sarah and one of my best friends which came to Gem
> and mine wedding is called Sarah.
>
> He's Scottish and I love Scottish short bread and Aberdeen Angus beef
> burgers.
>
> And a fact that isn't that well known is that under the description in the
> Disability discrimination act he is visually impaired as he's blind in 1
> eye. To read documents he has to have them in large print. What I love
> most is that he doesn't make a big deal about it and just gets on with his
> job. That's how I hope I come across.
>
>
>
> And have you ever seen him and me in the same room?
>
>
>
> Well I'll let you in to a secret. I'm not actually Gordon Brown and right
> at this time I don't want to be as we've just seen on the news that the
> terrorism threat in the UK has just been up to the highest level possible.
>
>
>
> Now it's often said that you shouldn't talk about politics and religion
> but I'm not much in to keeping rules.
>
>
>
> I actually have quite high hopes for Gordon. I haven't ever voted for
> labour but I've got a good impression of him so far. He actually seems to
> be pretty thoughtful.
>
>
>
> One of my major gripes about politics and particularly the Blair
> government is that they were all say and didn't actually seem to get
> anything good achieved. That they would over-react to situations and
> although Blair was pretty good in front of a camera there was to much
> focus on spin and not enough on actions. I have high hopes that Gordon is
> going to be more substance focus and less in your face.
>
>
>
> Now I know he reads this blog so my challenge to him is that he can prove
> that politics isn't just away of giving jobs to people that wouldn't be
> able to get them in other industries.
>
>
>
> Let's put it this way, He can't be any worse than the excuse the Americans
> have for a president and hopefully a Brown Government won't be such of a
> lap dog to the Americans that the Blair government was.
>
>
>
> Write, Well that's enough on politics, in baby news The little one is
> trying to kick her way out of Gem and we can now see hands and feet,
> elbows and knees making lumps which is just fantastic.
>
>
>
> My next post will probably be on Wednesday now after the antenatal
> classes. That's unless I feel like getting on another soap box.
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Looking forward

Sent: Wednesday, June 27, 2007 7:33 PM

> Hi All.
>
> Sorry it's been ages since I've written a blog entry but to be honest not
> a lot has been going on.
>
>
>
> Yesterday was 6 months in to the pregnancy which seems hard to believe.
> How did we celebrate? Well, Gem did the ironing and I cut the grass. No
> stop action in our house!
>
>
>
> While I was pushing the mower round I was thinking about my previous blog
> entries and I realised that if you read the blog with out really knowing
> me you'd maybe get the impression that I'm not excited about the baby.
>
>
>
> As we get closer to the end of September I'm getting more and more
> excited. It sounds weird and I'm sure these words are going to haunt me in
> the next year but I'm actually looking forward to the challenges. I'm
> looking forward to the having to get up in the night and getting to give
> the little one a cuddle. I'm looking forward to the labour. I simply can't
> imagine the sort of feelings that we're both going to have once we're
> holding our baby for the first time. To think that moment is only 3 months
> away is just amazing.
>
>
>
> That's it for now.
>
>
>
> I'm encouraging Gem to post messages to this blog. It'd be really
> interesting to read her thoughts written down now in the future if that
> makes sense. If she does post from her email address then it will come up
> as Gemma Adamson on the blog post.
>
>
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

An unplanned visit to the hospital

Sent: Tuesday, June 19, 2007 11:55 PM

> Hi all.
>
>
>
> Well gem and I have had a couple of pretty eventful days.
>
> Firstly yesterday the plasterer was in doing the nursery. When we got home
> it all looked good but as we were sitting down for tea last night there
> was an almighty crash from upstairs.
>
>
>
> About 90% of the new plaster on the sealing had fallen off of the aertex
> which it was covering. The plasterer has been really good though. He came
> around late last night to have a look and they've been in again today and
> have cleared up all the mess and redone it. It seems to be holding just
> fine this time!
>
>
>
> Over the last couple of days Gem has also been getting a little worried as
> she Hasn't felt the little one move as much as she was last week. We
> decided last night that if we were still worried that we would contact the
> birthing centre to get some advice.
>
> Well tonight once we got home from work we were still worried so Gem gave
> them a call.
>
>
>
> They said it was probably nothing to worry about but if we wanted to go in
> and they'd listen to the heart beet and do a bit of a checkup.
>
>
>
> This was the first time we've actually been to the birthing centre where
> we're actually going to have the baby. It's really nice and all the staff
> we met were friendly and helpful. The baby's fine and mum and baby are
> both doing well.
>
>
>
> We took the time to ask a couple of questions we had and also they gave us
> a look round the centre. There's a huge birthing pool which Gem liked the
> look of as she's said a couple of times that she'd like a water birth.
>
>
>
> The rooms where you stay after the birth are nice. I can stay overnight
> and there's tea and coffee making facilities in each room as well as an on
> sweet loo and shower.
>
>
>
> More proof that I've got know idea about what happens after the birth as I
> was under the impression that for the first couple of nights the Baby
> stays in like the baby ward and Gem and I can go and see her. That's not
> actually the case. In each of the rooms there's a cot so the baby sleeps
> with us from day 1.
>
>
>
> We've both got a really good feeling about the centre and staff and it's
> stopped some of my worries I was having.
>
>
>
> Write that's it for tonight.
>
> Keep the fantastic comments coming. I read every one of them.
>
>
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Musings and reflections on the perception of time

Sent: Saturday, June 16, 2007 11:42 PM

> Hi All.
>
> Well from that wordy title you can safely assume I'm in quite a
> contemplative mood to night. It happens to me when I've been decorating,
> stripping walls and generally getting pretty grubby. Today Gems Mum and
> Dad and grandparents have been over and we've been working on the nursery.
> I'll post a picture of it in it's current state if I get a chance but
> basically we've been stripping around 40 year old wall paper and getting
> it ready for the plasterer who's in on Monday. Once that's done we can
> actually start the good work of turning a grotty bedroom in to a lovely
> nursery.
>
>
>
> Anyway:
>
> Gem keeps saying this year is turning in to the longest year of her life
> and that it all seems to be going really slowly. For me, I'm completely
> the opposite, it doesn't seem like a couple of weeks since we found out we
> were expecting but yet it's been 5 months. Here comes the scary part.
> Considering that there's only 14 weeks to go that seems not long at all. 3
> and a half months isn't bad. 102 days isn't bad, but 14 weeks seems pretty
> soon.
>
>
>
> The question I keep asking my self is will we be ready?
>
> As long as nothing goes wrong then I think the house and all the physical
> stuff for the baby should be ready but am I psychologically ready for this
> little one to come and turn our lives up side down?
>
>
>
> I can't remember if I've blogged about this but we had sort of decided
> that we'd probably wait 18 months to 2 years after we got married before
> we start a family. Back in December Gem spoke to me about it again and my
> thoughts were something along the lines of I'm two young to be a dad, I'm
> not responsible enough, I've only just stopped staying out late at night
> when I was a student. Well as it happens we didn't even make it 8 months
> after the wedding until we found out. In terms of a lot of these thoughts
> I've had to wake up and smell the coffee as it were and take a look at my
> thoughts and feelings. I think a lot of this all stems down from the
> responsibility thing.
>
>
>
> I truly don't understand these blokes who go out and get a girl pregnant
> and don't seem to care. The responsibility that we have for raising
> children is just phenomenal. In my view, and this is just my opinion, but
> it's the parents responsibility to make sure children grow up with
> respect, an understanding of what's write and wrong and a drive to improve
> themselves and be the best person they can be. How do you teach a child
> this sort of thing!
>
>
>
> Maybe I'm over thinking this far too much. But I want the best for our
> little one. I want her to achieve what ever she sets her mind at and that
> she has the best upbringing possible. At the end I want me and Gem to be
> in our granny flat drinking supper out of a straw and having to use a
> motorised scooter to go to the loo but be able to say that, through the
> false teeth, we did a good job as parents.
>
> (Blind bloke on a granny-raiser, what's not frightening about that!)
>
>
>
> Not sure where this post is going now and it's certainly not what I
> thought I was going to be writing about tonight when I started but it
> looks like senility has already started and my minds wandering.
>
>
>
> That's it for now before I go off on any other tangents.
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>