Adamson Baby Blog

The abilities of SUPER DAD!

2007-10-01T22:30:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-30T09:29:00.001+01:00

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.

2007-09-26T12:29:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-22T19:05:00.001+01:00

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

2007-09-16T21:43:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-12T23:19:00.001+01:00

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

2007-09-08T00:23:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-06T00:18:00.000+01:00

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

2007-09-05T23:52:00.001+01:00

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

2007-09-05T21:10:00.001+01:00

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.

2007-08-27T22:48:00.000+01:00

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???

2007-08-24T13:28:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-11T08:31:00.001+01:00

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.

2007-08-10T12:58:00.001+01:00

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

2007-08-09T23:45:00.001+01:00

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

2007-08-09T14:14:00.001+01:00

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!

2007-08-05T07:34:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-05T07:33:00.000+01:00

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

2007-08-05T07:31:00.000+01:00

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?

2007-08-05T07:29:00.000+01:00

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?

2007-07-26T14:45:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-07-24T13:21:00.000+01:00

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?

2007-07-23T23:36:00.001+01:00

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.

2007-07-23T23:24:00.001+01:00

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.

2007-07-23T23:23:00.000+01:00

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.

2007-07-23T23:20:00.001+01:00

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

2007-07-23T23:14:00.003+01:00

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?

2007-07-23T23:14:00.001+01:00

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

2007-07-23T23:13:00.001+01:00

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

2007-07-23T23:12:00.002+01:00

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

2007-07-23T23:12:00.001+01:00

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.
>
>
>

Yesterdays visit to the midwife.

2007-07-23T23:11:00.003+01:00

Sent: Saturday, June 09, 2007 11:30 PM

Hi all.

Well we're now in to week 24 which means a visit to the Midwifes. It was a
really good visit and Gem and Bump seem to be doing fine.

The last time we went to see our midwife, back in week 16, we weren't really
impressed. It seemed like we were on a conveyor belt and she just wanted to
get us in and out as quickly as she could. Gem and I agreed that if she
wasn't any better this time that we'd contact the midwife team we're under
and request a new one as we didn't have much confidence in this one. I was
reading somewhere that because the midwifes so important up to the birth and
the 3 or so months after that if you weren't confident in her you should see
if you can get her changed.

Thankfully yesterday she was so much better. We went with a list of 5
questions and if we didn't get good answers to all of them then we'd have to
see. She was really nice this time and answered the majority of our
questions with out us needing to ask. She also found the little ones hart
beet really easily. Gem said that when we could hear the heart beet that I
just grinned. I've not heard it since week 9.

The questions we had were:

1.. Should gem be on any food supplements? Gems one of those weird vedgy
types so Georgina, the midwife, said it would probably be a good idea.
2.. Would we be able to visit the birthing centre before the birth so we
could find out what it was like and to be able to talk to the team there?
The answer was yes but also links in with question 3.
3.. What did we have to do about antenatal classes? Before we got the
chance to ask this one Georgina asked us if we'd been booked in for classes.
We'd not heard a thing which surprised Georgina. It looks like we'd been
booked in to the wrong hospital which means we'd not been sent the info.
There are 3 hospitals which have a baby unit in our area. Royal Gwent in
Newport, Abagaveny, (just love the welsh spellings), and the Caerphilly
Birthing Centre, (CBC). We wanted to go to the CBC as it's the closest but
it was down on our paperwork as the Gwent. We've had it changed now and
Georgina said that we should phone the CBC to sort out about antenatal
classes. Once I got back from the midwifes check I Phoned them and we're
booked in for lessons at the centre from the 4th of July. I'll be blogging
about each of the lessons once we've been. We're hoping that as the lessons
are at the CBC that part of them will be a look round the unit.
4.. What happens next in terms of scans and appointments? Next is another
appointment with Georgina in week 28 for another checkup. When we go to that
we'll have already done one class.
5.. Could Gem have some paperwork for work? Which we got easily.

So in all a really good visit.

That's it for now as I'm writing this from Gems parents in Barry.

Take care.

Nick

Charlies health and possible retirement.

2007-07-23T23:11:00.001+01:00

Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 10:43 PM

> Hi Everyone.
>
> As I posted a week or so ago we were a bit worried about Charlie my guide
> dog.
>
>
>
> Well the blood tests came back and it looks like he has got a thyroid
> problem. He's on a course of pills for 6 weeks to see if that brings it
> under control. If it does then he'll be on the medication for the rest of
> his life but at leased we now know what's going on.
>
>
>
> Next week Katy from Guide dogs for the blind is coming to give me and
> Charlie a driving test, or what's properly called a home-care visit. I
> think she'll also be doing a retirement assessment on him. In March he
> turned 9 which is late middle age in dog years and I think Katy and I will
> come up with how long Charlie has left to work, I have a feeling he'll
> retire about this time next year.
>
>
>
> The question that this leaves me with is what I do when he can't work any
> more. It looks like Charlie will be going back to my parents to live out
> his old age which will be nice as I'll still get to see him.
>
>
>
> I have 2 options, Train for a new working dog or go back to using a white
> cane. I've not used a light sabre, (AKA white cane) properly for about 8
> years.
>
>
>
> The reason I'm not sure what to do is because of the little one coming.
> Having the responsibility of a young dog and young baby at the same time
> seems like asking for trouble and it's yet another thing to be organised
> about if we want to go anywhere. There is also the matter of going away to
> be trained. When I went away to get trained with Charlie I was at the
> centre for a month and for the first 2 weeks you weren't really meant to
> have visitors. I'm not sure if this is still the case but if it is then
> I'm not sure that's fare on Gem leaving her with the little one for a
> month. Even if I can train from home then I'll still need to take about 5
> weeks off work which is my annual leave for the entire year. I maybe able
> to sort something out with work and I'd look in to seeing if we'd be able
> to get some financial support from Access to Work but I just don't know.
>
>
>
> On the other side of the argument I don't want to lose any of my
> independence that Charlie gives me and if I do go back to using the light
> sabre then is that fair on Gem in terms of maybe not having the
> independence that I currently have.
>
>
>
> So as a trial I did a week with out Charlie last week. Before the week I
> thought I was going to hate it and it would help me make my mind up about
> getting the next dog. It actually wasn't as hard as I thought it was going
> to be. At work there wasn't really a lot of difference but walking home
> was quite different. I'd forgotten just how much more you need to
> concentrate when working with the light sabre in comparison with Charlie.
> I walked home twice and the first walk was ok however the second wasn't
> great. There was cars parked on the pavement, when I'm with Charlie I
> don't even need to think about it, with the stick it was more of a problem
> and it sounds stupid but I actually found it really hard to find the
> house. Gem and I live in a mid-terrace and there are not many guides or
> hints to tell you which one is our gate.
>
>
>
> But as the week wasn't as hard as I thought it was its left me more
> confused then I was at the beginning of the week.
>
>
>
> I'll probably be talking through a lot of this stuff with Katy on Tuesday
> to see if we can't come up with some answers.
>
>
>
> The other consideration is that I need to decide what I'm going to do
> fairly quickly as If I'm going to go for a new dog I need to let guide
> dogs know so that they can start the matching process.
>
>
>
> I just don't know!
>
>
>
> Write well that's enough for now.
>
> Take care all.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Baby Names

2007-07-23T23:10:00.003+01:00

Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 9:57 PM

>I suppose that one of the main questions that Gem and I get asked is about
>baby names. Strangely enough for quite some time Gem and I have had a
>couple of names in our mind. We always thought that our first girl would
>probably be called Amy Louise. However since we actually got pregnant we've
>had a couple of changes of mind. We've thought Emily, Amy and Blodwhin.
>Well maybe not blodwhin, but we think we've settled on Chloe Mai. Mai being
>the Welsh version of May and it's pronounced as May.
>
>
>
> So what do you think? Any other suggestions?
>
>
>
> Although at the moment we're thinking Chloe this could all change when she
> comes along.
>
> My mum says that although her pregnancy with me I was going to be a
> Richard and when I actually came along she said he's not a Richard, more
> of a Nicholas. And according to Jan, Gems mum, Gemma was going to be a
> Craig!
>
>
>
> So there we go, this is where we're thinking at the moment.
>
> Write I'm off to probably write another post.
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Cravings!

2007-07-23T23:10:00.001+01:00

Sent: Thursday, May 24, 2007 11:50 PM

> Hi All.
>
>
>
> For the last 17 or 18 weeks, since we've known about the baby, I've been
> waiting for Gem to start having cravings. It's got to be said I don't know
> much about pregnancy and babies but cravings was something I did know
> about.
>
>
>
> Back in week 9 or so Gem seemed to be having some sort of weird cravings
> for baths. Her record was 5 in an 18 hour time slot but I'm not sure baths
> really count as cravings.
>
>
>
> Now we're in to week 22, I think we've now both identified what Gems
> current craving is. All week last week she kept saying she fancied coco
> pops but we didn't have any. Now we're back home she seems to be having
> about 2 or 3 bowls a day. We're already on to half way down packet number
> 2.
>
>
>
> The bumps getting quite big now, I think it's great, Gem says she looks
> fat but she doesn't. I think it's only men that can really see how
> beautiful the bump is, it doesn't look chubby. It's the wrong sort of
> shape for fat and is quite solid.
>
>
>
> One thing Gem isn't enjoying much is the fact that she has to sleep on her
> side. We've been reading and it says that you shouldn't really sleep on
> your back as it can restrict blood to the baby. But generally everything's
> going great at the moment in terms of the baby front.
>
>
>
> The house is still a bit of hard work as we've still got the fellows in
> doing the bathroom. Tomorrow the tilers are in for the last time to finish
> off the flooring and then it's just up for us to paint with the help of my
> parent's in-law and for the electrician to come in and finish off running
> the cable from the bathroom to the main electric box to run the spars for
> the bath on. It'll be fantastic when it's all done it's just incredibly
> hard to keep clean at the moment.
>
>
>
> Anyway, enough for now.
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Big Big Baby News

2007-07-23T23:09:00.001+01:00

Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 12:26 AM

> Hi All.
>
>
>
> We have big news on the baby front! No not twins! NO NO NO!
>
> Really! No NO NO!
>
>
>
> This evening the baby kicked for the first time properly and I actually
> got to feel it.
>
>
>
> For the last month or so Gems been able to feel our little one swimming
> round and moving but until now you haven't been able to feel or see it
> from the out side but tonight we actually got an elbow or foot pushing and
> making a bump on the surface of Gems stomach.
>
>
>
> It happened once and Gem went WOW! Then she told me to put my hand on the
> bump and our little one kicked again! It's truly amazing and very
> exciting.
>
>
>
> In other news we had a great holiday. Really relaxing. It's a shame to
> come back to work. Also we think Charlie my guide dog is a little bit
> poorly. During his last vets check he was very overweight. He's meant to
> be just about 5 stone and he was 7. The people from guide dogs said to put
> him on this very low calorie diet, Yes, dogs have weight watchers too. But
> he's been on it for 3 weeks and hasn't lost a thing so he's had blood
> tests to see if it's a thyroid problem. We get the results in a week or
> so.
>
>
>
> Enough for now as I'm meant to be in work pretty early tomorrow.
>
>
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

We're half way!

2007-07-23T23:07:00.000+01:00

Sent: Wednesday, May 09, 2007 11:32 PM

> Hi All.
>
> Today is a momentous occasion! (I've been reading word of the day again!)
>
> Today marks the probable half way point of the pregnancy. We now have less
> time to go until our little one comes along than we've already done. Soon
> enough the man in the UPS truck will knock on our door and present us with
> our baby. (I'm sure that's how it works.) Well I may have got some of the
> details wrong.
>
>
>
> In away the half way point is good and not so good. Good in the fact that
> both Gem and I are looking forward to holding our little one and showing
> her just how amazing the world is. But also a little worrying as it
> doesn't seem that long ago when we found out that we were going to be
> parents and we've still got a lot of stuff to sort out. The nursery being
> the major thing. Currently it's our junk room and you can't even get in
> it. Before September we've got to get it emptied, wall paper stripped,
> re-plastered and painted. I say September but actually we've got to get it
> done by the beginning of July as Alex, My little brother, and his mate
> John are coming to stay with us for a week as they're both working in
> Cardiff.
>
>
>
> The baby had quite an active weekend last weekend but has seemed to go
> quite quiet for the last couple of days. Gem says she feels it move some
> times but not quite as much as it was. I'm not sure if this is normal as
> the baby moves in to its growing position. I guess we'll just have to see.
> If we're still worried we'll contact the midwife.
>
>
>
> As the little one is our first we don't really know what to expect.
>
>
>
> Anyway, that's all the news for today.
>
> I'm going to take a look at the blog and see if I can do some sort of
> count down timer to the due date.
>
>
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Since when did i start classing my self as disabled?

2007-07-23T23:06:00.001+01:00

Sent: Friday, May 04, 2007 6:06 PM

> I've just got home from work and I had a quick look at the blog to see if
> anyone had left any comments.
>
>
>
> I re-read last nights post and I was a little bit disturbed! When did I
> start classing myself as disabled? Probably a bit of an odd question from
> a blind bloke but honestly I don't feel disabled, it's just my eyes don't
> work.
>
>
>
> I'll have you know I've never weaved a basket, or been to Lourdes. Come
> on, I own a drill and know how to use it and can be found every month or
> so during the summer cutting the grass!
>
>
>
> So sorry about the disable ish type post last night. I'm tempted to remove
> it however the thoughts behind the post are still applicable. It was just
> the way I said it. So I'll leave it up.
>
>
>
> That's all. We'll try to return to normal next post.
>
>
>
> Take Care.
>
> Nick.
>

change of mind

2007-07-23T23:04:00.000+01:00

Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 11:59 PM

A discussion I've often seen on message boards and email lists for disabled
and blind people is about if a cure became available for your disability
would you take it. I think if a non disabled person was asked that question
it's a bit of a no-brainer. The answer would always be yes, every time but
it's not so clear cut for disabled people. I would think This is hard to
believe for a non disabled person. Do you believe me? Check out the
following link from the fantastic BBC ouch website.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/features/b1tch/130407.shtml

Now I wouldn't say I completely agree with all of the statements in the link
above but I understand the points and also used to share the opinions.

I used to say that if a cure came out for my eye condition that I would have
to think very carefully about taking it. The reason being that it would
change everything for me. My whole life I've been blind. Everything I've
learnt from being a little child I've learnt to do as a blind person. I'd be
worried about how it would affect my life, would I be able to cope and being
able to see things. Would it affect my professional life? Would I still be
able to use a computer to the same level using the screen compared to using
speech to name just a few. Again if you're not in my position you probably
find that quite hard to understand however it is a small sub set of the
questions I'd have to look at before accepting a cure.

I'm probably going to not make my self very popular with in the disabled
pride community but since getting married about a year ago and certainly
since I found out I was going to be a dad my opinions have now changed.
There is no doubt that I would find it tuff to adjust to being able to see
and I would have to learn to do things from a sighted paspective but now I
think I probably would take the cure. (there isn't a cure at the moment so
this is a theoretical discussion anyway.)

Don't get me wrong, I'm completely happy with my blindness, to use a phrase
I hate with a passion "I've accepted my blindness". But let's be honest, the
majority of things I can do as well or better than a sighted person however
there is some stuff that I simply can't do. Off the top of my head something
as simple as driving would completely change how mobile I would be. Driving
is a big issue for me. I would love to be able to drive.

I guess the reason that I'm talking about this tonight is because of the
scan today. I did feel a bit left out as although Gem described what the
scan looked like I feel like I've missed something by not directly being
able to see it. The midwife was using an ultrasound machine which couldn't
play the heartbeat which means I wasn't really able to get involved with the
scan.

I'm not saying that I'm not happy with my blindness or the scan, I am. But
I'm being realistic there are things I'm going to miss and particularly now
with the little one on the way.

I'm not even sure if I'm making sense and I'm certainly not saying this to
be pitied, in fact if I'm being pitied you've completely missed the point of
the post. All I'm really trying to do or explain is how I'm feeling at the
moment.

So the question for tonight is in a couple of parts.

1.. If your disabled would you take a cure if one was available. If so
why, if not why not.
2.. If you're not disabled can you understand the views of disabled people
about cures?

Views and answers in the comments or by email to BLOG@NDAdamson.com.

Sorry again for a serious post. More proof again that I shouldn't blog too
late at night but hopefully it's made you think.

Take care.

A slightly confused Nick.

The big Question! the result.

2007-07-23T23:01:00.003+01:00

Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 10:31 PM

> Hi All.
>
>
>
> Well we had the scan today and the great news is that Mother and Baby are
> both absolutely fine and baby is developing normally.
>
>
>
> We have picks of the baby and it's just a bit cute as our little one seems
> to be having a good suck on a thumb.
>
>
>
> So what's the big answer? The way the baby was lying it was hard to tell
> however to quote the midwife: "I see no sign of a willy!" so the
> likelihood is that our little one is a girl. She did say though that
> because of the position it's not as solid a statement as they normally can
> make and that we shouldn't depend too much on that statement.
>
>
>
> The end result is that everything's well and the likelihood is that we've
> got a girl on the way.
>
>
>
> That's it for now.
>
> Take Care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Boy or Girl, Your vote has been cast!

2007-07-23T23:01:00.001+01:00

Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 12:55 AM

> Hi Everyone.
>
>
>
> Well the predictions are in.
>
> It is a pretty close thing but with a score of 8 to 6 (not including Gem
> or me) the majority opinion thinks our little one is going to be a girl.
>
>
>
> There was a couple of rebels out there, mostly my brother and sister,
> (Alex, "an hermaphrodite" and Vicki, "a Boy or Girl".)
>
>
>
> We'll hopefully find out later today when we go for the scan. As I said in
> the last post we don't mind as long as he or she is healthy.
>
>
>
> More interesting is the different views on weather you'd find out the sex
> before the birth or not. It did seem like there was a bit of a trend
> towards the older people I asked wouldn't find out but the younger would.
> Not sure if that means anything but I can only tell you what I observed.
>
>
>
> I suppose the big question is what Gem and I think.
>
>
>
> Write at the beginning of the pregnancy both Gem and I thought it was
> going to be a girl, Gems not sure now. As for me it's like watching the
> swingomiter on election night. Although in my head I think the babies
> going to be a girl when ever I think about the baby or talk about him/her
> I refer to a him. So just call me a fence sitter. (And how comfortable it
> is up here to!)
>
>
>
> I know I'm a geek and all but it still amazes me how by using audio waves
> the midwives can get a picture of the baby. And be able to do it in enough
> detail to be able to sometimes determine the sex.
>
>
>
> We've heard that some hospitals won't tell you the sex until you sign
> something to say you won't sue them if it's wrong. How crazy is that!
>
>
>
> Anyway. I'll write again with the results later today after the Scan.
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Blind Young Things.

2007-07-23T22:59:00.001+01:00

Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2007 12:17 AM

> Hi All.
>
>
>
> Firstly. Sorry, today's post has nothing to do with the baby. In actual
> fact the whole baby is quite quiet at the moment, we're just looking
> forward to the scan on Thursday.
>
>
>
> Today's post is a bit of a rant about the way blind people are portrayed
> in the media.
>
>
>
> Gem and I have just finished watching this documentary on channel 4 called
> "Blind Young Things". It was a program about 3 blind students at RNC in
> Hereford. (It's a college for the blind). I thought the program wasn't bad
> but it wasn't that good.
>
>
>
> I have a bit of a fundamental problem with a college like RNC as it
> doesn't prepare a blind person for the real world. In the real world
> people aren't going to get you out of bed in the morning. There not going
> to take excuses like some of the students were giving on the program and
> it doesn't teach you how to interact with sighted people in the real
> world.
>
>
>
> I went to a main stream school where there were maybe 7 or 8 blind
> students in a school of way over a thousand. I was the only blind student
> on my courses at college and at university. I'm not saying this to be
> bragging or anything but just so you might be able to see where I'm coming
> from. In these environments, particularly at college and university, I
> had to learn to be independent. When I was 18 I moved away to university
> and lived on my own.
>
>
>
> 1 of the students, Daniel, featured on the show was 18 and was so proud
> that he'd made a cheese sandwich independently for the first time. Not
> being funny but that's just weird. I don't think this was his fault
> however it seemed quite obvious to me that it was his family that should
> have taken some of the responsibility for this situation. I'm not having a
> go at anyone and each person and group of people deal with situations in
> different ways but it was clear to me that his family had completely
> rapped him in cotton wool and had done everything for him, he'd then just
> taken it as read that he couldn't do much. I think it was his sister that
> actually said something like "even though he can't do very much he's still
> a great person."
>
>
>
> I think I have a lot to thank my parents for. I'm the only blinky out of
> us 3 children and My Mum and Dad didn't really treat me any different from
> Alex or Vicki and this is why I would say I am relatively normal.
>
>
>
> It's got to be said I really felt for Salina another one of the students
> featured as she was going through a pretty rough time as she was losing
> her sight. She didn't put a brave face on it and told it like it was. I
> say she showed real guts. She also got the best line in the show. She was
> walking back to her digs and she got a little lost and frustrated and the
> Camera man or producer or someone said to her "But you did really well"
> and her response was basically don't be so patronising, you wouldn't say
> that to any other 18 year old girl for walking down a road so don't say it
> to me.
>
>
>
> This brings up another point. The makers of the show didn't seem to think
> about there possible audience. Considering the show was about blind people
> there was a fair bit of stuff with just music and no sort of description.
> I guess there was an audio described channel we could have watched however
> I'm not sure with a program like this we should have had to.
>
>
>
> Generally this program could have been much much worse but could have been
> so much better. Why focus on a place like RNC, why not on a blind student
> in the real world. And focus more on what us blinkies can do rather than
> what we can't. I've got a mate, Joe, who would be a great candidate. Joe,
> you up for it?
>
>
>
> Write. I'm off the soap box now and we'll be back to talking about baby
> stuff soon.
>
>
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>

Question, To find out or not to find out?

2007-07-23T22:58:00.001+01:00

Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 12:36 AM

> As I mentioned in my last post in just over a week we go for the next
> major Scan. At this the medical people can probably tell what Sex the
> babies going to be. They can't tell for certain and they can't always tell
> at all.
>
>
>
> The question I'm throwing out is:
>
> Would you find out or not?
>
> Some people want to know and some don't.
>
>
>
> I don't really mind but Gem wants to find out so we'll be finding out next
> Thursday.
>
> For extra bonus points do you think our little one is going to be a Boy or
> a Girl?
>
>
>
> We don't really mind as long as she or he is healthy.
>
>
>
> We'll report on how many of you would and wouldn't find out and your
> gender predictions next Thursday night when we let you all know about the
> scan.
>
>
>
> So come on then. Answers in the comments or by email to Blog@NDAdamson.com
>
>
>

All quiet on the baby front.

2007-07-23T22:57:00.001+01:00

Sent: Thursday, April 26, 2007 12:18 AM

> Hello everyone out there in blog land.
>
>
>
> Sorry it's been a bit quiet on the blog but not much has really happened
> in terms of the baby stuff. We're now in to Week 17, and tomorrow hit week
> 18.
>
>
>
> We've been pretty busy doing other stuff. I'm the percussionist in our
> church quire, (Think some gospel, some new, and some sort of traditional
> stuff. It's a bit hard to describe). The quire did a weekend away in Penge
> a couple of days ago and I've been pretty busy learning words and music
> for that and we're also in the middle of getting our bathroom sorted out.
>
>
>
> Work should start on the nursery in June. I've got to get the walls
> stripped before we get the plasterer in and then I'll try my hand at
> painting again before building all the flat packs and getting the room
> ready for the big event in September.
>
>
>
> The baby has been doing a fare bit of moving around over the last couple
> of days, not really kicking as such but Gem says she can feel it. From all
> accounts it sounds like it's having a good old swim.
>
>
>
> I think it's starting to bug Gem a little bit but I see it as a great
> thing as it means that the Babies pretty healthy. I guess I can say that
> as it's not me that's having the little one swim around in side me.
>
>
>
> Gems also getting quite a bit of back and hip pain. I was reading on the
> web and this is normal at this stage as the baby hasn't yet moved in to
> the final growing position and at the moment it's sort of resting in an
> uncomfortable place.
>
>
>
> If you don't know Gem works in a day centre for adults with learning
> disabilities and they've got to do a risk assessment on her to make sure
> that she's not at to higher risk from the clients. She has been stopped
> from being an escort on the transport used to get the clients in to the
> centre. I'm not sure why but it's because she's pregnant. Not quite sure I
> can see the logic but if it's to make sure the Baby stays safe I'm all in
> favour.
>
>
>
> The most exciting thing that's going to happen in the next week or so is
> the major scan which is next Thursday. (3rd May). We should get some
> pictures of the baby from this and probably find out the sex of our little
> one.
>
>
>
> I'll try to blog a bit more often in future, Honest, I'll try.
>
> Take Care.
>
> Nick.
>

Parris trip and BIG NEWS!

2007-07-23T22:55:00.001+01:00

Sent: Monday, April 16, 2007 11:53 PM

> Hi Everyone.
>
>
>
> Well we're back in the good old UK and we've had a great time in Paris.
> Disney was fantastic and what little else we saw of the actual city seemed
> really nice. We did plan to see more but as FlyBE the airline we flue with
> decided to cut out most of our first day with a 4 hour delay we mist most
> of Paris which is a bit disappointing.
>
>
>
> Back in baby mode the most exciting thing to happen since the first scan
> happened over the weekend.
>
>
>
> We were hanging around in Birmingham airport waiting for the flight to
> Paris and Gem turned to me and said
>
> "I think the baby just kicked!"
>
>
>
> For the rest of the weekend she's felt the baby moving around for little
> bits of the day! This is fantastic. As yet it's not been regular enough
> for me to feel or anything like that but it won't me long I don't think.
>
>
>
> Write well as I've been up since half 6 UK time and it's now 10 to 12 I'm
> going to bed!
>
> I'll try to post pictures of the trip on the next blog entry if I can work
> out how to do it by email.
>
>
>
> Take care.
>
> Nick.
>
>
>
>

Quest for advice.

2007-07-23T22:53:00.001+01:00

Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 11:39 PM

> Hi All.
>
> This is the last post before we go on our long weekend posted from my
> parents house in sunny Leicestershire.
>
> I've now been blogging for a couple of weeks and it's time for you guys to
> do some work.
>
> Using either the comments link or by sending me an email to
> Blog@NDAdamson.com send me your baby advice and I'll post the results on a
> future entry.
>
> So far I've had three main bits of advice.
> 1. Get as much sleep as we can at the moment because as soon as the baby
> comes so does the ability to have as much sleep as you actually need.
> 2. Get a hobby to get me out of the house at weekends (running was
> suggested, what makes me think that's a really really bad idea.)
> 3. Gems Cousin Michelle says that a baby is able to bond with it's
> parents not only by seeing them and reacting to them but by touch and
> sound which really encouraged me, (See the worry beads post). Thanks
> Michelle.
>
> So if your a blindy like me or not, if your a parent or not let me know
> your baby advice as I need as much as I can get!
>
> Consider the floor open!
>

Week 16, Baby progress report.

2007-07-23T22:51:00.002+01:00

Sent: Friday, April 13, 2007 10:05 AM

> Hi again all.
> Sorry it's been a bit quiet for the last couple of days and sorry this
> ones a bit of a short post.
> I missed the post for week 15 so here's the link.
> http://global.welcomebabyhome.com/newsletter_weeks/week15.htm
> And we're now actually in to week 16. here's the link for this one.
> http://global.welcomebabyhome.com/newsletter_weeks/week16.htm
>
> News this week is that Gem's got quite a nice bump growing.
>
> We've just got back from the midwifes who said everything looks good and
> that there happy with progress. They tried to find the babies hart beat
> but couldn't. They weren't worried and said that at this stage of
> pregnancy that it all depends on the way the babies curled up and all
> sorts. so we're not worried.
>
> We're off to Paris for the weekend tomorrow so I'll blog again early next
> week.
> Take care.
> Nick.
>

Yet another funky gajet and this time it's for US!

2007-07-23T22:51:00.001+01:00

Sent: Saturday, April 07, 2007 3:31 PM

> This was meant to have been posted on Wednesday but has only just gone
> through.
>
> Hi there all you happy people in blog land.
>
> Yet again (will it ever end?) we've been out shopping but this time it's
> something for us.
>
> Back in week 9 we went for our first scan and it was just fantastic but
> the
> best part of it for me was to be able to here the babies heart beet. (it's
> a
> little hard to explain but think a steam train inside Gems Stomach.) (Note
> to self, should really try to think of better metaphors).
>
> We spotted this thing in Argos which lets you here the heart beet in the
> comfort of your own home and I decided we'd get a present for ourselves.
> Basically there's a sort of censer thing which we put on Gems Stomach and
> plug a couple of sets of headphones in to it and your meant to be able to
> here the baby. It says you can only really use this machine from about
> week
> 20 but we had ago anyway. (we're just about to hit week 15.)
>
> We thought we heard something very faintly but it wasn't exactly
> conclusive.
> When we get something for definite I'll record it and post it on the web
> somewhere.
>
> We were hoping for a bit more as Gems getting a little worried. Normally
> you
> have a scan at about 12 weeks and then see your midwife at 15 and a half
> or
> so but because when we went for the scan we weren't as far along as we
> thought (we were only just starting week 9) it seems like ages since we've
> seen anyone. Because of Easter we're not going to get to see the midwife
> until next Friday, (week 16 and 2 days). I keep reassuring Gem that
> everything should be fine and that she's not had any danger signals that
> the
> baby is hopefully fine but she does get a little worried. I guess this is
> perfectly natural.
>
> Anyway. This weekend we've saved up our Tesco clubcard points and are
> going
> away for a night to a nice hotel in Bristol and then very possibly some
> more
> shopping! (will our bank balance ever recover?)
>
> Take care and hopefully see you soon.
> Nick.
>

Week 14, more thoughts and musings

2007-07-23T22:49:00.002+01:00

Sent: Monday, April 02, 2007 12:56 AM

> Hi all.
>
> Well we're now safely in to week 14. Check out:
>
> http://global.welcomebabyhome.com/newsletter_weeks/week14.htm
>
> For some real information about what's going on but the main news is that
> the babies about the size of a clenched fist. (Come on! How cool is that!)
> and Gem thinks she may be able to feel the baby moving around. (this just
> blows my mind!) I think any guy that has been through becoming a Dad can't
> believe how amazing it must be to know and be able too actually feel the
> baby moving around in side. Ray. (My dad in-law) has told me that some
> time soon the baby will start kicking and both Gem and I will be able to
> feel that. I Can't Wait!
>
>
>
> Today Gem decided to take me to Mother Care. (As an aside why isn't there
> a Fathers Care. It's just not on. I'm sort of seeing this shop with a
> place to sit down, nice cold drinks and a place where you can play with
> all the scalelectrics and electric trains you want with out having to let
> your kids have a go).
>
>
>
> Anyway, while it Mother Care I showed just how unprepared for the baby I
> am. This shop is seriously daunting. While wandering round Gem kept seeing
> stuff and telling me what she was looking at and I understood about 4
> words in 10. Well actually that's not quite true. I understood the words
> she was saying but found it tuff to get them to make sense. Has anyone
> seen that episode of Friends where it was Rachel's baby shower and she
> kept getting stuff she didn't know what they did. I WAS RACHEL! Although
> of course she's a fare bit better looking than me.
>
>
>
> Gems bargain of the week this week is something you put dirty nappies in
> and it automatically seals the nappy bag for you. I'm not sure what's
> wrong with just tying a not in it and chucking it away but hay, there you
> go.
>
>
>
> This is starting to get me to think that I really don't know much about
> babies and how to look after them. Leighton, (Gems 17 year old brother)
> has told me that if I can tell one end of the baby from the other then I
> should be OK but I have a feeling there's a little more to it than that.
>
>
>
> I'm hoping that in our next midwifes appointment which I'm going along to
> in a couple of weeks she'll tell us about antenatal classes. I'm sort of
> hoping the classes go in to details about looking after a baby as well as
> about the birth it's self.
>
>
>
> I don't know weather it's some sort of amazing "WOMAN POWER" which woman
> get when they become pregnant but Gem seems to know what she's up to and
> seems to know what stuff we need and all that but being honest, I'm not
> sure I have a clue.
>
>
>
> Anyway, that's probably enough random waffling from me.
>
> I'm still hoping that someone's going to make some sort of comment on the
> blog. As yet we've not had any.
>
>
>
> If you're a blind dad your self or generally have any words of advice let
> me know in the comments or there's a contact link at the bottom of this
> page if you want to just go the normal email route.
>
>
>
> Hopefully if I get any good advice I'll repost it on here for anyone to
> read.
>
>
>
> Cheers and take care.
>
> Nick.
>

Worry beads for the week

2007-07-23T22:49:00.001+01:00

Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2007 11:54 PM

> At work one of my boss's phrases is about worry beads so "Dave, I've
> stolen your phrase!".
>
>
>
> There are a couple of things that have been going round my head for the
> last couple of weeks that I'm a little worried about.
>
> I'm not too concerned about the practical stuff of being a Dad. Things
> like changing nappies and the like don't bother me, I'll just work out a
> way of doing it not being able to see in the same way I've worked out
> other stuff but it's more the stuff like getting a proper relationship
> with the youngster before it can speak. As I understand it eye contact is
> very important and reacting to things like smiles and facial expressions
> is key to getting a bond with your child. When interacting with adults
> most blindies like myself are able to work out a lot from tones in voices
> but as the baby isn't going to have a voice for some time I'm not sure how
> this is going to work and I'm worried that I won't bond with the baby
> while it's young.
>
>
>
> I'm certainly not the first Blind Dad but it's something I worry about as
> I want to be as involved with the youngster's development as much as any
> sighted dad.
>
>
>
> I guess this is something I'm just going to have to see what happens with.
>
>
>
> I'm also thinking about what sort of Dad I'm going to be. I've been told
> by Gem and friends that I'll make a good dad but I'm not so sure. I'm a
> computer geek type person so I've not had a lot to do with little kids and
> generally don't know much about them.
>
>
>
> Simply, fear of the unknown.
>
> Anyway.
>
>
>
> Sorry about the bit of a serious post, I shouldn't blog quite this late at
> night. Normal service will be resumed shortly.
>

Babys Gagets Are Fantastic

2007-07-23T22:48:00.001+01:00

Sent: Monday, March 26, 2007 5:29 PM

> One thing that I've been thinking over the last couple of weeks as we've
> started to look at getting things for the baby is how cool the gadgets
> are.
>
> Take the buggy we bought. (I know it's a little early but it was on sale
> and Gem can't resist a sale!).
>
> This isn't just a buggy, this is a
> all terrain, 4 wheel drive, 0 to 60 in 2.7 seconds convertible with in
> buggy entertainment and go faster stripes.
>
> Well maybe that's a bit of an over statement but this buggy has so many
> buttons, hidden compartments, switches and leavers that it can make any
> gadget-holic like my self start drooling. This buggy is a travel unit
> which means that it's a buggy and car seat all in one. Some of the guys
> at work thing I should go to Tesco and knick a trolley and use that but
> I don't' think Gem would be to impressed.
>
> Also the travel cot we have just been to Netto to by. (Yes, you guessed
> it, another sale!)
>
> This is so cool. Right, you take it out of the travel bag it comes in,
> unfasten the Velcro fasteners and open this thing up. You push the big
> thing in the middle down, pull the sides up and it's done. You can do it
> in about 15 seconds. (I've been practicing). Why can't adult stuff be
> this easy and simply cool to use.
>
> My conclusion.
> This stuff is too cool and nifty for babies and really it's just
> designed for Dads and future Dads like myself to have fun with.
>
>

Baby Update - Week 13.

2007-07-23T22:47:00.001+01:00

Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007 11:55 PM

> Hi All.
>
> Well we're now at week 13 of the pregnancy and it looks like the morning
> sickness is all over. Thank goodness for that says Gem and Nick.
>
> A couple of weeks ago Gem was getting it pretty bad but it all seems to
> have stopped now. She's still getting quite tired easily but this should
> be ending soon.
>
> The only thing that seemed to stopped the morning sickness was for Gem to
> stay in bed and me to go and make dry toast and take it up to her. (hmm,
> maybe this was just an excuse for me to make her breakfast in bed? I'm
> pretty sure it wasn't though!) (Note to self, avoid bruising by not
> choking about morning sickness!)
>
> We found a grate baby website which explains the different weeks of
> pregnancy. Check out
> http://global.welcomebabyhome.com/newsletter_weeks/week13.htm3
>
> Write well I'd better go as I've got work in the morning.
> Take care.
> Nick.
>

An Introduction

2007-07-23T22:44:00.001+01:00

Sent: Sunday, March 25, 2007 11:06 PM

Well hello everyone.

Welcome to the Adamson Baby Blog.

This is my first entry on the blog, hopefully not the last entry I'm going
to make but let's just see how it goes.

I Wanted to start a blog mostly as a bit of an online diary for myself and
Gem to remember how we feel and what happened during this time of our lives,
maybe to keep family and friends up to date on what's going on and the forth
coming baby and hopefully to make you smile.

Mostly what I'll be blogging about is our forth coming baby, the progression
through the pregnancy and on to when the baby comes in to the world.

But first I thought I'd give a bit of an introduction to us.

I'm Nick and my wife is Gem. I'd say we're a fairly normal couple. We got
married last year on the 20th May 2006.

Gem is a carer in a day centre for adults with learning disabilities in
Gwent, South Wales. I'm a Software Engineer for a military subcontractor in
South Wales and that's about all I'm allowed to tell you.

What makes Gem and I slightly different from the average couple is the fact
that I'm blind.

Hopefully this is the last time I'm going to go on about this but I'm going
to get on a soap box.

I just get on with life, I don't let the fact my eyes don't work stop me
doing anything! I reckon if your determined enough you can do anything,
(driving a car on public roads maybe excluded from this one!)

Something I plan to put in this blog is how Gem and I work round stuff when
you don't see so well. (Gem has normal sight although she must have had her
eyes closed when she agreed to marry me!)

So feel free to make comments, give advice, ask questions, post random links
and what ever you like really.

If you look at the bottom of this page you can sign up to get this blog by
email so that when ever I post an entry it gets sent to your email address.

That's probably enough for tonight.

Take care and hopefully I'll blog again soon.

Nick, Gem and Bump Adamson.