We have a daughter. These are some photos of her

[andrewducker]

This is Sophia.

Here she is on the bed where Jane spent 17 hours in labour:


Here she is being weighed. She is smaller than we expected from the scans - just under average weight rather than being at the top of the normal range. This is all my fault for having a huge head. Jane regrets not checking my hat size before embarking on a relationship with me:


Also, you may have noticed how hairy she is. Jane was also born looking like this. Although apparently even moreso, with her hair in a quiff and (from her own description) looking like a good luck troll.

Here she is with her mum:


We got out after only a couple of days, and were able to lounge around the flat:


I got to practice winding her while brushing my teeth and surfing the internet:


Sadly, she came down with jaundice, and we had to go back in again so she could have all of her yellow replaced with blue:


But while we were in the NICU waiting room we finally managed to get a photo of the three of us together. Sorry about the thumb!


And now we get to spend time relaxing at home together with Jim:


Jim is generally quite relaxed about her, and will observe from a couple of feet away. When she gets noisy he retreats to his sleeping spot under a radiator at the other end of the flat:


The crib is awesome, btw - it straps onto the side of the bed and the side comes down, so Jane can sleep with her arm in there holding hands with Sophia if she's being a bit grizzly.

Jane has been practicing her swaddling skills:


The midwife has weighed her:


And we've been out for a couple of walks:




The sling came in the baby box, and has been fantastic. Takes about a minute to put on, is very comfortable and adjustable, and can be used in different ways.

Yesterday we even made it out to a cafe for lunch!


You can expect more of these to come :-)

Comments

[reverancepavane]

Commiserations! [On your upcoming lack of sleep.]

Welcome to the world Sophia. Walk it in wisdom.

[andrewducker]

We've been managing between 5 and 6 hours of sleep each night by splitting the load. And then having naps during the day. It's going ok so far, but will get harder when I go back to work in 20 days.

[misbegotten]

Congrats! What a beautiful baby.

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[nancylebov]

Congratulations!

[andrewducker]

Thanks!

[annie_r]

congrats! You all look so happy!

[andrewducker]

Thank you, we are!

[doug]

Hooray! Yay babies!

I love baby photos and baby news and all that stuff. All the very best to all three of you. And Jim. Although he looks like he can mostly take care of himself. :)

Can't remember if I gave you my top tip for prospective and new parents, which is to brace yourself for a deluge of unsolicited parenting advice. And I certainly found it harder to just smile and nod at the stuff I disagreed with once I had an actual child rather than a prospective one. Best of luck with that.

One other tip I'd give myself retrospectively is to bear in mind that it'll generally get harder to take them places before it gets easier again (and later much easier). Everyone will tell you it all gets easier over time, which it does in general for many people (which is terrible gaming UX) but once they can move independently the requirement for constant surveillance shoots up before it slowly sinks down over many years.

Hooray! Yay Sophia!

[andrewducker]

*smiles*

*nods*

Seriously though, thank you :-)

[liv]

Welcome, Sophia. And congratulations to you and Jane on your external tiny human. Thanks for the baby pictures, too. (She looks like she's dancing while being weighed, which melted my usual indifference to babies a bit.)

[andrewducker]

She does this marvellous spasm thing, where she will be fast asleep and then suddenly her arms and legs are all outstretched and she looks like she's doing a star jump while conducting the 1812.

[danieldwilliam]

That's lovely to see.

[andrewducker]

We'll definitely manage in-person next week :-)

[cmcmck]

Thank you so much for sharing these with us. :o)

Seventeen hours? That's a long one!

[andrewducker]

To be fair, the Syntocin didn't kick Labour in 100% until about 1pm, so it was only about 7 hours from then.

[miss_s_b]

* is broody now *

[andrewducker]

She's mine! Hands off!

[maia]

CONGRATULATIONS!!!! Welcome to the World, Sophia!!!!

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

(And Sophia makes gurgling noises in your direction)

[ironymaiden]

Glad to see that all is well. Thanks for sharing.

[andrewducker]

My pleasure :-)

[azdak]

Thank you for those beautiful pictures!

[andrewducker]

My pleasure!

[davidcook]

Congratulations ! Welcome to a whole exciting new world (both Sophia, and you two :) ) !

[andrewducker]

Thanks :-)

[hutchingsmusic]

Yayyyy! Happy to give baby advice if you want, but it looks like you have everything you need for now.

[andrewducker]

Thank you - it's appreciated!

[sixbeforelunch]

Congratulations! She's lovely. :)

[andrewducker]

I guess. If you like that kind of thing ;-)

(I never get bored of her sleeping on me. It's a delight)

[sravakavarn]

Congratulations. Also the cat guarding the crib is kind of adorable.

[andrewducker]

Thanks!

[rmc28]

BABY BABY BABY BABY

Feel free to put AS MANY PHOTOS of the baby as you like on Dreamwidth :-)

[andrewducker]

I shall do my best!

[strange_complex]

You made a tiny human! I'm glad she is doing OK so far (apart from the jaundice), and amused that her crib is even called Jane. We will all look forward to lots more pictures as she grows. :-)

[andrewducker]

There will definitely be a baby theme to my journal!

[movingfinger]

Hmmm, shouldn't have left that photo of the stork delivery packaging in with the rest of them! "Midwife" ha, I bet that's the postie.

I wish all of you many happy adventures together!

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[i_kender]

Huzzah! Congrats on your squishy human monkey baby. There are many like it, but this one is all yours! Felicity to all the family.

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[agoodwinsmith]

Congratulations on achieving family. :)

I hadn't seen pictures of Jane before, and I think the two of you are a perfectly matched set. Your Sophia is lovely, and I hope she is the first of at least one more (as an only child, I authoritatively say: boo-hiss to only-child-dom). *Excellent* work, you two.

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[buddleia]

Welcome to the world li’l bab! And congratulations, what lovely news.

[andrewducker]

She sends gurgles in return.

[gingicat]

Baby! Hi baby!

(So I wish I'd known about Think!Kids Collaborative Problem Solving before my kids had developed the idea that It's All Mom's Fault when actually Some Things Are Mom's Fault. You're welcome.)

[andrewducker]

Oooh, that looks interesting. I'll investigate in more detail!

[conuly]

What a lovely baby!

[andrewducker]

Thank you!

[boxofdelights]

Eee congratulations! So tiny!

When you said "winding" I was looking for a crank-handle.

[andrewducker]

Thankly she's automated.

(And thanks!)