The Rock Bobster is here!

On the 15th November, ten days early, my son was born weighing 7lbs 10. He is beautiful and brilliant and very much a lot of work. As a result I haven’t been near a computer, let alone been able to document anything I had learnt when I was pregnant and am and will put in practise now that my baby is here.

My son’s name is Callum Matthew, however everyone still calls him Bob. Bob was the name given to my bump before I knew the sex of my baby and has stuck ever since. We all love it. I am figuring that maybe I will use Callum when he is naughty – not that he will be – I am sure I will have a golden child

The first few weeks (he is now seven weeks old) have been extremely testing and very much an educational journey. It doesn’t matter how much you prepare or read, it never lives up to the expectations that you learnt about. For one, breastfeeding was a struggle for me at first. I don’t know what I was thinking, but I assumed it would all be magically easy because, afterall, breastfeeding is natural. It didn’t work like that for me. I struggled. The first two weeks were horrible. I was miserable and felt like a complete failure half the time because he struggled to latch and stay latched. I expressed, in order to make sure he got his milk, but it was more difficult than I anticipated. After the first two weeks being a nightmare, things are much better. I am used to feeding him regularly now and at night I can get up to 6 hours of sleep before he stirs . And even when he stirs it can be for five mins only and we have feeding laying down perfect, so I don’t even have to move or really wake. We still have issues with his feeding, but these are more orientated to wind and Bob choking himself! I am getting used to his cries now too – working out whether he needs feeding or not – but it is still very much a learning process.

It all has been absolutely wonderful to experience and I must say my priorities and my ideas of what is important in life has definitely changed a lot. Not just because my son is here, but also because I had the dreadful news of my mother passing away – something anticipated for many years, but still an ultimate blow. Especially as she never had the opportunity to hold her grandson, but at least she saw him. I miss her a lot and it is still very painful. Bob has been a distraction from this – whether this is a good or bad thing I have yet to discover.

I could have never gotten through this pregnancy or through these first precious weeks without the help of my beautiful boyfriend Matt. He has been absolutely wonderful, especially in the beginning when I was miserable about my inability to feed Bob sufficiently. I love sharing every moment with him and Bob. They say that a child can bring strain to a relationship, but since Bob’s birth I just feel we have drawn closer and closer together.

Despite everything, Bob has been worth every moment including the painful ones.