Introducing Saskia Weiss...

Finally, finally, finally our little daughter Saskia Weiss was born this morning at 4.54am! After eleven days of fretting on top of the nine months, the whole process kicked in last night at around 8, and nine hours later we were holding this new bundle of life in a slightly delirious state of happiness, relief and amazement.

Wendy was an absolute star throughout. Thankfully when labour started it became clear that things were already quite far down the line. She was bravely battling through with gas & air until we were told that the birthing pool was available, which made life a lot more bearable and also meant that we found our baby unexpectedly having a water birth. The weeks of NCT training were definitely helpful, although my limited back massage techniques (not to mention just helping Wendy count her way through contractions) went somewhat out of the window.

Needless to say that when Saskia finally popped out and we held her in the water it was an unforgettable moment. I was lucky enough to hold her for a while straight afterwards taking in how gorgeous she is... only slightly tarnished by realising that she had spectacularly decorated the inside of the towels she was wrapped in in the meantime. Welcome to our new world!

After a night in hospital, the two girls came home on Friday afternoon, since which we've been getting used to our new family life. There has been a distinct lack of sleep (surprise surprise) but Saskia's settling into patterns quite quickly so there's light at the end of the tunnel on this front.

Still waiting...

So five days late now, and we're resorting to all the old wives' tales in a bid to avoid having our first-born moan at us for years to come about being born on Xmas Day. You do wonder how these sayings have built up over time - ranging from which way the baby's pointing in the tummy being an obvious clue of whether it's a boy or girl, to where we are now going on regular walks and drinking raspberry tea.

Anyhow, none of it has worked just yet. Which is very nice in terms of having a week to relax after leaving work for me, and in terms of having a house free of builders for both of us.

Two babies have now been born out of the five couples in our antenatal class, so from all being on equal footing we're now hearing reports of life on the other side which is a bit weird. Actually, quite a few of these have been e-mails from the dads coming to terms with changing nappies - something to look forward to...

Whatever pace things proceed at, by a week today we will be parents. Can't wait.

The day arrives...

So here we are on D-Day itself, 17th December, and the big day has come and gone with - surprise, surprise - no signs of Junior emerging. Tim's parents came to visit this weekend to celebrate his Dad's 70th which was a nice distraction from the ticking clock... Now the waiting game really starts in earnest though, as we try to fit our Xmas shopping and various last-min preparations within a five-minute radius of the hospital.

Speaking of last-minute issues, in time-honoured Weiss fashion we have packed these all in over the past week. Our new bathroom was finished Saturday lunchtime (i.e. 12 hours before the due date), it looks like we might finally exchange contracts for the millstone that is our London flat on Monday, and Tim has finally secured his new position at work for the New Year. What with all these out of the way, we're not entirely sure what we'll do with our time from now on - although I'm sure something will come along soon.....