Category: baby

L’arrivée du petit

A Day Near Versailles

Chandelier at the Versailles Palace

Usually when I drive towards Versailles, I’m going to see friends or taking friends to see the palace. Or it’s a wedding, since friends of Yasmina got married in the town hall there just last year. Today, Nathan was going for a follow up test after inconclusive results in a nationwide newborn screening program.

Just 2 or 3 days after birth, all babies born in France have a pinprick of blood spotted in 3 places on absorbent paper. This is sent off to a centralised lab that tests for some detectable congenital disorders. One of those tests is for cystic fibrosis, and Nathan’s initial result wasn’t conclusive (not bad, just not within tolerance for the immediate all clear). Other tests are done for phenylketonuria (PKU), sickle-cell disease, adrenal insufficiency and underactive thyroid. We sent a second blood drip test to the lab, which was also unable to produce a result. So today I went to Le Chesnay near Versailles to spend a day in hospital while he had the sweat test done. They kept us there until the results were known, and since this took from 9am to 3.30pm I’m now very tired. Nathan had flashing electrodes on his arm (sounds horrific, but isn’t) and a kind of coffee filter on his arm soaking up sweat for the alternative test. Two different procedures have to be used to make sure there are no duff results and that both diagnoses correspond.

The national testing program is important as it targets those diseases which have a good outlook if they’re detected and treated early. Thankfully, Nathan’s results were negative. So he’s not carrying any of the diseases screened for in the campaign, and I won’t have to drive to Le Chesnay near Versailles to be at the hospital for 9am on a Monday morning 🙂 in the near future. It’s a good thing we went though, in order to be reassured.

Best Wishes for the Coming Year

Nathan sucking his thumb and twiddling hair

Well, we didn’t make it to England for the holidays as planned. Nathan has been struck with bronchiolitis which has lasted for three weeks now. He’s been to regular physiotherapy sessions to clear his lungs. His lungs now seem relatively clear but he has a persistent cough which is still worrying us. Our trip to England was cancelled as the physiotherapy sessions were prescribed over the Christmas holiday period. Nathan will have to wait a little longer to see all his English admirers. He’s pictured sucking his thumb and twiddling his hair (just like his Grandad, for the hair at least) and not looking as poorly as he sounds when he coughs.

The good news is that Grandma came to stay for a week, helping with the little boy and brightening the atmosphere. We had a lovely turkey dinner on Christmas day and everyone got nice presents. I got a coffee machine (one of the automatic ones which take little bags with a dose of coffee in them) and a webcam which will be great for Grandma and Grandad to see Nathan whilst chatting to us on MSN. Yasmina got a new hairdryer specially designed to straighten hair and some CDs and DVDs.

2005 has been a major year. We bought a flat, had a son, and have been very busy decorating everywhere in the flat. I even started this blog. In 2006 there are lots of things to look forward to in Nathan’s development like teething, babbling and crawling – perhaps even walking. He’ll soon be on solid food and have grown out of more clothes. Yasmina will be back to work after her maternity leave, and hopefully business will pick up again.

Before concluding, I must mention that whilst writing I’m also sparing a thought for all the terrible events over the last 365 days, like the Tsunami, the London bombings, the quakes in Pakistan and India, the hurricanes which devastated New Orleans and parts of the Caribbean.

I hope you all have had a good Christmas day and are looking forward to celebrating the coming year as I will be. Let’s hope it’s a better year for all of you who had a hard 2005.

Winter is Here

It’s dropped below 10°C here which means it’s feeling very cold. The heating has been switched on in our flat and cars are already beginning to be frosted if left outside overnight.

The riots have calmed slightly; every night on television the count of burned cars drops, but the figures are still alarmingly high. Gennevilliers, a neighbouring town, has had a share of some of the violence but we are thankfully a little distance from the flashpoints.

Nathan is sleeping 6-7 hour nights. I can put him to bed at midnight and he won’t wake up until 6am. This has happened on most nights over the last week. Most colleagues at work say that we’re very lucky, as he’s only one month old. In fact, he’s one month old today. Happy first month, Nathan. I hope you keep sleeping well in your second month.

Sleep Deprivation

Yasmina and Nathan Sleeping

I’ve been busy with Nathan over the last few days, who is now at home and living it up in his bedroom with all his presents and toys. Yasmina left hospital just four days after the birth but I think she’s pleased to be home rather than staying in hospital. Friends have been round to greet the new baby, and have cooed over him and generally been very nice. Grandma and Grandad from England came over to see their first grandson and Grandma is still here while Grandad had to go home to work as he has no holiday left.

Being woken up in the middle of the night has been difficult. Not so much at the time but on the following morning the fatigued feeling makes me irritable. As we get more used to Nathan and he gets used to us, I’m hoping he’ll find a rythmn which suits us all. As you can see in the photo, Mummy tries to sleep at the same time as baby to catch up when she can.

In France babies are prescribed Vitamin D and Flouride supplements every day until they are 18 months old; I don’t know if this practice exists back home in England. They also use a lot of mild saline solution for cleaning baby’s nose and generally in place of water for wiping eyes (whilst closed of course). I’d be interested to hear your experiences of the first few days with your babies and what the medical quirks were like.

Introducing Nathan

Nathan White one hour old

On October 14th, 2005 at 10:30pm local time (GMT+2) Nathan Neil Faris White was born after a long day waiting for the slow dilation of his mother’s cervix and for his head to engage. It was a natural birth after all. Yasmina was very tired but did very well to push and with the help of the doctor and midwives all was well.

As you can see, we’re very proud like all parents are I suppose. More news and pictures will be posted later, I’m very tired.

It Should be Today

Yesterday I spent a lot of time waiting with Yasmina at the hospital. She was monitored for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the afternoon but the contractions are still too far apart and not strong enough. She didn’t sleep very well and is started to get very tired of the whole thing!

Her cervix is still not dilated this morning. I expect it will be a caesarian birth, but for some reason the medical staff are still hoping to be able to induce. Perhaps they will be able to with some other type of hormonal gel but since her own gynecologist seemed to think it was likely to be a caesarian I’m prepared for that now. It’s quite stressful because the wait has been getting longer and longer.

I’m off to the hospital again now, and should return with news of the baby!

Mum in Hospital, but Baby’s Taking His Time

Got up early to take Yasmina to the hospital for 9am this morning. I’ve just come back home quickly to have a little time to myself before I return. It already feels like it’s been a long day, and labour hasn’t even started yet.

Here in France they will not let a pregnancy go beyond 5 days after term. In Yasmina’s case following a scan on Monday, they reduced that because there is not a lot of extra amniotic fluid and so the risk to the baby of constriction in the umbilical cord on natural birth is increased. Therefore this morning the appointment was for hormones to encourage the cervix to dilate since it wasn’t dilated at all. Yas was on a monitor all morning but still her contractions are too far spaced out and irregular.

So I’m waiting to find out if the cervix has started to dilate to see if the second phase of other medication to encourage contractions will happen. It could be that overnight nothing will happen in which case tomorrow will see more “encouragement” followed by the chance of a caesarian on or before Friday.

Yasmina is doing fine and is in her room in maternity where I am paying over 4€ a day (this may or may not be refundable via our medical insurance) just for her TV to work. The state have a massive hole in the health budget, but TV rental is a high margin operation! They should rent out Internet access too. Modern mums would love to be online I’m sure, and they could fleece them for even more per day.

It’s Going to be Soon…

Yasmina at 40 Weeks

Yasmina had her last appointment with the doctor following her pregnancy today. She’s likely to give birth some time from this weekend to mid next week. I’m very excited, but naturally a little apprehensive. I think I’m prepared for the changes ahead by I have some doubts in my mind about how I’m going to handle everything. Work has been a little stressful lately and there have been a lot of changes in the organisation lately. It really feels like this is going to be one of the pivotal moments in life. Of course, the birth of the baby will be a great moment in my life anyway. But other things which are also happening seem to be reinforcing the feeling that becoming a father makes other priorities slide around and fall into place.

If you’re reading, I love you very much Yasmina. And I will love our little baby boy too, with all my heart.