Well, here he is: the reason for my silence these past weeks. (Although I’m sure it won’t surprise you to learn that the volume level in this house has been anything but silent…)

Thrifty Baby was born on 3 January 2012, weighed in at 8lb 14oz and I fell in love with him immediately. I’ll write out his birth story in all its gory glory at a later date – right now he’s having one of his rare sleeps and I’m tapping away madly on this keyboard in a frantic bid to get this post written and published before he wakes up and begins yelling the place down again. The nutshell version: he was two weeks overdue, so I ended up being induced. I was lucky enough to give birth at Harrogate Hospital, where the care was AMAZING. I managed it on minimal pain relief (a couple of paracetamol and a couple of codeine) – although I might have gone for something stronger had I known that the second stage would go on for nearly four hours! Fortunately he turned out to be tough as old boots and didn’t go into distress, so we (only just) managed to avoid intervention.

Since then: well, these first weeks have been tough – even excluding the trials and rigours of breastfeeding. After the first week Thrifty Baby became poorly, and then became more poorly. He lost a pound of his birthweight; at the time of writing he is three weeks old and has climbed back up to 8lb 8.5oz, so we’ve turned a corner, but there is still some way to go. He has reflux – yep, baby heartburn – which is painful and makes him cry a lot and, more seriously, means that he finds it difficult to keep anything down. The milk goes in; the milk comes straight back up. The milk goes in; the milk comes straight back up. As a result, of course, he is hungry all the time. Medicine has made a difference: last week he was feeding hourly and couldn’t bear to be put down, but this week we are down to two hours, I’ve been getting some sleep and he has been sick a lot less the past couple of days, so fingers crossed… And here I am: absolutely thrilled to (finally!) get to introduce him to y’all!

On another note: I’ve had a fair few emails, from tipsters and competition winners etc., and I’d like to apologise for the delays in getting back to you. The keyboard is dusted off now, and I’m hoping to get back up to speed shortly, so please bear with me. I’m intending to get back up to speed with my posting schedule, too: ZOMG, there’s so much I want to share with you!

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