little white truths

Just a short note to say this is why I've been AWOL for a week!

Last Saturday I went into pre-labour at around 5am, moved into early labour 24 hours later and then full-blown labour about 17 hours after that. Fortunately actual labour didn't go for too long in the end.

(I have to say, I don't know who draws the lines between the different stages of labour and how clear those lines are, though that last 5 hours of early labour hurt just as much as the real thing - only it wasn't quite as intense.)

Anyway. This is my daughter, Alizé Eassie Saupe ('Izzy'). Her name is French: see pronunciation here. Her middle name is my mother's maiden name, which Mex and I wanted to use because it's a dying name and we like it - and also because, well, I love my mum : )

Little Izzy weighed 3.3kg at birth and we've been very fortunate so far - she's a feeding machine (just like her mum) and didn't lose any weight in hospital. We've both come out of the birthing process in pretty good shape, so we're blessed and grateful for that.

I'm looking forward to so many things - in particular watching her grow. I'm hoping to write a few posts on eg the terrors of breastfeeding and settling, so do stay tuned for those. 

Wow. We're tired but happy. Who would have thought that happiness for me would change overnight? There's nothing quite like holding my daughter to my chest, milk-drunk and cross-eyed, watching her looks of satisfied concentration as the sounds of nappy squirts fill the room. And I love watching my husband be a father.

What a cool world.