modelled goodies

his little overalls are perfect! and sooo snuggly warm too :-)

and two gorgeous teeny tiny Designer Bums pockets..
we are SO lucky!! (more pics to come..)

2 weeks old!

what a big kid!ok, not really...

but he's putting on weight nicely, sleeping well, feeding well, staying awake for longer periods, and is tolerating his big sister's cuddles very well!


We went along to the local Trees For Babies day today...
it's an event where the council provide a whole heap of native trees at a local park, and proud new parents choose a tree & plant it there, earning the right to claim that tree as their baby's.. yeah, so free labour for the council really ;-)

but it's neat to see the tree grow with your bub, and they put on face painting & other amusements for older siblings (alexis got a butterfly on her face - pics will be on her blog), and the kids get given a certificate proclaiming their residency in our fair city! here is Eli with his tree - a Kahikatea :-)

awww....

just look at this amazing package some of my friends from the nappy network put together for Eli!

there are some gorgeous Designer Bums nappies, seriously cool hand-knit overalls, a stack of food & petrol vouchers, a pile of various bub accessories, and a fantastic scrapbook page for Eli with all of the contributors names!

i can't get over how incredibly generous they have been to us! it is such a wonderful surprise, i'm completely honoured to call these ladies my friends, and i'm sure Eli would too if he was big enough to understand! :-D

thankyou SO much guys!!

one week old!

our little guy is a week old already!
and he already has pretensions of greatness, he's started trying to find sounds by moving his eyes then his head, pushing up with his legs when we're holding him & taking his own weight for a second, and he's been practicing his smirks & smiles too!
He's beginning to stay awake for quite a while, over half an hour right now.. i hope this doesn't mean he's taking after his big sister, who almost never gets tired!
But everything is going really well with him, i couldn't hope for a better baby!

in the first week

6 hours old - milk...

2 days old - cuddles with biggest sister...

3 days old - looking around..

cuddles with nana...

and cuddles with mama...

4 days old - relaxing in the sun...

5 days old - napping...

and snoozing...

a born water baby...

6 days old - kisses from lil' big sister...

and some dozing too...

how it all began!

On thursday morning (08.05.08) i woke up sometime around 4am, and felt something go 'click'?! I then had 5 contractions roughly 10-15min apart, poked Paul awake at 5am & we gradually got out of bed to get the pool ready and I packed the last few things for Alexis...

I rang janine (who was going to look after alexis) & woke her up but didn't actually get hold of her, and after that the contractions were 4-5min start to start, and I didn't get round to ringing back! Meanwhile Paul was filling the pool in our lounge, but we ran out of hot water when it was only maybe 20-30cm deep, so Paul started putting pots on the stove, then managed to ring Janine back around 6.30-7am, and he ran Alexis round for the day, while i hopped in the pool...

Even though it was so shallow the pool still felt very nice & at that point i could still breathe & forcibly relax through the contractions.. When Paul got back just after 7 we timed them at 4min apart/1min duration, so Paul rang my midwife who had breakfast & got herself ready, and we were to ring her back in 30min with a progress report..

Well 30min later the contractions were 2.5min apart/1.5min long, so she decided to rush around asap! (traveling from the far side of our mini-city, in peak traffic, heading central city bound.. doh! ) She arrived at 9am, along with her student midwife, and they started unpacking, I was still in the pool (which was considerably fuller by now, thanks to many saucepan trips!) just kneeling & leaning on the side, while Paul rubbed my lower back through the contractions...


At 9.20 I finally had a show, followed by a spectacular pop as my waters broke! The next contraction I felt like pushing & my midwife said that if thats what felt right, then to trust myself & go for it! And after just 7 minutes of pushing Eli was out! It was 9.29am :-D

The little rotter took a breath while he was still underwater, so my midwife scooped him out, he spat up the water & let out a massive cry! After a couple of minutes we hopped out of the pool so we could get him wrapped up a bit, Eli had a little feed, then the midwives checked him out & got him dressed.

He weighed 7lb/3.18kg, head circumference of 34cm, length 50cm, apgars of 9 & 10, and was beautifully healthy & pink, with no bumps or marks and not even a slight cone head! ;-)


I spent the next few hours feeling very faint due to my very low blood pressure, but Eli was happy, healthy and content, and i really couldn't have asked for a better birth! :-D

in the beginning...

say hello to Eli Tzari Greenfield :-) (silent T..)

Born yesterday morning (08.05.08) at 9.29am, at home in a pool!
He weighed 3.18kg/7lb, has all the right fingers & toes, and is beautifully healthy & pink!
Labour took around 5.5hours, and was a perfect textbook birth :-)
He's making an excellent progress with feeding, and is being excessively doted on by his big sister!