6 Months

So I've realised that having a baby takes a lot of time up !
Hence why my blog has not been updated for a while.

So Jake is now 6 months old and I'm not sure where all the time has gone.
He has grown so quickly over that time, he is nicely in to a routine now which means that we wake him up in the morning to take me to the station (with my wife), then I see him again when I get home twelve hours later.
At this point he normally has some food, has a bath and then shortly after heads to bed.
This means I don't get to see Jake much in the week, but I do try make up for it on the weekends.

I have not had the confidence yet to bath him, as the bathroom hasn't got loads of room, so not easy for us both to be in a position to hold him in the water. 

Jake is moving more now and can roll from front to back when he wants, but not from back to front. I think this is actually useful at the moment as it means he can't roll into danger if I turn my back. Although I don't think it will be too long.

I still use my standard method to pick him up with one thumb tucked under his armpit, using the hand to support him. Then use my bad arm to support the weight. After years of trying to keep my left arm relaxed and straight, I've now got to start to strengthen it more and keep it locked in an L shape to take his weight, and I notice each day he feels heavier !

Over the last few months I've got a lot more confidence with how I hold my son and move him around. He is still light enough that I can just hold him with one hand against my hip, so when my arms tire I can change positions and he is still comfortable.  

Changing Jake is still fairly easy, although now eating food, the nappies are smellier ! Plus I have to keep an eye on his feet not kicking in the dirty nappy. Although folding the old nappy over is a handy trick. He is still well behaved for me when changing nappies although kicks me more when getting him dressed. He loves to kick my stomach, or maybe its a hint for me to lose weight !

The few issues that I have is changing his vest over his head. He doesn't like it much, and it's hard for me to sit him up and put a vest over his head quickly, but its something I'm working on.

Also getting him in and out of certain seats can be tricky. The high chair we have is fine, as is the car seat. But some of the small seats, and bouncer are rather awkward. But then that's what the wife is for. :)
As I'm more confident, I know that I can safely get Jake out of any of the seats if need be, just might be slightly uncomfortable for him.

The last six months have been great. My son is amazing, and watching him grow and learn is just the best thing. My wife is also awesome for being the best mother and wife in general, but being supportive with me overcoming my worries of how I'll cope.

 

8 Weeks on

Hey,
I'm back !! :)
And so much to talk about. Just had so little time with work and looking after my son.

So yesterday my son Jake was 8 weeks old. Time flies !

He's doing well, sleeping most of the night and started talking...
Well I say talking, making more noises than just "Waaaa".
Although I admit when he first was going "Mwaaa" it was very cute !

(That can become less cute after an hour.. )


So back to the point of this blog..how am I coping !

Well at the start I let my wife do everything. She is amazing - have I told you that before.
I was a bit worried about holding , carrying etc, so at the start she passed him to me sitting down etc. 

But then I learnt ways to pick him up with one hand (from the ankle right?) and I became more confident with handling him.

Feeding is fairly easy - I don't produce milk, so not much I can do.
Although I have fed him with the bottle a few times and he's fine with that.

A half doughnut cushion is great to position him and then use my hand to feed him, and my left hand to just make sure he doesn't fall.

Winding him is a bit harder, but I can throw him over my shoulder okay. 

Changing is also fairly easy once I got used to it.
The changing mat on the cot is a must, great hight to change him. And because it is the same place I change him, he has learnt the routine and is very calm when I change him.
I tried with the leg ties I mentioned previously, but to be honest I seemed to get myself and his feet more tangled.
I might try again with them, but at the moment I'm coping without them.

He seems to stay still for me when I'm changing his nappy or clothes. Either a good baby or being nice to me !

He's been out a lot in the 8 weeks he's been here
to pubs numerous times (taking after his Aunt !)
To a friends wedding where he was good all day and night. Even let me have a drink or two
And 2 weeks ago we took him to the Olympics. that's a whole other post, but we had a great time.

So far everything is great :)

Olympics

So a long time ago before Jake was born we decided to get tickets for London 2012.
I managed to get 2 sets of tickets for myself and my wife. The first set were for the basketball and the second for a day in the stadium watching the Athletics.
When we realised that Jake was going to be born and he would only be 6 weeks old then we thought we'd have  to stay at home and not see any of the Games. However as we had been going out a lot and he was a good baby, we thought we'd give it a go.

The first fun was the train, realising that I now need to look for all the lifts everywhere which was not something that I was used to. And the amount of prams often meant I had to let the wife use the lift and walk up the stairs.
For anyone who went to the games they know that the Games Helpers were amazing and very helpful.
The day we went was in the first week and therefore the stadium itself wasn't open which actually was useful as there were 80,000 less people there in the park.

Plenty of changing facilities and there were enough seats that my wife could feed Jake so it was great.
For the actual Basketball games my wife wore the baby carrier as this was a lot easier than trying to hold him all the time. Although for the second match there were spare seats that we could use, save walking up 50 steep stairs.

Atmosphere was great, and I think Jake loved it too !

I have a son !

I've been so busy I haven't had time to do a proper blog.
But I want to let readers know that on Wednesday Morning 20th june.
Our son Jake was born.


Sorry for the lack of posts, things have been very busy. (although I post dated this blog posting)


Will post more soon

Just waiting ......

So 5 days left before the due date. (Arghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!)


Getting very real now, specially when my wife gets the odd stomach cramp.
I'm patiently waiting and not stressing at all ! (well.....) , my wife though is bored of sitting at home and just wants it to arrive.
Won't be long ! :)


Anyway I thought whilst I've got a bit of spare time I'd write about two useful things I have. Well they look useful, have to see in practice if they are.


Firstly I got a changing mat with sloped edges rather than straps. One from Mother Care that fits over the cot did the trick, although the colour choice is rather poor.  The mat sits on top of any decent cot/cot bed and has a strap to hold it securely. the slopes are also quite steep so a young baby is unlikely to roll off.


I've decided to start with this one as being quite high up I think it should make it easier when changing nappies. also if I find I have a little wriggler then I can always buy one with straps in the future.


The other thing I ordered were Eazy Feet. This is a small neoprene gadget that fits over the babies feet and allows you hold both feet up with one hand whilst you change the nappy. Think of them as material handcuffs for baby feet. They aren't available in shops, but the inventor still has some stock left. They are meant to be useful for two handed people also !


I'll let you know soon when I'm covered in baby poo if they are useful !


So everything is sorted now, we just have to relax and wait....




Useful links : 


Eazy Feet - Email inventor at lisa@lisney.net 


Mothercare Universal Cot-Top Changer 


  

Pushchairs - One handed review

When I started this blog I wanted to try and update this more than I have done, but preparing for a baby is busy work and so doesn't leave me much time to write about it.

So anyway 24 days left till due date and we have had all our furniture etc delivered.

This includes the shiny new pushchair / pram / carry-cot / travel system (I never know  what to call them)

We were looking around for a while for something that was easy to use with one hand. The problem is most prams, for safety, like to ensure you use both hands to do everything. For someone with the lack of use of both hands, this is very annoying. 

I want to be able to do everything myself, taking the pushchair out of the car, assembling it, adjusting it, using it and taking it apart. So I did a lot of testing.

The main issue was folding the pushchair with one hand. My wife and I had great fun in various shops trying to fold things up, take them apart with one hand, which did mean we got a few odd looks but to be honest all the staff were very helpful. Several pushchairs needed three hands from what we could work out, but there were a few designed as one handed. 

Thinking of how able bodied mothers might be holding a young baby, or a toddler with one hand, I'm slightly surprised there aren't more one handed pushchairs around.

The first one we saw was one that I can't actually remember the brand. (From Toys 'r' us - but their website is down so I can't double check) To close you had to do some funky grip, slide the thumb, twist the wrist in one swift move. This was not that easy as I tried several times before I even did it once. I think though the seat folded with it so you didn't have to remove anything.

The next one we looked at was the Baby Jogger. This has a patented folding system, which I must admit, was really good.

You just moved the baby, then pulled the handle on the seat and the whole pushchair just folded in two. Very easy to use and close, and not too heavy either. The only slight issue we had, was that the lay flat mode (pull a cord at the back and the seat falls back) doesn't look very flat, or that comfy.

The last two we looked at were the iCandy Peach and iCandy Strawberry - They like their fruits. 

The Strawberry, which was very similar to the Peach, didn't seem as sturdy, and you couldn't use a chair and carry-cot at the same time - if we have a 2nd child, which you could with the peach.. 

Now the Peach comes with a different carry-cot and then chair that you can swap out. Which you need to take off before folding. This has two buttons either side to allow you to lift it off, but theses can be done one at a time I found out, so easy enough for me to do. Once the cot/chair is off then its just a pull and slam of the handle before putting over your shoulder with a shoulder strap.

I learnt pretty quick that which ever pushchair I got, I wouldn't be able to do all the adjustments with one hand, they all seem to want two hands, although to be honest most of the things such as seat angle and foot rest isn't something I'd need to change that often.

Overall the easiest and quickest to fold was the Baby Jogger, however as the pushchair needs to be more than just easy for me, it also needs to meet the requirements for the baby, we decided to chose the iCandy Peach. I've played around with it today in the flat and still very happy with it.

Useful links

http://www.babyjogger.co.uk/

http://www.icandyuk.com/

Antenatal and Aliens

Catching up a bit as I've been busy decorating the Nursery and buying things for the new arrival. Not long to go now. Only 6 weeks left !


So first of all Antenatal, or parenting classes as they are now called.
My wife booked these to go on at our local hospital, all part of the NHS bundle. 
The NCT seem to do extensive classes, but due to work constraints, I couldn't take lots of time off for these, Plus I'm not sure what a car parking company can tell me about having a baby ! I'm a fan of the NHS (for obvious reasons) so I thought I'd stick with these to start with.  
I know these can vary greatly, even at the same place, just depending on the person taking the classes. 


For 90 minutes a week for three weeks, I think they are well worth it, as the one I went didn't bother with the stuff we can check up online (what to pack in the bag etc) but more taking you step by step through the whole process. From the start before the initial contraction, to when you're back home including all the screaming, yelling, pushing, delivery, baby in between.


Learnt quite a few things that I didn't know about, and some handy tips. Just have to see if I can remember any of it in a few weeks !


Also recently the baby seems to be moving more and more, which if you've never seen or felt it, is very strange.
Think a scene from Alien, where the alien is under Ripley's skin, moving around, but before it bursts through the chest. 
It's very much like that, but so cool !




Can't wait to meet him/her

My Niece

Sorry for the delay in this blog as I've been busy with work, and trying to get the whole flat redecorated ready for the little one !

So two weeks ago I flew over to Sicily to see my sister, her husband and their 4 week old daughter.

Firstly on the flight we got talking to an Italian woman who was wearing a Baby Bjorn carrier (with a baby obviously). She said it was very comfy and handy to move around in. Another recommendation for them, so that's on my list.


Then I met my niece for the first time.
I forgot how small babies are !
And she's very cute !

I was planning on having a go changing a nappy, but after watching my sister have fun with her daughters bum farting out diarrhoea , I thought I'd leave her too it.


I do think I can manage it if I can hold the legs up though, so I'm going to see if I can get some of the leg ties that some guy invented. They sound like cable ties, but elastic and Velcro to hold the legs together. So you put your arm through and hold the legs with the wrist, whilst wiping the bum, with your hand. 


A harness or something to hold the baby down would be useful because babies like to wriggle !. A friend recommends putting a leg over (when on the floor) but I'm slightly worried doing that with a new born. 


I did though hold her several ways, (without dropper her, much to my sister's delight.)
One way I tried was to have her laying on the length of my arm with my hand supporting her head. This was easy and felt fairly stable and totally one handed. Although I think I'll need to improve my arm muscles  more if I'm going to do this for long periods of time.


Also as you can see I did hold her using a cushion to support her, which those C shaped doughnuts are ideal for, amazingly my stomach isn't big enough for her to sit on !


I didn't try picking her up from laying as my sister looked a bit nervous, so was handed her all the time. This though, is something I do need to practice, whether using a device or along my arm. 
Although to be honest, I'll have plenty of time to practice in a few months ! 


Funnily I did manage things that my wife couldn't do, such as putting on her socks (the babies - not my wife's) with one hand. This is probably down to my usual way that I have adapted to life generally, so tasks like that just come natural to me.


Overall in the short 4 days I was in Sicily, apart from seeing my sister, hubby and all his family (which I can't really talk to, as I don't speak any Italian...yet) and my beautiful niece, the trip did give me more confidence that I'll be able to cope with things when my little one arrives. 


29th week now, so just over 10 weeks left !

 

Baby carriers

So I've had a busy week with work and trying to get the nursery sorted. Well moving everything around in the flat so that I can turn my office into a nursery. Only 12 weeks left but I'm sure I'll get it done on time ! (my wife doesn't think so ! - But then this room currently has more crap in than when I started tidying !)

I did have time though to try on a mate's BabyBjorn carrier. Although he said they didn't use it too much. I think I'll be using it quite a lot, well just until I've grafted a handle on to the babies back for easy carrying ! 

Seriously though I could put the carrier on easily and do everything up with one hand and it felt comfy and secure

Not sure how easy wit will be with a wriggling baby in there, but I guess I'll find out !.

Looking at this brand which looks good they range from £50 to £120, although they all look very similar. 

Anyone know any differences ? 

Also are the other brands any good. 

I'll probably head to John Lewis and try them all out when I have some free time.

This weekend though I'm flying off to Sicily to go see my sister and my new niece who was born a few weeks ago. Time for some practice lifting and throwing the baby around. At least I can see how I manage with some easy tasks and that gives me a few months to work out if I need to adapt more.

Will let you know how it goes.

  

Booklets, Car seats and well it's Friday

I thought I'd just update my blog as it's Friday.
So this week I did get the booklet through that I said about before.
One handed parenting, from the DPPI
Actually a useful book, with ideas and tips and also lists lots of resources. Very handy so I can actually buy some of these things, not just read about how someone designed this cool thing I need, but then never find it !


Also had a look at the car seat that we bought off a friend. It's been in the flat for sometime so I tried it was an extra frame thing they had to see if I can easily take the seat in and out of the frame. Sometimes I prefer looking like a cripple more at home than in a big department stall.


* I might comment and call myself a cripple and I know I'm not, just slightly handicapped, and I don't mean to cause any offence by the term, but easy when using it off the cuff rather than saying "I don't want to look slightly handicapped in a store"
Also the term comes from my old Gym teacher who took me to one side and told me to "Stop Acting like a Cripple" which kinda stunned me when he said it, but soon realised what he meant. Don't use my disability to avoid doing things...  which in my life, I haven't (apart from Gym class !)
So good advice from Mr Dudley !


Anyway getting back to car seats... so I was trying the Maxi cosi car seat out and as I can only push one button in one side, then the other, I kinda lift it a little and rest it, then do the other side.
This worked fine with an empty car seat. Kinda worked with the funky doggie door stop as a test baby , but found my laptop was too heavy and so I had to balance the seat in such a way, I think it was a little dangerous.
So as long as we don't have a really heavy baby, then I should be okay !


Also I do plan on going and doing a bit more testing with the whole pram / pushchair / carry-cot thing we like. Any downside to the iCandy Peach ?


ohh also I realised that the comments were locked to users, so I've switched that off so anyone can comment now. Any ideas or advice you can share then please do.


Night all


Rob

Stop Acting like a Cripple (non baby topic)

If you read my last post then you'll understand the name of this post.

(This is slightly off the baby topic by the way)

It was a phrase that my old Gym teacher said to me years ago when I wasn't really trying the best as I could do  in the gym at school.

He meant don't use your disability as an excuse not to do something, but prove you can do it, even with your disability.

This idea is the way I've decided to live my life since I had my brain haemorrhage at the age of 8.

I think I was lucky I was young, more of a , shit happens, get on with it attitude. 

I learnt to drive an adapted car, I went to Uni and lived on my own (well with some awesome people) Got a job working in a call centre, then moved to IT, and have been working in IT ever since. Currently commuting in and out of London every day and even going on customer sites representing my company.

It does sadden me though reading about the changes to disability benefit that so many people are against it. Yeah I could have registered years ago and been getting disability allowance for years ! But I decided not to. I wanted to be known for me, given a job because of who I am, not because a I tick the "employ 1 cripple a month" policy.

I don't see myself as disabled !

I could have sat on my arse for the last 15 years, getting hand outs, hey maybe a free house, free car. But that's so boring to me. And frankly, I think it's wrong to claim when you have no need to do so.

If I was that lazy, I'd still be in a wheel chair, being a burden on people with only Jeremy Kyle and broken society for company.  I wouldn't have a great job, an awesome wife, such a wide range of great friends, and a baby on the way !

As Renton would say "I chose life.....The job, the family, the fucking big television. The washing machine, the car, the compact disc and electric tin opener, good health, low cholesterol, dental insurance, mortgage, starter home, leisure wear, luggage, three piece suite, DIY, game shows, junk food, children, walks in the park, nine to five, good at golf, washing the car, choice of sweaters, family Christmas, indexed pension, tax exemption, clearing gutters, getting by, looking ahead, the day you die."

*I know there are people that are disabled in such a way that they can't work. These people I fully support in obtaining benefit to help live their life to the full. And asking most of them they'll want to do the same.

  

Changing Mat

So the main problem I think I'm going to have is trying to hold the baby in place whilst changing the nappy.
Currently trying to choose between a changing mat which is moulded to hold the baby in place.
http://www.soft-gear.com/my-deluxe-changing-mat.php
(Although not sure if I can get it in the UK)

Or a mat which has straps on that you strap the baby into.
http://www.kiddymania.co.uk/rabbits-safety-harness-changing-mat-rabbitts.html

Anyone had experience with either ?

Resources

So I was looking on line for some sort of community for people in my situation. Haven't found one yet although please tell me if you know of one !

What I did find though was a useful charity called the Disability, Pregnancy & Parenthood international @ http://www.dppi.org.uk/
I've ordered a booklet that should be helpful, I avoided the one about taking your prosthetic legs off to give birth, that ones not really for me. But they do seem to have a lot of information that other people might find useful.

I'll update you when I get the booklet !

Hello

Hi,
So this is my Blog.
Basically I had a Brain Haemorrhage when I was 8 and left me with not much use with my left arm, and no real dexterity in my left hand.
So okay, the name of the blog is a lie, I do have two hands, just one of them is nearly useless.
But that hasn't stopped me, I drive, work in IT in London and just live life normally.

Now though things are going to change.
My Wife is pregnant and I'm over the moon.
However it has meant I'm thinking a lot of how I'm going to manage to look after a baby, picking it up, changing the nappy, moving it to a car seat etc.
Yes my wife's very supportive, but I want to be able to do these things on my own and not be reliant on her for everything.


The baby is due in June, and so we've been out looking at all the things a baby needs, pushchairs, car seats etc, and it's amazing how many things you need to push down two buttons either side to release the seat ! But I'll blog about these in a separate post. 

As there is not much material on the web for dads in my situation, I thought I'd blog my journey into fatherhood, partly for myself, and partly for any other dads out there that find themselves in  similar situation.