Once upon a time there was a baby

the most beautiful face in the world

Granted, all good stories about a baby should begin in the womb, but this blog is not about what they write about ad nauseam, its about what they DON'T tell you. In fact every single fact about pregnancy is so carefully etched into our brains that not only are we ready after 9months to deliver our own babies from our wombs, we're also ready to be handed a degree in obstetrics. Any gynae who's read 'what to expect when you're expecting' will tell you, there really isn't much more to it than that. No, this blog is not about the things you already know, its about what you think you know, what you think your mom knows, what you think you will know instinctively, what you think a weekend at antenatal classes should teach you... And what you will soon realise... They DO NOT tell you!

 As a newly expecting mom in this age of knowledge, I truly felt that I was prepared for welcoming this little 'bundle of joy' into the world. Did my job not after all involve telling other mothers what to do on a daily basis, had I not read 'what to expect' cover to cover 3 times, and had I not attended my antenatal classes religiously for a month? The truth is that only when that little one alights, from heaven, into YOUR arms, do you really start learning anything worth knowing. I hope that this blog teaches you something worth knowing... So to start our little fairytale, we have mommy and daddy, 10 months married and 9 months eagerly awaiting the arrival of our little angel. We have an as yet un-named cherub, lying comfortably and relatively uneventfully in mommy's womb... "A wonderfully boring pregnancy" is how our midwife put it. And we have a glorious day in February, when at 5am mommy wakes from dreaming about being in labour and finds a wet spot on the bed. Labour progresses beautifully, where, with the wonderful Ciska, angel and midwife extraordinaire, we deliver a beautiful 53cm long 3.26 kg baby at 4:35pm "Aaaah", thinks the mommy, "Now that the worst is over, I can settle down to enjoy my bundle of joy, I mean how hard can it be? I just, very cleverly, gave birth with nothing but laughing gas for relief (which by the way isnt called that for nothing, it's painkilling properties are a laugh and a half)... And ironically, somewhere in heaven, thunder rolls and a deep booming voice has a great big... LOL!