20 weeks - new clothes and Sophie's first BBQ!

This has been another very busy week! On Tuesday the health visitor was here and wee Sophie is now 8lbs 7oz and doing well.

Wednesday and Thursday we looked after grandad's dog Sammy, and Friday daddy was off.

We bought Sophie her first proper coat - a piglet coat :) It'll be a while before she grows into it, as we got it in a size that she should fit by the time it's the weather for needing a coat - 3-6 months. It's so hard to predict what size she will be when. At the moment she is still in newborn clothes and looking like she will be in them for some time to come - not that I'm complaining, because after feeling in a way as if I missed out on the first few weeks of being a mummy, it's lovely to still have a newborn sized baby now she's finally home!

Sophie's new Piglet coat

On Saturday we went to the Fort and got Sophie some new clothes with the vouchers we got from my colleagues (0-3 months for her growing into as she got so many newborn clothes when she was born!) then went to a BBQ at Aunty Steph's and Uncle B'ri's - Sophie's first ever BBQ! She was a little angel and got lots of cuddles! She had her first trip to Ikea and Costco as well - no doubt the first of many!

19 weeks...just the two of us!

Well, that's daddy been back at work for one week and we have survived so far! It's been difficult to get us both organised in the morning - just things like me getting a shower, getting Sophie dressed, co-ordinating everything around feeds and not having someone else here to keep an eye on her while I go and do something! It'll probably take us a few weeks but I'm sure we will get into a routine of sorts eventually.

Being angelic for mummy!

Sophie spent most of our first day on our own awake and I actually did manage to get into the shower before midday which I guess wasn't TOO bad! We had a walk down to Asda for a few bits and pieces in the afternoon but it was far too hot, not to mention all the beasties that were going about, and Sophie got really crabby by the time we got home! Actually, we were both a bit crabby!


I've had to send daddy lots of photos of Sophie because he was missing her so much. It's the first time he's been apart from her since the beginning of June so it's really hard for him going back - and I've missed him too after being used to having him around for so many weeks.


The health visitor came again and Sophie is now 7lb 15. She had her third set of immunisations this week, which was absolutely horrible. She howled, and there were real tears :( I gave her lots of cuddles in the waiting room afterwards and she was ok after a little while but I found it so hard to see her so upset. She was fine after them - no ill effects other than a little bit sleepy and tetchy.

Cuddles for tired daddy after his first day back at work!

Sophie's Granny and I went to visit her Great Granny in the middle of the week. We had a rake in the lovely baby shop and Sophie came home with several new outfits for when she gets bigger!

She's had a really hungry week and doesn't seem to have stopped eating some days! She is probably having a growth spurt again.

Sophie with Granny and Great Granny

Great Granny having a go with the pram!

She's been enjoying lying on her mat, and has been desperately trying to roll onto her back. She gets as far as her side before getting stuck then she gets frustrated with herself and starts to cry.

Sophie had her 6 week (corrected age) check up at the Royal on Thursday and everything is looking great. She's doing everything she should be, and putting on the right amount of weight. She was checked by a paediatrician who tested her reflexes, checked her eyes and asked general questions about her, then a physiotherapist came to check that her muscle tone is as it should be.
She's certainly very strong and tries to stand up when I'm trying to get her to sit on her bottom if I want to do her outfit up at the back. She locks her legs and won't move them!

Sophie with Dona before her check up

Waiting to see the doctor...


Having a chat with Daddy

After her appointment, we met up with Dona, who had her baby last year at 27 weeks, and another mummy with her little girl, Lily, who was born at just 23 weeks at the same time as Archie. Then we went to the neonatal unit, and saw Roz, one of our favourite nurses. She was so pleased to see how well Sophie is doing - she couldn't believe the change in her. She looked after her on her very first two days in high dependency when she was just 7 weeks old. It felt very strange going back in there with Sophie, and leaving with her! In a way it felt as if we'd never been away.

Daddy trying out Sophie's harness - she's still a bit small!

Cuddles for Grandad

Before her appointment, we went in to Daddy's work so that his colleagues could all meet Sophie. She has lots of fans there and it took us ages to get round everyone! They were all so pleased to see her - lots of them had visited her while she was still in her incubator, so they saw a huge difference and were really pleased to see how well she is doing.

We went shopping on Saturday and got Sophie some new pink bottles with flowers on them, a fancypants Dr Brown's bottle and some new dummies to replace her tiny premature baby dummy. Then we visited Granny and Grandpa, and when we got home, Grandad visited. At night, daddy gave Sophie her bath for a change. Normally I undress her then Alan does her vitamins (a messy job - one of them is bright yellow and often gets spat out or sicked back up!) while I run her bath, then I bath her. This time, we swapped roles! Sophie noticed and wouldn't take her eyes off me while Alan carried her into the bathroom.









Sophie is getting more alert by the day, and definitely recognises Alan and me. We get big smiles when she first sees us in the morning, no matter how early it is or how sleepy she is. It's a lovely feeling!

18 weeks and she's starting to squeak!

Sophie is now officially 4 months old, despite looking just like a little newborn! We had the health visitor again and she is now 7lb 7 and 22 inches long. She's getting so alert and starting to look us in the eye and squeak at us when we speak to her.




She's now fitting clothes that didn't fit her even last week, and she wore her little dressing gown for the first time this week - so cute! She looked like a little boxer in it!





We've visited all the grandparents a few times this week again, and Aunty Steph and Uncle Brian came to see us as well.

Daddy is due back at work tomorrow, and isn't happy about it. Neither am I! I'll miss him a lot and I'm so nervous about looking after Sophie on my own for the first time. He'll be out from 7am-7pm every day so they are long days. I'm sure I will be fine once I get used to things but I'm still a bit worried.

Looking much bigger in her car seat!

We had some nice family time today, with it being his last full day with us till next weekend. We took Sophie for a lovely walk by the sea at Spittal and she was actually awake for it, for once! So far, she has slept through it every time!

17 weeks and a visit from Uncle Michael, Aunty Lesley and Alasdair

Sophie's Uncle Michael, Aunty Lesley and Alasdair arrived on Monday. They hadn't seen Sophie since the beginning of April and even then didn't really see her properly as she was out for her very first cuddles that day and was zipped inside my top!


They still couldn't get over how tiny she is even now. Alasdair was soooo cute with her and kept stroking her head and saying "baby". He can't say Sophie yet, and pronounces it "Dofoo"!

We spent a lot of time with them all week, and we all visited Great Granny for dinner as well. Michael and Lesley couldn't get over Sophie sleeping through Alasdair running round shouting and giggling!




Sophie has started doing proper smiles this week! I was getting huge smiles every time I kissed her. She has also started sucking her thumb, and has been trying to get both thumbs in at once! The health visitor weighed her again and she is now 6lb 15 and a half and starting to fit into some of her newborn clothes. She has a huge wardrobe of clothes to work her way through - a lot more than Alan and I put together! I'll need to make sure that she has plenty changes of outfits to get through them all (and create lots of washing for myself in the process!) I'm sure that won't be a problem as she is sick quite a lot and needs lots of changes!!


Sophie has started sleeping longer at night the past few nights and has been going through to 5.30 or 6 some mornings! I keep waking up all the time though, wondering why she has been so quiet! No doubt I will get used to it eventually....

16 weeks and our little piglet is growing so fast!

I'm afraid I've missed a week here - everything has been so busy! We are quickly getting used to having Sophie at home, and absolutely loving being parents. She is such a good natured, contented baby, and she sleeps well at night. She's feeding every 4 hours, day and night, so usually she's just up once in the night. It normally works out that she is up around 3am and 7am which is fine.



She is still absolutely loving her baths and gets one every night before bed. It really seems to help relax her and get her settled for sleeping.

We had our first visit to the house from the health visitor this week. It was a long visit with lots of questions, and Sophie was weighed. She is now 6lb 6, which means she has gained 8oz in a week :) We measured her today, and she is 18 inches long - 13 inches longer than when she was born. She's still wearing "tiny baby" and "early baby" clothes but you never know, she might fit into her newborn clothes soon!


We bought her a playmat that has lots of scrucnchy bits on it, and a mirror, so she has been having tummy time on this mat. She has been using her legs to try to move herself up it, kind of like a mini crawl, and can also push herself up on her wrists! It looks ridiculous on such a tiny baby.


We met Grandad for coffee one day this week and then took Sophie for her first walk along the seafront at Spittal. She completely missed it, as she was sleeping!

Grandad pushing the pram

We also spent an afternoon with Granny and Grandpa, and Granny and I took Sophie for a walk. It was a lovely hot day and Sophie looked so cute in her little white dress!

Granny pushing the pram

Sophie's Uncle Michael, Aunty Lesley and big cousin Alasdair are coming up next week which will be lovely. They've not seen her since she was three weeks old, so they are going to see a massive difference.

14 weeks - daddy's first father's day!

It's funny really...here we were, wondering if Sophie would arrive in time for Alan to be a daddy on Father's Day, and she arrived on Mother's Day! We certainly didn't see that coming! Sophie gave her daddy a photo frame that says "Me and My Dad" on it but we still need to sort out a photo for it.




Sophie's had another very busy week. We took her into my work on Monday to meet everyone, then on to visit her great granny. She got lots of lovely presents from work - some she fits now and some she will grow into :) She's spent a lot of time visiting her grandad and her granny and grandpa and we've had the first visit to the health visitor. She has also had her second set of immunisations, poor lamb. She seems so tiny to be getting her second set of jags already but they go by the baby's actual age rather than their corrected age for the immunisations for premature babies.

Sophie's first cuddle with Great Granny

I think I found it more upsetting than Sophie did when she got her jags - I couldn't watch :-( She needed lots of cuddles and lots of feeds afterwards and didn't really settle well at night - she was a bit off-colour. The health visitor was meant to organise some calpol for her but she didn't do it for three days, by which time the need had passed!



She has been through a really hungry phase this week - probably a growth spurt! She is now 5lb 14 and still looks tiny. When we go out with the pram, people keep asking if she is a new baby and we have to go through the whole long story! It takes us a long time to get round Morrisons!

Cuddles with Daddy

Grandad bought Sophie a Winnie the Pooh gym which she absolutely loves, and she goes for piglet every time! Clearly she's going to be like her mummy and is going to like piglet the best. She started trying to suck her fingers this week and she has really grown - a babygrow that was far too big for her the day she came home now fits her!

13 weeks and it's Sophie's due date!!

Well...here we are, 13 weeks after Sophie arrived, and it's finally her due date! She came home on Monday, six days before her due date, weighing 5lb 6.

Safely installed in the car

Alan and I didn't sleep much at all the two nights we had Sophie in our room with us on the neonatal unit. We were scared to leave her "unattended" after being used to there being constant monitors and nurses watching her!

All the paperwork was done on Sunday so that we were able to make our escape as soon as possible on Monday!! All that was left to do was the rescusitation training and a couple of last bits of paperwork and then we were allowed to leave!

We got away about 11am. Sophie was so tiny in her car seat, and too small for her going home outfit - luckily we'd taken a spare outfit just in case that happened! The hospital had to give us a blanket to put underneath her in the car seat so that she was a bit higher up, otherwise the straps wouldn't have fitted her at all!


We said our goodbyes and took her out to the car. We felt really strange leaving for the last time. The neonatal unit had been our lives for the last 3 months and was our comfort zone. We took photos of it before we left so when Sophie is bigger, we can show her where she spent the first 12 weeks of her life. We were so excited going home with Sophie, but at the same time a little bit sad in a way...definitely a strange feeling and very hard to explain. It was also the best feeling in the world, finally leaving through the maternity dept with the car seat, just like all the other parents we'd seen leaving over the last 3 months.

Our second home!

I sat in the back with Sophie and stared at her all the way home! We called in at Granny and Grandpa's and then brought her home and Grandad came round, and then it was just the three of us in our own home at long last. One of our neighbours had put a big "Welcome Home Sophie" banner on the front window and a few neighbours spied us coming home and came to have a peek at Sophie. Nothing escapes un-noticed round here! Sophie brought up most of her bottle as soon as we got home and was really unsettled all afternoon and all night but that was probably just because it was such a different environment from what she'd been used to.

Sophie's very first photo at home

Next day, one of the community nurses from the neonatal unit came out to see us and to weigh Sophie and make sure her temperature was ok. She'd lost a couple of ounces since the previous day, but the nurse did say it could just be with the scales being on a carpet etc.

Sleeping in her moses basket with her very own blankets at last!

After she had left, we took Sophie round to Grandad's then took her out in her pram for the very first time - that was one moment we'd really been longing for! We parked in Tweedmouth Main Street and walked over to Berwick, met Granny and Grandpa in Berwick then walked up to their house and back to collect the car later. Sophie looked so tiny in her pram and so cute! She had a big long sleep and then when we came home, Alan gave her a bath for the first time since we got her home.





On Thursday morning Sophie had a doctor's appointment, then Uncle Greig and Aunty Claire visited for the day and then I walked to the shops with the pram and met Sophie's granny. On Friday we had to go back to the neonatal unit to get Sophie weighed again and went to visit Sophie's great aunty Fay.






















Sunday was Sophie's official due date, and I felt quite strange all day knowing she was actually 13 weeks old but should only just be born around that day! It's a funny feeling, having missed out on the last 3 months of pregnancy, having had to leave our baby behind every day and come home to an empty house but it's wonderful finally having her home and being able to be a little family at last.

Here are a few more pictures from Sophie's first week at home: