The dramatic check-in

After nine months of waiting, the mini traveller – aka Minnie* – decided to make her rather dramatic arrival. Having cunningly fooled a string of midwives and doctors over the past few months, she unexpectedly turned out to be breech… which meant an emergency Caesarean for me.

So for the time being that means my travel plans are even more restricted – not only am I getting to grips with my brand new (and utterly beautiful) daughter, I won’t be able to drive for another month or so, and while I recover from the surgery, even a short walk around the block is mildly exhausting.

Given the amount of time I sometimes get between being able to settle her and feeding again, I’m not sure I’d get very far regardless!

But all this time at home is giving me the chance to test a few things which might yet turn out to be useful when we venture further afield. 

* Not her real name

Upping my skill set

I always like picking up new knowledge, regardless of whether it has too many practical applications. But I don’t think I’ve managed to acquire quite so many new skills in such a short space of time – and not just the ones I’d expected like how you actually hold a newborn and breastfeeding technique.

And while Minnie is the only recipient at the moment, I’m hoping to find a few more uses for the following.

• The ability to cope with broken sleep. As someone who firmly believes I need nine hours to function, jet lag will never seem quite as bad when a three hour stretch seems faintly luxurious. Which brings me on to…

• Learning how to nap. Something I never used to be able to do. Day was for being awake, night for sleep, and trying to nap was usually fruitless or left me feeling mildly drugged/hit over the head with a comedy cartoon frying pan. Except on planes.

• Increased ambidexterity. The things I can now do one-handed while trying not to disturb a breastfeeding baby. I strongly suspect this is one skill I shall continue to hone until I can practically cook a three course dinner with one arm out of action.

• Unexpected reserves of patience – when Minnie *still* won’t settle. Not bottomless, mind you. And once you take the hormones and besotted maternal feelings from the equation, I’m not convinced this will extend to eg travel delays. Especially combined with the sleep deprivation. But you never know.

• A more casual attitude to my own appearance. Tracksuit bottoms, a vague attempt to do something with my hair – I’ve even been out without make-up on (shock…). I’m hoping to raise the bar a bit before too long – I do have standards – but this bodes well for lighter packing and even quicker times to get ready. Not that I’ve ever been hugely high-maintenance.

• Bat-like hearing – currently being used to detect the tiniest snuffles from Minnie but probably extends to being able to hear a mouse sneeze. Not yet sure how this will be useful but there’s surely a practical application.

• A talent for speed eating – either she’s finally asleep and I can guzzle my much-delayed meal or I’m frantically trying to munch through it before she wakes. Probably not a skill my digestion appreciates admittedly!

And that’s all in the space of about a week. Who knows what the coming ones will bring.

The first journey out

It’s hardly on a par with a round-the-world-trip, but after three weeks venturing no further than a quick walk around the block or a short trip to the supermarket, Minnie and I finally made it out for a proper outing. All the way to the baby clinic!

While my C-section scar has mostly healed, I still can’t drive or lug the buggy too far just yet, so combined with the palaver involved in leaving home with a three-week-old and the problems we’ve had with feeding, I haven’t felt tempted to attempt a long voyage.

Or even a medium voyage.

And although the clinic is practically on the doorstep in global terms, it felt like a new world tackling everything for the first time.

What to do with the buggy when we arrived?

How does it fold up again?

Where to go?

What to do?

And how to fill in the stack of registration forms one-handed while carrying Minnie, a bag and the sling we still haven’t quite worked out how to use…

Needless to say, we made it through unscathed (and mostly asleep in Minnie’s case).

Her weight’s almost back up to her birth weight again, I got some fresh air and reminded myself of the power of getting dressed properly and putting on make-up.

A small step perhaps, but maybe the first one in our new journey.

Back behind the wheel

I can hardly believe how quickly the first six weeks have gone – even if it’s all passed in a slight blur. I’ve finally started to feel like I’m beginning to get to grips with life (a bit, anyway) and to start pushing my boundaries a bit further.

But as I’ve been slightly restricted after the Caesarean by not being able to drive or heft buggies around on public transport, and as Minnie is too small for the sling/baby carrier I have, it’s been walking distance or waiting for someone else to take me.

Except this week also meant my postnatal check with the doctor, where after a whopping 55 minute wait (thankfully I’d been able to leave Minnie with my parents) I was told the scar was healing nicely and given the all-clear to get back to normal life.

So I celebrated by taking a bit more advantage of having babysitters on hand and taking my new car, a Ford Fiesta, out for a drive.

Living in London and working at home means I haven’t driven regularly for years – and while it’s not quite like riding a bike, the basics all come back very quickly, especially when doing a maximum of 20mph along the quiet, familiar roads around home.

But I do still feel nervous about the thought of getting behind the wheel with Minnie tucked up in her car seat in the back. Given how safe the car is, I’ve probably got more chance of embarrassing myself trying to squeeze it back into the driveway than anything more dramatic.

The only real solution is practice… which gives me the perfect excuse to fit in a few trips. The big question is where to begin.

Discover where we headed on our first ‘big’ day out

 
 

Koala copyright MummyTravels, all other images courtesy of Depositphotos