Home Duties

(Home Duties is what I have put on Jamie’s birth certificate as my occupation!)

I found the first few days on my own were quite stressful. It didn’t help that the Health Visitor visited the first day that Daddy returned to work and found me in tears. However, since then I have had a number of visitors which has filled our days, and I even ventured out for the first time on my own with Jamie. It was May’s last day at LCC so it wasn’t a long way to go and I felt so proud of myself that I was able to put in the take out the car seat by myself. Of course everyone was cooing over Jamie and it felt good to be back in the ‘real world’ for a while!

On Friday (1st May) I went to see the Dr for the first time – primarily to discuss contraception but also to get Jamie registered at the practice. On discharge from the hospital I was given some information (Paediatric Department: Discharge Summary and Prescription) to pass onto the GP and I had a quick peak…..

Method of Onset of Labour: Spontaneous rupture of membranes
1st Stage: 6hrs 45mins
2nd Stage: 32 mins (Full Dilation)
3rd Stage: 3 mins (Delivery of Placenta)

Apgar Score of 9 given after 1 and 5 minutes.
The Apgar score occurs right after your baby's birth in the delivery room. The test was designed to quickly evaluate a newborn's physical condition after delivery and to determine any immediate need for extra medical or emergency care. Five factors are used to evaluate the baby's condition and each factor is scored on a scale of 0 to 2, with 2 being the best score:
activity and muscle tone / pulse (heart rate) / grimace response (medically known as "reflex irritability") / appearance (skin coloration) / respiration (breathing rate and effort)

Scores obtainable are between 10 and 0, with 10 being the highest possible score. A baby who scores a 7 or above on the test at 1 minute after birth is generally considered in good health. However, a lower score doesn't necessarily mean that your baby is unhealthy or abnormal. But it may mean that your baby simply needs some special immediate care, such as suctioning of the airways or oxygen to help him or her breathe, after which your baby may improve. At 5 minutes after birth, the Apgar score is recalculated, and if your baby's score hasn't improved to 7 or greater, or there are other concerns, the doctors and nurses may continue any necessary medical care and will closely monitor your baby. Some babies are born with heart or lung conditions or other problems that require extra medical care; others just take a little longer than usual to adjust to life outside the womb. Most newborns with initial Apgar scores of less than 7 will eventually do just fine. http://kidshealth.org/parent/newborn/first_days/apgar.html