Just after my breakfast at 6am on Sunday ( 7th March for anyone interested ), Mummy told Daddy that she thought she was getting a nose bleed.  Soon after that Mummy was taken away in a bit of a hurry by some men in green clothes in a car with flashing lights on the top (I’ve made a small note to get Daddy to put some on the top of our car because they’re very pretty).  Things  became quite  hectic at home;  Daddy dressed me in a bit of a rush, Granny turned up and Daddy whizzed off to somewhere called A&E.  It’s quite fun having Granny round as she loves cuddling me and it’s really warm and snug being cuddled.

A little later Daddy came home and picked me up. We went back to the hospital again (although this time I had socks on so no chance of getting stabbed in the heel – phew) and Daddy carried me up in the car seat to see Mummy. We didn’t go and see the nice midwives this time and Daddy had to ask several people the way (I was quite impressed by this as Mummy is always saying that Daddy never asks for directions).  I was quite shocked when I saw Mummy – she looked very different.  They’d put something up her nose,  stuck a large loo roll under it and sellotaped a tube to her cheek. She was also much more pale than when I saw her that morning.  We stayed for a couple of hours I think (although I did study the inside of my eyelids several times during the day) and then headed home.

Mummy came home the next day, but she didn’t look very well.  In fact we had to call the men in green clothes again on Tuesday morning as Mummy had another nosebleed. It was so bad that she even used my bathing bowl so that she didn’t get any drips on the nice chair that she feeds me in.  This time Granny didn’t come round. Daddy took me round to the nice lady (Cheryl) who lives next door.  She and her auntie looked after me while Daddy went back to the hospital (AGAIN !) to be with Mummy.  I slept most of the afternoon, although I made good friends with a really nice dog and think I may have caught the eye of the very cute little girl who lives there. Just about a week old and already seen two cute girls – can’t believe my luck.

Mummy was gone for much longer this time. Daddy did his best to feed and cuddle me but it was not quite the same.  Granny came over to help as well which gave Daddy a bit of a break to clean up and shave – a good job really as the bits  of hair on Daddy’s chin (but not on his head ha ha) were starting to rub.  I heard Daddy muttering a lot of things during this time, mostly about someone called ENT and how greatful he was to the midwives in Shere. I don’t know who this ENT person was or why Shere was important as the hospital is quite obviously in Guildford.

I got to see Mummy a few days later. She must be really important as she had her own room in the hospital, which was nice as  I got to give her a proper cuddle several times which was lovely. She was also looking much better as they had taken the thingy out of her nose and she could talk properly. I think it must have affected her sense of smell though as my nappy was rather niffy a couple of times in the day and she didn’t seem to mind as much as Daddy (who nearly went green once).

Mummy came home two or three sleeps after that, which was good,  as everything started to get back to normal. In fact Mummy seemed to be bored of the hospital now as she hasn’t gone back to visit at all this week. I’m looking forward to a quiet week next week without any interruptions, but who knows ….

After a few days in hospital with Mummy relaxing in bed, we were allowed to leave.  It was a bit of shame as the midwives in the hospital had all been wonderful and whenever I or Mummy needed anything, they came and helped.  Mummy still had a sore tummy from where they had opened my roof to lift me out  which  must have been a bit of a tight squeeze for her.  Mummy had also had a small nosebleed in hospital just as we were about to go home, so my triumphant arrival was delayed for a little while.

The journey home was a nice short one without the horrid bumps in the road (heard Daddy muttering ‘should have come this way on the way in ‘ whatever that means) and I was all snuggled up in my new car seat.  I have to say though that looking at the interior of a Golf with only the occasional view out of the rear window makes for quite a boring ride, so I decided to have a snooze.

A short while later (well it could have been a long while as I’d been studying the inside of my eyelids 🙂 ) Daddy lifted the car seat out and for a moment I was completely dazzled by the sunlight.  When I got over that,  I could see the house and it was really obvious that Mummy and Daddy were quite proud to have me home. They were also keen to show me round, which was nice, although at that time I could only focus to just beyond the end of my nose, so not really a lot of use.

I did get a little shock about 5 minutes later when I was rather indelicately put down on a plastic cushion and, to my great shame and horror, stripped nearly naked. What were they doing !! Daddy was muttering something like ‘Dear God how did something so small and cute produce something like that‘ and Mummy apparently found this very funny.   Seeing as they were cleaning me up it seemed like a good time to have a quick final wee. Daddy didn’t seem to find it very helpful but then it wasn’t really my fault that his sleeve was in the way.

After all the drama of that day I was quite tired and Daddy very kindly wrapped me up in a blanket and put me in the same room as him and Mummy (easy to tell as Daddy snuffles ever-so slightly when he sleeps).  Before I knew it, I was woken up for a feed early in the morning although I hadn’t even realised my tummy was empty.  And then back to the blanket and the inside of my eyelids.

Next morning we had lots of visitors. I met my Auntie Meredith and my cousins, Daddy’s oldest friend and his new baby girl (bit of a looker I can tell you !), Cheryl from next door, a lady in blue called Florence who gave me a quick check over and then stabbed me in the foot (apparently for something called a heel test ?! – cruelty if you ask me)  and a tall chap called Tom who left me a really comfy teddy.  Have to say that if this keeps up I’ll be charging for appearances.

That evening Mummy and Daddy put me back in the car seat, avoided the bumpy road and took me back to the hospital. I had a horrid moment where I thought something was wrong with me and that they were taking me back to swap me for someone else, but that thankfully turned out not to be the case. Mummy had developed a blood clot on her caesarean scar and they needed to check her over  – although she didn’t get stabbed in the heel as I did so it can’t have been that bad. After a brief stay it was back in the car seat, a short journey home and back to my comfortable blanket.

What a first day.

Hello, this is little Toby Holdsworth and this is the story of my arrival in the world.

On Friday (26th Feb) morning, I was happily tucked up asleep when there was a little bit of a lurch. Luckily it didn’t disturb me and I managed to get back to sleep really quickly.

A little bit later on, Mummy started to get some crunches in her tummy which seemed to go for ever …! Even from where I was I could tell that she was making some blueberry muffins to take her mind off the stomach crunches.  Luckily it worked as the muffins smelt great ! That evening she took some drugs and the crunches went away for a couple of hours.

Saturday was a whole different matter. After some crunches (which got more regular and disturbed my sleep), I heard something that sounded like a crowd cheering at a rugby match.  That only lasted a minute before Mummy and Daddy headed off in the car to the hospital – typical as Jonny was just about to kick off at Twickenham (he’s my idol). I don’t know why but they went over a very lumpy and bumpy road road and I could of sworn that they meant to go via the un-speedbumped road to the hospital. It’s just possible that Daddy was a little bit flustered as I think I heard something about a “trial run”, although I think we may get into trouble for running over some sleeping policemen.

Mummy was kept in at the hospital (we didn’t go home that night) as they thought I was the wrong way round.  Luckily for me there was  a bit more space as the large puddle of water behind me seemed to have started to drain, which was great as I could finally stretch my legs out a bit and prove that I was the right way up.  Mummy took some more of the drugs and the small crunches that had been going on (AGAIN !!!!!) stopped and I managed to get a good night’s sleep.

Sunday – they gave Mummy something to help me move into the “outside world”, but it didn’t seem to do very much, so I stayed put as this “outside world” place seems miles away and nowhere near as comfortable as where I was.

Monday.  What a headache !!!!!! Just after 6am my room started to shake really violently and seemed to get a lot smaller. I really didn’t like that at all and staged a sit in strike.  It must have worked because at about 11, everything subsided and I got my room space back.  I think Mummy had some kind of machine connected to her back as I kept getting little electric shocks every 5 mins. Luckily they didn’t hurt, so phew.

After lunch things got much worse. Firstly someone broke my paddling pool with a great big knitting needle / hook thingy and the room started to shake again really violently.  Mummy didn’t like the fact that they’d broken my pool  at all and I think Daddy got really quite angry. Also the shakes got more violent and I really felt unwell. In fact it got so bad that I started to get really, really sleepy but not in my usual go-to-bed-and-snooze way.  I think that somebody noticed I wasn’t very happy and the shakes started to ease off.  Thank goodness. Another thing that I’d noticed was that Mummy was getting quite giggly over the smallest things.  I’m not sure what she was laughing at, but it seemed to take her mind off the room shakes that were getting worse.

Just after my teatime at 6pm, Mummy seemed to lie flat and wasn’t able to move her legs.  What happened next is a bit of a blur. Someone had taken lifted my roof off, it got very light and scary and I was grabbed me and pulled me up through what was my roof. The cheek of it.  The speed of this all happening took my breath away for a couple of minutes,  although some people in blue clothes put me into a warm place that helped me get my breath back – which was a good thing as I’d got quite dizzy.

According to the funky wrist band I got (although the silly person in blue put it round my foot) I was born at 18:08 on 1st March 2010.  5 mins after that I got to see Mummy and Daddy for the first time.  I think I have a bit of each of them , although I’m not sure who’s nose I’ve got ! I’ve got Daddy’s blue eyes at the moment and I think a combination of Mummy and Daddy’s hair.