Born 21st January 2017, 8 pounds 5 ounces!
Sorry for the recent quiet on the recipe front — I have a very good reason.
Benjamin James arrived a little early on 21 January at 6:59am, weighing a healthy 8 pounds 5 ounces. We’re absolutely delighted with our new little person and are settling in at home, slowly finding a routine.
Many friends warned that births rarely go exactly as planned, and that turned out to be true for us. I was admitted to hospital on Friday lunchtime with suspected early membrane rupture and prepared for induction, but once my waters were broken I went into labour naturally and Benjamin was born the next morning.
That’s when things got a bit hectic. We expected to go home the following day, but a medication error meant I’d been given more paracetamol than intended within 24 hours. Although the extra dose was unlikely to cause lasting harm, hospital staff treated it as an accidental overdose and kept me in for monitoring and liver function tests.
Those tests did show an abnormality in my liver function, though it’s unclear whether it was related to the extra paracetamol. Around the same time, Benjamin started to look jaundiced. Routine bloodwork revealed very high bilirubin levels and he was taken to the neonatal unit for treatment.
In short, what initially looked alarming turned out to be treatable. Benjamin was placed under phototherapy for about 24 hours to bring his bilirubin down, which made feeding and settling a little more stressful while we were trying to establish breastfeeding.
Further blood tests suggested an infection, even though Benjamin appeared relatively well aside from sleepiness linked to the jaundice. To rule out meningitis he had a lumbar puncture and samples were sent away for analysis. He was started on a five-day course of antibiotics while the results were pending.
We never discovered the exact source of the infection — it’s possible it was connected to the early membrane rupture — but in hindsight we’re grateful that the medication issue kept us in hospital, where these problems were identified and treated promptly.
Benjamin is now feeding well, and yes, our nights are a typical newborn blur. People say he looks like his mum, though he has his dad’s dimples and that neat side parting. He enjoys watching lights and cuddles on Mum’s chest, but bath time is not yet a favourite.
Apologies if baby updates aren’t your thing — I have a handful of new recipes lined up and will be posting again very soon. After a week of hospital food I’m keen to get back in the kitchen and share some easy, impressive recipes in time for Valentine’s Day.
To celebrate Benjamin’s arrival, here are two of my favourite cakes:
Peanut butter, banana and chocolate chip cake
Chocolate orange cake
Mmmmm!